Crime and Punishment

I’ve had this essay in the works since early fall, looking ahead — hopefully — to Trump’s departure. (And I do mean hopefully in the correct sense of the word.)

Originally it was titled “The Case for Prosecution,” the idea being to argue for why holding Donald Trump account for his various crimes — both via impeachment and ordinary criminal prosecution, among other mechanisms — was in the best interest of the nation. Even in the fall that was not a super controversial position, although a second impeachment was not yet on the horizon, and there was some concern about the banana republic-brand pitfalls of an incoming administration pursuing legal action against its predecessor.

But the events of January 6th pretty much put an end to that debate.

After watching Donald Trump openly incite a violent insurrection that sent a bloodthirsty mob into the US Capitol to murder Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi and stop the certification of the Electoral College results (note to people emerging from comas, time travelers, and alien visitors from distant galaxies: yes, that really happened), most Americans agreed that he must be held accountable under the law one way or another.

According to an ABC News poll taken in the immediate aftermath of the Capitol riot, 67% of the American public blamed Trump for it, and 56% thought he should be removed from…