The Supreme Court ruling that extends immunity to former U.S. President Donald Trump for acts committed in his official capacity, during the attempt to impede the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, is another powerful reason to fear his return to the White House in January 2025, should he win in November—regardless of Biden’s poor performance in the CNN debate.
The conservative majority on the highest court is treating Trump like a monarch, conceding unprecedented protections to him. Whatever he does in his official capacity, he cannot be touched, even if his actions involve persecuting his political opponents or implementing a twisted plan for raids and mass deportations around the country.
Without immunity Trump has done whatever he wants; image now that he has it, at least partially. A demagogue, liar, opportunist, and vindictive person who sees the presidency as a vehicle to enrich himself; to get even with those who, in his mind, have persecuted him; and to push for an extremist agenda on various matters, including immigration, with no regard for civil and human rights.
Before the multitude that is practically calling for Biden’s head continues hyperventilating, they must turn their gaze to Trump, remembering all of the bad things he has done as president and plans to do if he wins on November 5.
Trump not only has Project 2025, the road map to execute a series of extreme public policies, including on immigration, at his disposal, but now he has the blank check of immunity to do whatever he wants to implement his macabre plans, as long as it is in an official capacity.
I want to make it clear that, indeed, Biden had an unfortunate performance in the debate and I do not know if the leader will remain in the contest, or another figure will emerge.
But we cannot minimize the string of lies that emanated from Trump’s mouth and the danger that all of his positions represent for the diverse groups that form the Biden coalition, for the entire country, and democracy itself.
The editorial boards of some papers have asked Biden, at 81 years old, to remove himself from the contest for the good of the country and his party because he is very fragile, elderly, and doesn’t have what it takes to confront the “young buck,” Trump, at age 78. As far as I know, those same editorial boards have not asked Trump to leave the race for the good of his party and the country, because he is elderly and also a convicted felon whom a jury has found liable in court of sexually assaulting a woman.
I recognize that if Biden remains in the contest, he has a difficult task to appeal to voters who were already undecided prior to the debate. But before the multitude that is practically calling for Biden’s head continues hyperventilating, they must turn their gaze to Trump, remembering all of the bad things he has done as president and plans to do if he wins on November 5.
Perhaps the Supreme Court’s immunity decision will pull them out of their hysteria and remind them of the alternative. This week that the United States celebrates 248 years of the Declaration of Independence, because the colonies wanted to free themselves from the yoke of an English king, it’s pretty ironic that, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent to the majority decision, “In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law.”
A “king” who plans mass deportations based on lies about immigrants. Among all of the lies Trump pronounced during the debate, those related to immigration were the most significant: that Biden “opened” the border; that the “largest number of terrorists” in history are crossing the border; or that “people are coming in and they’re killing our citizens at a level that we’ve never seen.”
Study after study shows that undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes than people born in the United States and, as a coalition of national Latino leaders wrote in a joint declaration after the debate, “The facts are that since the last president left office, violent crime is down substantially across the country and that immigrants are associated with reductions in crime in American communities coast to coast.”
“As we know from scripture, those in glass houses should not throw stones, so a person convicted of 34 felonies pointing the finger at the alleged and misleading criminality of others is one of the ironies of this election year,” the joint statement concluded.
And that person in a glass house, who would have immunity to do whatever he likes if he is elected, is the alternative to an elderly, but honorable Biden. Like my mother said, “Viejos los cerros y reverdecen.” The hills are old, and they can still be green.
