Trump In The Crosshairs by Jane Mayer

[ancianita]

A clarifying examination of the history of Cy Vance, Jr., the Trump investigation and rule of law as the foundation of democracy.

I highly recommend it. It's classic in-the-weeds Jane Mayer -- long and well worth the read.

The investigative phase of the Trump case will likely be complete before Vance’s term ends, leaving to him the crucial decision of whether to bring criminal charges. But any trial would almost surely rest in the hands of his successor. Daniel R. Alonso, Vance’s former top deputy, who is now a lawyer at Buckley, L.L.P., predicts that if Trump is indicted “it will be nuclear war.”...

Vance’s office could well be the only operable brake on Trump’s remarkable record of impunity. He has survived two impeachments, the investigation by the special counsel Robert Mueller, half a dozen bankruptcies, twenty-six accusations of sexual misconduct, and an estimated four thousand lawsuits. And his successor, President Joe Biden, so far seems to prefer that the Department of Justice simply turn the page...

As a result, the contest between Vance and Trump is about much more than a financial investigation. It’s a stress test of the American justice system. George Conway, a lawyer and a Trump critic, who is married to the former President’s adviser Kellyanne Conway, said, “Trump is a man who has gotten away with everything his entire life. He’s an affront to the rule of law, and to all law-abiding citizens.” In office, Trump often treated the law as a political weapon, using the Justice Department as a tool for targeting enemies. Now he is pitted against a D.A. who regards the law as the politically blind foundation of democracy. As Conway put it, “For Trump, the law is a cudgel. For Vance, it’s what holds us together as a civilization. And that’s why people who thumb their noses at it have to be prosecuted. If they aren’t, you’re taking a big step toward a world where that is acceptable.”...

As Vance faces an adversary whose character is in many ways the opposite of his own, some of his perceived weaknesses may become strengths. Trump has accused prosecutors investigating him of waging a political vendetta. After the Supreme Court upheld Vance’s tax-records subpoena, Trump denounced the probe as “a continuation of the greatest political Witch Hunt in the history of our Country,” and claimed that it was “all Democrat-inspired in a totally Democrat location, New York City and State.” Given Vance’s sober, methodical reputation, such attacks may fall flat. “We don’t operate politically,” he told me. He mentioned that, whenever he goes to his office, he walks past the hulking courthouse complex at 60 Centre Street. “There’s a stone inscription over this huge building. It says, ‘The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government.’ ” The quote, he noted, is attributed to George Washington. “When you have all the power we have as prosecutors, it can’t be levelled against people for political purposes. We’ve prosecuted Republicans and Democrats, and we’ve investigated and not prosecuted Republicans and Democrats. It’s got to be based on the facts.”....

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/22/can-cyrus-vance-jr-nail-trump

[Tbear]

1. Good read

Jane goes wide and deep.
Anyone read her book “Dark Money”?

[ancianita]

2. ...

Yes. Years ago. It's still on my favorites shelf. Did you?

[Tbear]

3. No, was considering it

And wondering if I need to?

[ancianita]

4. Cool

Need to? Nah, not really.

She was the first to trace the billionaires behind the setups of think tanks and the Federalist Society and the buying of depts of economics at over 600 universities -- the Kochs, Bradleys, Mercers, etc.

It's mostly revelatory history, if you like that stuff. But the hot arguments she made back then, that blew up the political class -- about how dark money was being networked by proxy, and had become global -- are now pretty much understood by the political class, and maybe some of the rest of voters, both of whom always seem to play catchup with the democracy-hating corporate class that want to run the 3rd largest country on the planet like a corporate campus tax haven of plutocrats and slaves.

[Tbear]

5. Wow! Great summary!

I feel I have a pretty good handle on that stuff Mercer cough Mercer cough cough Mercer