Trump is right to weaponize the DOJ

[Mac1958]

I remember George W. Bush joking that everyone loved the idea of a Dictator, as long as they were the one with the power. I thought that was rather insightful for him. But it was accurate.

Who among us hasn’t had a momentary fantasy of being able to smite someone who deserved it in our opinion? Who among us hasn’t thought that with that kind of power, we could write so many wrongs. But those among us who are wise enough, know that eventually our actions would be wrong, and then eventually evil.

The Bible tells us this. Great Kings, chosen by God to lead the Israeli People, Solomon, David, and how many others? Falling for temptation, and the power to do whatever they wanted to get what they wanted.

I’ve always thought that was why each side was so quick to claim the other was being Fascist, or Socialist, or Totalitarian. Because they secretly wanted the power to smite the other side, and can’t imagine that the other side would restrain themselves once they have the power.

I’m not at all comfortable with either side having the power. I voted for Trump because Hillary was a bad choice in my opinion. Her history told me that she was clever, but always just short of being clever enough for her schemes to work. I was willing to give Trump a chance. I didn’t jump on the bandwagon for a while. I knew that it takes time for someone to really learn the job of President. Nobody is ready on day one. I posted that the early objections to Trump were nonsense.

By the time 2020 rolled around, I was done with it. I had realized that Trump would not learn. I had realized that he just wasn’t cut out for this job.

Don’t get me wrong. I do not regret my vote. In context, the vote in 2016 was the best one, Hillary was known, but her actions screamed that she was a schemer, and her argument that Trump would because of his inexperience, bumble us into World War III was possible in my mind. However, I considered it just about as likely that Hillary would Clever us into World War III trying to work a scheme.

The Obama Admin was the beginning of the end of the Republicans. Honestly, that’s the truth. George W. Bush wasn’t great. He was OK. He made some mistakes, but who doesn’t? He tried to do what he could, and I can accept that. But Obama and the Republicans, they just never could recover from Obama.

I was talking to the Wife earlier, about Senator Mullen’s idiotic challenge to fight the head of the Teamsters Union. It is the perfect example of the Republican Party of today. I can’t debate you, I can’t argue your facts, so I’ll just whip your ass for daring to oppose me.

I don’t know how the Republicans recover. I don’t think the nation ever will. If they get smart and dump Trump and pick up Halley, they win in 24, and probably pick up the Senate and extend control in the House. If they stick with Trump, the Democrats have a chance of stopping him, but only barely.

I’m afraid the grand experiment is coming to an end. I suppose it was inevitable.

Good stuff.

I look at things in the context of incentives and resulting behaviors -- which incentives are in place within a given system, and how they are driving behaviors. Therefore, if behaviors are counterproductive, adjust the incentives for better outcomes. Leverage human nature.

In this context, our political/electoral "system" incentivizes its participants to act upon their worst impulses -- tribalism, hyperbole, attacks, greed, paranoia and lies. If we don't make adjustments to that system, and there are several options, there is no reason for the decay to be reversed.

I'm afraid the grand experiment is coming to an end as well. If it is, it will have been an entirely self-inflicted wound, driven by ego and hubris. I remain hopeful for my children's sake, and that won't change. But it's certainly difficult to see a fix here. We may have crossed a line.

 

[frigidweirdo]

After what he's been through, I don't blame him a bit. In this case, revenge is a good thing. There will be lots of cheers if he arrests those on the other side.

---Former President Trump told his supporters earlier this year he would be their “retribution” if reelected. He told supporters last week he would direct the Justice Department (DOJ) to investigate “every Marxist prosecutor in America.” And Trump over the weekend vowed to “root out … the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”---

MSN

Oh my word. It's like, you have to wonder whether people actually ever use that brain inside their heads or not, or whether it's like turkeys supporting Christmas simply because they don't like Ramadan or something.

 

[Curried Goats]

It turns out, this is what they've wanted all along. I didn't see it.

As I said to white Americans on Jan 6th who were finally waking up, welcome to the party pal. Oh, you whites didn't notice the streak of fascism in conservatives all these years they've been cheering on the brutulization of black people by the police? It took them threatening your own livelihoods and rights before you finally took notice?

 

[berg80]

After what he's been through, I don't blame him a bit. In this case, revenge is a good thing. There will be lots of cheers if he arrests those on the other side.

I'm surprised it took you so long to accept Trump's idea that fascism is the only way to "fix" the country. Something only "he alone" can do.

I invite you to take a step back and more closely examine what's he's been through. Namely, numerous grand juries having found sufficient evidence he committed multiple crimes. Followed by indictments, arrests, being released on his own recognizance, judges assigned (one of which he appointed) trial dates set, notions entered, rulings made (a number in his favor), etc.

IOW, being given every opportunity to defend himself in courts of law.

