Thank you for publishing this editorial. I have felt this way, ever since well before the election. I have lost more than a few "followers" because of my views. I continue to speak out, because I must. I love my country, I am a retired veteran of the armed forces, and I will continue to uphold the Constitution of our land for as long as I am, for my children and my grandchildren. Please keep publishing, calling out and calling on, to do the right thing by our country.
1
Absolute misguided drivel by the NYT- editorial board. The President deserves the same protection of the law as any other citizen. To date, no crimes have been uncovered against him. Yet the endless Javert-type inspector is wearing thin for a lot of us. Nothing of substance has been found, unless you include the FBI setting up a trap to find a "lie" where none exists. I think I speak for many when I say that this investigation needs to come to a close. He has found nothing and he is invading the personal property and space of a private citizen trying to investigate the president's past. The President is trying to work for America, while these prosecutors go on an unchecked orgy of breaking the law. Enough is enough. Trump should fire Mueller and get on with the business that we elected him to do.
2
You may have voted for him but Putin placed him in the role.
3
I have no doubt that a free pass will be given to Trump if he does fire Mueller. Oh of course they'll be screaming and carrying on but ultimately there will be no consequences for our very stable genius president. He's gotten away with everything so far his whole life, why should this be different, especially when you have a crowd of cowards as our so called leaders are. What a sad, sad time for this country, To think we went from such an honorable president , Barack Obama, to the cesspool of the person occupying the White House today. What a tragedy in this country.
1
Fascists are above the law and Trump is heading toward fascism.
1
If there is money to be made, republican leadership will do nothing to protect the rest us--and the world, for that matter--from trump (lower case intended). trump does not believe the law applies to him. Why should it? It never has before. He sees the law as a whip he can crack against others, and he uses the noise of the whip to effect whatever change he wants. Republican leadership--Ryan, McConnell, et al--have demonstrated, quite clearly, that they will pimp out the budget, laws, respect, morals, and anything else they can get their diseased hands on to control the courts. If they control the courts, they control the law. But, they do not control trump. Like an incurable, lethal contagion, he continues to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. As a nation, we are lost now. Truly, truly lost.
1
How many times is the NYT going to opine on the same old subject? Once a week for the last year at least. It is rather obvious the "progressive" media is praying that Trump fires Mueller.
1
Yes the president is not above the law nor is he below the law. Alleged morality and ethics are also not above the law. Therefore fired FBI director's allegations that Trump is morally unfit in a world of rotten politics is bogus. Morality and ethics is subjective and in the jaundiced eyes of the beholder. More people (mostly Muslims) have either died or displaced from their homes on a per month basis during the first 16 years of this century than the the first 16 months of the presidency of Trump. Murder most foul.... ..William Shakespeare. Yes there is no forgiving the moral, ethical and legal responsibility of deaths occurring during the Bush and Obama watch due to the direct or indirect support for wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Yemen. Law is an ass sometimes and its interpretation to suit the political winds should be illegal. Our judiciary from top down has political bias. Just look at the appointment of the justices on the supreme court. Are they nonpartisan or they judge on the basis of which president appointed them? Why do we bring up the circuit court judges in the context of which president appointed them and why should their judgment matter in that context? Why should Comey have timed the reopening of investigation into Hillary Clinton just days before the election? That he did so because Clinton was certain to win is totally mind boggling and absurd. Comey as the FBI director was supposed to be impartial and doing his job in a timely manner.
2
Oh yes Trump IS above the law because Congressional republicans will do NOTHING to enforce the law or defend the Constitution because they are either traitors or cowards.
In one corner, Trump, a self-serving racist liar violating the law, colluding with Putin's dictatorship to undermine American democracy, shielding his dishonest and dishonorable sexual and business practices from legal scrutiny; in the other, the public-spirited Mueller protecting our Constitution, defending the principle that no one is above the law.
Who should we root for? Most commenters here wildly root for Mueller to take down the would be American dictator and uphold the law.
I dissent.
When George W. Bush launched his war on "terrorism", he asked people to choose, "You're either with us or against us." He then exterminated many innocent people. The people who helped him now have innocent blood on their hands.
Over millennia, the law has been used to harm innocent people such as Socrates, the convicted witches hanged in Salem, MA, or innocent people freed after spending years in prison such as Ricky Jackson or Richard Phillips.
