The biggest lesson from the special counsel investigation isn't about Trump

Mark Sumner
and
Daily Kos
26 February 2019

In sentencing documents, the special counsel’s office referred to Paul Manafort’s crimes as both “bold” and “brazen.” The word they didn’t use was “overlooked,” but that’s also absolutely true. Manafort is heading to federal prison for the rest of his life on a list of felonies a mile long—but if a special prosecutor had not been appointed, he would, at this moment, be getting fitted for a new vest made from some endangered species.

Manafort and his partner Rick Gates committed multiple felonies over a span of decades. They weren’t sly about it. They weren’t particularly cautious or clever or even competent in their efforts to cover up illegal lobbying, money laundering, and tax fraud. They just never expected to get caught because guys like them never do. The same is true of Roger Stone, who was another of Manafort’s partners at the lobbying firm charmingly known as the “Torturer’s Lobby” for its willingness to help out brutal dictators and even-more-brutal would-be dictators.

And the same is true of Donald Trump, whose long history of money laundering isn’t just well-known, but an integral part of his business model. And of Michael Cohen, who tricked, threatened, and cheated not just for Trump, but for his other clients as well. And of Michael Flynn, who polished his uniform boots and went out to offer his services arranging everything from illegal lobbying to attempted kidnapping. And of Erik Prince, who knows that when assassination is done on a large scale, it becomes absurdly profitable.

Let’s be honest: Trump’s taxes aren’t in hiding because they included a Form-1099 from Vladimir Putin “for services rendered.” Trump wants the IRS to burn his records because they clearly show that he committed multiple, regular felonies in reporting his taxes. He broke the law. Just like he did with Trump University. Just like he did with the Trump “charity.” Just like he did in covering up the real worth of what he inherited from his father. Just like he did in money laundering through his New Jersey casinos. Just like he did all day, every day, at his business.

The real revelation of the investigations into Trump and his foreign connections isn’t even that the man occupying the White House is a crook, and the man who ran the Republican convention three times and acted as an adviser to a half-dozen presidents is a crook, and so is his partner, and so is his partner, and so are they all. The real revelation is that it took a special counsel to see any of these men face serious prosecution no matter what they did, or how often they did it, or how “bold” their crimes might be.

That being a “winner” in America appears to be synonymous with being not just a crook, but a monster, isn’t exactly a new theory, but we’ve been reminded of it via the day-by-day results of the investigation into Trump. Threats, abuse, bribery, lies, extortion, and above all the blatant assumption that money and power will paper over any sin aren’t the exception for men like Trump and company. They’re the air they breathe. Did Jared Kushner hand over a list of top-secret names to Mohammed bin Salman, knowing full well that in doing so he was signing those men’s death warrants? Of course he did. Because Kushner saw personal advantage in the action. And for these men, personal advantage isn’t just the point of every action; it’s the only motive they can understand.

It’s extraordinarily easy for Trump, and Trump’s associates, to be angry and dismissive of the special counsel investigation, to call it a “witch hunt,” dismiss its findings as “process crimes,” or argue that it was all “so long ago.” The shocking thing to them is not that crimes were being committed, or are being committed. The shocking thing is that anyone, anywhere, is getting in the way.

What Trump knows, and what should be the most sobering discovery to emerge from the entire investigation, is that, barring the extraordinary circumstances of a special counsel or someone with similar authority, men like him will not face justice for crimes. And in fact, they will go on lying, cheating, stealing, with impunity.

It’s very easy to underestimate Donald Trump with his ridiculous hair, his incoherent babbling, his roly-poly waddle, and his XXXL ties. But the adjective that doesn’t get applied to Trump enough is the one that’s most descriptive of him and his associates: ruthless.

Trump is ruthless in the dictionary sense of “having or showing no pity or compassion for others,” and he’s wealthy. And the indictments handed down by Robert Mueller show that Trump isn’t an exception. He’s just one example among many.

What the special counsel investigation has revealed is that there’s not one justice system in America, or even two. For those with enough money and power, there’s no justice at all. And if the investigation ends as many expect, with Trump all but unmentioned in any results because “guidelines” say that he can’t be indicted, and more guidelines say that it’s bad form to talk about people who aren’t indicted, it will only confirm that not even a special counsel is enough.