There is no greater threat to any nation that holds itself to be above a fascist anarchy, than a general prosecutor (attorney general) who takes on a mission to investigate and prosecute political enemies of the “state.” Fascists always refer to dissenters from another party as “enemies of the state.” They can always find crimes demonstrating an enemies adversarial relationship with government.
Bill Barr is walking straight into a role developed by Stalin, East Germany’s state police, the Italians under Franco, and all through Central American in the 80s and 90s. Barr is going after the people who make Trump’s life difficult. Story [1]:
The deeply conservative Barr has opened investigations into special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe and FISA warrants used to put Trump associates under surveillance in 2016, and he’s repeatedly gone after former FBI director James Comey and others who looked into Trump’s ties to Russia, reported the Intelligencer [2].
Listen to Jonathon Chait, who puts his finger right on the problem:
No single case is egregious enough to prove bias on its own,” wrote New York Magazine columnist Jonathan Chait. “The connecting thread is that Trump’s enemies are scoured for any violation that can be found, and held to the strictest letter of the law, while his allies are given broad latitude.”
Yes, consider, Barr has investigated Comey’s actions with respect to Russian tampering with our 2016 election, and Barr is investigating how Mueller ran his investigation. But we have yet to hear Barr announce an investigation into how it was that Comey was fired (to end the Russian investigation,) nor have we heard about an investigation into the extortion of Ukraine, the money withheld against GAO’s findings, the surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch, nor Trump’s illegal invocation of privilege with respect to everything sought by the House, we have not heard a word about Trump illegally keeping his taxes from Congress, or possible campaign finance crimes paying off Stormy. Not. A. Word.
That is a fascist prosecutor. He doesn’t enforce the law, he goes after the person, based upon how that person aligns vis a vi the president.
“Trump is not arbitrarily having his opponents arrested,” Chait wrote. “He is doing something more subtle, but still extremely dangerous: using the Department of Justice to selectively hold his opponents to the most exacting levels of legal scrutiny that are not broadly applied. It doesn’t even matter that not every investigation brings charges, and the charges themselves probably won’t hold up in court.” “The time, expense, and reputational cost of the investigations will be damaging enough,” he added.
Indeed, the fact that charges are not ultimately brought to court, or at least not held up in court, actually makes it easier for Barr. It keeps Barr from facing direct political consequences for bringing show-trials. Attorneys and departments can be sanctioned, sued for malicious prosecution, and even jailed. But just harassing someone will never be stopped.
Does anyone doubt that if Barr could make a criminal charge stick, he would? Given all we know about him, that would be a foolish bet. If Trump wins one more turn, and more judges get appointed and run through the system, it would seem there would be less and less reason to refrain from actual arrests, and we can take the final steps into the dictatorship, the one of which Trump and Barr have long dreamed.
Barr is scarier than Trump, because Barr is infinitely smarter, and leads a department that can take direct action against any U.S. citizen. Additionally, Barr has principles above and beyond money and self-aggrandizement. Barr wants holy war, he wants dominionism, and he’ll fight for his principles in odd ways that Trump never would.
Keep a damned close eye on Barr, because in the race for most dangerous man on Earth, he is running a very close second, perhaps willing to take the lead.
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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom