No doubt, by now, you’ve seen the most important presidential portrait of our lives—inmate P01135809’s commanding mugshot, in which former President Donald Trump, arrested yesterday in Fulton County, Georgia, grimaces imperiously at the camera, leaning in, almost as if to headbutt it.
To the shock of precisely no one, the image took the internet by storm, with Trump’s presidential campaign merchandising it immediately and writers pontificating on the photo’s deeper meaning analytically. All at once, the mugshot is both profoundly simple and simply profound. “It’s just a picture,” one might respond to the media interpreting it like one does poetry—but then again, few pictures have ever said so much about our politics.
Trump’s mugshot means everything to everyone. To the right, it means the left is militant and snide; it cautions against the dangers of illiberalism. To the left, it means the right is in bed with a criminal; it warns against Republican populism and authoritarianism. To independents, it mourns America’s extreme partisan divide.
On the face of it, all it says is that a former president has been arrested—but that’s saying a lot. To both sides, it represents a victory and a defeat.
Ultimately, the former president’s mugshot means we’ve entered a new era of politics where rivals slap each other back and forth with investigations, indictments, impeachments, and arrests until those words mean nothing at all. It’s our new normal. Administrations will prosecute former administrations until they, too, are prosecuted, and the process will repeat ad infinitum. Whatever side you happen to fall on in the Trump debate, just know the precedent will come back to bite you—it’s inevitable.
This is what it means to live under a weaponized federal government. For now, the weapon lies in the hands of the Biden administration and is wielded against his enemies. But make no mistake: it will eventually pass on to another administration and then another and another until everyone in America, at some point, feels threatened, regardless of political affiliation.
Do not think for a moment that political persecution will stop at former presidents: just this week, Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice announced a lawsuit against Elon Musk, something Biden has teased since Musk purchased Twitter last year. This, of course, comes after the DOJ has targeted everyone from harmless moms at school board meetings to pro-life activists. Again, depending on what side of the political aisle you land on, this may or may not seem like a bad thing. But what happens when the same overbearing hand of government is deployed against you and your side?
“The weaponization of government agencies needs to stop,” blazoned Elon Musk. “This fundamentally undermines public faith in the justice system.”
Fair point, Elon, but let’s face it: it’s too late—faith in the federal government is already nonexistent. Our new normal is unsustainable. We cannot survive this level of partisanship without federalism. We desperately need an Article V convention, the only way to restore federalism, or America will, indeed, become a banana republic. That's what at stake in our new normal.
To join us in pursuit of this bipartisan, constitutional solution, sign the Convention of States petition below.
Welcome to our new normal
Published in Blog on August 25, 2023 by Jakob Fay
