A recent New York Times’ editorial persuasively shows how Donald Trump’s four criminal indictments (to date) show his disdain for American democracy and his unfitness for the country’s presidency.[1]
Editorial’s Details
The new Georgia criminal indictment shows Trump was “leading what was effectively a criminal gang to overturn the 2020 presidential election in that state.” This indictment alleges that he “often behaved like a mob boss, pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to decertify the Georgia election and holding a White House meeting to discuss seizing voting equipment.” This indictment included these alleged crimes: “conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery, for arranging to have a false set of Georgia electors sent to Washington to replace the legitimate ones for Joe Biden, . . . conspiracy to impersonate a public officer and a series of charges relating to filing false statements and trying to get state officials to violate their oath of office.”
This indictment along with his other three indictments “offer a road map of the trauma and drama Mr. Trump has put this nation through. They raise questions about his fitness for office that go beyond ideology or temperament, focusing instead on his disdain for American democracy.”
Indeed, “Mr. Trump has put his ego and ambition over the interests of the public and of his own supporters. He has aggressively worked to undermine public faith in the democratic process and to warp the foundations of the electoral system. He repeatedly betrayed his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the nation’s laws. . . . [H]is actions, as detailed in these indictments, show that he is concerned with no one’s interests but his own.”
“A president facing multiple criminal trials, . . . could not hope to be effective in enforcing the nation’s laws — one of the primary duties of a chief executive. (If re-elected, Mr. Trump could order the federal prosecutions to be dropped, though that would hardly enhance his credibility.) A man accused of compromising national security would have little credibility in his negotiations with foreign allies or adversaries. No document could be assumed to remain secret, no communication secure. The nation’s image as a beacon of democracy, already badly tarnished by the Jan. 6 attack, may not survive the election of someone formally accused of systematically dismantling his own country’s democratic process through deceit.”
“[A] healthy political party does not belong to or depend on one man, particularly one who has repeatedly put himself over his party and his country. A healthy democracy needs at least two functioning parties to challenge each other’s honesty and direction. Republican voters are key to restoring that health and balance.”
=========================
[1] Editorial: What if, Knowing What They Know Now, Republicans Don’t Vote for Donald Trump?, N.Y. Times (Aug. 15, 2023). Previous Times’ editorials set forth similar arguments against Trump’s again becoming our President: Editorial: Even Donald Trump Should Be Held Accountable (Mar. 30, 2023); Editorial: Donald Trump Should Never Again Be Trusted With the Nation’s Secrets (June 9, 2023); Editorial: A President Accused of Betraying His Country (Aug. 2, 2023).
