So Much Norming

Redsteeze is right.

Captain houseplant’s primary pitch in 2020 was not being Donald Trump. One of his ostensible advantages was the prospect of a “return to normalcy.” That meant more than just ending the daily rage machine nurtured by Trump; it also meant a respecting the institutional norms that Trump was said to so often disregard. Trump certainly was guilty as charged although most of the criticism was rooted in simple double standards. It’s true that Trump’s conflicts of interest were more obvious than most, but it’s silly to pretend there isn’t a long list of “public servants” who mysteriously accumulate fortunes while in office.

In just over two years the Norms crowd has ignored a court order to end the eviction moratorium, unilaterally declared a debt moratorium with no basis in law, persued an open border, repeatedly violated the Hatch Act, pushed for packing the Supreme Court and abolishing the Electoral College, and advocated for DC statehood (anyone who knows anything about what the Founders thought of the seat of federal power realizes how extremist that view is). And yet, Democrats broke new ground this week with the indictment of President Trump.

“No man is above the law” is beatific sloganeering but a vacuous sentiment in this case. Forgetting for a moment that Alvin Bragg is famous precisely for not prosecuting crime, which was the entire reason for his campaign for Manhattan DA, misdemeanors past the statute of limitations are not turned into criminal prosecutions against random people. Obviously. And, you can celebrate the idea of finally getting that coveted mugshot you wanted for Christmas without pretending otherwise. To call Bragg’s case flimsy would be an insult to Terry Sanderson.

It must first be stipulated that being creepy and gross is not a crime in the state of New York, although it did finally lead to a gubernatorial change in 2021. The premise of criminalizing a seven-year old misdemeanor is that Trump, who made a habit of making hush-money payments, made one particular disbursement as a campaign expense that he did not properly report. Before she was Kathy Hochul’s doormat, Attorney General Tish James hoped to ride a persecution of Trump to the governor’s mansion. James campaigned for AG on the platform of investigating Trump, an obvious perversion of how the law is meant to work. Meanwhile the classified documents case against Trump seemed to fizzle about five seconds after it was discovered that President Biden improperly stored secret government files within reach of his crackhead, influence-peddling son. Far be it from me to deny the joy of progressives across the country, but spare us the platitudes about simply pursuing justice.

On the bright side, Hunter Biden will almost certainly be indicted. As a 2024 campaign strategy the indictment of Trump is undeniably brilliant; it elevates his prospect in the primary, and further erodes his already-weak position in a general election. But, as usual Democrats have taken a myopic view for the sake of political expediency. In 2013 Harrah Reid nuked the judicial filibuster, and four years later Republicans confirmed Neil Gorsuch on a 54-45 party-line vote. The flood gates are now open. Yes, of course the pursuit of Trump is banana republic stuff, and also there’s no reason for some ambitious local prosecutor to not indict Nany Pelosi for insider trading, Hunter Biden for influence peddling, or Illhan Omar for campaign finance violations.