This week, President Donald Trump’s top White House lawyer, Will Scharf, sent a letter to Rep. Robert Garcia, the incoming House Oversight Committee chairman.
Scarf presumes Democrats have “evinced a clear intent to transgress” what he calls “the foundational limits the Constitution imposes on congressional investigations.” And he’s threatening House Democrats not to investigate the corrupt Trump administration.
Be reminded: Those who have done no wrong should not fear fact-finding. Yet the Trump White House is attempting to bully those who would investigate it.
Robert Garcia (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
To be clear, the Democrats have done nothing other than make statements of possible investigations. And Garcia, of course, will not be the chairman until Jan. 20, 2027.
From a legal perspective, congressional oversight is an implied power. Based on Article 1, such oversight has been backed by U.S. Supreme Court rulings such as McGrain v. Dougherty (1927) and Watkins v. United States (1957).
Call this Trump prank a preemptive strike against the due process of law. In Trumpian threatening mode, Scarf wrote: “We are monitoring the abusive and capricious threats that are now proliferating from Democrat legislators who seek to … intimidate and to interfere with the lawful functioning of government.”
Now Donald accuses Democrats of his own manifold transgressions. Every accusation is a confession.
What in the name of insanity is going on in the atrium to the asylum? Everyone has grown almost immune to the craziness of the Trump White House, but in the name of Natalie Harp, this letter elicits only one question: “Is he freaking nuts?”
So far the entire affair exists only in “the air” — in the rhetorical environment where Trump remains the star of the show. In spite of the dark threats in the letter, there are no investigations. And the presumption of investigations somehow being evil preempts the prior existence of corruption, lies and malfeasance in the Trump administration. The idea of the most threatening, bluffing, intimidating president in history accusing the Democrats of the same actions is insane.
Trump has weaponized his rhetoric, used Twitter like a 4-year-old wielding an automatic rifle and weaponized “his” Justice Department with unrelenting fury and visions of revenge.
Trump has weaponized his rhetoric, used Twitter like a 4-year-old wielding an automatic rifle and weaponized “his” Justice Department with unrelenting fury and visions of revenge. He has threatened to jail Hillary Clinton (“Lock her up), President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden. Republicans led seven congressional investigations of Clinton and the Benghazi attack.
Trump has launched so many investigations the media dubbed his second term “Trump’s Vengeance Tour.” Among Trump’s targets:
- James Comey, former FBC director
- Letita James, New York attorney general
- Ilhan Omar, United States representative
- Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve chair
- Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve governor
- Adam Schiff, United States senator
- Jack Smith, former special counsel
- Tim Walz, Minnesota governor
- Jacob Frey, Minneapolis mayor
- George Soros
- Gavin Newsom of California
- John Brennan, former CIA director
Trump has mastered the art of painting Democrats as sick and tyrannical. He depicts Democrats as the source of all our national troubles. Too many Americans believed him until Nov. 3, when democracy showed up, showed out and kicked the bums out.
And now, as the letter from the White House makes clear, Trump is scared.
The president who made fear his brand is now fearful, insecure and uncertain.
Trump has cowed the media, the universities, the legal system and the Supreme Court. He has silenced comedians, networks and prestigious law firms. He has “primaried” Republicans refusing to bend the knee and he has eliminated the disloyal. There’s no reason for him to believe he can’t do the same to Congress.
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The letter to the Oversight Committee is a preemptive strike against the rule of law. And it’s how Trump always doubles down when he loses by threatening and bullying. This is straight out of the playbook of his mentor, Roy Cohn:
- Never apologize or admit error.
- Always counter-attack, and always with greater force than you received.
- Use the legal system as a weapon, not a recourse for justice but for intimidation.
- Manipulate all institutions ruthlessly.
- Use fear as both shield and sword. Threaten and bully everyone.
We are watching another episode of political theater disrupting the process of democracy. Hiding behind the threats in the letter is a movement toward an undisguised authoritarianism.
Reading the letter suggests a spectacle merging politics with entertainment. If Trump pulls off humiliating Congress, he demonstrates his imperial intent: Only the king decides what is and what is not right. Trump’s letter assumes the corruption and thievery can be judged only by the corrupt thieves in the White House.
How long will ethically challenged, power-drunk MAGA evangelicals continue to provide cover for a president who operates without regard to ethics to help him get what he wants? If ever there has been a piece of evidence so clearly painting Trump as an anarchist, the letter to the Oversight Committee is it.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer. He is the author of 11 books, including his latest, Dancing with Metaphors in the Pulpit.