Elections Have Consequences

Immediately following his inauguration in 2009, former President Obama smarmily informed Republicans that “elections have consequences.” “Tough luck, you lost. Get over it.” Since then, that rule of elections has been repeated numerous times, including in connection with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

America is confronting that reality again with the impending confirmation of the election of Joe Biden as President. There will be many consequences, some obvious, others, less so. The Ratcatcher has compiled a list of a few consequences that may not immediately come to mind. This list does not pretend to completeness; such a list would overwhelm this post. But these consequences are significant and may portend the future of this country. People of both parties would do well to think about those long-term implications.

** No final accounting of the Benghazi debacle and the role of the Obama White House and Department of State in the deaths of four Americans. No one will bear any consequence for that shameful event.

** No accountability for former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s misuse of a personal email for official State Department business, much of which was highly confidential.

** No resolution and no accountability for the destruction by Mrs. Clinton and her minions of over 30,000 emails, many of which included sensitive government material that belonged to the US government, not to her.

** No resolution of the Clinton Foundation’s receipt of millions of dollars from foreign sources, many of which were allegedly seeking influence with the US government through Mrs. Clinton.

** No accounting and no resolution of the “pay-to-play” schemes involving Hunter Biden, Vice President Biden, and other members of his family, details of which were finally becoming public earlier in 2020.

** No criminal proceedings against those people associated with the Clinton campaign in 2015 and 2016 who initiated the fraudulent claims that Russia and Vladimir Putin were in control of or influencing President Trump.

** No criminal or other penal proceedings for those members of the FBI and the Department of Justice who knowingly mislead the FISA Court to obtain search warrants for numerous people associated with the Trump campaign and presidency.

** No consequences for those who knowingly entrapped General Michael Flynn for the sole purpose of trying to obtain incriminating information about President Trump.

** No penalties for those who lied under oath before Congressional committees about their roles in the attempt to use the Clinton/DNC bought and paid for dossier to entrap and prosecute President Trump.

** No criminal prosecutions of those who illegally used the office of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, to pursue the President and his advisors.

A complete list would be much longer but these will suffice to make the point. Recently, Glenn Beck published a monologue on The Blaze in which he approached this issue from a different perspective. “I've had enough. I am tired of exposing corruption, doing our homework, even going overseas and having documents translated to make sure they're exactly right, [and] presenting the evidence ... except, once we expose it, nothing happens. Nobody goes to jail. Nobody pays for a damn thing any more!"

Of course Beck was correct, and that trend will surely continue under a Biden administration. Attorney General Bill Barr and his U.S. Attorneys, including John Durham, have frittered away two years allegedly “investigating” many of the scandals identified above. But nothing has come of it! We were led along with vague assurances that something would be forthcoming just any day. Well, any day has long past and nothing has happened; no indictments, to trials, no convictions, no significant firings! Not even a report though Mr. Durham’s assignment was to investigate and, where appropriate, indict suspects.

Even if Barr and Durham were to produce indictments within the next few days, it is virtually certain nothing will come of them. On January 20, 2021, if Mr. Biden is confirmed as President, Mr. Barr will be out of job; probably Mr. Durham as well. Mr. Biden will appoint a new Attorney General and all these issues of corruption and apparent criminal conduct will simply vanish. No one in the Department of Justice [consideration should be given to renaming that Department] will have any interest in pursuing the matters; they will languish until the applicable statutes of limitation have expired and will no longer be remembered unless some honest historian undertakes to memorialize this most disgraceful period in American history.

Elections do have consequences. Not all consequences take the form of affirmative action. Sometimes, the consequences are neglect.

There will be one more consequence of this election if Mr. Biden is elected. We will all learn that the law can be flouted; crimes can be committed; people’s lives can be ruined; some can acquire great wealth. Success depends not on truth and justice but on cunning, power, and the vagaries of elections.

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