Tuesday, July 02, 2024
Court Decision Gives A Trump Presidency Dictatorial Power
The Supreme Court has rendered a very flawed decision on presidential immunity. This nation has always believed that every citizen is subject to the rule of law, and no citizen is above the law - not even the president. That is no longer true.
The Court has ruled that a president has immunity when performing his official duties - even if he breaks the law in performing those duties. And they went further in declaring that any communication the president has with his vice-president or with the Justice Department includes presidential immunity (even if those discussions involve plans to break the law).
This is especially troubling when it comes to communication with the Justice Department.
Donald Trump has repeatedly promised his supporters that if elected for a second term, he would use the Justice Department to exact revenge on his perceived enemies - and there is no reason to believe he wouldn't follow through on that promise.
In his first term, Donald Trump made the mistake of choosing Attorney Generals who had a modicum of belief in the U.S. Constitution. They refused his more nefarious requests.
He won't make that mistake again. You can be sure that any new Trump-appointed Attorney General would be a sycophant - a person who would follow ALL Trump orders (even if they violated the Constitution).
That would let Trump use the Justice Department to punish anyone he didn't like - political opponents, print and broadcast media, individual journalists, or anyone else he didn't like.
Using the law to punish opponents is the most powerful tool of dictators. They use that to increase and sustain their power. Now it is legal for a U.S. president to wield that same kind of power. It's a giant step down the road to an authoritarian presidency.
This makes it even more important to make sure Trump is not elected this November. We must keep him out of the White House - at least until a more reasonable and ethical Supreme Court is a reality, and can overturn this very bad decision.
We've Made Bad Choices For President - But Corrected Them
For those of you fearing the outcome of this presidential election, Robert Reich offers a ray of hope:
I want to try to reassure you about this country.
I want to try to reassure you about this country.
I know that you’re worried and upset. You have every reason to be. Donald Trump is a vile human being, and he got away with a tsunami of lies Thursday night. Joe Biden didn’t come across with the vitality he needed to show.
I have no idea whether Biden will get his mojo back or the Democrats will find someone else to take on Trump. But I have an abiding faith in the common sense and good-heartedness of most Americans.
Although we’re horribly divided right now, the fact is, again and again, we’ve rejected vicious haters and demagogues — Father Coughlin, Joe McCarthy, and George Wallace, to name a few.
We’ve made a few bad mistakes in our choices of president, to be sure, but we’ve corrected them as soon as we could. We elected James Buchanan in 1856, but he was out in four years. We allowed Andrew Johnson to become president following Lincoln’s assassination, but we impeached him. We elected Richard Nixon in 1968 but sent him packing in 1974. We elected Trump in 2016 (although more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton), and we didn’t reelect him in 2020.
There have been times when I doubted America. I think the worst was 1968, with the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and then Bobby Kennedy, the riots and fires that consumed our cities, the horrific Democratic convention in Chicago along with protests and violent police response, the election of the dreadful Nixon, and the escalating carnage of Vietnam.
It seemed to me then that we had utterly lost our moral compass and purpose.
But the Watergate hearings demonstrated to me that we had not lost it. Democrats and Republicans worked together to discover what Nixon had done. I had much the same feeling about the brilliant work done by the House’s special committee to investigate January 6, 2021.
Washington, D.C., is not the Gomorrah portrayed in the media, and I think it important not to become so consumed with its failings or its Republican crazies that we overlook the many good things happening there, particularly under Biden — the most aggressive use of antitrust and most pro-union labor board I remember, and Biden’s extraordinary legislative accomplishments.
When I think about what’s good about America, I also think about the jurors and prosecutors and the judge in Trump’s recent trial in Manhattan, who took extraordinary abuse. Their lives and the lives of their families were threatened. But they didn’t flinch. They did their duty.
I think about our armed services men and women. I think about our firefighters and police officers. I think about our teachers and social workers, and our nurses who acted with such courage and dedication during the pandemic. I think about all the other people who are putting in countless hours in our cities and towns and states to make our lives better.
And all the people who are working their hearts out right now to make sure Donald Trump stays out of the White House. (I assure you, I’m doing the same, and I hope you are as well.)
A few nights ago, I had dinner with an old friend whom I haven’t seen in many years. He’s now a United States senator. He works extraordinarily hard. He cares deeply about the country. He shares many of our values.
He told me that he seriously doubts Americans will elect Donald Trump.
I agree with him. We are so much better than Trump.
Monday, July 01, 2024
Those Wanting Biden To Drop Out Are Making A Big Mistake
President Biden did not meet Democratic hopes in the debate last week. That has some calling for him to drop out of the race. That would be a mistake that would cost Democrats the 2024 election - and it could even reverberate down ballot and cost them the House and Senate.
It would open the nomination for a fight among Democratic delegates as to who would replace him on the ticket just four months before the election. It would give the voting public the impression that the Democratic Party is in a state of chaos.
It could also divide the party at the very time they need to be coming together to keep Trump out of the White House. This is not the time to create hard feelings among the candidates that don't win and their supporters.
Most of the timid Democrats are also making a second mistake. They are listing a bunch of governors and senators as possible replacements, and totally ignoring the second-in-command of the most powerful democracy on the planet - Vice President Kamala Harris.
Not choosing VP Harris quickly would be a slap in the face to Black voters. She is competent, personable, and a very good campaigner - and they know it. Choose a different candidate, and the chances are very good that many Black voters will stay home on Election Day.
Democrats won in 2020 because Blacks overwhelmingly voted for them. And if they are to win in 2024, they need the same kind of turnout from Black voters. If even a small percentage of them sit out the election, Democrats will lose the White House and many down ballot races.
President Biden is the person voters chose to be the Democratic nominee. Changing that at this point (and without the choice of voters) would be a huge mistake - and it would very likely result in a Trump White House and a GOP House and Senate.
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