For many Americans it is unimaginable that a criminal like Donald Trump could ever serve a day in jail. For starters, until yesterday no American president or ex-president had ever been indicted for a crime. But there is also the matter of presidential pardons which kept Richard Nixon out of jail and will probably keep Trump out of federal jail if a Republican assumes office. And the U.S. Senate, which under a GOP majority refused to prosecute Trump — twice —for crimes against the American people, can all-too easily be hijacked as a defense team for a corrupt president.
Maybe we simply regard presidents as untouchable monarchs with impunity to match the nation's superpower status. While Trump was campaigning in Iowa in 2016 he joked, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters." He wasn't wrong. The AI-generated images of "Trump's arrest" seen above are probably the only images we'll ever see of Donald Trump getting the sort of justice received by the average American at the hands of DAs, courts, and police.
While White America approves of brutal police encounters and harsh sentences for everyone else, they view the punishment of criminal presidents and prime ministers as something that only happens in unstable, undemocratic — meaning non-European — parts of the world. After the FBI's raid on his father's compound, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: "This is what you see happen in 3rd World Banana Republics" — a view shared by Ron DeSantis. Even former Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang went out of his way to attack the investigation of the corrupt ex-president.
But America has never had any qualms about holding former leaders of other nations to account. When deposed Lybian president Muammar Qaddafi was captured, mutilated, and murdered, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joked, "We came, we saw, he died." When Iraq's Saddam Hussein was tried by a US-approved regime and executed, President Bush wrote, "Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule of law." But when it comes to corrupt American presidents, no such rules of law ever seem to apply.
In fact, the rules by which one foreign despot becomes a friend and another an enemy seem to boil down to anti-communism and global alliances — rarely the rule of law. Joe Biden's fist bump with Saudi murderer/dictator Muhammad bin Salman while doubling down on sanctions on Cuba's rulers are a good contrast. America continues to praise Brazilian and Indian democracies as the "largest democracies in the world" (other than our own) — despite their authoritarian character and because of their overt anti-communism. At the recent Summit for Democracy 2023, Biden congratulated Narendra Modi, Giorgia Meloni, and Benjamin Netanyahu for their "democracies," even as these autocrats scheme to roll back democratic norms in their own countries.
Indira Gandhi was a corrupt prime minister whose family was practically Indian royalty and was spared any jail time. The "scourge of communists" and Naxalites, Gandhi issued a series of dictatorial decrees, imposed censorship, suspension of civil liberties, and arrested her political opponents (including current PM Modi), and other abuses that eventually led to her assassination by her own security detail. In fact, long before Modi, Indira Gandhi's rule marked the beginning of the end of Indian democracy — precisely because she was never held to account.
Upon coming to power, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, a Republican darling, vowed to purge Brazil of political opponents. “These red outlaws will be banished from our homeland. It will be a cleanup the likes of which has never been seen in Brazilian history.” Bolsonaro, of course, is the product of the U.S. looking the other way at Brazil's far right (and anti-communist) military, which never really went away.
Hungary's Viktor Orban, the GOP's new idol and another virulent anti-communist, grabbed power last year by declaring a state of emergency and now rules by decree. Judging by his prominence at CPAC conferences, Orban's Fidesz party has become the GOP's new model for American democracy.
Yet while we love anti-communist despots and refuse to prosecute our own criminal leaders, other nations have somehow managed to hold their leaders to account.
Norway actually executed its Nazi collaborationist Prime Minister Vidkun Quisling for high treason. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon was convicted of fraud and misuse of funds. The French President Fillon served under, Nicolas Sarkozy, was likewise jailed for corruption, influence peddling, and bribery of a federal magistrate. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went to jail on corruption charges. Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav served time in prison on rape charges. And Israel's best-known PM Benjamin Netanyahu is now facing multiple charges of corruption and bribery — which, unless his "judicial reform" initiatives fail, could actually land him in prison.
Canada's Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, Lise Thibault, served time in prison for misuse of public funds. The Premier of Western Australia Ray O'Connor was sent to prison on charges of fraud. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was arrested on sexual harassment charges. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates was sent to prison for corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov was arrested on multiple corruption charges. British Virgin Islands PM Alturo Fahie was arrested on drug smuggling charges. South Korean Finance Minister Choi Kyoung-hwan served time in prison for an influence-peddling scheme that also took down the South Korean president Park Geun-hye. Puerto Rican Governor Wanda Vazquez was charged with conspiracy, federal programs bribery and wire fraud by the Department of Justice.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and corruption charges and sentenced to four years in prison, which due to his age he never actually served. Berlusconi was also barred from public office, a ban which unfortunately only applied to Italy and did not affect his ability to serve as a member of European Parliament.
Trump and his supporters claim his charges are a "witch hunt" and pure political persecution. He has called the entire judicial system into question even as his prosecutions continue to be slow-walked and he receives kid glove treatment by the DOJ, Attorneys General, DAs and the courts.
But we should all regard the judicial system with skepticism.
Because as long as there is one justice system for the rich and powerful and another for the rest of us, then the "rule of law" means nothing. And neither does the increasingly empty word "democracy."
If Trump is not indicted, convicted, and sentenced for his various crimes, we might as well open the doors to all the jails. Because that would be the only way to ensure that justice is applied equally to everyone under the law.