We have never lived through a better era to be a criminal, provided your political fealty is directed toward the right person. If you are an executive facing fraud charges or a perpetrator of violent offenses, the standard calculations of the penal code may no longer apply as long as you support Donald Trump. If you’re Team Trump, the machinery of the state will actively dismantle itself to protect you. If not, good luck to you.
The Trump regime’s message is now unmistakable: rules do not apply to MAGA. Consider the recent saga of the U.S. Army pilots who took two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters on an unauthorized detour to perform a low-altitude flyby of washed-up rocker and MAGA ally Kid Rock’s Nashville home. As a former military helicopter pilot and aircraft commander, let me be clear: this is exactly the kind of stunt we are taught never to do. If I had pulled something like that, there would have been legitimate grounds to take my wings away. Instead, when the Army suspended the crew pending a standard safety and regulatory review, as is the proper procedure, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth intervened personally, bypassing standard military discipline to announce on X: “Thank you @KidRock. @USArmy pilots suspension LIFTED. No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots.” Their rule breaking was catalogued as patriotic.
Trump has consistently used the power of his office to protect his ideological allies. By issuing pardons to those who attacked the Capitol and attempting to institute a multi-billion-dollar weaponization slush fund to pay out reparations to insurrectionists and other political loyalists, Trump’s dog whistle sounds like an invitation to commit future crimes in his name. The presidential pardon power, historically preserved as a tool for mercy and the correction of systemic judicial errors, has been converted into a personalized tool of patronage.
Trump hardly seems to care who he pardons as long as he believes them to be an ally. For instance, when asked why he pardoned Changpeng Zhao, a man convicted for money-laundering violations that helped terrorists and other criminals, Trump replied: “I don’t know. He was recommended...” In fact, Zhao helped Trump launch his own stablecoin. This cavalier approach to forgiving his favorite criminals is feckless and reckless. One pardoned January 6th rioter has already gone on to molest two children whom he then attempted to silence with promised hush money that “he [hoped] to get from [the] slush fund.” Another was given a job at the Pentagon.
While this regime systematically insulates its allies, it is concurrently manufacturing new categories of criminality to target perceived enemies. Under National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), veiled as countering domestic terrorism, Trump has weaponized federal law enforcement infrastructure with overbroad powers to go after civil society groups, nonprofits, donors, activists, and even “leftist influencers.” With Trump in charge, the wealthy and well-connected are routinely let off the hook while actual victims of the system find no such reprieve; now, those resisting Trump are all the more likely to become victims, too. As true criminal justice reform is frozen out, ordinary defendants will face the full, unyielding weight of the legal meat grinder.
Competence and adherence to the law have been replaced by compliance. President Kennedy’s famous Inaugural quote could be rewritten: Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for Donald Trump personally. Cabinet meetings have famously assumed a cult-like quality, where members rotate kissing up to Trump in such excess that the New York Times found that at least one in every six sentences offered him flattering praise. As MS NOW wrote, “Somewhere, Kim Jong-un could be heard saying, ‘Jeez, I think you guys are overdoing it a bit.’” Whether in North Korea or in the United States, replacing experts with sycophants at the highest levels of leadership leads to terrible consequences.
Trump is gifting appointments to his unqualified cronies at the expense of our national security. Secretary Lutnick (who engaged in intimate business deals with Epstein years after Epstein’s first conviction, planned family vacations to his private island, and lied about it) has connections to the stablecoin Tether, the primary vehicle Russian oligarchs use to move sanctioned Iranian oil to China. Secretary Hegseth breached security protocol in his second month on the job and is committing war crimes around the globe.
Now, take William J. Pulte, a real estate heir with a history of using his position at a federal mortgage agency to make criminal fraud referrals against Trump’s political adversaries. The man has zero national security, military, or traditional intelligence experience, yet Trump named him Acting Director of National Intelligence, where he will oversee a network of 18 agencies, including the CIA and the NSA. Even Republicans revolted over the choice, forcing Trump to quickly nominate a permanent replacement, but Pulte holds the role until Trump’s new pick, Jay Clayton, is confirmed by the Senate. Clayton, naturally, has appeared on CNBC several times to argue on Trump’s behalf, even defending the slush fund. I’m a veteran Navy pilot who used to get regular intel briefings; I understand the necessity of experience in this role. The idea that either of these bootlicking hacks will serve as the principal adviser on intelligence issues—for any amount of time—is insulting and incredibly irresponsible.
This dangerous loyaltocracy may have culminated in the nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as Attorney General. Blanche, who served as Trump’s personal criminal defense lawyer, has openly stated that the president has a right and duty to direct the DOJ to target specific individuals, shattering the post-Watergate norm of an independent, impartial justice department. He also recently said at a press conference, “I love working for President Trump. It's the greatest honor of a lifetime…[If he] asks me to go do something else, I will say thank you very much - I love you, sir.” Public declarations of love to the President may get you a Cabinet position these days, but if the nation’s top law enforcement official is operating under a mandate of total personal fealty, “equal justice under law” has become a dead letter.
Trump’s favor is the new golden ticket. Praise the administration and even lawbreaking may be overlooked with a “carry on, patriot,” a pardon, a promotion, or an appointment to high office. If you criticize Trump, however, your First Amendment-protected speech could be labeled domestic terrorism, and the federal government may be instructed to prosecute you. These are high stakes. When the law becomes an asymmetric weapon, it ceases to be law at all—and our democracy starts looking a lot more like an autocracy. So, call your reps, demand accountability, and don’t stop advocating for justice. But also, make sure you’re writing everything down. One day, there will be legal proceedings on these matters. Be ready to testify.
Julie Roland was a Naval Officer for ten years, deploying to both the South China Sea and the Persian Gulf as a helicopter pilot before separating in June 2025 as a Lieutenant Commander. She has a law degree from the University of San Diego, a Master of Laws from Columbia University, and is a member of the Truman National Security Project.
