{"id":27270,"date":"2023-07-08T12:07:27","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T19:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=27270"},"modified":"2023-07-08T12:07:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T19:07:27","slug":"the-law-and-order-party-is-packed-full-of-criminals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/07\/08\/the-law-and-order-party-is-packed-full-of-criminals\/","title":{"rendered":"THE ‘LAW AND ORDER’ PARTY IS PACKED FULL OF CRIMINALS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FRI, 6\/30\/2023 – BY\u00a0CARL GIBSON<\/a> (Occupy.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Republican Party has always tried to claim the \u201claw and order\u201d mantle, while simultaneously casting Democrats as enablers of crime. Contemporary examples include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) baselessly suggesting that former President Barack Obama was encouraging \u201clawlessness<\/a>\u201d by being supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement, and Republican lawmakers like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy<\/a> (R-California) and former Congressman John Katko<\/a> (R-New York), who both accused Democrats of having a lackadaisical attitude toward crime. But in fact, Republicans have historically been the party of crime and corruption, and their posturing about \u201claw and order\u201d is both dishonest and dangerous when looking at both their past leaders and their current makeup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former President Donald Trump\u2019s dozens of criminal indictments at both the state and federal level are making Republicans nervous. Even though Trump still leads the pack of GOP presidential candidates by a significant margin, a new poll shows his support is flagging in the wake of his latest 37-count indictment<\/a> for allegedly mishandling classified documents \u2013 31 of those are for alleged violations of the Espionage Act, and six are for alleged attempts to cover up and obstruct. CNN found that Republicans\u2019 support of Trump dropped slightly from 53% to 46%<\/a> in a June poll conducted after the former president was recently indicted in federal court. And of course, Trump could still be indicted in two additional investigations into alleged meddling<\/a> in the counting of votes in Georgia, and a separate federal investigation<\/a> into his role in the deadly January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as glaring as Trump\u2019s legal issues appear to be, it\u2019s par for the course when looking at past Republican presidents. The only thing that differentiates Trump from his predecessors is that he may actually live to see accountability for his actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Republican Party\u2019s long history of criminal presidents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The GOP\u2019s embrace of lawlessness dates back to Richard Nixon\u2019s administration. In the particularly turbulent spring of 1968, when riots broke out across the country after the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Republicans were pinning the national unrest on King<\/a> as much as they could. Rep. Dan Kuykendall (R-Tennessee) accused MLK of \u201cagitating destruction, violence, and hatred.\u201d Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) said the late civil rights leader was \u201can outside agitator, bent on stirring people up, making everyone dissatisfied.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nixon \u2013 whose top strategist, Lee Atwater, came up with the \u201cSouthern Strategy<\/a>\u201d of using coded language to appeal to racism in order to win Southern votes \u2013 capitalized on this by centering his campaign around \u201claw and order.<\/a>\u201d He also invoked \u201claw and order\u201d in his acceptance speech<\/a> at the 1968 Republican National Convention that summer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time is running out for the merchants of crime and corruption in American society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wave of crime is not going to be the wave of the future in the United States of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We shall re-establish freedom from fear in America so that America can take the lead in re-establishing freedom from fear in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to those who say that law and order is the code word for racism, there and here is a reply:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our goal is justice for every American.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are to have respect for law in America, we must have laws that deserve respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as we cannot have progress without order, we cannot have order without progress, and so, as we commit to order tonight, let us commit to progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As history shows, Nixon\u2019s rhetoric about \u201crespect for law\u201d ultimately went unheeded by his own administration, which was defined by the Watergate<\/a> scandal. The 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the resulting cover-up led to criminal indictments for seven conspirators \u2013 all of whom were eventually found guilty either by plea or by conviction. For his part, Nixon became the first president to ever resign from office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GOP darling Ronald Reagan\u2019s administration was also deeply criminal. Declassified documents show Reagan worked behind the scenes<\/a> in the fall of 1980 to thwart the Carter administration\u2019s attempts to get American hostages released from Iran before Election Day \u2013 arguably<\/a> an act of treason. Reagan was also implicated in the Iran-Contra affair<\/a>, in which his administration illegally sold $30 million of missiles to Iran in violation of a trade embargo, then secretly funneled $18 million of that sale to far-right militias (the Contras) in Nicaragua. Reagan himself escaped accountability, though 14 others, including members of his National Security Council, were charged (and eventually pardoned by President George H.W. Bush).