Trump and Matt Gaetz not being held accountable means the system is working as designed

Wealthy, Republican and powerful are above the law

Disgusted, angered and repulsed are all appropriate reactions to the tsunami of evidence of former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz’s criminality—as documented in the House Ethics Committee’s report released Monday. But no one should be surprised that Gaetz was not charged with even one crime—the same way no one should be surprised Donald Trump was not held accountable for his buffet of crimes. And the simple reason is the system was designed by the wealthy and powerful to protect the wealthy and powerful—especially if they are white.

The conclusion that Gaetz—one of Trump’s closet allies--committed crimes is undeniable. The House report includes jaw dropping findings that Gaetz had sex with a minor twice “in violation of Florida’s statutory rape law.” Yes, Gaetz committed statutory rape.

In addition, the report notes “there is evidence that Representative Gaetz paid women to travel to New York and Washington, D.C. for commercial sex.” That means Gaetz was involved in a prostitution ring as he both “paid women for sex and had others pay women for sex on his behalf.”

Gaetz also was found to have violated drug laws—including on federal property. Specifically, the report stated Gaetz “set up a pseudonymous e-mail account from his House office in the Capitol complex for the purpose of purchasing” of drugs. And “Gaetz and his associates provided drugs to women to facilitate the sexual misconduct described above.” That means Gaetz was a drug dealer.

Beyond that, they found evidence Gaetz committed federal crimes by intentionally obstructing the congressional investigation into his wrongdoing. As the report stated, “the Committee determined that Representative Gaetz’s attempts to mislead and deter the Committee from investigating him implicated federal criminal laws relating to false statements and obstruction of Congress.”

In sum, “the Committee concluded there was substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”

Just so it’s clear, “substantial evidence” is far more than the lower standard of “probable cause” required to charge a person with crimes. Keep in mind that the Ethics Committee had legal counsel and many members are lawyers themselves meaning they choose this term knowing the legal significance.

So you must be asking a few questions such as: Given all this evidence of criminality, why wasn’t Gaetz charged with even one crime?! How could Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice investigation into Gaetz—that concluded in 2023—result in zero charges?! Same question as to why Florida prosecutors never charged Gaetz?!

Well, the answer is simple. In fact, it’s the same reason Trump was never held accountable for his attempted coup, inciting the Jan 6 terrorist attack or violating the Espionage Act with his conduct in connection with classified documents?!

The system was designed and has been implemented to protect wealthy and powerful men—especially white ones. That should not come as a surprise given our system was created by rich, white men. I mean that literally. As historians have noted, “America’s Founding Fathers were among the wealthiest people in the Colonies when they drafted and signed the Constitution.” (Of the 55 delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, approximately 25 owned enslaved people.) They created the foundation for our system which has taken us through more than two hundred years where the wealthy and powerful escape accountability.

Examples from modern era include after the Great Recession caused by the wrongdoing of the banks, Wall Street, mortgage brokers, etc. But none of the big Wall Street CEOs went to prison. In fact, only one banker—yes, one—went to prison for their role in causing an economic collapse that destroyed the lives of so many.

Then there is Trump. He should have been swiftly prosecuted by incoming Attorney General Merrick Garland for his attempted coup. Instead—as we learned later—Garland intentionally delayed the criminal investigation of Trump for more than a year in an effort not to look political. Garland though had no qualms quickly prosecuting the lower income and middle-class people who attacked the Capitol on Trump’s behalf. But when it came to the powerful and well-connected Trump, Garland choose to protect him by slow walking his prosecution because that is exactly how the system is supposed to work—especially when you have a Federalist society contributor like Garland heading the DOJ.

Another example of Trump being protected by the system was in connection with his classified documents/Espionage case. We are to believe that it was “luck” that very pro-Trump judge Aileen Cannon—who Trump had personally appointed as a judge--was chosen from the 26 judges in her federal district to preside over the case. Cannon later (wrongly) dismissed that case making it impossible for Trump to be tried before election day—which again is the system working as designed.

Then there was the GOP controlled Supreme Court—of which Trump appointed three justices—that earlier this year ruled that Trump as President had broad immunity to commit crimes in office. That decision—as the GOP Justices knew would happen—caused Trump’s Jan 6 criminal case to be pushed off indefinitely.

And after the election, we saw yet another example. This travesty occurred when Merrick Garland’s DOJ told Special Counsel Jack Smith that since Trump was going to be sworn in as President on Jan. 20, he was required to dismiss both the Jan 6 case and classified documents case. That decision by Garland’s DOJ was not based on any part of the US Constitution nor a US Supreme Court decision. Rather the sole basis was two prior internal DOJ memos. In reality, Garland should’ve allowed the case to go forward, thus, forcing Trump as President to have his own Attorney General dismiss the charges to protect Trump. That would’ve caused a backlash and a media firestorm. But Garland once again protected Trump by directing Smith to drop the charges before Trump came to power.

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule that the wealthy and powerful escape accountability such as Bernie Madoff. But that’s because Madoff stole the money of other wealthy white people—such as actor Kevin Bacon, former New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon, director Steven Spielberg to name a few. If Madoff had only stolen from poor people, he never would’ve been sent to prison. In fact, he could’ve become the GOP presidential nominee!

Gaetz will unlikely ever be prosecuted. And there are even reports that Trump’s allies are pushing Gaetz to run for governor of Florida. Gaetz is despicable but he may run—and could win. After all, Trump is an adjudicated rapist, who was convicted of 34 felonies for cheating in the 2016 election, was charged for felonies for attempting a coup after the 2020 election, incited the Jan 6 terrorist attack and was charged with crimes for violating the Espionage Act. Yet he still won the 2024 election. And the only people surprised are those who naively don’t understand how our system was designed and works.

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