We love horror movies in the same way we love roller coasters. We love the sense of fear, knowing that in the end everything will work out and the hero will triumph; we will leave the movie or the carny ride safely.
I wish that this was truth in the real world, but it isn’t.
There are tipping points, points in time reached in which the scary end-result is no longer avoidable. Historically, Themistocles defeated the Xerxes armada, rendering the army no threat and leading towards Hellenic dominion. Gunpowder is introduced into Europe. Russia acquires a nuclear capability. There is no reversal possible after these points in time, nothing legislated can stop the progress (good or bad).
A corollary that often accompanies post-tipping points is a variation on the theme of “What is past is past; there is nothing we can do now about what happened before, we can only decide what we want to do going forward.”
I fear that we have reached several tipping points, and we are tilting at windmills when we try to legislate them. Please understand, I am not saying that we need to throw in the towel, wave a white flag and surrender. Instead, we need to understand what has happened and focus our reactions on what CAN have an effect, not on what we would prefer would have been done in the past.
I want to address three of those tipping points and where I think we should focus our fight.
First, Mr. Trump.
A lot of us are convinced that what Mr. Trump did before and after the election in November 2020 was illegally contrived to keep him in power regardless of the voter’s choice. It may have been a coup; it may have been an insurrection or sedition or even treason. However, we are long past the time in which any of those things can be reliably proven in Congress. The option may be for legal action; but, what if the DOJ were to indict Mr. Trump and/or his direct associates? What would happen? A very long pre-trial period of discovery and court pleas. We already know the Mr. Trump’s MO is to delay, delay, delay. There will be multiple motions that will tie up the courts for years, raising constitutional issues that will work their way up the system, and even after negative rulings, will result in additional new motions. And, if in the end there is a hung jury, or a finding of not guilty, can you imagine the empowerment to the MAGA crowd? What if, on the other hand he is found guilty? Would he call out the armed masses to overrule the decision?
We have passed the tipping point in which Mr. Trump can be tried for treason. But, there is another pathway – shorter, cleaner and just as effective. Al Capone was never indicted for, accused of or convicted of murder, racketeering, robbery, etc. No, he was indicted and convicted of tax evasion. The net result was that he still ended up in prison and was never a threat again.
For me, the only important thing for Mr. Trump is that he be prohibited from even threatening to run for or hold any position of public trust including the Senate, Speaker of the House, President, or member of the Cabinet.