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Matthew Mehan joins Emily to dive deep on the philosophical underpinnings of retribution. Mehan argues that while Trump must prove ‘there is a cost’ for corruption, he must also prove those efforts aren’t merely ‘payback’ to avoid descending into a banana republic.
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SubscribeWouldn’t it be lovely if even the obvious perjures would recognize, regret, and admit their participation in wrongs that we’ve seen? I doubt that such repentance is likely. Being entrenched in a groupthink was the illness. Clear-cut, clean proof of their civic harm should be the cure. But how many people can admit to themselves that their careers have contributed to the problem, since administrative and media collusion has become so widespread. Yes, I’ve lost faith in today.
I found this uplifting and fascinating. To compare the horrible lawfare era to the Roman civil wars was illuminating and asserted what is at stake. The discussion of the political civic mechanisms of both justice and forgiveness seemed to show Seneca not only in step with Christian ideas but explaining and justifying them better than the New Testament. In particular the insistence that forgiveness cannot work as a healing thing either for the US polity or for the individuals concerned without full acceptance of personal guilt, I found meaningful. And there was the acceptance, side by side with these lofty principles, that as always a lot of people are going to get away with a lot of unprovable crime. The important thing being the survival of the republic which otherwise will collapse, because basic mutual trust is necessary but is not possible when cheating and lying under oath go routinely unpunished. Just learned and edifying.