Hearing that 2,000-plus former Department of Justice officials are calling for Attorney General William Barr to resign, well, that sends a message. Barr is, after all, the titular head of the DOJ.
Hearing how Barr is basically serving Trump’s needs, doing his bidding, helping him manufacture villains where none exist (e.g., giving Rudy Giuliani a direct pipeline to bring forth his “findings” about Ukraine to the DOJ… do other private citizens enjoy this privilege?). Helping him to exonerate or at least lessen the sentence of actual villains (e.g. Roger Stone). Knowing that Trump has the power to pardon most anyone.
Meanwhile, what happens if the Supreme Court orders President Trump to turn over his tax records? What happens if any federal court finds against Trump? Particularly with Bill Barr and the Senate in his corner? As Bill Maher so astutely observed on HBO’s “Real Time” two weeks ago, this has become the United States of “Make Me.”
So what if the Supreme Court orders Trump to turn over his tax records. Make me. So what if a court rules that Barr’s actions are illegitimate? Make me stop. We now live in a banana republic where only power matters. And there’s nothing that can be done about it… or is there?
To my mind, there is really one choice here, and it’s much easier for me, a non-career government official, to suggest it than it would be for a government official to carry it out. But that choice is easy: resign en masse.
It’s one thing for 2,000 former DOJ officials to call for Barr’s resignation. It’s quite another for 2,000 current DOJ staffers to resign in protest. In fact, all government workers should resign in protest as long as Donald Trump and William Barr continue to ignore the rule of law. You can drain the swamp only so much. But without any water at all, everything dies.
Trump and his gangsters are now in charge of what was once the greatest power, and democracy, on Earth. They are now looting it in broad daylight. And while the Daytona-attending MAGA fans are cool with that, most career government employees are not. And while they are simply trying to do their jobs, provide for their families, serve the United States and eventually collect their pensions, their service at this time is helping Trump run the U.S. government. Run it into the ground, but run it anyway.
It would be a game-changing moment if, at the very least, the entire Dept. of Justice called out sick tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. Until William Barr handed in his resignation. This is doable. And this needs to happen. Immediately.