Democrats Learn What Consequences Are, and They Aren't Happy About It

RedState 

One of the more underappreciated aspects of the 2024 election is just how confident most Democrats were that they would win it. 

It seems like an eternity ago, but there was a time when the American left was all but certain Kamala Harris would be the next president. Who can remember the months-long proclamation of "joy" being a central theme of her campaign? Or "Brat summer," suggesting Harris had made inroads with pop culture that simply couldn't be defeated. I still remember having to repeatedly debunk reports on election day of massive turnout in Philadelphia that had supposedly sealed the deal for the then-vice president. 

That attitude was nothing new, though. Between 2021 and 2024, no action was taken by the Democratic Party that factored in the possibility that Donald Trump might be president again one day. Assuming that he'd surely be done this time, they didn't even consider the possible alternative outcomes of their crusade. 

But then he won, and like a child who angrily wonders how the hot stove burned him, the Democrats are now very unhappy that Trump is governing in light of their actions. 

In case there was any doubt that President Donald Trump and his administration are on a legal retribution tour, this should just about settle it.    

Trump has often been under investigation during his political career — a fact owing to his near-constant efforts to push boundaries. But perhaps the four biggest examples? The Russia investigation; his Ukraine impeachment; January 6, 2021; and his personal legal troubles after leaving office (including those stemming from January 6).    

Less than seven months into Trump’s second term, key people from every one of these efforts have now apparently faced investigations of their own.    

More than 10 people who played key roles in these investigations or ran afoul of Trump have faced some kind of significant legal scrutiny. These are steps that go beyond Trump merely accusing them of misdeeds or suggesting they should be probed.    

Trump and top administration officials have also targeted foes with firings and stripped them of security clearances, but the effort to apply legal scrutiny to some of the most prominent adversaries appears to be ratcheting up.    

I'm going to go ahead and skip the sugar-coating that some try to do regarding this topic. Is Donald Trump seeking retribution for how the Democratic Party weaponized the American judicial system to try to throw him in prison for the rest of his life? Yes. Yes, he is. 

Here's the best summation of the situation I've seen. 

You see, in life, when you do things, those things often produce specific repercussions. We call those "consequences," and you don't get to call a timeout from them the moment they arrive. Democrats seem to be under the impression that they can set new standards only to revert when those new standards devour them. 

Take the recent battle over redistricting, which has seen over 50 left-wing Texas legislators flee their state to stop the passing of a new congressional map that would eliminate five Democrat-held seats. For decades, the Democratic Party has used state power to draw some of the most gerrymandered maps in the nation. Some examples include Illinois, Maryland, California, New York, Massachusetts, and New Mexico. But when Texas Republicans decided they wanted to stop playing the game with their hands tied behind their back, Democrats screamed bloody murder.

The same is happening regarding Trump's quest to hold people accountable for the political weaponization of the government. When Joe Biden used a special counsel to try to jail the current president on extremely specious legal grounds, that was spun as "no one is above the law." 

When Trump responds to that breaking of norms by investigating those who perpetrated it, suddenly it's a "threat to democracy." When Department of Justice officials and FBI agents used their power to hatch a conspiracy to try to take down the Democrats' primary political rival, they were just "doing their job." When Trump fires those leaders and agents as a result of their own decisions to politicize their offices, that's claimed to be "politicization." 

But really, what did Democrats think was going to happen? At what point in Trump's political career has he shown a penchant for letting things go? 

What the press refuses to accept is that "retribution" is no longer a dirty word. People aren't blind. They saw what transpired over the last decade, and everything Trump is doing is being filtered through that lens. There was a time when taking a hatchet to the FBI or prosecuting your political opponents was indeed taboo. That time ended the moment Democrats tore the Overton window to shreds. They chose to put these new rules into effect, and we aren't going back to the old rules until some accountability is had. 

As the saying goes, if you take a shot at the king, you'd best not miss. Democrats missed.