Rachel Maddow said there was nothing unusual about politicians being indicted. It happens all of the time, but Trump is trying to use his indictment to break the rule of law.
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Rachel #Maddow says politician indictments are normal unless "a particular politician seeks to make his indictment a catalyst for his supporters and his party rising up and declaring that the legal system is now over, that the legal system should not apply to him." pic.twitter.com/2dRQBykola
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) March 31, 2023
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Maddow said, “Indicting politicians is totally normal we do it all the time and we can handle it. Unless unless a particular politician seeks to make his indictment a catalyst for his supporters and his party rising up and declaring that the legal system is now over, that the legal system should not apply to him and therefore it no longer applies at all that would be something different. That is not an inevitable consequence of a politician being indicted that is what this former politician and candidate for office is trying to do for the first time that’s the hard part that’s the part that could break us as a country.”
Trump is going to use this indictment as part of his attack on the rule of law, and if he can somehow delegitimize the Manhattan indictment it would serve as a springboard for attacking the entire legal system and the rule of law itself.
It can be credibility argued that Trump dedicated most of the energy of his presidency to undermining the rule of law. Whether it was his attacks on the FBI, the intelligence community, or the Department of Justice, Donald Trump didn’t just think of himself as above the law but seemed determined to destroy legal accountability.
The next front in the battle to keep American democracy looks like it will be a courtroom in Manhattan.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
