http://www.politico.com/news/m...blame-column-00187945

... At the root of it all are the considerable and truly historic legal missteps by the Biden administration and Attorney General Merrick Garland, as well as a series of decisions by Republicans throughout the political and legal systems in recent years that effectively bailed Trump out when the risks for him were greatest.
The two federal criminal cases against him are now dead as a practical matter. Already there is reporting suggesting that special counsel Jack Smith will leave his post and dismiss the pending cases, which is not that surprising considering that Trump pledged to fire him once back in office anyway. The Georgia case, an overhyped and misguided vehicle for post-2020 legal accountability, is going to remain on ice and perhaps get thrown out entirely in the coming years, at least as to Trump (if not his co-defendants). In Manhattan, where Trump was supposed to be sentenced in a matter of weeks after his conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case earlier this year, Trump is likely to ask the court to cancel the sentencing date; regardless of the mechanics, there is no reasonable scenario in which Trump serves some period of incarceration while also serving in the White House...


... In fact, the warning signs for where this could all end up - where the country finds itself now - were clear by late 2021, less than a year into Biden's term. The public reporting at the time indicated (correctly, we now know) that there was no real Justice Department investigation into Trump and his inner circle at that point, even though the outlines of a criminal case against Trump - including some of the charges themselves that were eventually brought nearly two years later - were already apparent.

As a result, the Biden administration and the Garland Justice Department were running an extremely obvious risk - namely, that Trump would run for reelection and win, and that any meaningful criminal accountability for his misconduct after 2020 would literally become impossible. That, of course, has now happened. It was all eminently predictable.

Garland's defenders over the years - including many Democratic lawyers who regularly appear on cable news - claimed that Garland and the department were simply following a standard, "bottom-up" investigative effort. Prosecutors would start with the rioters, on this theory, and then eventually get to Trump.

This never made any sense...


.... None of this, however, excuses the Republican political and legal class for their role in all this as well. In fact, Trump could not have pulled it off without a great deal of help from them too.

Start with Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans in 2021. They could - and should - have voted to convict Trump after his second impeachment, which would have prevented him from running again for the presidency. Instead, McConnell and almost every other GOP senator let him off the hook....

.... The Republican presidential primaries also proved, in the end, to be a boon for Trump in his legal fight. By the time they concluded, Trump had been indicted by the Justice Department and local prosecutors in Manhattan and Fulton County. Under the traditional rules of politics, this should have provided incredible fodder for his adversaries and essentially killed his campaign.

Instead, his most prominent primary opponents - his opponents - came to his defense. As the prosecution in Manhattan came into focus, for instance, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis belittled the effort as "some manufactured circus by some Soros-DA." Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy both said that they would pardon Trump if elected.

It was no surprise, then, that Republican primary voters rallied around Trump. Perhaps it was inevitable, but it was certainly made easier by the fact that Trump's supposed adversaries were all endorsing his legal defense as well as his false claims about the prosecutions themselves.

... Last but most certainly not least: The Republican appointees on the Supreme Court bailed Trump out this year - in the heart of the general election campaign and when it mattered most.

A very large swathe of the public - somewhere around 60 percent according to our polling and others - wanted Trump to stand trial this year in the 2020 election subversion case. Before the Supreme Court weighed in, an even larger portion of Americans - somewhere around 70 percent - rejected the idea that presidents should be immune from prosecution for alleged crimes they committed while in office.

The six Republican appointees - three of whom, of course, were appointed by Trump himself - sided with Trump on both counts.

They first slow-walked Trump's appeal on immunity grounds this year and then created a new doctrine of criminal immunity for Trump that had no real basis in the law - effectively foreclosing the possibility of a trial before Election Day. It was a gross distortion of the law in apparent service of the Republican appointees' partisan political objectives...<<


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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

I blame the Trump voter.

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I was right.

But the DOJ won't. If you try to assassinate the king, you best succeed. We will all look forward to seeing that purge. How great it is. Steve Bannon for FBI director.

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I :heart; Q

Edited: 11/08/2024 at 08:42 AM by tpapablo

I am definitely looking forward to seeing Trump use "The Golden Rule" and treating others as he has been treated. No better, no worse.

I cannot imagine the panic going through the minds of those who have been absolutely cruel to Trump over the past couple of years. Couldn't be happening to a nicer group of humans.

Democrats are great at making enemies and as soon as those enemies respond in any way by treating the Democrats poorly, then these whiny Democrats act shocked and appalled. Democrats attack, intimidate, threaten, and bully their opponents, then the second their opponents give them a taste of their own medicine, it's like they don't know what to do with themselves. They can't understand why their opponents would act in their own interests. Democrats can dish it out but they can't take it. They bout to take it.

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"The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," - George Bernard Shaw

“End of quote. Repeat the line.” - wise words from Joe Biden

“Your boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what makes you cheer” ~ Rick Sanchez

Watching the GOP use big government to wage their culture wars while Trump lines his pockets with even more egregiously than he did last time will be hard. There is still a point to pointing out the hypocrisy even if the red hats are too busy doing victory laps to pay attention or force into their blind spots.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

Give me a fucking break. Ask any Democrat if they would still run for President knowing going into it that they would have less opportunity exiting the office than before they ran AND they would have to deal with endless bullshit lawsuits. Trump wasn't some state level bureaucrat when he signed up for this. He didn't need the money, the fame, or the headaches.

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"The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," - George Bernard Shaw

“End of quote. Repeat the line.” - wise words from Joe Biden

“Your boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what makes you cheer” ~ Rick Sanchez

Power is a mighty intoxicant.



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Nothing screams cuck like flying a flag with another man's name on it.

Sill irrational after Trump body slammed your lunatic delusions, huh? We understand. You progs are not exactly paragons of emotional stability, as is shown by the prog reaction videos. Try some psychotherapy. We wish you well.

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I :heart; Q

I would be much more worried for myself if you started complimenting all of the sudden. When all the wrong people are telling you how wrong you are, you're doing it right.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

Whut??? I doubt you have anything to worry about. He's going to handle the vindictive twats that have been waging war against him and his family for the past 8 years. You've just been a useful idiot for them.

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"The government who robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," - George Bernard Shaw

“End of quote. Repeat the line.” - wise words from Joe Biden

“Your boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what makes you cheer” ~ Rick Sanchez

Nope. He won't do anything of the kind. He finally got the lid on the can. He's not about to let those worms out again.



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I was right.