Principles are Nice, but Let’s Talk Turkey…
Most people probably won’t pay much if any attention to this story, but it is very scary because it is part of a trend where big, wealthy, powerful institutions make concessions to Trump as soon as their financial interests are threatened–when they might not even have to. The road to subservience begins here, and we seem to have gone a good distance already.
The threats against major law firms are part of a larger strategic effort to make the entire American legal system into an arm of the Trump White House. Trump is targeting any firms and individual lawyers who have ever challenged him and issuing executive orders that cripple their ability to operate effectively. The message is clear: If big, rich law firms like this will bend the knee and cooperate, what chance do smaller firms have to resist the pressure? If you were trying to fight one of Trump’s decrees in court, would you trust this firm to represent you?
Trump has already effectively subverted federal law enforcement by installing his eager toadies to run DOJ, the FBI, and other agencies and firing everyone who normally would provide oversight and ethical guidance. If the country’s major law firms won’t take on cases and provide effective representation for people or issues that Trump wants to destroy, then it’s game over.
This instance is especially troubling because “Brad S. Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, championed himself as a bulwark against what he saw as an unlawful and unpredictable presidency. Mr. Karp, who has a long history of fund-raising for Democrats, sought to unite major law firms in “a call to arms” to fight Mr. Trump in court on issues like his administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents. He publicly said lawyers were obligated to defend the rule of law.” Now that he has kissed the ring, what does that say?
One thing it says is that principles will be tossed aside whenever corporate revenues are threatened. Capitalism has no social conscience, especially if the money stops coming in.
Predictably, as soon as the ink was dry, Trump apparently misrepresented the deal. “By the time Mr. Trump made his announcement on Thursday, there were already signs that Paul Weiss had been burned in making a deal with Mr. Trump. The copy of the agreement that Mr. Karp shared with Paul Weiss differed in some ways from Mr. Trump’s characterization of the deal in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. Although Mr. Trump said the law firm had specifically agreed to not follow any diversity, equity and inclusion policies in its hiring practices, there is no reference to D.E.I. in the agreement that Mr. Karp shared. Mr. Trump has mounted an aggressive campaign against diversity initiatives in the federal government, labeling it as a form of workplace discrimination. There also was no mention of Mr. Pomerantz, the former Paul Weiss partner, in the copy of the agreement circulated by Mr. Karp. Five people briefed on the matter said Mr. Karp said he did not criticize Mr. Pomerantz with the president, in spite of Mr. Trump’s assertion to the contrary.” Guess whose version is going to count?
In any case, what really matters isn’t what the deal actually said, but rather the fact that they did it at all. Once you start the compromises, you’re been had.
TrumpWorld for Beginners 