The democracy of the United States, which prides itself on being an example and a guide for the world, is being tested amid 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 in question following the imputation of one of the country’s presidents, Donald Trump, for first time in almost 250 years of history.
The media in the United States never tire of warning about the risks presented by the “uncharted territory” that the nation has entered. Even after having lived through and overcome the atrocity of a coup attempt orchestrated by the former president himself – and perhaps to be about him again – the local chronicles about the decision of a grand jury to indict- to bribe the porn actress Stormy Daniels distill all kinds of fears. The grand jury agreement “sets a dangerous precedent and undermines our legal system,” says analyst Sarah Isgur in the conservative magazine The Dispacht. “Whether it is justified or not, the imputation crosses a huge line in the politics and legal history of the USA”, Harvard Law professor Jack Goldsmith, a former senior Justice official under George W. Bush, opines for The New York Times.
The first steps taken by the main actors in this national drama, Trump and the Republican Party, do not bode well. Far from asking for respect for judicial decisions or an elementary caution pending the assessment or not of the charges filed, all those who now count in the conservative formation, including the likely top rivals of the ex-president in the primaries of 2024 ( 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 “using justice as a political weapon†; but they also make him resonate in his personal attacks on the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, and especially on the prosecutor who urged the 23 members of the grand jury to vote on the impeachment, the head of the public ministry in the district of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg.
The ultra leader said Bragg was “handpicked” and “bought” by pro-democracy tycoon George Soros, whom he described as his great “radical left-wing enemy”. Trump claimed that Soros gave the prosecutor a million dollars when he was running to lead the main district of the Big Apple. It didn’t matter that the allegation was uncertain or at least inaccurate, since Soros didn’t directly fund Bragg’s 2021 campaign, but rather an advocacy group, Color of Change, which only allocated to the seeking half a million dollars (11% of his expenses in that electoral cycle). Despite the media’s extensive coverage of the case, DeSantis, Senator JD Vance, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated the attack on Soros in identical terms to employees for what now appears to be his chief of staff. rows
Other prominent members of the Grand Old Party likened the impeachment of Donald Trump to the arbitrary and vindictive arrests and prosecutions of any banana republic or authoritarian regime. “Daniel Ortega arrested his opposition in Nicaragua and we described it as a horrible fact”, said the president of the National Security Committee of the House of Representatives, Mark Green, indignantly, just when the accusation against the former president became known .
The unanimous Republican offensive implies a questioning of the system that until recently had been unusual, however much the independence of the administrators of justice is here as relative or more so than in so many other countries where the question generates debate from time to time, as Spain
Most judges and prosecutors in the United States are elected by popular vote, often under a partisan banner, or appointed by the president or a governor and then ratified by the appropriate Senate or House. And this system, which at the 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 into conflict with the Republican shenanigans… Although Republicans might say the same thing about Democratic criticism of conservative judges – half appointed by Trump – who overturned abortion rights and other advances a few months ago.
Unlike other countries with legal systems influenced by the legacies of the French Revolution and where high officials enjoy broad quorum rights, politicians in the United States can be prosecuted in almost any court. And even if Trump is no longer a high official but an ordinary citizen, the lack of filters and protections of dignitaries and ex-dignitaries is also disturbing now.
The consequences of the imputation against the Republican leader worry politicians and lawyers – explains Peter Baker in The New York Times -, “especially because the accusation has been presented by a local prosecutor and not by the Department of Justice”. This “opens the door for prosecutors from all over the country to pursue a president.” So any local, conservative representative of the public ministry could criminally impeach President Biden for not adequately protecting the border, for example.
The great dilemma that seems to underlie the widespread fear of the “dangerous” and historic “crossing of a line” never crossed in the United States is the one that was already raised in the Watergate case and was recalled on the occasion of investigations into Trump’s role in the storming of the Capitol or the secret papers he hid in his home: Treat a former president like the man in the street he is and bring the full weight of the law down on him, no matter what whatever happens, 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 arise?
Almost fifty years ago, in September 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned and avoided the trial of his predecessor, Richard Nixon, because he invoked, precisely, “the serious economic problems” of a country still “embroiled in a war in Southeast Asia”. The big difference with the current situation is that, a month earlier, Republican leaders had convinced Nixon to resign from office.
Now, notables in the conservative party are doing the opposite. For obvious electoral reasons or, in other words, in order not to anger a base mostly devoted to Trump, the Republicans not only make a fuss about the former president, but in many cases try to monetize his imputation and ask for money for to support him in his aspirations for re-election.
Donation requests from Trump’s own campaign organization were joined on Thursday by an email encouraging the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which supports Trump’s upper house campaigns, to continue 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 impeachment, Trump’s campaign raised more than $4 million.
It must be said that the Democrats did not stand idly by. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee cited the “unprecedented allegation” against the former president in a fundraising email.
Votes and money. This is what the great American democracy is all about now.