When you examine how government killed hundreds of millions of innocents, you can understand how it used the law as part of its modus operandi. You can understand that the law will never put Bush to death or in prison for exterminating innocent people.
The law or Trump?
I say, "No, thank you." I choose what is ethically correct.
2
What is also of concern is that the entire world is watching us.
Many countries have and continue to follow our democratic values. We have always been in the forefront to cry foul and correct countries that fall behind in those values.
The US takes pride as a country that follows and practices the Rule of Law. Others say, we are a country of laws. Is this all changing? Our allies and the rest of the world have questions for us in this regard. What do we tell them?
Since the underpinnings of the editorial's argument is the US Constitution, why is there a drawing of a rent copy of the Declaration of Independence?
Speaking up on behalf of our tremendous illustrators here, that is indeed an image of the Constitution, which begins, "We the People ..."
The Declaration begins, "When in the course of human events..."
3
Nixon was not impeached until his support fell to the mid 20's, the tapes were discovered, and his own party leaders confronted him. The Republicans will not impeach Trump over Mueller. Trump better hope that Congress does not flip to blue. Of course if it does, then the Democrats may very well dither until it flips back.
Correction. Congress has the first responsibility, not the ultimate. If it fails do honor its sacred commitment to "preserve, protect and defend the constitution", than ultimate responsibility becomes ours. Jefferson had figured this one out over two centuries ago, when he wrote his famous words "What country can preserve it’s liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. the remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. it is it’s natural manure. If Trump puts himself above the law by firing Rosenstein or Mueller, he becomes a tyrant, and in that case, it is only fitting, right and proper that he be treated as such.
3
A most superb editorial.
Oh, he learning right now he's not above the law. That N.Y. court hearing today devastates his cause. And Comey's presence is rattling even the most self-assured white house spokespersons. Doom is in the air.
No wonder Trump's stiffly reading from a script, breathing heavily, ranting by tweet, attacking the press, deflecting with foreign policy with a temperament unsuited for prime time.
This is a reality television crime drama and his side seems to be losing in court. Imagine an angered + rattled Trump dining with Japan's Abe at Mar-a-lago. (Yet another excuse for Trump to get out of town.)
2
Time and time again we have waited for the Republicans to get some backbone and control their monster. It will not happen. The Pretend King Trump has something on each one of them, this is how Sheriff Arpaio who he pardoned was able to break laws and not go to jail. Republicans have learned much since Nixon days, Cheney provided even more lessons during Bush's reign. It will be up to us to remove this Pretend King and we shall prevail, we threw out a real King years ago. Are we there yet?
2
Trump's assertions that other hoteliers photograph their guests with hidden cameras, and record them with hidden microphones, suggests that his own resorts are likewise equipped.
2
It would be a grotesque system of government if the President WAS above the law. Indeed, if the President were above the law, he could violate any law, for any reason, including self-interest, corruption, graft, bribery, racial or sexual bias, or any motive whatsoever, and would suffer no consequence. Accepting that the President is above the law would abolish our democratic system of government by co-equal branches and checks and balances (including powers reserved to the sovereign citizens), and replace it with a system of unfettered tyranny by a President.
Republicans generally agree: whatever a Republican president orders is legal. Conversely, whatever a Democratic president orders is illegal.
If Congress were to pass a bill specifically aimed at President Trump not being able to fire Prosecutor Mueller, and Mr. Trump for whatever reason could not veto it, the bill now law would likely be deemed unconstitutional as a bill of attainder (in addition to illegally circumscribing the President's evident authority).
3
It wouldn't be aimed at Trump alone, of course.
It would merely state that IF the Department of Justice (which constitutionally is supposed to operate independently from the president, once the president himself picked a person to lead it) decided to appoint a Special Counsel, then the president cannot fire the Special Counsel without first convincing Congress (= obtaining a vote) that the Special Counsel made serious mistakes and has to be replaced.
There's nothing illegal nor unconstitutional about such a bill.
If you believe there is, what would your arguments be?
2
In a new book “How Democracies Die” 2 political scientists say the guardrails of our democracy are weakening. Shows how other democracies turned into autocracies, ending not by a coup but by "slow weakening of protective institutions—political norms, the press, and courts."
