American democracy, which claims to be an example and guide for the world, is put to the test amidst sudden doubts about the consistency of its pillars. The separation of powers and principles of the rule of law such as the rule of law or the equality of all before it are suddenly called into question as a result of the imputation of one of the presidents of the country, Donald Trump, for the first time in nearly 250 years of history.
The US media never tire of warning about the risks posed by the “uncharted territory” the nation has entered. Even after having lived through and overcome the atrocity of a coup attempt orchestrated by the same ex-president -and perhaps because it was him again-, the local chronicles about the decision of a grand jury to incriminate him for bribing the porn actress Stormy Daniels exude all kinds of fears The grand jury settlement “sets a dangerous precedent and undermines our legal system,” says analyst Sarah Isgur in the conservative magazine The Dispacht. “Whether justified or not, the impeachment crosses a huge line in American politics and legal history,” Harvard Law professor Jack Goldsmith, a former senior justice official with George W. Bush.
The first steps taken by the main actors in this national drama, Trump and the Republican Party, do not bode well. Far from any call for respect for judicial decisions or for elementary caution pending the estimation or not of the charges made, all those who now count in the conservative formation, including the probable maximum rivals of the former president in the 2024 primaries, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence not only enthusiastically second him in his generic accusations of “political persecutionâ€, “witch hunts†and “the use of justice as a political weaponâ€; They also join in their personal attacks on the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, and especially the prosecutor who urged the 23 members of the grand jury to vote on the indictment, the head of the public prosecutor’s office in the Manhattan district, Alvin Bragg.
The ultra leader said that Bragg was “handpicked” and “bought” by pro-Democratic magnate George Soros, whom he described as his great “radical left enemy”. Trump claimed that Soros gave the prosecutor a million dollars when he was running to head the main district of the Big Apple. It didn’t matter that the accusation was untrue or at best inaccurate, since Soros did not directly finance Bragg’s campaign for office in 2021, but rather a support group, Color of Change, which only allocated half a million dollars to the candidate (a 11% of their expenses in that electoral cycle). Despite the fact that the media had not fully clarified the matter, DeSantis, Senator JD Vance or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated the attack on Soros in identical terms to the employees for whom he seems to continue to be their leader.
Other prominent members of the Grand Old Party equated the impeachment of Donald Trump to the arbitrary and revengeful arrests and prosecutions of any banana republic or authoritarian regime. “Daniel Ortega arrested his opposition in Nicaragua and we call that a horrible thing,” said the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Mark Green, indignantly, as soon as the accusation against the former president was made public.
The unanimous Republican offensive implies a questioning of the system that until recently would have been unusual, no matter how much the independence of justice administrators is as relative here or more so than in many other countries where the matter generates debate from time to time, such as in Spain.
Most judges and prosecutors are elected by popular vote in the United States, often under a partisan banner, or appointed by the president or a governor to be ratified by the corresponding Senate or House. And this system, which at non-federal levels varies according to the laws of the different states but in any case used to be considered as part of the virtuous democracy of the nation, is now coming to grips with the Republican attacks… Although something similar The Republicans could say of the Democratic criticism of the conservative magistrates –half of them appointed by Trump– who a few months ago knocked down the right to abortion and other advances.
Unlike other countries with legal systems influenced by the legacies of the French Revolution and where high-ranking officials enjoy extensive trial rights, US politicians can be prosecuted in almost any court. And, although Trump is no longer a senior official but an ordinary citizen, the lack of filters and protections for dignitaries and former dignitaries is also worrying now.
The consequences of the imputation of the Republican leader worry politicians and lawyers – explains Peter Baker in The New York Times – “especially since the accusation has been presented by a local prosecutor and not by the Department of Justiceâ€. That “opens the door for prosecutors from all over the country to go after a president.†Thus, any local and conservative representative of the public ministry could criminally charge President Biden for not adequately protecting the border, for example.
The great dilemma that seems to underlie the general scare caused by the “dangerous” and historic “crossing of a line” never crossed until now in the United States is the one that was already raised in the Watergate case and was being recalled on the occasion of the investigations into Trump’s role in the assault on the Capitol or about the secret papers he hid in his house: Should we treat a former president as the citizen he is and bring the full weight of the law down on him, no matter what Or is it preferable to turn a blind eye to avoid outbreaks of violence and not have the country focused almost exclusively on a trial when internal economic problems and serious external conflicts are superfluous?
Almost fifty years ago, in September 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned and avoided trial his predecessor, Richard Nixon, precisely invoking “the serious economic problems” of a country still “wrapped in a war in Southeast Asia.” . The big difference with the current situation is that, a month earlier, the Republican leadership had convinced Nixon to resign from office.
Now, the notables of the conservative party do the opposite. For obvious electoral reasons or, in other words, in order not to anger a base that is mostly devoted to Trump, the Republicans not only close ranks around the ex-president, but in many cases they try to monetize his imputation and ask for money to support him in his re-election aspirations.
Added to the requests for donations by the Trump campaign’s own organization was an email on Thursday in which the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which supports its campaigns for the Upper House, encouraged following a link with the same purpose.
And Senator Lindsey Graham used an interview on Fox to urge viewers to “give this man some money to fight this shit.” And it all worked: Within 24 hours of the indictment, the Trump campaign raised more than $4 million.
It must be said that the Democrats did not sit idly by. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee cited the “unprecedented indictment” against the former president in a fundraising email.
Votes and money. This is what it is all about now in the great democracy of the United States.
