Illiberalism
Fig. 1. Photograph by Joachim F. Thurn, August 1991, Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F089030-0003, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.
I have previously noted that judicial subordination is existential for Binyamin Netanyahu and a member of his cabinet. They had the votes, I said; they will ram it through come hell or high water. Now, however, it is no longer clear they have the votes as Netanyahu seems seriously to have underestimated the opposition to his plans.[1]
Steve Hendrix, “Netanyahu’s political touch eludes him as Israel spirals into chaos,” Washington Post, March 26, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/26/israel-judicial-reform-netanyahu-protests/
(dis)United Kingdom
Prime minister
Fig. 1. President Reagan on the South Lawn during the arrival ceremony of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom. U.S. Government photograph, November 16, 1988, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
Toby Helm, “A failed revolt and an ‘embarrassing’ display: the week that saw Boris Johnson’s downfall,” Guardian, March 26, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/26/a-failed-revolt-and-an-embarrassing-display-the-week-that-saw-boris-johnsons-downfall
Gilead
A housekeeping note: I have rearranged bits of the Gilead hierarchy, moving most of Donald Trump into its own sub-hierarchy. I have also introduced a new sub-hierarchy for the complicity of the non-opposition Democratic Neoliberal Party. Both these moves obsolete previous uniform resource locators (URLs).
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
There is a certain irony that, even as indictments against Donald Trump loom in the matters of classified documents, election interference, and Stormy Daniels, I am still seeing posts on social media suggesting he’s gotten off scot-free, even comparing the absence of consequences for all he’s done to an apparently similar absence for Adolf Hitler.
That’s no longer a reasonable position to adopt. Yes, it’s taken much, much, much too long, and yes, it’s still possible that nothing at all will come of any of this. But not all prosecutors are Merrick Garland, whom I still think should be charged with negligence[2] for taking so long to order a search of Mar-a-Lago.[3] Other prosecutors, including the one special counsel Garland appointed, appear to be moving much more aggressively.
And to say otherwise demonstrates inattention.
Should it indeed happen that all these separate investigations yield no indictments, then it will be time to roll out the Hitler comparisons. But not yet.
- [1]Steve Hendrix, “Netanyahu’s political touch eludes him as Israel spirals into chaos,” Washington Post, March 26, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/26/israel-judicial-reform-netanyahu-protests/↩
- [2]David Benfell, “It is now even more urgently orange jumpsuit time,” Not Housebroken, March 24, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/24/it-is-now-even-more-urgently-orange-jumpsuit-time/↩
- [3]Sadie Gurman and Aruna Viswanatha, “Merrick Garland Weighed Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for Weeks,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/merrick-garland-weighed-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago-for-weeks-11660601292↩