No Trump Perp Walk Yet

Some people don’t commit crimes because they’re upright, moral members of society, often with strong social bonds. Others don’t commit crimes because they don’t want to be punished— or even because they don't want to worry that they could be punished. I think a lot of politicians— and certainly 100% of conservative politicians— are in the latter category. But if people in that category feel they are never going to be held accountable, what will stop them from committing crimes?

I know Trump is an extreme example of someone who feel that accountability is not a factor, but I want to make a point about other politicians, not Trump per se… more like people who have used Trump as more of a role model. Yesterday, David Graham took on the whole GOP argument that If they can come for Trump, they can come for anyone. Republicans are trying to use that argument to frighten people. That’s probably because they feel frightened by it themselves. But of course, the point is that the only people who need tone frightened by that proposition are people who have lived criminal lives… like Trump— and those using him as a role model.

Graham picked Arizona fascist Andy Biggs as an example. With no sense of irony, he tweeted the argument over the weekend, that law enforcement come come for anyone if they could come for Trump. OK? And something is wrong with that? Graham, in fact, wrote that “that’s exactly the point.” He could have directed it to any one of dozens of MAGA loons, and certainly to the low-IQ variety who are beating that drum most loudly, like Marjorie Traitor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

“An indictment of the former president,” wrote Graham, “followed by orderly due process, would show that no one is immune to following the law simply because he is famous, wealthy, politically powerful, willing to threaten the justice system, or possessed of intemperate and powerful followers such as Representative Andy Biggs. Biggs has accidentally stumbled on the secret of rule of law, in which no one is above accountability.

In 2013, the Journal of Business Ethics published a study by Debra Comer, Leslie Sekerka and Eric Ellington, “The Relationship Between Ethical Leadership and Unethical Behavior in the Workplace: A Social Cognitive Perspective,” which showed that executives who had a sense of entitlement were more likely to engage in unethical behavior, such as lying and cheating. Another study, “The Dark Side of Going Abroad: How Broad Foreign Experiences Increase Immoral Behavior,” by Jackson Lu, Jordi Quoidbach, Daniel Rand, David Tannenbaum and Adam Galinsky and published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (2017) found that people who felt more entitled were more likely to engage in unethical behavior, such as taking office supplies for personal use or cheating on their taxes. These studies suggest that a sense of entitlement can lead people to feel that they are exempt from the rules and can get away with unethical or criminal behavior.

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer on December 11, 2015, Senator Paul said that

“The bottom line is that I think [Trump is] a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag. And it's all driven by his insatiable appetite for power. The problem with bullies is that they think they can always bully their way to victory. But I don't think that's going to work this time.” I wonder what caused Paul to change his mind about Trump. And it looks like Lindsey Graham his his mind as well.

David Graham-- no relation to Lindsey-- noted that “Whether Trump committed a crime beyond a reasonable doubt is a question for a jury or judge, but the evidence that he may have committed several is blatant and public enough that allowing him to escape scrutiny would represent a genuine blow to the legitimacy of the justice system. If they can come for you, you’d better hope they can come for the former president too.”

Speaking about Trump on CNN (December 8, 2015), Senator Lindsey Graham said "I think he's a kook. I think he's crazy. I think he's unfit for office. I think he's a xenophobic, race-baiting, religious bigot. He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for."

During a rally in Salem, Virginia on February 26, 2016, Senator Marco Rubio said: “Donald Trump has zero foreign policy experience. Negotiating a hotel deal in another country is not foreign policy experience. He is wholly unprepared to be president of the United States. This is a time for seriousness. It's not a time for games. It's not a time for vanity projects. It's not a time for sending tweets at 3:00 in the morning. Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.” Today Rubio is a vociferous defender of Trump who has referred two Trump’s problems with the law as “a partisan scam.”