Our rw GOP now dominates our 3 branches and most states. Our Supreme Court legalized unlimited corporate money in elections as ‘free speech’. This laid the groundwork to further warping of our political culture. The citizen majority is low priority.
The GOP, extremist by standards of other working democracies, purged its moderates to ensure conformity to mega donors' return on investment.
Its Fox News State Media propagates GOP lies to voters, who thinks it’s "on their side”, while they’re exploited and used.
The GOP/Fox News power center operates for our oligarchs, similar to Putin/Russian state media for their oligarchs.
In a political culture now ruled by big money, past ethics and public duty have small chance. On most issues We the People disagree with elite donor policy-makers, but we can’t compete on issues affecting our lives.
In this atmosphere, corruption is given a green light. That’s what we’re witnessing daily in ever varied forms.
3
No human pursuit can withstand prolonged failure to enforce minimum standards of conduct.
1
The deep state colluding with the press is not something to rejoice over. From their statements its clear that McCabe, Comey, and Yates all believed that Trump was not up to the job. It looks like they abused process to try to lay the ground work to impeach him. This is a very unimpressive showing by anti trump people. Its better they just try to win the next election. People with ethical standard are duty bound to disassociate from such unethical federal employees, and also from journalists with low journalistic standards.
3
And exactly how did they "abuse process"?
By the way, it's Trump's first and most ardent supporter who's leading the DOJ, and who decided himself that there's too much evidence here to NOT start an independent investigation.
And then Rosenstein - who was also appointed by Trump - immediately agreed, and appointed a Special Counsel (a Republican with a highly impressive record, including when it comes to impartial investigations).
So exactly how is this the work of "anti trump people" ... ?
As to "ethical standard": a president is supposed to respect the independence of the DOJ, which of course includes allowing his own Secretary to do his job, rather than prematurely ending investigations because he's too afraid that they'd reveal something that may harm him ... .
THAT's what is meant with not placing himself above the law. If a president starts meddling with DOJ-led investigations when those are examining his own campaign, he's refusing to led the DOJ do its work and instead of accepting to be held accountable just like any other citizen, abuses his power as president to end investigations he doesn't like.
NO president is supposed to do this. If he has nothing to hide, let his own DOJ investigate what it deems necessary to investigate, no ... ?
5
If the Republicans wanted to protect this country they would have passed legislation by now to make sure that Mueller and Rosenstein would be protected from Trump or Session's firing of them.
They spout all the right words, but are not acting. They should do it today, if Orin Hatch or Grassley actually meant what they profess.
This is jus another sham by the Republican Leadership.
They obviously think more of their vacation time, than they do of our country.
2
Waiting for the 'presidential' tweet congratulating The New York Times and The Washington Post on winning Pulitzer Prizes. You know, because he's all about the the Constitution and Freedom of Speech and everything.
5
All very rhetorical and good warm fuzzy feelings
BUT neither addresses the fact a Dictator Now governs the United States of America
but
has allowed the present administration to print the Blueprint for the next one
1
Trump is not above the law but he never said at all that he was.
Was Obama within the law when he allowed the FBI to investigate Carter Page, and in doing so, weaponized the FBI against a presidential candidate/campaign? NO!
Was Obama within the law when his IRS targeted conservative groups? NO!
Was Hillary within the law when she used her home server for government business and then deleted 33,000 emails? NO!
3
You either didn't read the Constitution or ignore what "separation of the 3 branches of government" means.
The DOJ is supposed to operate INDEPENDENTLY from the head of the Executive branch, in other words the US president.
That means that all that a president does is picking himself who will be the head of the DOJ and intelligence services - who still have to be confirmed by Congress before they get the job.
Once they're there, however, they are supposed to be free to investigate no matter what they believe is suspect and needs to be investigated.
Obama indeed didn't EVER meddle with the DOJ (even though some progressives were frustrated because of the fact that he didn't, and wanted him to attack Wall Street and big bank CEOs and Bush and Cheney). And in order to allow the FBI to do its job properly, he even appointed a Republican with bipartisan support to lead it.
Trump, on the contrary, put Jeff Sessions at the DOJ, and then Sessions himself decided, freely, to recuse himself when the FBI signaled that they had too much suspect material about Russia and the elections to no longer refrain from investigating the Trump campaign. Recusing means: he saw the evidence, and agreed that an independent (= not led by Trump himself) investigation was needed.
