[The acceptance of Trump’s behavior by millions of his
supporters will be his vilest legacy. ] [[link removed]]

TRUMP’S VILEST LEGACY  
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Rober
January 27, 2021
Robert Reich [[link removed]]

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_ The acceptance of Trump’s behavior by millions of his supporters
will be his vilest legacy. _

, Michael Vadon

 

Most of the 74,222,957 Americans who voted to reelect Donald Trump –
46.8 percent of the votes cast in the 2020 presidential election –
don’t hold Trump accountable for what he’s done to America. 

Their acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy.  

Nearly forty years ago, political scientist James Q. Wilson and
criminologist George Kelling observed that a broken window left
unattended in a community signals that no one cares if windows are
broken there. The broken window is thereby an invitation to throw more
stones and break more windows. The message: Do whatever you want here
because others have done it and got away with it.

The broken window theory has led to picayune and arbitrary law
enforcement in poor communities. But America’s most privileged and
powerful have been breaking big windows with impunity.

In 2008, Wall Street nearly destroyed the economy. The Street got
bailed out while millions of Americans lost their jobs, savings, and
homes. Yet no major Wall Street executive ever went to jail.

In more recent years, top executives of Purdue Pharmaceuticals, along
with the members of the Sackler family who own it, knew the dangers of
OxyContin but did nothing. Executives at Wells Fargo Bank pushed bank
employees to defraud customers. Executives at Boeing hid the results
of tests showing its 737 Max Jetliner was unsafe. Police chiefs across
America looked the other way as police under their command repeatedly
killed innocent Black Americans.

Here, too, they’ve got away with it. These windows remain broken.

Trump has brought impunity to the highest office in the land, wielding
a wrecking ball to the most precious windowpane of all – American
democracy.

The message? A president can obstruct special counsels’
investigations of his wrongdoing, push foreign officials to dig up
dirt on political rivals, fire inspectors general who find corruption,
order the entire executive branch to refuse congressional subpoenas,
flood the Internet with fake information about his opponents, refuse
to release his tax returns, accuse the press of being “fake media”
and “enemies of the people,” and make money off his presidency.

And he can get away with it. Almost half of the electorate will even
vote for his reelection.

A president can also lie about the results of an election without a
shred of evidence – and yet, according to polls, be believed by the
vast majority of those who voted for him.

Trump’s recent pardons have broken double-paned windows.

Not only has he shattered the norm for presidential pardons –
usually granted because of a petitioner’s good conduct after
conviction and service of sentence – but he’s pardoned people who
themselves shattered windows. By pardoning them, he has rendered them
unaccountable for their acts.

They include aides convicted of lying to the FBI and threatening
potential witnesses in order to protect him; his son-in-law’s
father, who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, witness tampering, illegal
campaign contributions, and lying to the Federal Election Commission;
Blackwater security guards convicted of murdering Iraqi civilians,
including women and children; Border Patrol agents convicted of
assaulting or shooting unarmed suspects; and Republican lawmakers and
their aides found guilty of fraud, obstruction of justice and campaign
finance violations.

It’s not simply the size of the broken window that undermines
standards, according to Wilson and Kelling. It’s the willingness of
society to look the other way. If no one is held accountable, norms
collapse.

Trump may face a barrage of lawsuits when he leaves office, possibly
including criminal charges. But it’s unlikely he’ll go to jail.
Presidential immunity or a self-pardon will protect him. Prosecutorial
discretion would almost certainly argue against indictment, in any
event. No former president has ever been convicted of a crime. The
mere possibility of a criminal trial for Trump would ignite a partisan
brawl across the nation.

Congress may try to limit the power of future presidents –
strengthening congressional oversight, fortifying the independence of
inspectors general, demanding more financial disclosure, increasing
penalties on presidential aides who break laws, restricting the pardon
process, and so on.

But Congress – a co-equal branch of government under the
Constitution – cannot rein in rogue presidents. And the courts
don’t want to weigh in on political questions.

The appalling reality is that Trump may get away with it. And in
getting away with it he will have changed and degraded the norms
governing American presidents. The giant windows he’s broken are
invitations to a future president to break even more.

Nothing will correct this unless or until an overwhelming majority of
Americans recognize and condemn what has occurred.

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