You may have heard that former President Trump was indicted–again. For those of you who don’t spend their days in a courtroom, an indictment is the formal notification of a serious crime. In this case, a felony crime. A felony is a crime that can result in prison time–like murder, rape, and robbery. An indictment can only occur after a grand jury, composed of normal citizens, has listened to the evidence the accuser has, and determines it is sufficient to begin a trial. This is the third indictment for felony crimes that has been levied against Trump.
The indictment handed down this week is chilling. In it, Trump is charged with (paraphrasing)1) conspiring, through lies and deceit, to defraud the U.S. Government’s processing and certifying of election results, 2) conspiring to obstruct the Jan 6 congressional proceeding of certifying the country’s vote, 3) obstructing the certification of the vote, and 4) conspiring through threat and intimidation, to deny an individual’s right to have their vote counted. The introduction to the charges tells it all: “Despite having lost (the election), the defendant was determined to remain in power.”
In other words, Donald Trump wanted to remain in power as the President so much that he lied over and over again claiming he had won. According to the indictment, he convinced others to lie about the results of the election (there are 6 co-conspirators charged), and even launched an effort, led by his election campaign staff, to insert fake electoral voter lists to substitute for the legitimate ones in several states. Eventually, he lied to a crowd of supporters, inciting them to storm the capitol building to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
Yes, it does sound like fiction. Throw in some graphic and gritty descriptions of the locations where the lies and deceit took place and the charging document reads like a John Grisham or maybe Stephen King novel. It is some very good reading. It turns out that Trump was told repeatedly that there was no organized or disorganized election fraud. He was told by Homeland Security, the DNI, White House attorneys, State and Federal courts, the state of Arizona’s House Speaker, the state of Georgia’s Attorney General, the state of Michigan’s Senate Majority leader, the state of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, and the list goes on. Really, the labyrinthine plots and twists the man and his co-conspirators carried out are astonishing and will make a great movie one day. But not yet. We are still living through the unbelievable plot twists, because Trump is the leading Republican presidential candidate for 2024.
In response to these dramatic charges outlining illegal actions that US citizens watched unfold from Nov 2020 to Jan 2021, the Republican leadership claims that Hunter Biden is the real story. Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives, tells the public–don’t pay attention to the multiple felony offenses our likely 2024 presidential candidate is accused of committing, because this Hunter Biden guy over here, who was never an elected official, used the Biden name to get contracts from foreign companies. Furthermore, lying is not a federal offense, Trump’s lawyers are claiming. It’s free speech. He was just speaking freely when he said the election was stolen and that he won by a landslide.
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The Republican party almost unanimously continues to support Trump by their words or lack thereof. The current defense being tested by the party, that Trump’s lies are protected by the 1st amendment right to free speech, is already addressed meticulously in the charging documents. Free speech does not include lying as a scheme to instill distrust in the election process so as to overturn the results. Lies are not protected when they are part of a concerted campaign to manufacture fake electoral lists to be sent to replace the legitimate will of the people. It is an interesting position that voters should consider. Frankly, if your representatives in Congress support Trump, they do not support democracy and the rule of law.
It is that simple. Former President Trump does not think he should be subjected to the laws of the United States. He believes that he is above the law. He has expressed contempt for the Special Counsel process, and on social media ranted about “the deranged Jack Smith” and the Mueller witch hunt and Hillary Clinton and on and on. However, in America, no one is above the law. Not the former president nor Republicans who propagate his “alternative truths.”
In many homes and coffee shops, in the halls of Congress, and in DC offices, Democrats and many dignified Republicans are trying to figure out how the minds of the Trump voters, and the Republican elected officials work. It’s frightening that there are among us Americans who practically worship the accused felon, and want him to be president again. These are citizens of our nation. They grew up with us. They went to school with us and sat through the same history and political science classes that taught us the fundamentals of democracy.
We thought they were like us. How can they continue to support someone who is so clearly unfit and careless about democracy? It is baffling. As for elected officials, is it merely their desire to remain in power that drives their continuing support of Trump? Power can be seductive.
There is a popular theory that many white middle-aged and older men across America feel they are losing their traditional power in the world, and that is what drives them to support Trump. Women and minorities are replacing them, and Trump is the man to stop that. For the women Trump supporters, maybe it is the desire to be powerless. There is an attraction in not being able to make your own choices, because then you are not responsible for the outcomes. Sometimes it’s called the victim syndrome.
It will take decades of discussion and self-examination to understand what happened to our nation from 2016-2024. But it will likely be concluded that the lust for power was at the root of it all. Let us hope our democracy holds fast until then, and that less power-hungry people prevail–people who believe in serving our democracy. Let us hope we learn from this flirtation with authoritarianism. May God bless Jack Smith, and may God preserve the Republic.
The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the University’s official stance.
