Khashoggi, Clinton, Comey

Donald Trump wants to send Hillary Clinton and James Comey to prison for being his political enemies while defending a man accused of ordering a murder because it’s good for business.

In one day, Trump betrayed American values. The New York Times reported that last spring, Trump told White House Counsel Don McGahn that he wanted to order the Justice Department to prosecute Clinton and former FBI Director Comey.

McGahn, whose job became one of saving Trump from Trump, had lawyers write a memo that explaining that requesting an investigation would prompt accusations of abuse of power. It was pointed out to Trump that Justice Department lawyers could refuse to follow his orders, judges could dismiss prosecution, and Congress could investigate him and begin impeachment proceedings.

Since then, McGahn has left the White House and Trump had placed a water boy at the head of the Justice Department.

Trump has been obsessed with Hillary Clinton since the election. Her greatest crime may be that more Americans chose her over Trump. Trump believes she should be prosecuted for the way she handled her emails and for her role in Uranium One, which is a debunked conspiracy theory loved by right-wing lunatics.

He wants Comey prosecuted for sharing classified information, despite the fact he has never done that. His lawyers did ask the Justice Department to investigate Comey for mishandling sensitive government information and for his role in the Clinton email investigation. The department refused.

Presidents are supposed to leave the Justice Department alone and allow it to retain its independence. Presidents aren’t supposed to use their power to go after their enemies as if this was a third-world banana republic. The last president to meddle with the Justice Department this much was Richard Nixon, and look how that worked out for him.

When it comes between American intelligence and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Trump chose the prince because “it’s America first for me.” Huh?

It’s been two months since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a U.S. resident. He was butchered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and intelligence in Turkey and the U.S. blame Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for ordering the murder.

The CIA told Trump that bin Salman ordered the murder. Yesterday, the White House issued a statement saying, “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t.” The statement began and ended with “America first,” and included, “Representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an ‘enemy of the state,'” which also mirrors Trump’s “enemy of the people” criticism of the press.

Trump doesn’t really care if MBS ordered the hit or not. He’s letting him off the hook because he’s worried about oil prices, U.S. arms sales, and believes Saudi Arabia counters Iran. We’re currently backing Saudi Arabia in a war in Yemen where rebels are supported by Iran. The war in Yemen may be a war where we are on the wrong side.

What the White House statement failed to disclose was how much money Saudi princes have invested in Donald Trump and Jared Kushner. Hopefully, a Democratic Congress will discover exactly how much Saudi Arabia has paid Trump and Kushner, and if they’re owned or not.

Donald Trump has given clearance to other nations to do whatever the hell they want without any real political costs coming from the United States. Already, authoritarians across the world are mimicking Trump’s language toward the press and political enemies. They’ve also discovered they can just make stuff up without providing any basis in facts.

Trump is telling the world that it’s OK if they’re authoritarian states because that’s what he’s trying to turn America into.

Be Complicit

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch me draw.