If nobody is above the regulation within the UK, not even royalty, presumably nobody is above the regulation within the US, not even a president.
Police within the United Kingdom have arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the previous Prince Andrew and Duke of York, on suspicion of misconduct in public workplace – after the disclosure of emails between Mountbatten-Windsor and the late disgraced banker Jeffrey Epstein. As I write this, Mountbatten-Windsor stays in custody.
We don’t know but the particular costs. However we do know that the late Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein sufferer, accused Mountbatten-Windsor of raping her.
We additionally know that Mountbatten-Windsor was the UK’s commerce envoy between 2001 and 2011, and seems to have forwarded to Epstein confidential authorities stories from visits to Vietnam, Singapore, and China, together with funding alternatives in gold and uranium in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer says, “Nobody is above the regulation.” The household of Virginia Giuffre says, “Nobody is above the regulation, not even royalty.” Britain’s chief prosecutor says, “Nobody is above the regulation.”
All of which raises awkward questions in regards to the individuals implicated on this facet of the pond, together with the individual within the Oval Workplace who likes to be handled like a king, and who seems within the Epstein recordsdata
1,433 instances (that’s, the recordsdata which were launched to this point). Prince Andrew seems in them
1,821 instances.
America likes to consider we gave up kings nearly 250 years in the past and adopted a system by which “nobody is above the regulation.”
However President Donald Trump’s overseas coverage has develop into a private software for him to channel cash and standing to himself and his closest associates. For the reason that 2024 election, the Trump household’s private wealth has elevated by at the least
As with the British royalty of the Sixteenth century, it’s all private with Trump – all about increasing his energy and enlarging his and his household’s wealth. Proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan oil? “That cash shall be managed by me,” he says. The reward of a airplane from Qatar? “Mine.” Investments by Center-East kingdoms in his household’s crypto racket? “Completely fantastic.”
Just like the British royalty of yore, King Trump has arbitrary energy. He raises Switzerland’s tariff from 30-39 per cent as a result of its former president Karin Keller-Sutter “simply rubbed me the incorrect means.” He imposes a 50 per cent tariff on Brazil as a result of Brazil refused to halt its prosecution of Trump’s political ally, the previous Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was discovered responsible of plotting a coup. Vietnam
fast-tracks approval of a $1.5 billion Trump household golf course on the similar time it seeks to scale back its tariff price.
Trump claims that Greenland is “psychologically wanted,” though the United States already has a army presence there and an open invitation to broaden its bases. He muses about making Canada the “51st state.” These are throwbacks to the Sixteenth-century age of empire.
In the meantime, Trump has created a system of tribute and allegiance that might make Henry VIII jealous.
Apple’s Tim Prepare dinner
delivers a gold-based plaque and a donation to Trump’s deliberate ballroom. Swiss billionaires
bring a gold bar and a Rolex desk clock to the Oval Workplace. Jeff Bezos backs a vapid film of Melania and fingers her a cheque for $28 million.
Trump pardons Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire mogul who pled responsible to money-laundering violations in 2023, after which era Zhao’s Binance digital-coin buying and selling platform turns into the engine of the Trump household’s crypto enterprise, World Liberty Monetary.
Elon Musk’s humongous quarter-billion-dollar contribution to Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign earns Musk a dukedom – a “division of presidency effectivity” – and the keys to the dominion within the type of delicate US Treasury Division software program programs used to handle federal funds.
However when the Duke of DOGE begins turning into extra seen than King Trump, the king banishes him and revokes his dukedom. When the banished Musk begins overtly criticising Trump, the king threatens to chop off Musk’s head within the type of chopping him and his SpaceX off from invaluable authorities contracts. This places an finish to Musk’s impertinence.
The brand new TikTok (on which Trump has greater than 16 million followers) will proceed working in the USA – however now with the monetary backing of Trump ally Larry Ellison’s Oracle; Trump’s allied Emirati funding agency MGX (which has already invested within the Trump household’s cryptocurrency firm); and Silver Lake, teamed up with the personal fairness agency based by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Trump permits Nvidia to promote chips to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and extends army ensures to Qatar – all of which have invested within the Trump household empire. (Emirati-backed traders
plowed $2 billion into World Liberty Monetary.)
As an alternative of nationwide glory, Trump calls for private glory – to get the Nobel Peace Prize, to place his identify on the Kennedy Heart and Penn Station, and different main monuments and buildings.
If his instructions are not met, he punishes. As a result of Norway didn’t give him a Nobel (it wasn’t Norway’s to offer anyway), he “now not feels obliged to suppose solely of peace.” As a result of performers refuse to look on the “Trump-Kennedy” Heart, he shutters it.
As an alternative of bureaucracies, America now has a royal entourage. As an alternative of establishments, we now have royal prerogative. As an alternative of legitimacy based mostly on the need of the individuals, there’s divine proper (“I had God on my facet,” “God was defending me,” “God is on our facet”).
We are going to march towards King Trump on the following ‘No Kings Day’ on 28 March – hopefully making it the most important protest in American historical past.
However the arrest of the previous Prince Andrew raises a problem that goes means past protesting and marching. King Trump was evidently concerned in Jeffrey Epstein’s nefarious doings. We don’t know precisely how as a result of there’s been no legal investigation. However shouldn’t there be?
Trump has additionally been enriching himself and his household by means of his public workplace, violating a number of legal guidelines about conflicts of curiosity.
If the UK can arrest the previous Prince Andrew on proof of such wrongdoing, why shouldn’t America arrest King Trump? If nobody is above the regulation within the UK, not even royalty, presumably nobody is above the regulation within the US, not even a president.
Pam Bondi clearly gained’t examine Trump as a result of she’s a part of King Trump’s courtroom. However what a couple of group of state attorneys basic?
Nearly 250 years after we broke with George III, the query should now be confronted: Are we a monarchy or a nation of legal guidelines?
Republished from
Commons Dreams, 19 February 2025
