Commentators have long speculated on why millions of Americans remain fanatically committed to Donald Trump.       

There has been far less speculation on why so many law enforcers have turned a blind eye to Trump’s decades of criminality, if not treason.

Among those guilty:

• The Justice Department did not indict Trump for the series of threats he made—directly and indirectly—against Republicans and Democrats throughout the 2016 Presidential campaign. 
• The United States Secret Service did not charge him with threatening the life of Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: “Hillary [Clinton] wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. If she gets to pick her [Supreme Court] judges, nothing you can do folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.” 
• The Justice Department did not prosecute Trump for treason, even though he solicited aid from Russia, a nation hostile to the United States. On July 27, 2016. Trump publicly invited “Russia”—i.e., Vladimir Putin—to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails: “I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

There are at least two reasons why Trump has been allowed to insult and even threaten prosecutors and judges without facing the punishment an ordinary citizen would:

Cowardice: They fear Trump will slander them by claiming he’s the victim of a “witch hunt” to remove him from the 2024 Presidential race.

And/or they fear physical attack from his legions of fanatical followers.

Awe of the Presidency:  They fear their careers will be tainted by prosecuting or judging a man who won the votes of 70 million Americans. 

There are, however, remedies for both cowardice and awe:

Cowardice:  Prosecutors and judges should expect threats and slanders from Trump. This is how he has traditionally responded to attempts to hold him legally accountable. 

If judges and prosecutors fear violence from Trump’s fanatical followers, they can easily obtain round-the-clock protection by local and/or federal law enforcement agencies.

Awe: Trump is no longer President. He no longer commands Presidential immunity nor the powers of that office—such as being able to cite “executive privilege” to prevent the release of documents or testimony.

His refusals to accept this reality should be bluntly ignored. 

More importantly, as President, he:

• Took no action to protect Americans from the deadly COVID-19 virus;
• Constantly sided with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin against the United States; 
• Attacked the independent judiciary and free press;
• Praised Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen;
• Fired FBI Director James Comey for refusing to pledge his personal loyalty to Trump and turn the agency into Trump’s private police force;
• Used his position as President to further enrich himself in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution;
• Attacked and alienated America’s oldest democratic allies, such as Canada and Great Britain;
• Refused to accept the results of a legitimate Presidential election; and
• Incited a deadly attack on Congress so he could illegally remain in office.

Those are only some of the despicable actions he took while in office.

The Presidency has long held most Americans in awe. This is largely because the man (and it’s always been a man) who holds it is elected by all Americans, and not just those of a particular city or state.

And he alone has control of America’s enormous military—the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force—as well as a nuclear arsenal that can literally destroy all life on Earth.

Americans have long assumed that a victorious Presidential candidate has been blessed by God, and thus automatically commands a respect—if not reverence—denied to ordinary mortals.

But respect must be earned. And anyone guilty of even a small number of the crimes committed by Donald Trump long ago forfeited any right to such regard.

Once a President leaves office, he should be treated as any other American citizen—and held to the same standards as an ordinary citizen.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli, the Florentine statesman and father of modern political science, has eloquently warned of the dangers of ignoring this truth: 

…No well-ordered republic should ever cancel the crimes of its citizens by their merits.  But having established rewards for good actions and penalties for evil ones, and having rewarded a citizen for conduct who afterwards commits a wrong, he should be chastised for that without regard to his previous merits.  And a state that properly observes this principle will long enjoy its liberty, but if otherwise, it will speedily come to ruin. 

For if a citizen who has rendered some eminent service to the state should add to the reputation and influence which he has thereby acquired the confident audacity of being able to commit any wrong without fear of punishment, he will in a little while become so insolent and overbearing as to put an end to all power of the law.  

Putting an end to “all power of the law” and setting himself up as “The Law” is precisely what Donald Trump tried to do after losing the 2020 Presidential election—and is still trying to do.