I’m going to lose just a few pals and sure a bunch of Twitter followers with what I’m about to say, however right here goes.

The Biden administration has greater, extra pressing priorities than to have the Justice Division go after soon-to-be former President Donald Trump for the crimes he has allegedly dedicated. Simply flush his remaining cronies out of the federal authorities and transfer on.

Don’t get me incorrect. Trump is a grimy, sleazy con man, a grifter who has achieved our nation a grave disservice by taking a wrecking ball to the legal guidelines, establishments and norms of the democracy we revere. He’s a darkish, ugly stain — a nationwide shame.

I’d like to see him in a perp stroll, a mugshot, an orange jumpsuit that matches the colour of his faux tan. The urge to “lock him up” is robust, and certainly, there may be ample justification for doing so. The Justice Division guide says federal prosecutors can deliver prices towards any suspect if a number of situations are met: 1) in the event that they assume an offense has been dedicated, 2) if the proof is robust sufficient “to acquire and maintain a conviction” and three) if prosecution helps a powerful federal curiosity.

Clearly the primary two situations exist. The third — whether or not prosecuting Trump helps a powerful federal curiosity — is extra debatable.

Time to heal the nation

President-elect Joe Biden has mentioned that the time has come to heal our nation. He is an efficient man. First rate, sincere, a person of nice integrity and character. Now think about the actions different presidents have taken in instances of nice nationwide anger and bitterness. Whilst essentially the most divisive occasion in American historical past — the Civil Struggle — was nonetheless being fought, Abraham Lincoln had the braveness and foresight to have a look at what lay forward. “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the suitable as God provides us to see the suitable,” he mentioned in his magnificent second inaugural tackle, including “allow us to try on to complete the work we’re in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

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President-elect Joe Biden on November 19, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Gerald Ford, like all our chief executives, was a lesser president than Lincoln. But within the aftermath of Richard Nixon’s humiliating resignation in 1974, he additionally understood the higher good. In his speech pardoning Nixon, Ford mentioned, “It isn’t the last word destiny of Richard Nixon that almost all considerations me, although certainly it deeply troubles each respectable and each compassionate particular person. My concern is the speedy way forward for this nice nation.” He added: “As president, my main concern should all the time be the best good of all of the folks of the USA whose servant I’m.”

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The Nixon pardon infuriated most Individuals. Ford’s reputation plunged, and it little question contributed to his slender 1976 election loss to Jimmy Carter. However half-a-century later, his act of magnanimity is mostly seen as a therapeutic gesture. In 2001, he acquired the Profile in Braveness Award from the Kennedy Presidential Library. In asserting the award, the library mentioned that years after the pardon, many Individuals “have additionally come to consider that President Ford was the suitable man on the proper time who performed a management function in serving to to revive the American folks’s belief of their authorities.”

Trump’s legacy as a hated chief

Donald Trump will all the time be remembered as a horrible, hateful man, one pushed by vengeance and the necessity to dehumanize and destroy his opponents.

Nonetheless, Joe Biden has a chance to remind Individuals and a watching world that we’re higher than this wretched and un-American instance. Of their hearts, Lincoln and Ford believed that Individuals have been a compassionate folks. I nonetheless consider this to be so. Biden would additionally present Trump’s monumental base — who’ve spent years whipping themselves right into a delirious, Trump-fueled frenzy of their requires “enemies” like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to be locked up — that this isn’t how respectable, patriotic Individuals behave. The emphasis on private destruction that has outlined our political system for the previous few many years should come to an finish.

Ending the pandemic, placing Individuals again to work, restoring religion in authorities and rebuilding our tattered picture overseas are extra vital for the long-term good of the nation than going after an outdated man who’s past redemption.

Apart from, even when the Biden Justice Division strikes on to different issues, do not forget that Trump stays in monumental bother. New York state prosecutors are coming after him. He has a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in debt — personally assured by him — coming due. His companies have suffered steep downturns. The IRS, because it did with Nixon, could decrease the growth.

He has spent the previous 4 years shuttling between the White Home and his properties — nowhere else aside from for campaigning — and can proceed to reside on this small, gilded world after Jan. 20. A small world for a small man. The adulation and respect that different ex-presidents get pleasure from will all the time elude him, and he’ll go to his grave realizing that he’ll all the time be deeply reviled by most.

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I don’t know whether or not Trump will ever go to jail, however the tens of thousands and thousands of Individuals who detest Trump — together with me — can take consolation within the probably data that he shall be remembered because the worst president in American historical past. For a man who obsesses about issues like rankings and recognition, this judgment — damning, humiliating and everlasting — will ceaselessly outline him. Maybe that’s punishment sufficient.

Paul Brandus is the founder and White Home bureau chief of West Wing Reviews and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. His newest e-book, revealed final month, is “Jackie: Her Transformation from First Woman to Jackie O.” Observe him on Twitter: @WestWingReport

You possibly can learn numerous opinions from our Board of Contributors and different writers on the Opinion entrance web page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our each day Opinion publication. To answer a column, submit a remark to letters@usatoday.com.

This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: What Trump leaves behind and the way Biden ought to act