By STAN ESCUDERODAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- How should President Trump handle the Clinton conundrum which will both satisfy his supporters and still enable him to add some Democrats to his base? I suggest a speculative solution.
On the one hand Hillary and Bill are, in my opinion, career criminals who have, for decades, amassed vast wealth and influence by selling their offices and access. Their use of the supposedly charitable Clinton Foundation and its associated legal entities apparently constituted a colossal money laundering operation and personal family slush fund.
In addition, Hillary’s illegal use of an unclassified server for classified material of the most sensitive kind placed our national security at risk and violated a host of federal laws and regulations. Many times during his campaign, Trump promised to bring them to justice.
For almost all of their adult lives they have lived above the law. It hardly seems fair that their only punishment is that Hillary does not get to be president of the United States, while they live out their fabulously wealthy lives grooming Chelsea for a political career.
On the other hand the most important thing Donald Trump can do as president, after getting the country back on the right track, is to begin to heal the political and cultural rifts which so badly divide us. The alt-Left, which is driving the political dynamic of the Democrat Party ever farther toward Marxism, is viscerally opposed to Trump and his policies, primarily for ideological reasons. If he pushes to prosecute Hillary they will make of the indictment a cause célèbre, demonizing Trump and, with full-throated media support, make her into a martyred saint.
This will make it so much harder for Trump to erode the Dem coalition and bring rational elements of that coalition into the Republican fold as he has redefined it.
Donald Trump is on the horns of a policy dilemma. It is imperative that Trump both satisfy his supporters’ desire to see justice done and that he becomes that healing figure so desperately needed to enable our people to regain a workable level of unity. So, what to do?
Donald Trump is on the horns of a policy dilemma. It is imperative that Trump both satisfy his supporters’ desire to see justice done and that he becomes that healing figure so desperately needed to enable our people to regain a workable level of unity. So, what to do?
First, avoid vindictiveness. President – elect Trump has already taken the first necessary step by publicly renouncing any intent to press for Hillary’s prosecution. But note that he did not say that there would be no indictments, prosecutions or further investigations. He simply said that he did not want to hurt the Clintons further, not that no one else would.
Congress will continue and expand its investigation into the Clinton Foundation and could well re-open hearings on the email server. Presumably the FBI will also continue its investigation of the Foundation which, if properly conducted, will almost certainly reveal enough consistent legal violations to classify the Clinton Foundation as a criminal enterprise. Without the protection offered by a potential President Hillary Clinton and with donations and speaking fees diminishing now that Hillary will never occupy the White House, it is likely that more people will be willing to talk more freely about the Clintons’ activities.
Second, make public every word of the evidence, interview texts and other information resulting from these investigations, saving only classified information too sensitive to be divulged. The people will know the truth and this will blunt the impact of leftist pro-Clinton propaganda campaigns.
Depending on the results of these investigations it is entirely possible that, under an uncorrupted Justice Department, Hillary and a number of her associates could find themselves under indictment. Of course this assumes that Obama does not pardon her before leaving office. But even then, a pardon of Hillary would still leave many of her senior aides exposed to potential criminal prosecution.
Even with the full extent of Clinton corruption made public, indictments would push the Left into high moral dudgeon with the media bellowing “witch hunt” and the alt-Left back in the streets. But carefully structured separate indictments which include the Clintons, their senior aides and the several Clinton Foundation entities as legal persons could allow President Trump to deliver both compassion and justice. The key is to be able to bring charges against the Clinton Foundation itself under the RICO Act.
President Trump could seize the high ground by pardoning the Clintons, but not their aides and not the Foundation. Many of the aides would presumably be imprisoned and the Foundation could be dismantled, its assets and the wealth of those who benefitted from its illegal activities (including the Clintons) confiscated. Hillary and members of her family would avoid jail, but they would be deprived of their ill-gotten riches, their reputations shattered. They would get by just fine on their gubernatorial, presidential and senate pensions but their lifestyle would be severely diminished and possibly, just possibly, they would face the necessity of finding real jobs.
President Trump could seize the high ground by pardoning the Clintons, but not their aides and not the Foundation. Many of the aides would presumably be imprisoned and the Foundation could be dismantled, its assets and the wealth of those who benefitted from its illegal activities (including the Clintons) confiscated. Hillary and members of her family would avoid jail, but they would be deprived of their ill-gotten riches, their reputations shattered. They would get by just fine on their gubernatorial, presidential and senate pensions but their lifestyle would be severely diminished and possibly, just possibly, they would face the necessity of finding real jobs.In this way Trump could accommodate political reality while still showing that no one, including the Clintons, is so important as to be above the law.
If the United States is to regain its true course, the Trump Administration must walk a very fine line. It must find a way to deal with Clinton greed and corruption which does not further alienate those Democrats who might be convinced to work together. And at the same time it must satisfy its conservative supporters by reaffirming that, beginning with the Constitution and moving down the legal line, the United States is a nation of laws. If those laws do not apply to everyone they are worthless and the very foundation of our nation is a sham.