Ken Grafton for BuzzFlash: The Imperative Indictment of Donald J. Trump. A Last Chance to Restore Faith in the Diminishing American Democracy.
November 8, 2022
By Ken Grafton
Ever since that sunny November Dallas day in 1963, when (arguably) America’s innocence died with President John F. Kennedy in the back-seat of a Lincoln Continental, things haven’t been quite the same. In the minds of many who remember exactly where they were when they first heard the devastating news that day (it was one of those life events that we never forget) … things have never been quite right since.
Most remember getting the news from now-legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite - “The flash from Dallas, Texas… apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1PM, central standard time…” A visibly shaken Cronkite removed his glasses to consult a wall clock in the studio, “2 o’clock eastern standard time, some 38 minutes ago.” Echoing the sentiments of the nation, and millions around the world, he seemed… well, sad.
Almost as soon as the “most trusted man in America” (a journalist…how things have changed) had put his glasses back on, disbelief set in. With that disbelief - and the strange events that followed, with accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and his subsequent murder on national television by Dallas nightclub owner and alleged Mafia associate Jack Ruby – the first conspiracy theories began; The CIA, J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, the military-industrial complex, then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Mafia, Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters Union, disgruntled Cubans, Fidel Castro… they continue to abound today.
The argument can be made that the national seeds of distrust were sown that day; and we can connect the dots from ground-zero, following a roadmap of causal historical events on the trajectory of lost faith in American democracy.
Less than 3 months later, on February 9th, 1964, the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show before a record-breaking 73 million viewers… and the world changed.
As David Crosby once said, “Do you know anybody who didn’t watch that show?”
The turbulent “sixties” had begun, dominated by a youth-led counter-culture that questioned existing long-held national beliefs, and distrusted government in particular. “Don’t trust anyone over 30” became a popular slogan amongst “baby-boomers”, encapsulating the prevailing philosophy of the generation. The war in Vietnam – spun by government as the “conflict in Vietnam”, not unlike Russia’s current “special military action” in Ukraine – served as a perfect platform for anti-government activism (fueled by groups such as SDS, and it’s more militant arm The Weathermen).
Civil rights activism during the 1960’s created both division and further distrust in government, deepened by the assassination of Martin Luther King on April 4th, 1968 – fueled by militant Black Panther Party rhetoric.
Two months later, on June 5th, the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy at a Democratic Party presidential primary campaign event caused new conspiracy theories and heightened growing distrust in government. Many theorists envisioned a malignant right-wing “deep-state” in Washington that simply didn’t want another liberal Kennedy in the White House.
On June 13th, 1971, the New York Times began publishing a series of articles on a top-secret government report, “Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force” - which subsequently became famous as the “Pentagon Papers”. Leaked by military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, the report showed that successive governments had mislead the American public regarding various aspects of the Vietnam War. Publication led to a First Amendment case in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in favor of the Times and Washington Post’s right to publish. The Pentagon Papers were a significant milestone on the path of disillusionment, since the take-away for the public was that their government lied to them about the war, and then tried to protect itself with another lie to block publication, by falsely claiming threats to national security.
President Richard Nixon’s chief of staff H.R. Haldeman addressed it in an oval office meeting on June 14th, “Rumsfeld was making this point this morning... To the ordinary guy, all this is a bunch of gobbledygook. But out of the gobbledygook comes a very clear thing.... you can't trust the government; you can't believe what they say; and you can't rely on their judgment; and the - the implicit infallibility of presidents, which has been an accepted thing in America, is badly hurt by this, because it shows that people do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president can be wrong.”
Then, Watergate happened.
Through a White House special investigations unit of ex-CIA and ex-FBI agents, nicknamed the “plumbers” (their function was to plug leaks for Nixon), the Pentagon Papers led indirectly to Watergate. While their initial attempt to dig up dirt on Ellsberg by breaking into his psychiatrist’s office backfired, resulting in a trial acquittal on espionage charges for Ellsberg, the “plumbers” went on get arrested for burglarizing the Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate Complex on June 17th, 1972. On June 19th, the Washington Post broke a story by then-unknown reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein entitled “GOP Security Aide Among 5 Arrested IN Bugging Affair” which toppled the first domino leading to Nixon’s impeachment resignation in disgrace two years later. It would be impossible to over-exaggerate the damage that Watergate did to public confidence in government and the Presidency.
President Gerald Ford’s subsequent pardon of Nixon, although defended by Ford as being done in the best interests of the country, was a mistake that drove the last nail in the coffin of public trust. In the eyes of many, the President was obviously above the law.
Over succeeding decades, events have further eroded public trust in government.
According to PEW Research, 73 per cent of Americans trusted the government in 1958. Today, that number has fallen to only 20 per cent.
Democracy is in crisis, and government corruption is a key causal factor.
The Economist Intelligence Unit states, “For some years, the EIU’s survey has been painting a picture of democracy in retreat. Now…authoritarianism is gaining. The depressing finding is reinforced by the newly published Corruption Transparency Index (CPI), issued annually by Transparency International. It shows that government corruption is perceived to be high in more than two-thirds of the 180 countries surveyed.” In 2021 the US held a CPI of 67, ranking it in 27th place on the list of nations. Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand tied in first place.
One would have to be wholly detached from reality to be unaware of the massive, feculent cesspool of corruption surrounding former President Donald Trump.
According to a recent Marist poll, while 50 per cent of Americans think Trump should face criminal prosecution for his role in the assault on the Capital, only 28 per cent believe he will be indicted.
This evidences a sad distrust in the justice system, especially in light of the daily tsunami of enthusiastic talking-heads predicting indictment.
Whether or not that ultimately comes to pass, it does appear likely that Attorney General Merrick Garland will at least have an opportunity to do so - thereby demonstrating that America still has a functioning justice system wherein all are equal in the eyes of the law…even corrupt Presidents.
While conviction is a matter for the court, an indictment is imperative for democracy.
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