 

[berg80]

Good stuff.

I look at things in the context of incentives and resulting behaviors -- which incentives are in place within a given system, and how they are driving behaviors. Therefore, if behaviors are counterproductive, adjust the incentives for better outcomes. Leverage human nature.

In this context, our political/electoral "system" incentivizes its participants to act upon their worst impulses -- tribalism, hyperbole, attacks, greed, paranoia and lies. If we don't make adjustments to that system, and there are several options, there is no reason for the decay to be reversed.

I'm afraid the grand experiment is coming to an end as well. If it is, it will have been an entirely self-inflicted wound, driven by ego and hubris. I remain hopeful for my children's sake, and that won't change. But it's certainly difficult to see a fix here. We may have crossed a line.

Here's a good place to start.

The Failure of Presidential Reform for a Second Trump Presidency

Yes, “a second Trump administration would be much worse,” as the Vox headline said after Trump’s CNN town hall meeting. And yes, “Trump’s Second-Term Goal” would be to “Shatter[] the Norms He Didn’t Already Break,” as the New York Times reported following the same event.

Yet the “news” in the CNN town hall has long been obvious. Trump’s norm-breaking grew during his presidency (and Trump got better over time at manipulating the bureaucracy). It continued after the 2020 presidential vote and before President Biden was inaugurated, most notably on Jan. 6, but not just then. It has persisted and grown in his post-presidency, most notably (but not exclusively) in how Trump handled classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. And as Isaac Arnsdorf and Jeff Stein at the Washington Post have documented, Trump in videos and speeches has been outlining a second-term agenda that portends a very aggressive and in many ways novel conception of the presidency.

Of course Trump’s second term will be worse on the norms and legal compliance front.

And yet while the nation has been on clear notice of this possibility, it has done very little since Trump left office to build up the institutions of government and put guardrails on the presidency to check these tendencies. The major exception is the Electoral Count Reform Act, a crucial improvement of the presidential selection process. Other modest but important reforms of the presidency include new protections for inspectors general from opportunistic removal and replacement by the president, and power-of-the-purse reform.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/articl...idential-reform-for-a-second-trump-presidency

 

[Mac1958]

Here's a good place to start.

The Failure of Presidential Reform for a Second Trump Presidency

Yes, “a second Trump administration would be much worse,” as the Vox headline said after Trump’s CNN town hall meeting. And yes, “Trump’s Second-Term Goal” would be to “Shatter[] the Norms He Didn’t Already Break,” as the New York Times reported following the same event.

Yet the “news” in the CNN town hall has long been obvious. Trump’s norm-breaking grew during his presidency (and Trump got better over time at manipulating the bureaucracy). It continued after the 2020 presidential vote and before President Biden was inaugurated, most notably on Jan. 6, but not just then. It has persisted and grown in his post-presidency, most notably (but not exclusively) in how Trump handled classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. And as Isaac Arnsdorf and Jeff Stein at the Washington Post have documented, Trump in videos and speeches has been outlining a second-term agenda that portends a very aggressive and in many ways novel conception of the presidency.

Of course Trump’s second term will be worse on the norms and legal compliance front.

And yet while the nation has been on clear notice of this possibility, it has done very little since Trump left office to build up the institutions of government and put guardrails on the presidency to check these tendencies. The major exception is the Electoral Count Reform Act, a crucial improvement of the presidential selection process. Other modest but important reforms of the presidency include new protections for inspectors general from opportunistic removal and replacement by the president, and power-of-the-purse reform.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/articl...idential-reform-for-a-second-trump-presidency

Yeah. I think that over last seven years, the rest of the country has spent a lot of time and energy just being shocked and stunned by all this. There has been a certain amount of disbelief, and as a result we haven't drilled down on what it means.

We have a good idea of what a second term would look like, and it's not hyperbolic because they're simply telling us.

Seven years into this, I have to admit, it's still difficult to get my head around it. This country isn't what I thought it was.

 

[lennypartiv]

The OP should disturb any American. And he's right, there would be "lots of cheers".

This is one dark time for us.

Do you understand why Trump wants revenge?

 

[Mac1958]

Do you understand why Trump wants revenge?

No. I'm not like him. Thank goodness.

He has told you that he has done nothing wrong, and no matter what evidence is proven in court, you will continue to believe him.

I don't know how you can do that.

 

[22lcidw]

Fuck that.

OUR government should NEVER be weaponized against US.

The whole purpose of this country was to take power away from the Government.


What the hell.

Tell the Progs that. Tell the War Mongers that. Tell the Swamp that. It seems Republicans the ones closer to the constitution are the only ones who have not weaponized the DOJ. And it's open season the citizens who vote for them.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Do you understand why Trump wants revenge?

