Trump is America’s lawless ‘law-and-order’ president

“We need law and order,” President Donald Trump declared as he called for military and police forces to crush protests against police brutality. His aides call for the same.

Perhaps they might consider leading by example. This administration, after all, must be among the most lawless and disorderly in U.S. history.

An exhaustive catalog of the Trump White House’s demonstrated contempt for the rule of law is hardly possible in this limited space. But let’s consider some of the highlights of wrongdoing committed by White House aides, Trump Organization employees and the president himself — as well as lawbreaking outside the administration that our president has either ignored or encouraged. This includes lawbreaking by law enforcement itself.

There are the violations of campaign finance laws by Trump’s lawyer under what prosecutors say was the direction of his client. Or the dozens of times that senior White House aides have violated the prohibition against engaging in certain partisan activities. Trump has publicly granted underlings impunity for these violations.

Administration officials repeatedly have failed to divulge financial entanglements that present serious conflicts of interest. Aides have repeatedly violated the Presidential Records Act by conducting official business through unpreserved private emails — a transgression that Republicans once seemed to believe was among the highest of all crimes and misdemeanors.

Then there are the myriad rule changes designed to reward friends (for-profit colleges, the coal and oil industries) and punish enemies (immigrants, gay people, the poor). Few of these regulatory changes have survived court challenges.

And there are all the times the administration has effectively stolen from taxpayers. Recall the Cabinet secretaries who improperly flew on private jets or military aircraft when they were supposed to fly commercial. The suspicious military plane layovers at Trump’s Scottish resort. The exorbitant bill taxpayers footed for White House staffers’ Mar-a-Lago liquor consumption.

Perhaps the calls for law and order would seem more credible if it started complying with the dozens of lawful subpoenas it has either blocked or disregarded. Or if it stopped arguing in court that the sitting president is immune to all prosecutions or investigations. Or if Trump ceased attacking judges who rule against him. Or if he stopped removing the independent officials who have investigated him or his underlings.

Much of the administration’s bad behavior has been uncovered by the media. So Trump has threatened to shut down or otherwise punish news organizations, too.

And what of others’ lawbreaking? Well, despite Trump’s expression of zero tolerance for vandals, he has pardoned rightwing zealots who destroyed government property. He’s been eager to defend war criminals.

The administration is on track to set yet another record this year for fewest criminal prosecutions for white-collar crimes and government regulatory crimes, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Prosecutions for such crimes are likely to plummet further: The administration announced it would reduce regulatory enforcement, allegedly an economic response to the pandemic.

Law enforcement officials have brutalized peaceful protesters, journalists and bystanders. Trump, meanwhile, demands further escalation of force and decries only the misbehavior of looters and civilian vandals.

“I am your president of law and order,” Trump declared. He conveniently failed to specify which laws — and whose order.