Trump Is at a Moment of Truth

Calls are rising to investigate the inner workings of the Biden White House. President Trump suggests today that his predecessor was incapacitated and so President Biden’s aides — “Radical Left Lunatics” — were “running our country,” using the “autopen” to wield the president’s authority. A senior Department of Justice official wants to investigate the former first lady for “elder abuse,” and Hill Republicans want to probe Mr. Biden’s end-of-term pardons.Let us just say, we’re against it. It’s not that we lack for a grasp of the dishonesty in the Biden administration in respect of the 46th president’s health — even his fitness for office. To us, though, the bigger issue is the 47th president’s priorities. Is it revenge against the former administration and the Democratic Party camarilla that chose a course of dishonesty? Or is it his proclamation — delivered on the “Ingraham Angle” — that “my revenge will be success.”Mr. Trump, too, during his debate with Mr. Biden, appeared to assure the voters that he did not plan to pursue a course of retribution against his political foes. CNN’s Jake Tapper asked him to “clarify exactly what it means about you feeling you have every right to go after your political opponents.” Mr. Trump replied: “We’re going to make this country successful again, because right now it’s a failing nation. My retribution is going to be success.” Didn’t that constitute a campaign pledge on Mr. Trump’s part? One could argue that this vow to refrain from the kind of lawfare undertaken by Mr. Biden, Attorney General Garland, Jack Smith, et al, amounted to a reassurance to undecided voters. It was that Mr. Trump would have his priorities straight once returned to the White House. That dovetailed with Mr. Trump’s emphasis on getting control of the border and reviving the economy as key aims.While no one can gainsay Mr. Trump’s apparent success in curbing illegal migration, the 47th president’s track record so far on the economy has yet to vindicate the optimism of those who voted for his platform pledge to, say, “defeat inflation,” which lingers as a stubborn frustration. Prices had surged some 20 percent under Mr. Biden, and the gold value of the dollar plunged to less than a 2,700th of an ounce. Far from making headway on strengthening the dollar, though, Mr. Trump and his aides speak of weakening it to improve exports. Prices have yet to retreat to their pre-Biden levels. The dollar, too, has fallen even further in terms of gold, to less than a 3,200th of an ounce. Meanwhile Mr. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, lifting levies on imports by ten times to some 23 percent on average, have spurred widespread uncertainty that could induce a recession.It’s sobering, too, to learn that Mr. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” working its way through Congress will be adding to, not subtracting from, budget deficits and the surging national debt. The legislation anticipates a $4 trillion rise in the debt ceiling. Nor does Secretary Bessent’s response to Moody’s downgrade of America’s credit rating — “Who cares?” — inspire much confidence as to the administration’s commitment to fiscal rigor.Which brings us back to the probes being mooted by Mr. Trump and the GOP. The Constitution poses hurdles. Its ban on any “Bill of Attainder,” or trial by legislature, is a high bar to the House GOP’s look at Mr. Biden’s sweeping pardons — an arena in which the Supreme Court has said presidents have “absolute” immunity. These columns have long warned, too, that using a special counsel to investigate the executive branch breaches the separated powers.The best reason for Mr. Trump and the GOP to avoid a repeat of Mr. Biden and his fellow Democrats’ lawfare campaign is that, besides any ethical or constitutional malfeasance, it backfired. In the lead-up to 2024, it seemed that every time Mr. Trump got indicted by a partisan prosecutor, his standing rose in the polls. Mr. Biden’s legal pursuit of Mr. Trump arguably won Mr. Trump a second term. A reprise of lawfare could repay the Democrats the favor.

Trump Is at a Moment of Truth

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