John Bolton, who served as President Donald Trump's national security adviser during his first term, surrendered to authorities Friday after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that allege he mishandled classified information.
While many here celebrate this, and I do not want to take away from this at all… I call to caution - lets not be naive, this kind of trial will be used to consolidate power further in the right wing Republican realm.
The US is now effectively run by a junta. The whole using the state’s legal machinery to kneecap your political rivals thing is a core feature of such a political environment. Amusingly, Russiagate and the subsequent lawfare to get Trump off the ballot set a massive precedent. The Democrats opened a Pandora’s box, and now the Republicans have the box, they’ve learned how to use everything inside it, and they’re not being shy about it. Now, if your side loses power then you might end up at a kangaroo court in the defendant’s chair. So, the party in power has every incentive to weaponize the courts and the bureaucracy because they know the other side will absolutely do the same to them if they get a turn.
And the Dems managed to set that precedent without actually managing to put Trump behind bars for his many actual crimes, or even managing to get him off the ballot.
Same as their big pro-cop, anti-immigrant push, they move right to appear “tough” by building tools of oppression that of course can be used by all later governments and are never scrapped. And of course it’s not just to appear tough, it is also left-punching and friendly to their bourgeois interests.
While many here celebrate this, and I do not want to take away from this at all… I call to caution - lets not be naive, this kind of trial will be used to consolidate power further in the right wing Republican realm.
The US is now effectively run by a junta. The whole using the state’s legal machinery to kneecap your political rivals thing is a core feature of such a political environment. Amusingly, Russiagate and the subsequent lawfare to get Trump off the ballot set a massive precedent. The Democrats opened a Pandora’s box, and now the Republicans have the box, they’ve learned how to use everything inside it, and they’re not being shy about it. Now, if your side loses power then you might end up at a kangaroo court in the defendant’s chair. So, the party in power has every incentive to weaponize the courts and the bureaucracy because they know the other side will absolutely do the same to them if they get a turn.
And the Dems managed to set that precedent without actually managing to put Trump behind bars for his many actual crimes, or even managing to get him off the ballot.
Same as their big pro-cop, anti-immigrant push, they move right to appear “tough” by building tools of oppression that of course can be used by all later governments and are never scrapped. And of course it’s not just to appear tough, it is also left-punching and friendly to their bourgeois interests.
lol yeah