#GiftArticle

How America [The #US] Chose Not to Hold the Powerful to Account

Our national project of #elite #impunity

By Adam Serwer

Around the world, powerful men are facing consequences for their actions. Former Brazilian President Jair #Bolsonaro was convicted of trying to overthrow the government in a #Jan6 style #coup, as was his South Korean counterpart, #YoonSukYuol.

#law #accountability #power #plutocracy
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/elite-accountability-powerful-impunity/686134/?gift=guxsrl_dAdXUP9zqbQPWxYP6ztvC2RKlz2tQfl1JB90

Unfortunately, many Americans who might have been outraged at this edifice of #impunity have instead directed their resentment toward the #poor & #weak, supporting a cruel & unforgiving system of #criminal “justice” that harshly punishes those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder while exempting many at the top from any #accountability at all.

#US #law #accountability #power #plutocracy

The #MeToo & Black Lives Matter [ #BLM] movements can be seen as, at least partially, a brief rebellion against this culture of #elite #impunity. Left with few formal avenues for redress, large numbers of people demanded that the powerful—bosses & celebrities who had used their status to coerce others into sexual relationships, or police officers who had used their authority to kill without consequence—be made to pay a price for hurting others.

#US #law #accountability #power #plutocracy

…The answer to why powerful people in some other parts of the world face consequences, while in the #US they rarely do, is that #elite #impunity is now an American national project. We might need to reframe “American exceptionalism.” Instead of a New Deal, we have a Great Society for #WhiteCollar #crime, a New Frontier of executive lawbreaking, a No Rich Crook Left Behind. Most of us probably don’t even realize it.

#US #law #accountability #power #plutocracy

#MAGA also offered an implicit bargain∶ Not only can you be a #bigot toward whatever group makes you mad by existing, but everyone will have to love & respect you anyway. This was an impossible promise to keep—not even #Trump has managed to bully comedians mocking him into silence—but politicians make impossible promises all the time. Many Americans are simply content to live vicariously through Trump’s #impunity, even if they cannot share it.

#US #law #accountability #power #plutocracy

“They voted for #impunity for themselves & #authoritarian #brutality directed at everyone they hated. Lesbian feminist bitches, dirty job-stealing immigrants, evil perverted trannies, on & on & on,” Katherine Alejandra Cross writes of Trump’s implicit bargain in *Liberal Currents*. “The brutality of #StateViolence was supposed to only ever be directed at their ideological foes. And in exchange, the #Trump voter would never again have to live with the mortifying ordeal of #responsibility.”

#law

Unfortunately, many Americans who might have been outraged at this edifice of #impunity have instead directed their resentment toward the #poor & #weak, supporting a cruel & unforgiving system of #criminal “justice” that harshly punishes those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder while exempting many at the top from any #accountability at all.

#US #law #accountability #power #plutocracy

The #MeToo & Black Lives Matter [ #BLM] movements can be seen as, at least partially, a brief rebellion against this culture of #elite #impunity. Left with few formal avenues for redress, large numbers of people demanded that the powerful—bosses & celebrities who had used their status to coerce others into sexual relationships, or police officers who had used their authority to kill without consequence—be made to pay a price for hurting others.

#US #law #accountability #power #plutocracy

This is not just about #Trump; his #impunity is the product of a society that has worked hard to help the #rich & #powerful elude punishment for #criminal behavior.

Gerald #Ford pardoned his predecessor [ #Nixon] in the name of “healing,” but inadvertently set a precedent that executive lawbreaking was no #crime.

#US #law #accountability #power #plutocracy

#GiftArticle

How America [The #US] Chose Not to Hold the Powerful to Account

Our national project of #elite #impunity

By Adam Serwer

Around the world, powerful men are facing consequences for their actions. Former Brazilian President Jair #Bolsonaro was convicted of trying to overthrow the government in a #Jan6 style #coup, as was his South Korean counterpart, #YoonSukYuol.

#law #accountability #power #plutocracy
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/elite-accountability-powerful-impunity/686134/?gift=guxsrl_dAdXUP9zqbQPWxYP6ztvC2RKlz2tQfl1JB90