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Republicans often tell me the only way to preserve our governing norms is to teach Democrats an unforgettable lesson by turning the tables on them. I’m skeptical. One of the big misconceptions about the unraveling of our political system is that the progressive Left would modify its behavior over fears of retribution. But the Left thrives in perpetually unhinged political warfare. It wants norms unraveled.
Take lawfare as an example.
THE CLOSING OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY MIND
No one should be above the law. No one should be below it, either. Yet, the legal persecution of President Donald Trump was launched by political operatives who openly campaigned on the promise of getting him. Democrats then went rummaging for cases, often with the help of partisan Biden administration officials. “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime” is about as undemocratic as it gets.
And the lawfare launched against Trump had dual authoritarian purposes. Seeing Trump end up in prison orange was the ultimate dream. But prosecutions were a blatant attempt to stop the candidacy of the leading Republican presidential candidate. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s preposterous RICO case was timed to crescendo with the 2024 election campaign. When the Supreme Court quickly ruled on the question of presidential immunity, throwing off the timetable, Democrats were furious.
In some states, the Left skipped any real legal pretenses and just tossed the GOP’s leading presidential candidate off ballots, finding him guilty of allegedly participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to make up their own definition of “insurrection” and bar Americans from voting for their preferred candidates. It is unlikely you could find a more blatant attack on democracy.
The other purpose of lawfare was to personally destroy Trump and his family’s business for crimes against Democrats — a deeply un-American operation. One of the civil cases alleged that Trump committed fraud by inflating the value of assets to obtain a better loan. There had been no victim. Not the bank, which was content with the arrangement and paid back. Not any investors. Yet New York sought massive penalties on Trump companies with the goal of bankrupting him. When New York Attorney General Letitia James ran for her office, she often promised to use her power to bankrupt Trump. “I’ve got my eyes on Trump Tower,” she once said.
Now, James has been indicted on charges of making false statements about her Virginia home to get more favorable terms on her loan. You’ll notice that Democrats never even contemplate whether the charges against her were deserved. If we employ the Left’s alleged standards for justice, no one above the law, that’s all that should matter.
Now, to be fair, Democrats never cared if the charges against Trump were true, either. The man is literally Hitler, and one doesn’t stop him by playing by the rules. On the day a New York grand jury indicted Trump on inflated charges of falsifying business records, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the former president had “the right to a trial to prove innocence.”
This perversion of due process wasn’t a slip of the tongue — Pelosi said it publicly and then sent the quote out in a press release. It is the standard Democrats used during the smear campaign against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, as well. “No one is above the law” is not about the neutral dispensation of justice.
Trump says a lot of crazy things, but let’s remember that he didn’t use the Justice Department to hound his partisan opponents during his first term. He certainly could have. There was a strong and viable case against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who set up a private email server to avoid scrutiny of her favor-trading foundation. The left-wing media claimed that the FBI “cleared” Clinton of wrongdoing, but that’s not how it works. Then-FBI Director James Comey, who did everything possible to let Clinton slide, recommended that there be no indictment of the former first lady. No one “cleared” her.
No, the most consequential and destructive attacks on norms have been launched by one side. It’s become apparent that these actions are not merely for short-term gain. Does anyone really believe that progressives care if Comey, James, or former national security adviser John Bolton ends up serving time or doing community service? The retribution will merely embolden the Left. Even though lawfare has boomeranged, no Democrats have voiced any regret about their corrupt efforts to stop Trump — not their role in the Russian collusion hoax, Trump lawfare, or anything else.
And just as Democrats would be perfectly happy using their consequentialist notions of justice, they would be content living in a political world without any semblance of stability, federalism, or limits on federal power.
For decades, Democrats oscillated on the importance of the filibuster, calling it a vital tool in maintaining minority voices and the deliberative composure of the legislature and then calling it an undemocratic “relic” of the Jim Crow era, depending on who was in power. They have long stopped caring about decorum or foundational ideals of governance.
If they did, they would have learned their lesson after Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked the “nuclear option” and blew up Senate filibuster rules for the judiciary and rammed through judges for President Barack Obama. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) famously warned Democrats, “You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.”
Say hello to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, right?
No. The next chance they got, Democrats were back at it, applying immense pressure on two moderate holdouts in the Senate in their effort to sink the legislative filibuster so they could ram through the massive partisan “Build Back Better Act.” The Left understands that its entitlements can never be rolled back.
At the time, Democrats argued that “reforming” the filibuster was a preemptive measure because Republicans, given the opportunity, would surely do the same thing. But the GOP, of course, had the chance to get rid of the filibuster during Trump’s first term, and it didn’t. It has the chance to do it right now, and it won’t. And yet, the Left will offer the same predictions next time. And when it has the votes again, it will kill it.
You imagine that most Democrats would be ecstatic if Republicans did the work and killed the filibuster to open the government. At its heart, progressivism is a revolutionary ideology that can’t function within the norms of our constitutional republic. Some progressives openly admit as much, while others will do everything they can to degrade norms under the ruse of “saving democracy.”
WHY SCHUMER HAD TO SHUT IT DOWN
I’m sympathetic to the GOP’s anger over living with two sets of rules. But progressives do best in a world of constantly shifting norms that reward those most willing to use power. They assume they will win in the end because they are far more proficient at controlling institutions and manipulating a direct democracy.
They’re probably right.
