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I'm sure plenty of Democrats would like to go after everyone with an (R) after their name, but the ability to successfully prosecute or sue political opponents is still heavily contingent on them having provably committed crimes or torts. This is not an endorsement of selective prosecution, merely an observation that Trump is a uniquely vulnerable target because he can't seem to stop breaking the law. It's hard to discern if his legal troubles represent an unprecedented weaponization of the justice system versus him being an unprecedented outlier in terms of surface area for liability. Maybe indiscriminate Democrat lawfare against Republicans will become the norm, but it's hard to conclude that based on evidence available today since it's so deeply confounded by the singular choice of opponent.
What are you talking about? Politicians break the law all the time! Whether it's through illegal schemes as part of the political process, or graft conducted at the expense of the political office. Explain to me why Trump "can't seem to stop breaking the law" compared to: Nancy Pelosi's infamous insider trading; Diane Feinstein's husband profiting off business ties to China; Joe Biden profiting off Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.
American politicians break the law all the time by selling themselves to the highest bidder, and you want to grandstand about how Trump keeps breaking the law. I bet you jaywalk.
Insider trading laws are extremely lax with regard to transactions made by congresspeople. This is very convenient for them, and they should be pressured to ban congressional stock trading. The same can be said for Feinstein's conflicts of interest due her husband's business ties. Improper? Unethical? Sure. Illegal? They have expensive law degrees and lawyers (also with expensive law degrees), and they wrote the laws. Chances are they know exactly where the line is and didn't cross it. Prosecutors can't be held responsible for selective prosecution if the law hasn't actually been broken; they have no recourse even if they think lawmakers are scumbags that belong in prison.
There is an impeachment investigation over this run by congressional Republicans. It's not going well, by the way. I share your cynicism that he might have colluded with his son in influence peddling, but coming up with compelling evidence that stands up under scrutiny hasn't gone well even with motivated people at the helm. Trump, by contrast, managed to get caught on tape admitting that he possessed classified documents that he didn't declassify before leaving office. He's not merely unethical (like most of Washington), but also criminal (by the letter of the law) and incompetent. This astonishing combination of characteristics suffices to explain his legal troubles, or at least casts doubt on the theory that unprecedented Democrat norm-breaking is primarily to blame.
I've been browsing themotte for a while now and at times have been tempted to comment. This is the first time I feel i have something to contribute to a conversation. My response to this bit is catalyzed by the recent attention @ymeskhout has been bringing to lawfare.
If there is low-grade or open conservative hostility toward the establishment that Trump is the avatar of, it is because of this attitude of "we make the rules, we sneeringly violate the spirit of them and then aggressively prosecute those who don't play the game as sociopathically as we do." I am tired of people like ymeskhout sitting asking about evidence when we all know exactly what game is being played and the only thing that matters is exactly how well the corruption is concealed and how well the law is "played around".
I would argue now that the Democrats as a party have becoming exceptionally more skilled than Republicans at concealing their corruption and gaming the system to the point that they are comfortable openly flaunting their impunity. The anger that Trump is the voice of is the increasing modern understanding of just how rigged the game is and who exactly is rigging it.
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I think that's attributing too much competency to them.
Was the Obama admin's bragging of being 'scandal-free' true because they were so good at 'knowing where the lines is' or was it just because 99% of the talking heads on TV were so starry-eyed, financially-tied, potentially blackmailed that they could not do their job and uncover scandals? Heritage.org seems to lean toward the latter. Benghazi? Not a scandal? Clinton's server? Not a scandal?
I think being a good politician is 50% knowing-where-the-line-is (which I don't think anyone can do 100% as there are thousands of potential felonies at any given time), and 50% being in the right position with the people who could potentially get you in trouble.
The magic of 'A federal criminal investigation produced no charges, but FBI Director James Comey reported that the secretary and her colleagues “were extremely careless” in handling national secrets.'. See also the infamous Steele dossier.
Here is another example. Before you exclaim 'But he did get in trouble!', people who are quite a bit on the left seem to agree with my version of things. Perhaps there needed some kind of cultural moment for the 'gay top Democrat donor' privilege to be overridden...
Sometimes it seems that we need the police to protect black lives from Democrats.
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