“We have thousands of people that are ready to be deported, and we cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years.” — Donald Trump
“‘We can’t give everyone a trial? Excuse me, what? That’s straight-up dictator talk. Due process isn’t optional because it’s inconvenient. This is the United States, not a banana republic. If you want to shred the Constitution, just say so.” — Jonathan Jackson, House of Representatives
The basic thought process going on here is something like this: If I deport one person, I can bow to a trial judge without too much fuss. But it’s still a rather cumbersome insult on my assumed power (plus the fact that my track record in court is not exactly spectacular). Can we get around this somehow?
Imagine a team of “very smart” lawyers cracking this nut: “It’s very easy. Just deport thousands at a time and claim that trials would be an unnecessary and inconvenient burden.”
This idea that the “scales of justice” can be completely overcome by the “scale of operations” can be applied all over the place. (Maybe the Epstein files can cast a little light on this.)
Back to the point:
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
The lawyers jump in: “Well that’s obviously true, but a long, drawn out legal process needs to be scuttled. How about if you just shoot thousands of people? We think that would work better.”
Well now, we are currently wading into that water in Los Angeles.
Trump: “We’re gonna have troops everywhere.”
“I think the president did exactly what he needed to do.” — House Speaker Mike Johnson
ABC bounces back: “You don’t think sending Marines into the streets of an American city is heavy-handed?”
Mike: “We have to be prepared to do what is necessary, and I think the notice that it might happen can have the deterring effect.”
“Prepared the deterring effect: Troops deployed on citizens … That could work!
Well now, a casual comment on our local airwaves somewhat sympathizing with vigilante behavior brings to mind a Chronicle editorial the day after the 1919 Armistice Day lynching. The subject was so well expressed that it resulted in an impressive monument to those that gave their lives for an efficient system of justice.
“The episode of last night is but the natural result of a red-handed revolutionist getting his just resorts without loss of time or the painfully slow process of law. The man’s guilt was unquestioned.”
And there it is — act quickly before there is time to ask questions.
Dennis Shain
Centralia