Then Trump decided to fire the head of the FBI - instead of allowing them to do their work normally. And now that Mueller is coming close, he publicly attacks him too.
THAT is placing yourself above the law, you see?
8
@ Philly
Spoiler alert:
Why engage in right wing whataboutism when the subject at hand in the here and now is the crime syndicate of this presidency and the president's consiglieres? This is like a Mafia story.
Cohen walks the street outside the courtroom like a Sopranos cast member.
This article is not about the prior administration. Stay present! The people seated with him outside the courthouse were recognized as Russians.
1
"Such frustrations — like ones Democrats vented when Mr. Clinton was in investigators’ sights — are certainly understandable."
It is the height of absurdity to equate lying about a sexual act between two consenting adults and collaborating with a foreign government (that is considered to be a foe of America) to steal an election, cover it up, obstruct an active investigation into those crimes then lie about it all. It seems we're now digging a hole in which to bury the bar it's gotten so low.
5
By their slavish fealty to the Orange Despot since his election (by less than the popular vote), Republicans in Congress have shown they have neither courage nor moral integrity but are willing to drive this country over a Constitutional cliff, from which we will probably never emerge, rather than risk their sinecures in Washington. We all know that the Republicans who are quitting to "spend more time with their families" will meanwhile stand with Trump in his effort to trash the rule of law in this country, then run for the hills to avoid accountability. If they succeed, history might judge them harshly, but a great many citizens of this nation who have never bothered to read the Constitution or take civics, will just "let it ride". This is how great nations fall, rotting from the inside out.
2
In the end, it's important to realize that Herr Trump never intended to win the election. His very campaign was a fraud, his eventual loss intended to be the premise for his total dominance of the news cycle in perpetuity while invoking the "Crooked Hillary" and "I'm a victim" meme 24 hours a day on DrumpfTV while the alt-right ad dollars rolled in, all the while crippling our government harder than any Trey Gowdy investigation ever could.
But, surprise, he won, and in that win provided a golden opportunity for him to further enrich himself and his cronies as the most powerful Don on the planet.
What could go wrong?
This entire situation is surreal.
3
I was born in 1979. Every Republican president in my lifetime has been a fraud, a criminal or a con-man. Every one of them should have been ineligible to be president (the first Bush) or should have been impeached and imprisoned for the crimes they committed in office (Iran Contra and the illegal war crimes of the second Bush). Now we have Trump. The rampant illegality of the Republican Party needs to end here. It's time for major Republican office holders to go to prison, and to go to prison for a long time
6
Sadly, we can not rely upon the Republicans in Congress to protect the Constitution. They have shown far greater allegiance to their Party than to the guiding principles and laws under our Constitution. Take for example voter suppression or Merrick Garland's blocked nomination to the Supreme Court or the guttural opposition to anything proposed by our first African-American president. No, we can not rely upon the Republicans to protect American Democracy. We must replace them at the polls with politicians who care more about the greater good than the money'ed interests that feed them.
2
April 16, 2018
So goes the Trumpian drama of legalities for his political presidential attainment in several arenas; all of which exhibit breaking blatantly the law (‘s) of the land. Trump is best to default to what is best for governing and operating within the proper legal choices that every politician needs to respect and honor not just for personal wisdom but for the collective guidance and enforcement of what is stand by, and live for – as that if you will the perfection of all levels of public servants can see the light and truth that guides and are enforced to function as unequivocal operational manual.
That is America’s universal canon and those that misjudge or ignore will fail and be held to account for correctional behavior will keep all us in equality for pursuit of happiness; as we Americans demand, enforce and will adjudicate every instance of avoidance, evasion, or worst personal attempts to conflagrate destruction with impunity. We don’t roast political animals but offer the light path that is our shared trust for the best in and of America’s politics for every and levels and town to White House the rule of equal justice is grace.
Jja Manhattan, N.Y.
2
The Framers of the Constitution could not have imagined the current Republican majority, which selectively chooses when to exercise their duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
History will not be kind to these bad men and women, who very well may be responsible for the destruction of our republic.
7
I agree with the Editorial Board, but the Constitution is not in the hands of Republicans. They have dropped it on the floor.
11
The current leadership of the Republican Party will do nothing to stop Trump from interfering in the investigation of his administration's Russian partnerships.
