18 III 2023: If a former president is a criminal, we must indict him or fail as a nation

For a long time now people have been carrying on as if the President of the United States were not a citizen who once held office, but a sacrosanct king who could do no wrong. A criminal is a criminal and must be prosecuted, and if this criminal is some sort of muckety-muck, someone notorious and wealthy, there is all the more reason that he must be prosecuted.

Oh, but Trumpy is anticipating the next stage of his persecution. As if it had been divinely revealed to him, he is predicting the date of his arrest and his mistreatment at the hands of the high priests and pharisees. He is summoning his worshippers to come to his aid, telling them “Protest, take our nation back,” which, being interpreted means: “Stage a revolt and keep me out of jail.”

And if his devotees riot because of his shocking grievances, and do violence at his bidding as on Jan 6, he won’t be to blame. No, he’ll again follow the Nazi public relations model. They denied party responsibility for the manifold brutality of Kristalnacht, and attributed the beating, pillaging, and murder of Jews to the righteous anger of “racial comrades” among the German people.