Trump And Bozo NOT Above The Law

One disturbing aspect of the New Conservatism is the idea that the rule of law should apply asymmetrically, that it is fine for opponents to have their collars felt, but not their own. The reaction to their own side being on the receiving end of investigations is remarkably consistent between the UK and the USA, as events from the past week show all too clearly.

Donald, where's yer hairspray?

Overnight, news has emerged that the FBI turned up at Mar-a-Lago, Florida retreat of Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, with a search warrant which they proceeded to execute. Brian Entin of News Nation noted that “search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was related to retention of classified docs … FBI only took documents specifically related to search warrant - they knew what they were looking for”. Hugo Lowell of the Guardian had more.

“Sources close to Trump trying to tell me tonight the FBI search was outrageous [because] White House records at Mar-a-Lago were declassified - seemingly forgetting that still doesn’t mean Trump just gets to keep official records as souvenirs, and it’s still potentially a crime”.

And then came the asymmetric part: the former President, no stranger to sounding off about Hillary Clinton, and whipping up the crowd into chants of “Lock her up”, was most indignant at the thought that the boot could possibly find itself on the other foot. He blamed the raid on “Radical left Democrats”. But Aaron Rupar noted “Trump personally picked the current FBI director”.

This did not stop Trump whining “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege (it wasn’t), raided (it wasn’t a raid) and occupied (no. Just no) by a large group of FBI agents. Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before”. But he is no longer the President.

Nor did it stop him calling what happened “prosecutorial misconduct” (no prosecution has yet been made) and “weaponisation of the Justice System”. This may give Westminster watchers a sense of déjà vu, after the weekend’s events concerning soon to be former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his potential misleading of Parliament.

Many Bozo allies, with the inmates of the Northcliffe House bunker in the vanguard, wanted the full force of the law to be brought to bear on Labour leader Keir Starmer for a post-canvassing gathering which did not break the pandemic rules. But when the Commons Privileges Committee turned its attention on Bozo potentially lying to the Commons, all was changed.

He had “paid the ultimate price” told a Mail on Sunday editorial. Yesterday, this had been escalated to front page lead as the Daily Mail thundered “TORIES ‘MUST QUIT’ BORIS WITCH-HUNT … Minister tells MPs to resign from ‘rigged’ Partygate probe”. Those quote marks are doing some seriously heavy lifting. There is no witch-hunt, and nothing has been rigged.

Although the Mail’s legendarily foul mouthed editor-in-chief, and the minister being quoted, do share one thing: Paul Dacre and Nadine Dorries have both allegedly been lined up for peerages in Bozo’s resignation honours list, and if he were to be found to have misled Parliament, he could be slung out of the Commons and his honours list therefore rendered null and void.

Even so, this shows the similarity between UK and USA: the conservative side, whether Republican or Tory, should not be subject to due process, and if it is, that is an affront to it and its supporters, but its opposition, whether Democrat or Labour, should be prosecuted and if necessary convicted on the say-so of the conservative side and its media allies.

If Trump has broken the law, then he should be subject to due process and if found guilty, should be handed the appropriate penalty. And if that includes a custodial sentence, so be it. Likewise if Bozo is found to have lied to Parliament - and, it seems, the omens are not good, as Naomi Smith of Best for Britain has told: “Not 1, not 2, but 3 Downing Street staff say they are prepared to give evidence to MPs claiming the PM misled parliament over what he know about the Partygate scandal”. Bring it on.

Throwing staffers under the bus can come back to bite you, eh? Trump has the added prospect of Alex Jones’ text messages to come. Either way, those defending this less than dynamic duo are on a hiding to nothing, whether they appear on the alleged resignation honours list or not.

No-one should be allowed to be above the law. Here or Stateside. That is all.

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