In what will America trust?
We learned a lot from Donald Trump before his election in 2016, during his presidency and since. So, we did not expect many more surprises from him and his supporters. But recent events have revealed more about the darkness at the center of his personal and professional life, and also the extremes to which those that support him will go. The strategy is to continually question procedures and institutions that the Trump system does not control, while accepting no questioning of those that it does. The aim is to undermine citizens’ trust in everything – the news media, the electoral process, science (because of the pandemic), and now justice. In a world without trust, anyone can believe anything, In this way, no one will hold Trump to account for the past or whatever he does next.
It is remarkable how high officials, members of the judiciary and others hasten to take part in this effort, as they rush to declare fealty to Trump. This is strikingly evident in a Manhattan court these days. The former and possibly next president is on trial for 34 cases of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a star of the pornographic firmament (who claims they had sex in 2006) shortly before the 2016 elections.
The prosecution’s star witness is Trump’s former personal lawyer/fixer who handled the issue and later turned against his boss when the then president did not protect him from the penal consequences. Into this pit of deceit and betrayal Republican senators and representatives parade daily, to show their support for Trump and slam the judicial process. Last Tuesday, no less a figure than the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, showed up to condemn the trial as a “sham.” Not only does this reflect badly on the man himself, but it also debases his office, the third highest in the land, below only the president and the vice president.
Nothing holds back Trump’s supporters, nor the system that works to manipulate politics and justice and is maintained by extremist, super-rich “benefactors.” For causes such as abolishing the right to abortion, delineating electoral districts to favor Republican candidates, eradicating regulations for the protection of the environment, etc, morality and integrity in high office become immaterial. Even senior members of the judiciary can be caught up in this. In a few weeks, the Supreme Court will rule on cases that could determine whether Trump will return to the presidency. And yet Justice Clarence Thomas will not recuse himself, despite his wife’s implication in efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.
A few days ago, The New York Times revealed that another member of the court, Samuel Alito, had an upside-down national flag flying outside his home in the days after the storming of the Capitol in January 2021, when Trump supporters carried upside-down flags. (Alito declared that his wife had raised the flag, suggesting a pattern in the highest court, where wives can be held responsible for suspicious behavior.) In short, Trump supporters criticize the justice system wherever he is being prosecuted, even as judges on the Supreme Court undermine it with their behavior.
After the attacks on trust in the news media, in politics and the electoral process, it is now the judiciary’s turn. How will the United States move on, when people cannot trust anything? The national motto, “In God we trust,” which appears on dollars, is not enough.
