Against the Bully-in-Chief

Published in El País
(Spain) on 29 September 2018
by Lluís Bassets (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Marta Quirós Alarcón. Edited by Arielle Eirienne.
Besides control over the Supreme Court, in this battle, the future of Donald Trump is on the line

This is the climax of the battle. The moment when its outcome is on the line. This battle is not a trivial one. It may even be critical in the civil war between social conservatism and progressivism that is taking place in the United States. And what is at stake is the hegemony over the Supreme Court—the institution that arbitrates and interprets the Constitution—for an entire generation. If Trump wins and succeeds in placing his 53-year-old candidate, Brett Kavanaugh, as one of the nine justices with lifetime tenure, the entirety of progressive legislation dating back 50 years, starting with abortion rights, will be in danger.

Kavanaugh guarantees not only a reactionary clamping down on constitutional jurisprudence, but, in the event that he achieves that position, he will also act as Trump’s legal shield, beleaguered as Trump is by suspicions of colluding with Russian intelligence in order to wreck Hillary Clinton’s campaign and of obstructing the course of justice, especially by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, appointed by the Department of Justice to investigate the case.

Trump’s candidate to occupy the vacancy in the Supreme Court has experience as Kenneth Starr’s adviser – the special prosecutor that investigated Bill Clinton on account of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Kavanaugh was responsible for the most lurid questions about physical contact between the president and the intern, although Trump is also interested in his legal standards about the impossibility of prosecuting a president while he occupies the White House, just as he advocated in a memo drafted in the wake of the Lewinsky case. If Mueller were to try to incriminate Trump, he would at least be sure that his prosecution would be postponed until the end of his presidency.

Things will get complicated for the president if he is unable to appoint his candidate before the midterm election on November 6, in which the Republicans will surely lose the House of Representatives and may lose their majority in the Senate. Hence the dramatic tension reached in the Senate on Thursday, before the testimonies of Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Kavanaugh, her alleged sexual assailant—it was the high point of the frontal collision between the #MeToo feminist movement and those symbolizing the masculine, white and conservative domains.

Besides control over the Supreme Court, in this battle, the future of Donald Trump—the bully-in-chief—is also on the line.


Contra el acosador en jefe

Además del control del Tribunal Supremo, en esta batalla se juega también el futuro de Donald Trump

Es la culminación de la batalla. El momento en que se juega su desenlace. No es una batalla banal. Puede que sea incluso decisiva en la guerra civil entre el conservadurismo social y el progresismo, que viene librándose en Estados Unidos. Y lo que está en juego es la hegemonía para una generación entera en el Tribunal Supremo, la institución que arbitra e interpreta la Constitución. Si gana Trump, y consigue situar a su candidato Brett Kavanaugh, de 53 años, como uno de los nueve magistrados vitalicios, estará en peligro toda la legislación progresista de los últimos 50 años, empezando por el derecho al aborto.

Kavanaugh no garantiza tan solo un cerrojazo reaccionario en la jurisprudencia constitucional, sino que, en caso de alcanzar el cargo, también actuará como el escudo judicial de Trump, asediado actualmente por las sospechas de colusión con los servicios secretos rusos para destrozar la campaña electoral de Hillary Clinton y de obstaculización de la acción de la justicia, concretamente del fiscal especial Robert Mueller, designado por el departamento de Justicia para investigar el caso.

El candidato de Trump a ocupar la vacante en el Supremo cuenta con la experiencia como asesor de Kenneth Starr, el fiscal especial que investigó a Bill Clinton por sus relaciones con Monica Lewinsky. A Kavanaugh se deben las preguntas más escabrosas sobre los contactos físicos entre el presidente y la becaria, aunque a Trump le interesan especialmente sus criterios jurídicos acerca de la imposibilidad de procesar a un presidente mientras ocupe la Casa Blanca, tal como defendió en un memorándum redactado al hilo del caso Lewinsky. Si el fiscal Mueller intentara incriminar a Trump, este tendría asegurado con Kavanaugh en el Supremo al menos el aplazamiento de su procesamiento hasta el final de su presidencia.

Todo se complicará para el presidente si no consigue nombrar a su candidato antes de las elecciones de mitad de mandato del 6 de noviembre, en las que los republicanos perderán con seguridad la Cámara de Representantes y pueden quedarse sin mayoría en el Senado. De ahí la tensión dramática alcanzada el jueves en el Senado, ante los testimonios de Christine Blasey Ford y de su presunto acosador sexual, el juez Kavanaugh, momento culminante del choque frontal entre el movimiento feminista Me Too y quienes simbolizan el dominio masculino, blanco y conservador.

Además del control del Tribunal Supremo, en esta batalla se juega también el futuro de Donald Trump, el acosador en jefe.
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