Nothing exists in a vacuum. The latest development of the day is not separate from the larger context in which it occurred. That being said, we all are guilty of mentally moving on from one headline to the next, and not keeping track of the interrelation of events that paint a larger picture. Call it human nature in the digital age. Add another layer, call it the Trump Factor, and we have all been steadily desensitized to what will shock the conscience – we are frogs in the slowly boiling pot. We have all been afflicted to varying degrees by his reality distortion field and gas-lighted to the brink of numbness and indifference.
It’s helpful sometimes, however, to get in a good old-fashioned factual recap of important events. The general theme of this recap will be the destruction of norms, erosion of decency & ethics, unconstitutional and unlawful activity, and general dereliction of duty. That’s a lot, I know, but stay with me because it’s important that we all remind ourselves that the lawful search and seizure of boxes and boxes of classified & top secret documents at Trump’s Mar a Lago estate was not something that just occurred out of the blue; it did not happen in a vacuum. It happened within the larger context that Trump has always conducted himself as if the rules do not apply to him.
Trump’s track record; not good; actually really bad:
- July, 2019: In a blatant extortion plot, he tried to pressure and shake down the Ukranian President for dirt on his political opponent in exchange for providing military aid. And just because the aid was eventually released does not change that fact. He was impeached for this.
- He groomed his base and laid the groundwork for his election loss, being the professional sore loser that he is. Before a single vote was cast he said again and again that if he lost it would be the result of cheating or voter fraud. No evidence of any widespread voter fraud that would have impacted the results was ever found before, during, or after the election.
- Trump lost a free and fair election, refused to concede and in fact lied to the American people telling them that he won. This incredibly dangerous act has laid the groundwork for possible armed conflict now between Americans.
- He helped orchestrate and conspired to have slates of fake electors created in order to try and overturn the results in several swing states he lost. They were in place and ready to go IF Pence had refused to certify the election, refused to follow the constitution and thrown the process back to the state legislators.
- He tried to get Georgia state officials, including the Secretary of State, to toss out 11K plus legally-cast votes or create votes that weren’t there. “All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have… Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.”
- Another part of his scheme to overthrow the 2020 election was a plan to remove his Attorney General in the last days of his Presidency and replace him with someone who would do his bidding and send a false memo to the states indicating that there was credible evidence of election fraud (there was no evidence).
- He organized and unleashed a violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan 6th, resulting in the ransacking of the historic building, several deaths, and hundreds of injuries. He was aware that several people in that mob were armed with weapons, but he didn’t care because they were on his side, he said. He called for the armed individuals to be allowed through the magnetometers. A violation of his constitutional duties.
- During the violent attack on the Capitol where numerous police officers were assaulted, he sat in the White House watching it all happen on TV and made no effort to stop it, despite the pleadings from his staff, family members, and other high profile Republicans. It was a stunning dereliction of Presidential duty.
- He is currently under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for his cumulative insurrection efforts to overthrow the 2020 election and the government of the United States of America.
- When he left the White House, he took dozens of boxes with him that contained hundreds and hundreds of classified docs, that were not his. They belonged to the American people and still do.
- He cannot just wave a magic wand, as has been argued by those in Trump world, and automatically declassify documents. There is a process for that. There is no evidence this process was followed for any of the documents.
- He was asked numerous times to return the boxes of docs to the possession of the national archives. These requests were met by refusals and delay tactics. Eventually after more than a year of back and forth, 15 or so boxes were finally returned. A sworn statement from a Trump lawyer indicated that all classified and top secret material had been returned, at that point. That wasn’t true. Trump and his attorneys continued to refuse to hand over the remaining boxes, eventually leading to the search warrant that was authorized based on the highly scrutinized probable cause of a federal crime.
He was told he couldn’t take them. He did it anyway. He was asked to return the documents, he refused. Finally, a legal search warrant resulted in the seizure of those documents by career law enforcement officials just performing their patriotic duty.
What was he planning to do with those documents…top secret information that could jeopardize national security and the lives of numerous intelligence assets? Why did he think he could brake the law and keep possession of them? We may know the answer to these and other questions soon enough. He will most likely be indicted on multiple charges and held accountable for his actions. No one is above the law, even a twice-impeached, disgraced, and insurrectionist former President trying to destroy our democracy. If you or I or Lindsay Graham or Kevin McCarthy or Nancy Pelosi would be prosecuted for doing what Trump did then so should he. Remember, Al Capone was put in jail for tax evasion. The law is the law.