Commentary: Trump goes after Newsom's wife? Unsurprising, but also a new level of authoritarianism
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
The Trump Department of Justice going after people who make the president mad or even sad is nothing new, in this dangerous age when the presidency is increasingly about placating the desires of the old man in the Oval Office.Leticia James, James Comey, Adam Schiff.
Most recently, E.Jean Carroll, who sued President Trump personally and won a huge settlement on her claim that he sexually assaulted her.
Now, the Department of Justice is investigating her for potential perjury.It would be easy to think of Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s announcement Monday that the U.S.Department of Justice is now targeting his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, as just another addition to that list.
But this attack on Siebel Newsom (alleged attack, anyway — the Department of Justice has not confirmed she is a target) is something much darker in our slide into authoritarianism.While the details of what is being investigated are murky and the president hasn’t chimed in yet, it has all the appearances of the Trump administration seeking to stop a political rival who has a real shot at knocking MAGA out of the top office.
“It’s not just random or accidental that the wife of a major presidential candidate is being investigated,” Steven Levitsky, a professor of politics at Harvard University, told me Monday.“That’s the nature of selective prosecution and that is a pillar of authoritarian rule.” Levitsky is an expert on authoritarian regimes, and how they take and keep power.
His point that Newsom is a viable challenger may seem obvious — Newsom himself is already fundraising off of it.But this particular alleged investigation bears a moment of pause because it is not the regular decline of justice we have been witnessing to this moment.
Politics Newsom said that in recent days, “federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” and have been “demanding reco...