Trump has already interfered in the investigation when he fired Comey. He's already undermined the investigation in the dozens of tweets attacking Mueller, Rosenstein.
The Republican leadership has done nothing to stop Trump.
Therefore the people of the USA must stop the Republicans from controlling any branch of government. The Republican Party leader's inaction in the face of Trump's corruption and immoral conduct will be their undoing in the electoral arena. We are naming names and taking no prisoners, those who stand with Trump will carry his stain for the rest of their political lives.
5
The Constitution only works when Congress defends it. And if you have faith that this Congress will grow a spine and stand up to this President, you have not been paying attention the last 14 months.
10
I think it is interesting to understand how the US has gotten to this point, to have, really, a buffoon as president. It answers an older question, one which has been answered in a sense, but is still often asked: how did the Germans allow an individual like Hitler, a people and culture that was noted at the time to have some of the greatest minds and advances in all fields, from science to culture?
How could such a wealthy and truly gifted culture succumb to the shallow madness of such ignorance?
I think Trump's rise in the United States must have Germans saying "finally, they can stop asking and preaching to us how it could have happened to Germany. it can happen anywhere, to anybody."
I find it particularly interesting to examine the role of various social institutions, the media, financial, political, or even military elites.
Trump and Trumpism would not be possible without the support of these influential institutions.
So, right now, if I am a German, I am really intrigued to watch the US, and I can finally explain how it happened to my country and how it doesn't mean that I am somehow especially "bad" or there's "something wrong with Germany."
This can happen anywhere, to any country or culture. Whats necessary is a competent demagogue, and social institutions and elite, from the media to the cultural and financial elite, who might see the demagogue as "unfortunate" but nevertheless necessary, or the lesser of the social "evils" or problems facing the country.
7
How horrible is it that a story like this comes up to be written.
The disintegration of this country is at stake, everyone knows he lies and is corrupt like breathing air. Yet it somehow is tolerated instead of instantly stopped. Sad.
8
Trump can do absolutely anything he wants, as long as he picks on immigrants and other non-white people only, and most white people feel they're doing well financially etc.
As long as the televisions continue to play the comedies, and the sport continues to play on espn, the ads continue to roll on all channels, and stocks are traded, cell phones keep working well, and the usual things that are "important" to the people who really matter, the corporatists, and financiers and media moguls etc, even the lawyers who write the rules for the whole ponzi scheme to continue rolling around.
As long as Trump concentrates on "those other" people, and leaves especially white people alone, he'll be just fine.
The "rule of law" has always been an excuse!! The goal posts can be moved as necessary!! As long as he restricts himself to the "browner" people and lets everyone else have their cake, he will be just fine!!!
The only concern is how to wash down all those investigations quietly enough, so the facade of "the rule of law" isn't lost, especially as concerns those "browner" and poorer people!!! That's really the problem here!!! Can this whole Russia thing be "sanitized" quietly and well enough without too much damage or trouble?
I think he should do just fine, especially with the media doing a great job as it did in the last elections.
So, no worries, Trump has this covered. "Rule of law?" haha! That works when it is convenient. It's not right now.
2
The Republicans will never stand up to Trump and say Mueller's investigation should continue on unimpeded and that firing him would be an impeachable offense. Republicans simply don't care about the Republic for which our flag stands.
3
He is not above the law but what law are you referring to.
4
Excellent point, Mr./Ms. stone. I suspect they don't know.
They just know he must have broken some. Or will. Or could. Or might.
3
This is getting really tiring. Just as I was annoyed with all the 'birthers' during the last administration constantly harping about whether he was born here, I'm equally as tired of all this nonsense about 'Russian collusion'. Get over it people. There was nothing there last time and there's nothing there this time. It's nothing but wishful thinking on the side of the opposition.
3
That's not how things work in a democracy.
Trump's own person leading the DOJ believed that there was enough to investigate to recuse himself and appoint a Special Counsel.
That Special Counsel is being held accountable by Rosenstein, who's also a Trump pick - and he's a Republican, known for his competence and the honest and thorough way he's been doing his job, for decades already.
The same Special Counsel already indicted 13 people, and three Trump campaign staffers have already admitted to having committed a crime.
