Am I the only person in the country who is tired of people evoking Hunter Biden’s legal problems in defense of the criminal indictments of former president Donald Trump? When I was a child, that “what about?” the wrongdoings of someone else never got me off the hook for my own poor behavior. But today, conservatives repeatedly evoke “what- about” deflections and offer false equivalencies as though they were legitimate reasons to ignore the abhorrent illegal actions of people in their party, especially Trump. The “both sides” argument is a ridiculous fallacy that needs to be rejected because one side is clearly breaking the laws and acting in far more nefarious ways than the other.
I ‘m clear about my own sense of justice. First, and foremost, no one should be above the law if we are to be governed by laws. So, if Hunter Biden broke the law, then he should be prosecuted for his wrongdoing and sentenced accordingly if found guilty. However, Hunter Biden is NOT the president. He is a private citizen and a grown man who made his own life decisions. His prosecution has nothing to do with President Biden and I’m glad President Biden has steered clear of the legal proceedings regarding his son’s offenses. However, the Republicans keep trying to connect father and son to unsubstantiated criminal activities. For the gullible MAGA Republicans who don’t require any evidence, they’ve coined the phrase “Biden crime family” to make it easy evoke their what-about-ism at every turn.
Their House investigation is an actual “witch hunt” led by Representative James Comer and Representative Jim Jordan. Sadly, our taxpayer dollars are funding their charade. It’s comical that they refer to the legitimate indictments of former President Donald Trump as a “witch hunt” when tangible evidence of multiple crimes actually exists. This is the kind of “what-about-ism” and false equivalency that turns the legitimate demand for fairness into a joke.
In a country governed by laws, no person should be allowed to run for the presidency in order to avoid prosecution. That would be the worst thing for the preservation of the rule of law. If former President Trump broke the law, he should also be charged and prosecuted for his wrongdoing. I’m appalled that many Republicans, despite all the evidence of wrongdoing, continue to try to shield Trump from accountability by appealing to our sense of fairness by misusing the “what-about” argument and elevating a false equivalency. They point to the Department of Justice and FBI, accusing them of wrongly ignoring their ridiculous pleas for “fairness”.
The reality is that in this country, people who are white, wealthy, and well-connected are too often given a pass by the criminal justice system. Trump has experienced this pass for his entire adult life, and he fully expected that privilege to continue. The wealthy have the means to hire expensive attorneys to delay trials, fight allocations, file meaningless motions, and negotiate light punishments that often evade any prison time. We’re talking about a man who has repeatedly committed business fraud, evaded taxes, dodged the draft, raped women, and stole highly classified government documents. And we should all remember how Trump as president of the United States, pardoned his loyal criminal partners like Michael Flinn (and others) when their law-breaking was exposed and prosecuted.
Republicans continuously claim that we have a two-tiered criminal justice system, and they are correct. However, the tiers aren’t manifested in how Trump and Hunter Biden are investigated or treated. Nor is it manifested in how the classified documents cases were handled by Trump versus President Biden or Mike Pence. Republicans simply choose to ignore the circumstances, actions, and the numerous broken laws Trump is accused of perpetrating in favor of false equivalency and a ludicrous “what-about-ism”. Yes, both Biden and Pence had classified documents, but they quickly turned them over when they were discovered and voluntarily allowed law enforcement to search their primacies for them without the need for repeated begging and a court ordered subpoena. They didn’t lie, remove, hide, and indiscriminately share classified documents. They had no scheme to use the documents as leverage or to profit from them. There is no equivalency and the “what-about” deflection, is just that, a deflection.
The two-tiered justice system is manifested in the difference in how the poor, the immigrant, and people of color are policed, prosecuted, and sentenced as compared to others in society. We all know the unfairness is happening and it is time for us to demand the equal justice under the law that is provided in our Constitution. I am not saying that poor people, immigrants, or people of color shouldn’t face consequences for their wrongdoing; I am saying that white people. politicians, and the wealthy should face the same consequences when they break the law. This is the kind of “what-about-is” that is justified. It doesn’t allow any wrongdoers off the hook. When I was a child, I agreed that I should be punished for my wrongdoing, but I thought it only fair that others be punished as well.
The time is now for citizens of this country to demand that our criminal justice system lives up to the provisions provided under our Constitution. It is up to us to support civil rights organizations who are fighting for criminal justice reform and to follow their lead to collectively address the unfair plea-bargain agreements, the excessive sentencing, the over-policing/under-policing of certain neighborhoods, and the exploitative fines in poor neighborhoods.
In addition, it is imperative that citizens support the Department of Justice as they seek to hold Donald Trump accountable. It’s always a good idea to express that support in an email to the Department of Justice and to the Attorney General specifically. I can guarantee you that Republicans and MAGA folks are doing their best to intimidate the Department of Justice using “what-about-ism”, false equivalencies, conspiracies, and now threats of violence to make them release Donald Trump from the prosecution he clearly deserves.