In U.S.A. public schools, it is still news that children are taught that when rules are illegally broken, punishment is due. We tend to call it justice. In most Western countries it is the same. Unduly break a rule, pay the cost for breaking it.
Many thousands of Black men and women have been sent to prison and to the gallows by all-White juries deciding that those Black folk had violated some law and thus had to be punished. The fact that the jurors often broke the law themselves to reach that conclusion did not seem to matter. The accused Black folk were guilty of some violation and thus had to be punished because they were Black.
Our erstwhile former POTUS, however, seems to have found a way to avoid such consequences. He is a perpetual rule and law breaker, yet he seems to constantly avoid the adequate punishment that should be a product of his continuing bad behavior.
This public nose-thumbing without consequences is bad for this country. It teaches bad habits to our children. It teaches even worse habits to our adults, too many of whom have decided to only believe the lawbreakers’ side of the story.
There are indeed many ongoing problems in American society currently, with more to come. One persistent problem is the continuing increase in the number of people believing an obvious lie because they want to believe in the liar. That has caused many predictions of a coming second American civil war.
Much of this country would be healed almost instantly just by seeing Donald Trump in an orange jumpsuit being escorted into Rikers Island in New York. Just seeing a habitual law-breaker like himself finally get his just deserts would do wonders for this country. A lot of previous unease in other quarters would dissipate. Just to see some justice served to someone who has frequently broken the law, the rules, the way things are supposed to go, etc. would be both soothing and healing to the majority of people in this country. Even some of the true believers would be able to breathe again after not being required to keep espousing and accepting the lies of Mr. Trump.
Carting Mr. Trump off to prison would help — if only temporarily — heal the racial gap in the U.S.A. After all, there are thousands of Black folk who believe in the Trump Myth along with numerous Asians and Latinos, and they too need relief.
With the latest chapter in the Trump Chronicles, the ex-POTUS apparently carted off top secret files and papers when he was made to leave the White House in January, 2021. He committed a crime in doing that. The National Archives Office asked for the papers and files to be returned, and he only partially complied.
Subsequent negotiations with federal authorities to return the rest of the documents got a perpetual refusal from Mr. Trump, and the files were left open and available to visitors at his Florida golf club home in Palm Beach, Fla. (called Mara-Lago).
The federal government finally had to visit Trump’s property and seize the documents, some of which may be current nuclear secrets vital to protect American interests. There is still an active criminal enquiry going on concerning the files and documents, and there may even be a criminal trial in the immediate offing.
Yet, the Trumpites simply yelled foul and have been raising campaign contributions based on the incident. FOX NEWS has attacked the government raiding Trump’s home and seizing the trove of files and documents. The Trumpites have accused the federal government (particularly the FBI) of being in the wrong. They have again supported a law-breaker against those trying to preserve American law.
This is not good for the U.S.A. — neither its present nor its future. It is not good for this country’s international image, and it’s not good for our present and future citizens. Dammit, sometimes the bad guys have to actually lose, not win.
Donald Trump should have his date with Rikers.
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
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