For this weeks Underlined I thought it would be most fitting to repost the piece I wrote last summer when the news broke of the FBI raid at Trumps Mar-a-Lago home (aka simpler times.)
As the former president faces four indictments with charges of 91 crimes on the federal and state level, my point still holds true: no one should be above the law. Not the most powerful Democrat, nor the most powerful Republican. For too long, this has not been true. I hope the Trump indictments (regardless of the ultimate outcome) will set precedent that if a president is reasonably suspected of a crime they should be investigated and prosecuted.
Presidents and other powerful leaders on both sides have taken criminal risks, broken international law, and violated the trust of the American people, all without facing justice in a nation where men and women are supposedly equal before the law.
While the ultimate fate of the Trump trials are unknown, it’s reasonable to believe the Supreme Court will have the final say. The relationship between presidential politics, power, and justice hangs in the balance.
As the disgraced President Nixon departed from the nations capital in August 1974, Gerald Ford said during his inaugural address, “Our long national nightmare is over.” The pardon President Ford issued a month later allowed the nightmare of injustice to persist. Today, we have the opportunity to truly awake from that long national nightmare and hold our corrupt leaders accountable.
When President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in 1974, it set a bad precedent—presidents are above the law. The FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago has taken a step in the right direction in changing that.
In the past century, American political culture has idolized former presidents, even more than when they were in office. For decades former presidents have been members of an unofficial elitist gentlemen's club that expects its brotherhood to adopt special rules and uphold traditional norms. Presidents have fostered a culture that protects one another and isolates their status as something with unique benefits—the most outrageous example being the Nixon pardon in 1974.
When Ford pardoned Nixon, he was upholding the club, giving the former president a blanket pass for the crimes he committed—a privilege Nixon received only because he was the president.
In our nation, supposedly founded on the notion of "liberty and justice for all," we must recognize these virtues without exception for our former leaders.
Ford argued he pardoned Nixon so that the country could 'move on'—in other words, he didn't want his presidency absorbed by a polarizing trial and shadow of Nixon. While Ford's pardon has been attributed to his loss in 1976, it was celebrated in proceeding years, even winning Ford a Profile In Courage award from the John F Kennedy Presidential Library in 2001. The award honors a leader whose "actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership…by embracing unpopular positions for the greater good."
Reflecting on Ford's decision at a time when a former president has been accused of committing countless crimes, it's safe to say the pardon was not "for the greater good" but against it.
Ford reasoned that if Nixon were pardoned, “the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and abroad,”That's true, prosecuting a president is not something a healthy democratic system should have to endure…but letting corrupt leaders off the hook is just as crucial to upholding a healthy democratic system.
If corrupt politicians were treated as they should be—like criminals—then their successors might be less tempted to fall into the same bad habits.
Some of the arguments made to justify Ford's actions are echoed today. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and founder of the Forward Party, Andrew Yang, tweeted, "I'm no Trump fan. I want him as far away from the White House as possible. But a fundamental part of his appeal has been that it's him against a corrupt government establishment. This raid strengthens that case for millions of Americans who will see this as unjust persecution."
Yang is correct, millions will see this as an unjust persecution, but facts and justice should not weigh the feelings of fanatical and misguided Trump supporters.
Would prosecuting the former president be polarizing? Yes. But would it send a message that the American justice system actually stands for justice? Yes.
Justice should be blind to political reactions—Lady Justice is wearing a blindfold for a reason. The law should focus on facts and the crime that's been alleged, not whether the person was the president.
Trump likely did break the law, and a Trump trial will be polarizing, but these two factors are not adversarial—the latter is simply a reaction to the former.
The FBI raid is unprecedented, but it shouldn't be. We must prosecute those in power when they break the law.
When a future president considers breaking the law and violating the people's trust, they should think back to this moment and not feel protected by their position, as Trump was in 2018 when he tweeted, "I have the absolute right to pardon myself."
The FBI raid is unprecedented and will stoke anger and frustration for Trump supporters, but when the time comes for history to judge the American justice system and for precedents to be set, it should be the Trump raid and not the Ford pardon that is considered.
Well written and I am in total agreement. Nixon should not have been pardoned. Prosecution was called for, not pardon. Reviewing what Trump continues to reveal about himself, it appears he hasn't done/said an honest thing in his life. A trial presenting all evidence uncovered is definitely in order and is deserved by the American people.