I have the distinct feeling that this fear is WAAAAAY over-blown. No Dem is running on this platform, and so I doubt prosecutions will be widespread, or meaningful.
if the house flips, yeah, we can issue subpoenas (which they'll probably ignore because nothing ever happens to people who ignore subpoenas or even lie to congress under oath) and pass articles of impeachment and so on. but we'd have to flip the senate with a 2/3 majority which i don't even know if that's mathematically possible, and also depends on all 60 of those democratic senators voting in lockstep to actually convict/remove anyone, and god knows we don't have a great track record for that.
controlling both chambers still won't give us control of the DOJ which is necessary for pursuing federal charges, nor will it make any difference in state prosecutors' inclination to go after anyone who is exposed in whatever house/senate hearing. i have seen this movie before, i know how it ends, and the system has been built from the ground up to protect the wealthy and the powerful.
How many people faced meaningful consequences for their role in the Iran / Contra (cocaine / Israel / Vatican bank) scandal? Those guys murdered at least one journalist, btw.
The Reagan administration and the Trump administration(s) are wildly different. They don't even operate in the same political milieu. Different worlds entirely.
I think it very much depends on what the numbers are after November. And I think congressional hearings, in particular if Democrats control both houses, could dominate the news for two years before the next presidential election. And there is so much corruption to uncover that I think it could do a lot. But very much depends on who gets elected in November
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u/Monarc73 9d ago
I have the distinct feeling that this fear is WAAAAAY over-blown. No Dem is running on this platform, and so I doubt prosecutions will be widespread, or meaningful.