Sen. Elissa Slotkin horrified Republicans when she dared suggest last week that willing enablers of Donald Trump’s reign of terror should be held accountable, as if this is a nation of laws.
Republicans have predictably twisted her words out of all recognizable context and falsely claimed (the mainstream media euphemism for “lied their asses off”) that Slotkin wanted to baselessly prosecute Trump officials so that young people would be too afraid to work for his criminal administration.
Here’s what Slotkin actually said at the University of Chicago last Tuesday:
“We do have to have accountability for the unbelievable corruption that we are living under right now. But you can’t just make that your whole personality, right? So you have to pick signature cases and you have to go after people and projects that are just super egregious. So everyone knows the East Wing of the White House, right? People feel that in a way that’s different from a nameless contract at the Pentagon, or whatever.
Pick those signature cases and go hard on accountability. Not just Trump, right? Because, of course, there will be moments of “Let’s go after Trump himself.” As someone who voted to impeach him twice, he’s still there, right?
But the people around Donald Trump who are doing his bidding and enabling this have no such immunity. They have no immunity the way the president does. And to me, he couldn’t do any of this stuff, without all of those people saluting and supporting it. So you go after the people who do his bidding.”
Soren Dayton, director of the American Governance Policy team at the Foundation for American Innovation, complained, “I am sorry. Democrats ran that play during Biden. Look where it got them. This is both morally and politically bankrupt. Just win elections.”
This is both ahistorical and stupid, and I’m not sorry. The Biden administration didn’t aggressively pursue corrupt Trump officials from his first term, and to the extent that the Department of Justice got around to prosecuting bad actors, it was completely justified because they had actually broken the law. Witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and trying to overturn a presidential election are far more serious offenses than creative seashell decoration.
The “just win elections” argument is annoying because Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, and the MAGA movement only grew more toxic over the next four years, until voters were so pissed about inflation that they willingly let Trump return to the White House to torment us all. Diseased maniac Stephen Miller was further empowered, and American citizens were gunned down in Minneapolis city streets. Not only should Miller face legal accountability in 2029, but so should the ICE agents who executed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Anyone who’s paid attention since 2021 should appreciate that the rule of law shouldn’t exist at the whim of an easily distracted electorate. Even if Republicans suffer devastating midterm losses, it won’t have anything to do with Trump’s mounting criminal offenses but his ego-driven stupidity that tanked the economy.
After all, a major reason Trump failed to overturn the 2020 election and remain in power against the people’s will is that key Republican officials refused to break the law for him. We’d like to believe that was an admirable moral stand for democracy, but it’s certainly wiser and safer to conclude that Republicans officials didn’t enable Trump’s coup because they wanted to avoid serious legal consequences, including prison. If we ignore obvious crimes and instead focus on winning the next election, we only encourage more lawless behavior whenever Republicans regain power. Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” operated illegally and unconstitutionally, despite rebukes from federal judges. Careers were ruined, and people died. That’s more than just an “oopsie.”
Republican Rep. Dan Bacon, who’s retiring but still has time to churn out right-wing talking points, lamented, “Both sides are resorting to Lawfare and it is bad for democracy. There’s no place for it in the U.S.” Honestly, “both sides” has become the rhetorical refuge of the craven and desperate.
Prosecuting people who break the law — consistently and flagrantly in the Trump regime’s case — is not “Lawfare.” It is the criminal justice system, which is a necessary part of civilization, despite what some San Francisco prosecutors might’ve suggested during the crazier days of 2021. Trump ordering thugs with law degrees to “whack” his political enemies and threaten an elected official with deportation is actual “lawfare.” This is only complicated if your next paycheck depends on Rupert Murdoch’s good will.
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Elissa Slotkin was herself a target of actual “lawfare” when the sitting president ordered the Department of Justice and FBI to manufacture a sham prosecution of Slotkin, her fellow senator Mark Kelly, and Democratic House Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan, for “seditious conspiracy” because they released a video informing armed forces members that they have an obligation to the Constitution and not the mad MAGA king. This is a fairly white bread caucus, so the attempted prosecution demonstrates the lengths Trump will go to silence his critics. There’s no room for patriotism in Trump’s regime.
Fortunately, a federal grand jury recognized the Congress members’ First Amendment rights and declined to indict, but the lawyers involved in this potential railroading should definitely face sanctions and disbarment.
Sen. Mike Lee, a crawling smear of slime, condemned Slotkin on social media for his MAGA masters to see: “It is absolutely disgraceful to threaten young Americans for participating in politics and serving their country.” Slotkin told her putative colleague, “Spare me the pearl-clutching — especially from Republican Members of Congress and online MAGA grifters who have cheered President Trump’s weaponization of the government against those he doesn’t like, as recently as last week.”
Slotkin is a non-revolutionary liberal. She brands herself a “get shit done” Democrat, but she appreciates that it’s impossible to “get shit done” in the creeping shadow of fascism.
“America must be a place where the rule of law still matters,” Slotkin wrote on Sunday. “Those laws should apply to everyone equally. If you have aided in the corrupt use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to benefit the President or his family, or you have violated the law in order to carry out guidance from the President, you should be held accountable. And given how rampant that corruption appears to the average American, people looking to work for his Administration should realize that while the Supreme Court has granted the President immunity, it has not done the same for those who do illegal things at his behest.”
No, Slotkin doesn’t support “lawfare,” but she does believe the law should serve as a deterrent, especially for those who Trump’s seemingly unaccountable presidency has emboldened. Don’t forget that there are people serving Trump who believe they’re smarter than he is — obviously, that’s not hard. They believe they can avoid self-destructive tariffs and failed wars, while looting the government and persecuting their enemies. Even if they lose the next election, they can just walk away. Slotkin, for her part, won’t let that happen.
MAGA “attorney” Mike Davis suggested that Slotkin be shot for her remarks. Not backing down, the senator responded, “This shouldn’t be controversial: if you aid in stealing taxpayer money or directing it to enrich President Trump or his family, then you should be held accountable for that crime. That’s what I said, and I stand by it.
And if you use the justice system for frivolous lawsuits used to intimidate and jail your political opponents, you should be held accountable for that via your bar status. No abuse of power and not violating the law? Then we have no problem.”
Considering the rampant abuse of power and law violations in the Trump administration, a lot of people will have a problem with Slotkin — deservedly so.
---> the ICE agents who executed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
^^^ AMEN!!! This cannot just be shrugged away & forgotten. There is no statute of limitations on murder.
I suppose there has always been a two-tiered system of justice, one for the privileged and one for the average citizen; but in my lifetime the really obvious start to the the downward slide was the pardon of Richard Nixon. And now here we are, with a sitting president who is guilty of so many crimes we can barely keep count, along with the many, many aiders and abettors in and out of the administration. Politics has become the playground of the morally bankrupt and the hypocrite.
Trump will, of course, pardon himself, his family, and everyone else who he can think of (or collect a bribe from) when he finally goes, and I would bet that those documents are already drawn and ready. It will take years to work through all of the legal ramifications, but if we do not pursue this disgusting lawlessness, this perversion of democracy and shitting on the Constitution, the next potential demagogue will not even think twice about doing it again. There have to be legal consequences and serious damage to reputations. We cannot allow it all to go unpunished.