Donald Trump’s promise to seek retribution challenges long-established norms. The election could hinge in part on what kind of justice system the country believes it has now and wants in the future.
But if he is already challenging bedrock norms about the justice system as a candidate, Mr. Trump, if he wins the presidency again, would gain immense authority to actually carry out the kinds of legal retribution he has been promoting.
He will be able to tell its officials to investigate and prosecute his rivals, and Mr. Trump, who has made no secret of his desire to purge the federal bureaucracy of those found insufficiently loyal to his agenda, will be able to fire those who refuse.
Mr. Trump’s musings on his planned prosecutions serve an immediate political purpose, highlighting his argument that his conviction in New York was the product of an effort by Democrats to keep him from being elected again and providing the red meat of prospective retribution to his base.
Mr. Trump and his supporters have argued that the system is already politicized, pointing to the four criminal prosecutions against him as irrefutable evidence — an assertion rejected by those who say that no one, including a former president or leading presidential candidate, is above the law.
Mr. Rivkin, an author of a recent opinion essay in The Wall Street Journal arguing that Mr. Trump’s felony convictions in New York violated his right to due process, said the former president’s threats were “mostly bluster.” But he added that they were problematic.
“He is being prosecuted in multiple federal and state courts in unprecedented fashion because his misconduct in office and as a candidate was sufficiently egregious that it threatened the basic stability of American democracy and the rule of law in this county, not to mention the existence and relevance of truth as a category of political life.”
The original article contains 1,366 words, the summary contains 281 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
But if he is already challenging bedrock norms about the justice system as a candidate, Mr. Trump, if he wins the presidency again, would gain immense authority to actually carry out the kinds of legal retribution he has been promoting.
He will be able to tell its officials to investigate and prosecute his rivals, and Mr. Trump, who has made no secret of his desire to purge the federal bureaucracy of those found insufficiently loyal to his agenda, will be able to fire those who refuse.
Mr. Trump’s musings on his planned prosecutions serve an immediate political purpose, highlighting his argument that his conviction in New York was the product of an effort by Democrats to keep him from being elected again and providing the red meat of prospective retribution to his base.
Mr. Trump and his supporters have argued that the system is already politicized, pointing to the four criminal prosecutions against him as irrefutable evidence — an assertion rejected by those who say that no one, including a former president or leading presidential candidate, is above the law.
Mr. Rivkin, an author of a recent opinion essay in The Wall Street Journal arguing that Mr. Trump’s felony convictions in New York violated his right to due process, said the former president’s threats were “mostly bluster.” But he added that they were problematic.
“He is being prosecuted in multiple federal and state courts in unprecedented fashion because his misconduct in office and as a candidate was sufficiently egregious that it threatened the basic stability of American democracy and the rule of law in this county, not to mention the existence and relevance of truth as a category of political life.”
The original article contains 1,366 words, the summary contains 281 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!