Criminals don't want any opposition.

 

[Dragonlady]

Hopefully, the Democrats will be voted out and then Facsim will be out of style.

It's not the Democrats who are the fascists here. It's not the Democrats who are saying to "fuck the Constitution". It's not the Democrats who refused to conduct a peaceful transfer of power. And no Democrats has been arrested or sanctioned for any sort of fascist actions whatsoever - unlike Donald Trump who's illegal separation of children at the Southern Border is costing US taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in court ordered compensation.

 

[Dragonlady]

Tell the Progs that. Tell the War Mongers that. Tell the Swamp that. It seems Republicans the ones closer to the constitution are the only ones who have not weaponized the DOJ. And it's open season the citizens who vote for them.

Well you completely turned it around and got it backwards, but nice effort.

 

[Darkwind]

It's not the Democrats who are the fascists here. It's not the Democrats who are saying to "fuck the Constitution". It's not the Democrats who refused to conduct a peaceful transfer of power. And no Democrats has been arrested or sanctioned for any sort of fascist actions whatsoever - unlike Donald Trump who's illegal separation of children at the Southern Border is costing US taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in court ordered compensation.

The Democrats are nothing if not Fascist.

 

[1miseryindex]

Fuck that.

OUR government should NEVER be weaponized against US.

The whole purpose of this country was to take power away from the Government.


What the hell.

says the poster who vehemently, whole-heartedly CONDEMNED what the Garland DOJ is doing to Trump

Right?

If I look up some of your posts, I will undoubtedly see such condemnation, won't I?



Why do I doubt it, big time?

 

[1miseryindex]

The Democrats are nothing if not Fascist.

Yep. If you don't believe babies up until th 9th month can be, probably should be--- murdered
that children should be exposed to porn in the name of "not censoring" books

and other such BS

you are an enemy of the state.



sickos in charge

 

[Darkwind]

says the poster who vehemently, whole-heartedly CONDEMNED what the Garland DOJ is doing to Trump

Right?

If I look up some of your posts, I will undoubtedly see such condemnation, won't I?



Why do I doubt it, big time?

Go ahead and look.

What you won't find Me doing is remaining quiet for republicans when they do the same as democrats.

It is called, "Intelectual honesty'.

No party should weaponize the government against the citizenry.

I have little time for people who want nothing but revenge for perceived slights.

 

[1miseryindex]

After what he's been through, I don't blame him a bit. In this case, revenge is a good thing. There will be lots of cheers if he arrests those on the other side.

---Former President Trump told his supporters earlier this year he would be their “retribution” if reelected. He told supporters last week he would direct the Justice Department (DOJ) to investigate “every Marxist prosecutor in America.” And Trump over the weekend vowed to “root out … the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”---

I LOL at this because the demonrats and RINOs think that the Rs are always supposed to rise above what the former are doing, and NEVER be like them (corrupt/evil). Well, maybe in a perfect world----? But we see just how perfect our world is, don't we?

all because of this kind of BS thinking.

You can't win a game-- name just any game at all-- without playing by "the rules"

and both parties in any "game" are expected to play by... Guess what? the same *&^% rules!

Only one player will ever win when you have... what's going on in our govt where only the demonrats ever win. Fortunately, maybe they don't ALWAYS win?

Yay, Comer!

 

[1miseryindex]

Go ahead and look.

What you won't find Me doing is remaining quiet for republicans when they do the same as democrats.

It is called, "Intelectual honesty'.

No party should weaponize the government against the citizenry.

I have little time for people who want nothing but revenge for perceived slights.

Maybe I should look.. but then again, why bother when I know you have NOT condemned what the govt is doing to Trump.

In any case, good luck with that "your side is supposed to be above all this" crap.

We've had enough of your sick *%$#@ party ruling. You are unfit to rule, unfit to be dog catcher

 

[Independent thinker]

After what he's been through, I don't blame him a bit. In this case, revenge is a good thing. There will be lots of cheers if he arrests those on the other side.

---Former President Trump told his supporters earlier this year he would be their “retribution” if reelected. He told supporters last week he would direct the Justice Department (DOJ) to investigate “every Marxist prosecutor in America.” And Trump over the weekend vowed to “root out … the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”---

MSN

The DOJ is weaponized already. The precedent has been set to weaponize it so Democrats shouldn't cry foul when it comes back to bite them in the ass.

 

[WinterBorn]

Maybe I should look.. but then again, why bother when I know you have NOT condemned what the govt is doing to Trump.

In any case, good luck with that "your side is supposed to be above all this" crap.

We've had enough of your sick *%$#@ party ruling. You are unfit to rule, unfit to be dog catcher

The only reason someone would condemn the gov't for what they are "doing to Trump" is if they believe he did not commit any of the crimes he is accused of.