The Sooner Trump is Arrested, The Less Chance of Violence
Since the news came out about Trump possibly taking nuclear information to his home in Florida, there is renewed discussion about the possibility of him being indicted. The reality is that there is more than enough evidence about his actions on and before January 6th to arrest him (on top this new scandal we found about recently).
Of course, if any regular person would have committed 1/10th of the crimes that Trump has, they would be arrested with no questions asked. Somehow, Trump just gets one pass after another. It has been his life of the story. Perhaps part of the calculation in failing to hold him accountable is the fear of the backlash that could occur if he is actually held responsible. There has been such reticence to hold him accountable, which is why I was pleasantly surprised by this week’s actions.
However, like letting any problem go untreated, often the waiting only ensures that the eventual outcome is actually worse. This is certainly the case in any delay to indict and arrest Trump. It already seems that he might be announcing his run for president within the next few months where he will once again be at the center of the political spotlight. To arrest him at that point will make it more probable that political violence will erupt on an even greater scale. Waiting until an actual national election, could lead to a type of civil conflict we have not seen since the Civil War.
On one hand, arresting Trump helps to uphold our institutions in the long-run by showing that no one is above the law. However, more importantly, it preserves our republic right now. If Trump is allowed to get away with all of this and face no consequences, can we even begin to imagine what a second term would look like? At that point, the U.S. would be a republic in name only. If we want to preserve the very foundations of our democratic system while keeping the political violence at a minimum, it is time to act quickly. The clock is ticking.
