The spectacle of William Barr intoning that “history is written by the winner” is a good indicator that the Rule of Law is no longer a matter of neutral justice for all.
, the response for anyone who cares anything at all about those institutions is by necessity muted, if there is even a response at all. And if asymmetrical warfare is the name of the game here, clearly he who doesn’t give a damn for institutions will always win. Judges, lawyers, line prosecutors, and anyone else who still believes in government must always fight on two fronts: defending against Trump and defending democracy by trying to stay as neutral as possible.
Trump and Barr, and the ever-shrinking pool of those who surround and enable them, don’t care about broken institutions or cratered norms. They believe in owning their enemies by whatever means they can get away with politically. It’s not ever going to be a fair fight. And there are, in this media moment, rewards for setting dumpster fires, and few rewards for adding sober letters to the file.
I’m not sure how we’ll know when it’s time for DOJ lawyers to chain themselves to the building, or to put down their blue books and walk out. But we make a mistake when we believe that each time Barr and his political cronies gets a pass, the result is effectively the same. As is always the case when norms are eroded, as we norm enthusiasts shake our fists at the clouds, we are also laying the groundwork for the next violation, which will surely be worse.
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