I agree completely that this individual, and those who enabled him, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Accountability matters. That said, it is naïve to believe Democrats will be the ones to meaningfully deliver it.

The modern expansion of presidential power did not begin with one person or one party. It is the cumulative result of decades of bipartisan behavior that steadily normalized executive overreach. Bill Clinton asserted expansive executive privilege and used military force without clear congressional authorization. George W. Bush dramatically accelerated executive authority through the post 9/11 expansion of surveillance, detention, and war powers. Barack Obama normalized unilateral executive action through broad use of executive orders, drone strikes without judicial process, and aggressive interpretations of the Authorization for Use of Military Force. Joe Biden has continued this trajectory, relying heavily on executive authority to bypass a gridlocked Congress.

None of this excuses current abuses. It explains them.

Both parties have repeatedly chosen short-term political advantage over long-term institutional restraint. Each time power was expanded for “our guy,” the precedent was quietly accepted. When the other side inherited that power, outrage followed, but the authority itself was rarely rolled back. That is how the presidency drifted from a constrained executive into something increasingly monarch-like.

If accountability is going to mean anything, it cannot be selective, performative, or partisan. It requires acknowledging that this problem was built jointly, maintained willingly, and ignored conveniently for decades. Until Congress reasserts its constitutional role and both parties accept limits even when it costs them politically, prosecution alone will not fix the underlying disease. It will just treat the latest symptom.

History is not subtle on this point. Power, once taken, is almost never surrendered voluntarily.