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News, in his \u201cDark Alliance\u201d series<\/a>, ultimately uncovered evidence that during the Reagan administration, CIA-connected drug lords were profiting from the crack-cocaine epidemic in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Los Angeles. Webb was ostracized and blacklisted by both the intelligence and media establishments, and ultimately died by suicide<\/a>. That scandal has since been dramatized in the 2014 film Kill The Messenger<\/a>, and retold in the 2021 Netflix documentary Crack: Cocaine, Corruption and Conspiracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as Republicans go, George W. Bush may be the most heavily scrutinized by international legal observers. Bush\u2019s post-9\/11 \u201cWar on Terror\u201d policies, including the operation of the Guantanamo Bay<\/a> detention center, human rights violations at the Abu Ghraib<\/a> prison, various CIA \u201cblack sites<\/a>\u201d around the world, and his CIA\u2019s \u201cenhanced interrogation<\/a>\u201d techniques are arguably in violation of multiple international treaties and agreements. Retired political science professor Michael Haas outlined 269 separate war crimes<\/a> the Bush administration could have committed, according to language from the Geneva and Hague conventions as well as US laws like the War Crimes Act and the Anti-Torture Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stanford University, which published Haas\u2019 book, summarized it as an exhaustive overview of potential crimes that Bush, his cabinet, and senior military officials could hypothetically be charged with, broken down into four classes, along with \u201cthe real-world practicability of bringing cases\u201d against those individuals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author divides the 269 war crimes of the Bush administration into four classes: 6 war crimes committed in launching a war of aggression; 36 war crimes committed in the conduct of war; 175 war crimes committed in the treatment of prisoners; and 52 war crimes committed in postwar occupations. For each of the 269 war crimes of the Bush administration, Professor Haas gives chapter and verse in precise but non-technical language, including the specific acts deemed to be war crimes, the names of the officials deemed to be war criminals, and the exact language of the international or US laws violated by those officials. The author proceeds to consider the various US, international, and foreign tribunals in which the war crimes of Bush administration defendants may be tried under applicable bodies of law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of so many potential violations of international law, the one thing likely saving Bush and his cabinet from accountability is the US\u2019 veto power on the United Nations\u2019 Security Council, which would be responsible for any criminal referrals to the International Criminal Court. While Donald Trump\u2019s indictments are certainly unprecedented, his alleged crimes are relatively vanilla in comparison to his Republican predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The \u201claw and order\u201d party isn\u2019t abiding by the most fundamental laws<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Republicans\u2019 steadfast, unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump makes little sense given their \u201claw and order\u201d posturing. Businessmen Vivek Ramaswamy and Perry Johnson, who are both running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, have both promised to pardon Trump<\/a> if elected. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has also suggested she would pardon her former boss if she wins the election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One central premise of American society is equal justice under the law, which is a concept so sacred that the phrase \u201cEqual Justice Under Law\u201d is engraved on the front entrance of the US Supreme Court building<\/a> in Washington, DC. Ever since the Magna Carta was written in the 13th century, the divine right of kings has been usurped by the rule of law. In this context, pardoning Trump wouldn\u2019t just be anti-American \u2013 it would be pro-monarchy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, it isn\u2019t a stretch to refer to the 147 Republicans<\/a> who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election out of fealty to Donald Trump as treasonous. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment<\/a> \u2013 which was ratified shortly after the Civil War \u2013 explicitly states that anyone who has \u201cengaged in insurrection or rebellion\u201d against the United States, \u201cor given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,\u201d is ineligible to hold federal office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some, like Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) have doubled down on their pro-insurrection rhetoric. Before Trump was scheduled to appear in federal court, Higgins tweeted<\/a> that the indictment was \u201ca perimeter probe from the oppressors,\u201d that \u201crPOTUS has this,\u201d and that supporters should \u201cknow your bridges.\u201d During a June 16 appearance<\/a> on WNYC\u2019s On the Media, militia expert Jeff Sharlet said Higgins\u2019 tweet included coded language, with \u201crPOTUS\u201d signifying that Trump was the \u201creal\u201d president (implying Biden is an \u201cimpostor\u201d president) and the \u201cknow your bridges\u201d remark was a suggestion that militias disrupt infrastructure if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t slow civil war. This is a congressman calling for the real thing,\u201d Sharlet tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only thing preventing lawless Republicans cheering on insurrection from being kicked out of Congress is Republicans themselves. Article 1, Section 5, Clause 2<\/a> of the US Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote for any member of Congress to be expelled from the body. This means the 212 Democrats in the House of Representatives would need 78 Republicans to vote for the expulsion of Republicans who voted against certifying a lawful presidential election, arguably giving aid and\/or comfort to insurrectionists in violation of the 14th Amendment. To put that number in perspective, only 10 House Republicans<\/a> voted to impeach Trump after the January 6 insurrection, and only three of those Republicans still hold office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Republican Party has been packed full of criminals for decades, and the past several election cycles show that the rot has only gotten worse. Voters who profess to care about law and order should vote out every single Republican office-holder, given the party\u2019s tendency to attract, promote, and protect criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carl Gibson is an independent journalist and columnist whose work has been published in CNN, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Houston Chronicle, the Louisville Courier-Journal, Barron\u2019s, Business Insider, the Independent, and NPR, among others.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FRI, 6\/30\/2023 – BY\u00a0CARL GIBSON (Occupy.com) The Republican Party has always tried to claim the \u201claw and order\u201d mantle, while simultaneously casting Democrats as enablers of crime. Contemporary examples include former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) baselessly suggesting that former President Barack Obama was encouraging \u201clawlessness\u201d by being supportive… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[766],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27271,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27270\/revisions\/27271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}