Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that presidents should have total immunity, even for "events that cross the line."
The former president has made clear once again that he believes the office should have absolute power
The D.C. Federal Court of Appeals is expected to hand down a decision on Donald Trump’s claim to “absolute” presidential immunity any day now, and the former president is upping his public pressure campaign for a favorable decision.
Early Thursday morning, Trump took to Truth Social to rant about the exemption he believes a president — or former president — should have from prosecution over crimes committed while in office. “EVEN EVENTS THAT ‘CROSS THE LINE’ MUST FALL UNDER TOTAL IMMUNITY, OR IT WILL BE YEARS OF TRAUMA TRYING TO DETERMINE GOOD FROM BAD,” Trump wrote.
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The former president argued that without total blanket immunity, the chief executive would be stripped of the “authority and decisiveness” necessary to carry out their duties in office. “Sometimes you just have to live with ‘great but slightly imperfect,’” he wrote in the all-caps post.
I want stricter enforcement on anyone with power, not less. If you have the power to create and/or enforce the laws of the nation you should be held at a higher standard to uphold them.
This situation is just so crazy. We've had decades of the right wing frothing at the mouth against "big government" and "activist judges". Now that their god-king is reaching for absolute power they flip a 180 so hard they fall all over themselves to demand that we have a king instead of a country By The People, For The People.
I know that conservatives don't have morals or actually held beliefs: they have goals. Any time the world doesn't jive with their goals they'll take any position required to achieve the goal of the moment. I grew up with a right wing in the US that demanded liberty or death, but it seems that was all just a veneer over a goal to end democracy, topple the republic, and enshrine a king to rule over us all. The mask is off and a vote for Trump demonstrably makes you an enemy of the republic.
I'm wondering if Bill Barr has had a change of heart. Prior to the Trump Administration, he was openly advocating the Unity Executive Theory, which basically says the President gets to do whatever the hell they want. He even made fun of "progressives" who argued that this would make the President into a dictator (at around 13:00 in the video). A little over a year after that address, he was pulling the brakes hard on Trump's attempt to steal the election.
Hey, Barr, how about we pull back on the President's power, not give more.
I just want to add a caveat (while basically agreeing with frezik) that proponents of the unitary executive theory thought that Bill Barr was a total crackpot. So, it's more like Barr was trying to rehabilitate fascism through an already existing term that makes fascism sound respectable.
Make no mistake, even if he loses the popular vote, Trump is going to take getting reelected as some kind of mandate to act as a dictator and do whatever he wants with the full power of the US government and military behind him.
Democracy will not survive another 4 years of this increasingly unhinged husk of a moron.
The GOP depends on the integrity of the Left to not stoop to their level even when given carte blanche to do so. They'll openly follow the rules as written, loopholes and all, while the rest of us are following the rules as intended in good faith. Obviously, they'll also bend or break the rules too, but they're usually not as open about that as Trump.
Trump probably came up with this on the fly. And since there's more intelligence in a 10L bucket of semen, both him and his followers thinks this is an awesome idea
No, you're missing the point. You see, this special immunity should only apply to Trump. Because he's Trump, and if he says stupid things often enough, some people will believe him.
Let's not forget that this bullshit actually killed at least one person.
Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer as rioters tried to breach the House chamber.
Kevin D. Greeson died of a heart attack, collapsing on the sidewalk west of the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Rosanne Boyland appeared to have been crushed in a stampede of fellow rioters as they surged against the police.
Benjamin Philips, the founder of a pro-Trump website called Trumparoo, died of a stroke.
And
In the days and weeks after the riot, five police officers who had served at the Capitol on Jan. 6 died.
Officer Brian D. Sicknick of the Capitol Police, who was attacked by the mob, died on Jan. 7.
Officer Jeffrey Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department killed himself after the attack.
Officer Howard S. Liebengood of the Capitol Police also died by suicide four days afterward.
So who is responsible for the attack on January 6th?
I guess he will never be able to arrest Biden for anything, no matter what he may do.
Hear that Biden? Trump gave you permission to just shoot him dead because you have immunity and can't be arrested for it as long as you do it while.president.
"Aww, surely he didn't mean it exactly like he said it. We must give him the benefit of the doubt since he is a rich and respectable person who wouldn't say something like that."
"No, please. Do not give me the benefit of the doubt. I mean it - I WILL literally kill you if I get elected again."
"That could mean anything, surely he wouldn't imply that he would kill us if he got elected. He must have misspoken or meant something else."
The issue is, Trump never means what he says. Lying is like breathing for him. So no one should believe what he literally says. He can't actually follow through on a plan to do anything, even if he wants to.
You should believe that he wants to do what he says though. He may accidentally do something worse and not fix it. Like the trade war with China that accomplished nothing. Or the millions of unnecessary pandemic deaths. Trump isn't dangerous because of what he will do, but because of what other people will do while he fails to act in the interests of the country.
Remember that time he ordered the assassination of an Iranian commander, on Iraqi (allied) soil, while that commander was there attending a peace conference with Iraq?
I'm definitely voting for the leopards again this year. I mean, last time they ate the faces of people just like me, some of whom I didn't like very much to begin with. But ultimately, I was mostly unharmed last time. Surely that will continue to be the case, and the leopards will only way the faces of other people,and not me.
The line is that only Trump can do anything with impunity. That same power doesn’t apply to Biden or future presidents.
I wonder if anybody has tried to explain to Trump that if he wins the argument that presidents have absolute power that Biden could immediately jail him and his entire family for no reason at all…
Wait for the generals to "retire" him and take control of the country, which will then spiral into civil war and continuous purges as one factor or another gains temporary control and then succumbs to their opponents or internal divisions.
Ah yes, civil war in a country that has large stockpiles of nuclear and chemical weapons, and has been honing its military to deal with small insurgent forces for decades.
One can only hope that the military actually upholds its duty to defend the constitution. Otherwise we’re in for a wild ride.
I don't understand how this is even in play. I thought the point of immunity was to prevent active members of government being arrested or prevented from doing their duty by minor or spurious charges while in office. The example was a congressman being pulled over on his way to an important vote. Trump doesn't have any duties anymore. The nation doesn't give a shit if he's in court or prison or whatever, so why should he be immune to anything? Now seems the perfect time to find out exactly what he's done.
He doesn't have a lot of other directions to go. He can just ignore paying people money for all the cases hes lost so far, but he can't ignore getting sent to prison. He's got to play this hand to delay and try to get back in office. Self-pardons, lock up his accusers and anyone else he sees as a threat. Turn the presidency into an actual dictatorship.
He was quoted many times saying how he liked how Putin and Kim and UN had their absolute power lined up.
Me neither. Even active presidents only have immunity in very limited circumstances. 30-40 years ago this claim would have been brushed off immediately as utterly ridiculous. That anybody would spend 1 second considering this as a real claim shows how our legal system has degenerated.
Hey Bozo the Rapist Clown - get in there and defecate on the Constitution again. You’ll be immune from living, you demented leaky bag of shit. We’re done fucking with this bullshit.
Kind of impressed that I didn't see any of those "centrists" calling bOtH sIdEs, but only bashing democrats in here.
I really thing that the orangeoutan must be held accountable with all the crimes he did, no one is above thr law, and specially someone who was president, in this case he should be not only punished but make an example out of him, and the republican traitors.