On the Clock and Off the Clock

Donald J. Trump has never had a real job.  He was born a child of privilege and has lived his entire life in that vein.  What many common folks only dream of, Trump has lived every day of his life.  This type of personal existence has led Trump to become what he is; an arrogant, ego-driven, and totally selfish person with absolutely no degree of self discipline.  Having been the recipient of perhaps the most perfect storm in American political history and as a result of that storm, having found himself President; one would have hoped that he would somehow begin to realize that he has, in fact, led a charmed life and all of his good fortune was not the result of his innermost brilliance.  Alas, that hope was futile.

Having hired and discarded people for his Administration with a governance of whim and chaos, he was once again smiled upon by good fortune when he persuaded William Barr to accept the position of Attorney General.   Barr is that rare WDC occupant who has no ox to gore, no bank account to pad, no compunction to impress, and has no doubts whatsoever about his allegiance to right and wrong.  In other words, he is exactly what our nation needs in the person that is America’s chief law enforcement officer.   He really didn’t need this gig.  And having accepted and performed this job out of dedication to this country and in an attempt to bring order to a federal department wracked by corruption and incompetence; he now has to endure the behavior of a President who is not qualified to carry his legal pad and pen. 

Having taken a firm step in the direction of uncovering and addressing the partisan rot that the Obama Administration had fostered in the Department of Justice, Barr finds himself stymied by the very person who benefits the most from his thoroughly professional and non-partisan execution of his duties.  Trump is so consumed with his own narcissism that he cannot grasp the fact that his single best friend in the whole wide world is….William Barr, U.S. Attorney General.  If Trump’s juvenile personal behavior and tweeting fetish leads to Barr’s resignation, it will likely be the biggest mistake of his brief and explosive political career.  Any reasonable person can understand exactly why Trump might feel the need to tweet out of frustration for the ridiculous treatment his Administration has received from the Democrats, the Mainstream Media, and the WDC Deep State.  But justified frustration is no excuse for reacting in a fashion that both encourages your opponent’s bad behavior and is counter-productive to your policy goals.  The public persona that might be effective in the halls of Congress and K Street has absolutely no place in the halls of justice.  Those tactics simply don’t transfer well in this instance.

Anyone who has been paying attention to the WDC political environment and the corruption that has run rampant in our government for decades cannot be surprised at the multi-tiered system of justice doled out to those fortunate ones who have power and influence and those unfortunate ones who lack in one or the other or both.  Trump and Republicans are focusing on Obama Administration acolytes who have thus far escaped reckoning for their subversive shenanigans and how their fate compares to that of Michael Flynn and Roger Stone.  There is a delicate balance to maintain between the parallel pursuit of uniformity in sentencing and the role of extenuating circumstances in the committing of a crime.  While it is pretty clear that both Flynn and Stone committed crimes and deserve some punishment; it is equally clear that their prosecution equates to killing flies with sledgehammers. 

This maniacal  and partisan form of justice is maddening in and of itself; but the frustration level is shoved through the roof when the excessive sentences handed to some of the aforementioned unfortunate ones is compared to the lack of accountability allotted to the fortunate ones.  AG Barr is attempting to restore a sense of ethics and professionalism to the Justice Department that will begin to address this institutionalized miscarriage of justice that currently exists.  If he were to give up that effort out of the frustrations he is experiencing from both his political enemies and his White House superior, it will be a historic loss for our government.  This is the right man for the right job at the right time.  His independence and credibility are essential to his success.

If President Trump cannot find the semblance of restraint and good judgment required to responsibly utilize his tweeting platform and bully pulpit for the effective furtherance of his policies and ideals; he needs to take a good portion of his much ballyhooed personal wealth and hire a damn phone coach to keep tabs on him 24/7.  It is one thing for our loud-mouthed President to destroy his own political career through idiotic behavior; it is much more critical to sabotage a serious effort by the AG towards moving our government back to respectability.

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For some very good perspective on exactly what is transpiring with Roger Stone, Andrew McCabe, and William Barr these days; I recommend the following articles:

The shameful double-standard: https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/483338-a-tale-of-two-lies-stone-mccabe-and-the-danger-of-a-double-standard-for .

How the Resist Trump movement has infected the very pillars of our justice system: https://jonathanturley.org/2020/02/17/152579/#more-152579 .

A common sense explanation of exactly how this type of travesty might occur in our courts: https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-mccarthy-report/episode-72-the-absurd-roger-stone-controversy/ .

And finally, why it is so very difficult to get good people to serve in our government (unfortunately, this one is behind a pay paywall): https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-trials-of-bill-barr-11581637977 .

President Trump’s erratic personal behavior serves the highly effective dual purposes of endearing him greatly to his avid supporters and driving his opponents out their ever-loving minds.   But there is another effect from this cavalier attitude that flaunts the principles of leadership and civility.  That effect is the unquestioned erosion it entails on the office of the Presidency.  If Trump cannot somehow come to understand the difference between his personal behavior and his professional behavior; that erosion will have serious consequences for both he and our nation.  He has been a lucky man to have lived with the freedom to say and do just about whatever he chooses whenever he chooses.  When he decided to accept the Presidential oath of office, he voluntarily put limits on that freedom.  He must now come to terms with the necessity of differentiating between his off the clock personal behavior and his on the clock Presidential behavior.  The rules that apply to one do not apply to the other.  Hire good people; then get out the way and let them do their jobs.

As long as times are good and his policies seem to be constructive and positive, the American public will support a President and forgive their questionable personal behavior (i.e. William Jefferson Clinton).  But the moment a crack appears in the wisdom of those policies or the economy begins to exhibit leaks around the edges; the American voters will turn on their President in a moment.  What was once acceptable behavior in the quest for better times will become a reason to limit an undisciplined ego-maniac to a single term as Chief Executive.

A quick observation on Trump’s use of Presidential pardons or commutations: He has not changed his stripes.  As far back as I can see, Donald Trump has promoted prison and sentencing reform.  A reasonable person can take issue with either side of this subject; but it is patently unfair to paint Trump as a Johnny Come Lately to this argument.  He has been, and remains, a strong advocate of justice reform in the areas of prison sentencing and those who use his recent actions in those policies to attack him are being deceptive at best and blatantly dishonest at worst.  Furthermore, his executive actions in this area have demonstrated absolutely no bias on the basis of race, income, or social status.  Take him or leave him on this matter; he is what he is.

I continue to believe that our government is larger than any of the inherent problems it faces in today’s tumultuous political environment.  But of all the negative issues we face today in the administration of our nation’s business, chief among them is the miscarriage and abuse of power we have witnessed in our justice system.  When citizens lose faith in a system of fair and equal justice for all, terrible consequences will follow.  As I have stated many times before…power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  The most recent episode of corruption in the Department of Justice brings our nation as close to governmental tyranny as anything since the Nixon Administration.  The fact is that Obama chillingly accomplished what Nixon was attempting to do. President Trump needs to leave the DOJ to William Barr and focus on keeping the rest of the train on the tracks.