My new Washington Post column:
Political hypocrisy always comes in dueling versions. Republicans who chanted “Lock her up!” about Hillary Clinton in 2016 are now complaining that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of Donald Trump amounts to weaponizing the law against political opponents. Democrats who saw authoritarianism in that chant are now eager to see Trump’s mug shot.
The Democrats were right the first time, and in coming years they may regret changing their minds about summoning voter pressure to prosecute political opponents. . . .
On Twitter, the column has drawn three main criticisms: 1) I haven’t seen the indictment and should stand down until we see it; 2) I’m supposedly saying ex-presidents are above the law; and 3) Trump himself has already warped our politics.
Regarding the first two points: If the indictment turns out to be substantially more impressive than anything we have seen in the reporting — if, for example, Alvin Bragg has strong evidence that Trump actually did shoot someone dead on Fifth Avenue — then I will concede that Trump should indeed be prosecuted. The third criticism refuses to contemplate the possibility that we are in a cycle of irresponsible conduct drawing irresponsible responses, a point that seems to me to be pretty obviously true.