Sen. Murkowski:
Congratulations on your recent re-election. I’m sorry that the nature of politics compelled you to go on television during the campaign saying that you loved Alaska to the bottom of your heart. Your long career in office leaves no doubt that you are most dedicated to our state, exponentially more so than your recent challenger.
I am writing you about Mr. Trump. It is discouraging to the point of despair for many of us that he has not been charged with any crime in connection with the crimes he has committed – against businesspeople who had the misfortune of trusting him, against women, and, during his tragic presidency, against our nation and its laws.
It’s my understanding that inciting a mob to attempt a violent overthrow of the government has been a federal crime since 1789. The current law, called the Alien Registration Act, says, “whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof” can go to jail for 10 years.
The message of Trump’s apparent immunity from prosecution – from even being charged with a crime – is that there are two sets of laws in this nation – one set of real and rigid ones that apply to the behavior of most of us, and another set of pliable, ephemeral laws that apply to people of influence like Mr. Trump.
There is nothing more corrosive to our democratic republic – and to people’s belief in, support of, and participation with government – than the idea that the laws of our nation are not evenly applied.
The notion that some people are above the law suggests that the United States is a kind of syndicate like the Mafia, where unseen and unaccountable forces make the real decisions for us in dark rooms out of view. It says to citizens that our actual government and its laws are a charade, a bit of theater intended to make us believe in something that is not true.
If allowed to grow and spread amid the population, this notion will be very destructive to our nation, much more dangerous than Trump and the mob of goons who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
To prevent this, please work to ensure that Mr. Trump faces every justified consequence for his treasonous actions.