General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsProsecute Donald Trump To The Full Extent Of The Law
Want Americans to feel like the country is fair? Think the rule of law is important? Prosecute powerful people when they commit crimes. Even people who worked for a president. Even a former president.
The story of 21st-century America is complex, but the narrative of powerful people behaving terribly and getting away with it is arguably the common thread. Consider the illegal torture operations of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and John Yoo. Reflect on the financial frauds perpetrated by Wall Street bankers and foreclosure mills last decade (theyre not exactly complying with the law this decade, either). Contemplate the big lies of fossil fuel executives like Exxon chair turned Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Think about the violations of consent decrees, tax laws and antitrust statutes by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and the rest of Silicon Valley. Reckon with the horrifying conduct brought front and center by #MeToo. And then come to terms with the number of the aforementioned elites whose potential criminal liability has been taken seriously by prosecutors ― approximately zero.
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Should Trumps successor, be it Mike Pence or a Democrat, pardon Trump? How should New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and other state and local officials treat Trump as well as his children and cronies who seem exceedingly likely to have acted in a manner that warrants prosecution?
That Americans no longer trust their institutions or elites should not be a source of wonderment ― it should be seen as a rational response to the declining trustworthiness of the people with the most power in this country. If with great power comes great responsibility, then why is our criminal justice system so focused on jailing poor people for being unable to pay fines for modest offenses or nonviolent drug possession?
A just America would seek, first and foremost, to hold the most powerful Americans to account.
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The end of Trumpism will not be when Trump is defeated at the polls or even when he is impeached. It will be when America comes together as a nation and acts to ensure that elites like Trump who transgress against our shared laws suffer consequences proportionate to their actions.
more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-trump-crimes-accountability_us_5c38ca9ee4b0c469d76db38c
dchill
(38,626 posts)empedocles
(15,751 posts)Mueller [even with a clearcut Gotti gangster case] and Pelosi, have understood, and understand there's much more to a conviction than a prima facie case.
Mr. Ected
(9,675 posts)Unless we want to open the door to an endless line of public servants acting nefariously, we need to set examples of all politicians who dare to cross that line. To do otherwise makes a mockery of our republic.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)bdamomma
(63,974 posts)nt
RainCaster
(10,962 posts)Send all those MFs to prison for a long time.
alwaysinasnit
(5,083 posts)Kingofalldems
(38,514 posts)2naSalit
(86,963 posts)Grasswire2
(13,575 posts)Do we support that remedy?
I think I do even though I am generally opposed to the death penalty for crimes lesser than this.
blueinredohio
(6,797 posts)What I am against is poor people get years in prison(regular prison) for a couple ounces of pot but if you have money and are involved in politics you either get probation or very little federal prison time for lying to FBI or tax evasion or treason.
SWBTATTReg
(22,222 posts)our country knowing full well that what they did was illegal and hid this from the rest of us.
duforsure
(11,885 posts)If trump and his family don't receive the full penalty under the law, then they'll be a next time, and the results will be much worse, and we have no more room to get worse for a next time. Our justice system is based on it being fair and just, so if they escape anything then that can't be true.
Initech
(100,149 posts)They're all in on it.
Mr.Bill
(24,373 posts)We are where we are now because Nixon did not die in prison.
RainCaster
(10,962 posts)Fuck the 'healing' our country needed. Look where that brought us.
old guy
(3,284 posts)ffr
(22,681 posts)Civilian candidate Individual-1 Donald J. Trump, however you want to call him, did many of these crimes as a civilian. And now we're being told he cannot be indicted for them because his is POTUS and a sitting POTUS cannot be indicted. WELL FUCK ALL! He wasn't president when he did the crime!