By Billy Webster
In defending Donald Trump in his ongoing string of indictments, William Timmons serves up a Tweet (now called an ‘X’ post) worthy of My Pillow Guy. Devoid of any accurate facts and expressing a complete misunderstanding of the Rule of Law, Timmons writes; “what is happening to President Trump is what you would see in a banana republic. It does not take a law degree to see that we clearly have a two-tier system of justice in the country.”
Where to start to unpack the ignorance here?
Let’s start with the easy stuff.
Countries that are considered high-functioning democracies dedicated to the rule of law prosecute wrongdoing, even if the accused is a head of state.
The list of countries that have done so is long:
- France (ex-President Nicholas Sarkozy in 2014 and former President Jacques Chirac in 2011);
- South Korea (ex-presidents Park Guen-hye and Lee Myung-bak)
- Israel (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu)
- Italy (former Premier Silvio Berlusconi)
And the list goes on: Portugal, Taiwan, Germany and Spain – countries that would no doubt be offended to be referred to as ‘banana republics.’ Well, maybe not, considering the source.
As to the two-tiered system of justice, Timmons refers to, it is precisely the Rule of Law, with its origins in Aristotelean thought and grounded in the US Constitution that demands that governments and its citizens are equally held accountable to the country’s laws. Timmons either skipped Constitutional Law at USC or perhaps opts for the Marjorie Taylor Green Law School version of the Rule of Law: one set of laws applies to Donald Trump and the rest of us be damned.
Someone convicted of sexual assault in New York City would be serving from two to seven years in prison, while Trump, who so far has faced only a civil trial for defamation, received a monetary fine of inconsequential significance given his net worth. (In rejecting Trump’s motion for a new trial last week, a New York judge said what Trump did meets the definition of rape, “as many people commonly understand the word.”)
More than 1,000 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related crimes. Roughly 500 have been sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 7 days to 14. years. Former President Trump—who incited and inflamed these rioters – pleads not guilty to conspiracy to overthrow the United States government, placing the blame on others.
Countless public officials have been successfully prosecuted for misuse of classified material while Trump steals hundreds of national security documents with, as yet, no consequence.
A two-tiered system of justice indeed.
As further evidence of his disdain for the rule of law, Timmons has adopted the Green/Bobert/Gaetz (GBG) defense of Trump: it’s all a smoke screen to hide the criminality of the Biden family. In his interview on WORD radio this week, Timmons was confronted with the litany of Trump’s indictable wrongdoings – three that resulted in indictment and two more that are likely to. He went straight to the GBG misdirection.
Let’s stipulate here that if the Biden family is shown to have engaged in criminal wrongdoing, the Congress and the courts have every right — and the responsibility — to investigate those activities. But and not unsurprisingly, the Republicans have offered not one shred of proof of criminal wrongdoing. The rule of law applies to the Bidens just as it does to Trump and his enterprise. That’s the point, after all. No one is above the law and each of us are subject to the same system of justice.
As the indictments pile up, we deserve better than a My Pillow Guy congressman, mindlessly defending the indefensible Trump. Timmons has already voted to reject the constitutional order of the United States, now he rejects the twin pillars of that order – the rule of law and the rule of facts. That may make for good politics in the 4th Congressional District but it is a dangerous and destructive attack on the foundation of American Democracy.
Unsurprisingly, William Timmons has doubled and tripled down on the defense of now four-times indicted former President Trump.
In his latest statement, Timmons calls the indictment “absolutely absurd” and further states that “this DA should be removed from office and criminally prosecuted.”Of course, Timmons cannot be re-elected without the support of the diehard Trump radical right, so he crucifies the Rule of Law on the alter of his hero, Donald Trump.
Putting aside Georgia Republican Governor Kemp’s statement that, “the 2020 Georgia election was not stolen;” “elections in Georgia are secure, accessible and fair,” we should simply await the verdict of juries in New York, DC, Georgia and Florida. Ultimately, history will judge harshly the cowardice of politicians like William Timmons. Career before Country will be the epitaph he deserves.
Billy Webster is an educator, entrepreneur, and civic leader. He has been appointed to various positions by two presidents – George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, serving in the Agency for International Development, The Department of Education, and the White House, among other postings. A resident of Spartanburg, Webster has served on numerous boards for organizations serving the Upstate.