Trump is being protected by a system created by powerful white men designed to protect other powerful white men

If Trump were Black or Brown he'd already be in jail

The US Supreme Court ruling on Monday that Donald Trump is not disqualified from holding office by way of Section 3 of the 14^th Amendment despite the fact Trump “engaged in insurrection” is simply the latest reminder of how our justice system is rigged in favor of the Trump’s of America. And just to be clear, the US Supreme Court did not reverse the trial court’s finding after a five-day trial and affirmed by the Colorado Supreme Court that “former President Trump had ‘engaged in insurrection’ within the meaning of Section 3.”

Rather, the Supreme Court found that “States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.”  In other words, Trump and future Presidents can engage in all the insurrections they want but no state can bar that person from the ballot.

The Supreme court dispassionately addressing a coup attempt like they were debating the Interstate Commerce Clause is appalling. It’s also how democracies potentially die.

But this Supreme Court decision reminds of the injustice built in our system from Day One. It’s that system that allows Donald Trump to not only be out on bail despite facing 91 felonies—including 30 charges of violating The Espionage Act and his attempted coup—but to run for President again.

Honestly, does anyone believe for a moment that if Trump were Black, Brown or a poor white person he would not already be in prison for his crime spree?!

When I say the system was built by white powerful 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.)

The Framers of the Constitution wanted the new country to be run by fellow white, rich men. We know that because when drafting the Constitution in 1787, state laws only guaranteed the right to vote to white men who owned property.  If the Founders wanted to change that, they could’ve with the new Constitution that was ratified in 1789.

But as John Adams who would serve as our nation’s first vice-President and second President made clear, only white men with property should run our nation. As he wrote in 1776: “If you give to every Man, who has no Property, a Vote, will you not make a fine encouraging Provision for Corruption by your fundamental Law? Such is the Frailty of the human Heart, that very few Men, who have no Property, have any Judgment of their own.” Adams continued on to warn that if the requirement to own property was abandoned, “Women will demand a Vote. Lads from 12 to 21 will think their Rights not enough attended to, and every Man, who has not a Farthing, will demand an equal Voice with any other in all Acts of State.”

While who was permitted to vote in our nation has thankfully expanded over time, the protection of the white and wealthy has remained constant. Examples of this abound. But let’s focus on how this system is protecting Trump from being held accountable.

Just last week, the GOP controlled Supreme Court further protected Trump by continuing the stay of his Jan 6 criminal case until they can hear the appeal of his claim that as President he was free to commit all the crimes he wanted. The GOP run court—of which three justices were personally appointed by Trump--knows by not hearing oral argument of the appeal until the week of April 22, that they have all but made it impossible for Trump to be tried before election day for attempting a coup. These Republican justices are doing what the court was designed to and that is protect the white, rich leader of their political party. (And don’t be shocked if the GOP Justices grant Trump some form of immunity.)

Meanwhile in Trump’s Espionage case—which the corporate media has whitewashed as the “classified documents” case—the judge presiding over the case, Aileen Cannon, was personally appointed by Trump in 2020. And she, too, is doing her part to help Trump avoid accountability. Last week, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked Cannon for a July 8 trial date—which is more than one year after Trump was indicted. Trump’s lawyers, however, have long sought the trial date after the election so that if Trump wins, he can direct his Attorney General to dismiss the case—using another part of the system set up by powerful white men to protect each other.

What did Cannon do? Well last Friday she expressed “skepticism” over the July date and is currently considering when to schedule the case. I can say with great certainty that Cannon will not schedule the trial until after the election to help Trump.  After all, if Trump wins, the 42-year-old Cannon knows that Trump will reward her with a nomination to the US Court of Appeals or even the US Supreme Court. Again, that is not illegal because that is how the system was designed.

And given Trump has the ability to spend more than $50 million to date on legal fees, he can slow down the Fulton County case where he’s facing numerous felonies including a state RICO charge for his scheme to overturn the results in that state after the 2020 election. That trial will not happen before election day.

One more glaring example of system protecting Trump is the fact that another powerful white man, Attorney General Merrick Garland, did not investigate Trump for more than one year after the Jan 6 attack—as backed up by reporting in both the NY Times and Washington Post. For example, as The Washington Post detailed, DOJ lawyers “complained that the attorney general’s determination to steer clear of any claims of political motive has chilled efforts to investigate the former president.”

Of course, Garland swiftly prosecuted the middle and lower income people who attacked the Capitol on Jan 6. But when it came to Trump-the powerful, white man who was the reason for the attack—Garland had to be shamed into action by the nationally televised Jan 6 hearings as the NY Times documented. It’s Garland’s failure to swiftly prosecute Trump that helped ensure he won’t be tried before the Novermber 5 election.

We don’t have a two-tiered justice system. We have a multi-tiered one depending on your race and income. And atop it all are powerful white men who--with few exceptions--avoid any accountability for their wrongdoing be it bankers who caused the Great Recession to Trump’s wealthy friend Jeffrey Epstein who dodged prosecution for decades to Donald Trump.  That is not a glitch in the system. Rather that is exactly how it was designed to function.

---