Trump’s department of injustice: Impunity for friends, brutality for enemies

We’re all familiar with the idea that actions have consequences. Parents teach it to their children as an important part of raising responsible human beings. As adults, we sometimes get harsh reminders of this truth. 

This principle doesn’t apply just on a personal level. Our justice system imposes consequences on people who break the law or harm others. For a society that is free, fair and just, those consequences must apply to everyone. That’s why “equal justice under law” is carved in stone over the entrance to our Supreme Court. 

Unfortunately, the Trump regime makes a mockery of that principle, insulating the president, his underlings, his friends and anyone willing to pay his price from the consequences of their lawbreaking.  

Trump started his second term by pardoning violent Jan. 6 rioters who attacked police and vandalized the Capitol. Since then, he has turned the presidential pardon power from an instrument of mercy into a money–making and loyalty-rewarding mechanism. While he denies life-saving aid to Minnesotans on Medicaid as part of a supposed war on fraud, Trump regularly pardons white-collar fraudsters, denying more than a billion dollars in compensation to the people they ripped off.

Trump and his team have backed violent and abusive Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents even when they kill American citizens. And we’ve just learned from a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower that ICE officials gutted training for new agents, encouraged them to violate the Constitution and then lied about it to Congress. I’m not holding my breath that anyone will be held accountable for any of it. 

Making this worse is the contempt the administration has shown for the constitutional system of checks and balances. When members of Congress try to exercise their oversight responsibility, they are met with stonewalling, refusal to answer even the most basic questions and rehearsed performance-art insults from people like Attorney General Pam Bondi. 

It has also undermined accountability by firing inspectors general, military lawyers, FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors and staff suspected of being insufficiently committed to carrying out Trump’s wishes.  

As is often the case, the rot starts at the top. Trump routinely acts as if the law doesn’t apply to him, and he can barely contain his outrage when he is reminded that it does. When the Supreme Court ruled recently that his tariff policies must abide by the Constitution and law, Trump accused justices of “disloyalty” to the Constitution and charged that they were swayed by “foreign interests.”  

Transparency is one important tool for accountability. Trump claims to be the most transparent president ever because he spends time chatting with (and insulting) reporters. But when it counts the most, he and his enablers fight transparency tooth and nail.  

The corrupted Justice Department has repeatedly violated a bipartisan law requiring them to release all files related to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. When they have released files, they seemingly took more steps to protect powerful men mentioned in the files than the women who were victimized. Most recently, investigative reporters have revealed a potential coverup involving the removal from FBI files of documents related to allegations of Trump and Epstein sexually abusing a young teen.  

Aileen Cannon, Trump’s favorite hand-picked federal judge, has acted time and time again to protect him from accountability. She recently ordered that an investigative report about Trump’s mishandling of classified documents could not be made public.  

The culture of impunity extends to polluters and other Trump big-business allies. In a recent executive order, Trump declared that manufacturers of glyphosate, the key chemical in controversial pesticides, could not be held responsible for harm caused by their product, enraging many of Trump’s own allies in the food-safety movement.   

The lack of accountability for political insiders creates dangerous incentives for people to abuse their power to amass more of it. It encourages corrupt people to enrich themselves at the expense of the public. On top of all that, the brazen lack of accountability for the rich and well-connected undermines public faith in our democracy.  

And that brings us to elections, which are the ultimate form of accountability in a democratic society. When elected officials betray the public trust, voters can send them home. 

And that’s why Trump and his Republican allies are doing everything they can to prevent voters from holding them accountable and taking away their congressional majorities in 2026. It’s why Trump demanded abusively partisan redistricting in red states to rig the midterms. It’s why he is pushing Congress to pass legislation that would make it easier to keep some eligible voters from casting a ballot. And it’s why he’s threatening to take over elections via an “emergency” executive order.  

It’s not as if we had a perfect justice system before the Trump regime took over. People with power and privilege have often been able to manipulate the system to their advantage. That’s why we have seen that cynical twist on the golden rule: “He who has the gold makes the rules.” 

But that’s not the American ideal. It’s not what we strive for. And it’s not something we should ever accept. 

Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way.

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