And after having reviewed all the material he found until now in detail, the Special Counsel and Rosenstein are 100% convinced that the investigation cannot possibly end here and that more dubious material has to be examined before we can be certain that no more crimes were committed.
In that case, it's absurd to start believing, as ordinary citizen, that both must be wrong and that it's already absolutely certain that no more crimes were committed.
In a democracy, you cannot have ordinary citizens or the president declaring that an investigation is over, only the prosecutors can.
So no, this is in no way comparable to birtherism, where there has never been any Special Counsel needed to prove it wrong, and never any crime committed at all.
4
Mr. Trump's public behavior points towards collusion. No reason to fire Comey except that, and he has publicly admitted it was his reason: to end investigation. To walk away from his fawning over Putin, his persistent illogical and dishonest statements about almost any matter related to Russia is to be blind to human behavior and intelligence.
4
George, if there is "nothing there" about Russian collusion, why worry about halting the Mueller investigation? If Donald Trump is aware that there is no Russian collusion, why does he appear to be so scared about Mueller?
1
The GOP leadership needs to know that it isn't JUST the right wing that has the right to bear arms; we all do. Destroy our Constitution, and you destroy the one thing that makes us Americans. We'll all bleed if you allow a President to be a Tyrant, and you will be responsible for the shooting war that follows.
For years the American media has been dividing us in order to drive up readership and viewership. It will not be pretty when you finally get what you've been driving at.
2
This editorial is way overdue; but Thank GOD the N.Y. TIMES has finally stated what anyone with common sense has known for a very long time. Trump is a menace to democracy itself; and is not above the law; no matter what his sycophants in the Republican Party try to do. The very future of our friends and neighbors south of the Canadian border is truly at stake. For over a year now my fellow Canadians have watched in horror at the nervous breakdown occurring under this demagogue. If democracy is to survive in the U.S. it will be largely thank`s to a free press that refuses to be bullied into silence. WE THE PEOPLE has been replaced by "I;TRUMP." STOP the MADNESS before it is truly too late. CANADIANS are praying for you!
7
Thank you. We need all the help we can get.
3
Clinton did break the law.
What law did the President Trump break and if no law has broken then he has every right to fire Mueller.
Mueller has found no connection between Trump and anything illegal.
He has been doing this for almost a year.
It is time he either find something or the investigation come to a end.
This is no longer about the initial reason the investigation was started.
It is being used to find a reason to impeach Trump.
That is a witch hunt.
They have no right to conduct a witch hunt and Trump has every right to end the investigation because that investigation has no reason to continue.
He can fire Mueller.
5
It's absurd to decide, as ordinary citizens, that this kind of investigation should last for x months and not more, as we don't have any access to the material that is being investigated.
And in this case, it's Trump's own Secretary of the DOJ who believes that there's enough material to recuse himself, and Trump's own DOJ pick Rosenstein who is convinced that the investigation isn't over at all, AND a Special Counsel and Republican who is still working day at night.
So not only did Mueller already find THREE Trump campaign staffers and 13 Russians of being guilty of committing a crime, he's also telling his bosses that he still has a lot of work to do, and has been able to prove to them why that's the case, which is the reason why Sessions and Rosenstein agree that he continues he's job.
If in THAT case Trump nevertheless decides to end the investigation himself, it's obvious that he has something very important to hide, if not he wouldn't be worried at all, you see?
So IF Trump intervenes in the DOJ, he will have broken the Constitutional separation of the three branches of government.
And that is MUCH worse, for a democracy, than a president who has an affair all while being married and then trying to hide it rather than make it public, you see?
3
How can anyone prove "no law was broken" if you end the investigation before it is completed? America - left and right, every citizen and every human affected by America - should want facts to settle this, not faith. Save your blind faith for Sunday.
2
When is it considerred completed.
There is no such thing as being completed.
'Who decides.
Theoretically this investigation will have no end because you say it has not been completed.
It can be argued that Mueller has gone beyond the authority he was given when his commission was set up and has compromised the rights the President has.
1
Next time please name the crime he committed. You always seem to forget to put that in.
6
Being above the law, as president, means using your power in order to end investigations trying to find out whether your campaign respected the law or not.
Three Trump campaign staffers already admitted that they didn't respect the law.
If Trump wants to take the highest office in this country seriously, he cannot but let investigators (appointed by his own people, by the way (Sessions and Rosenstein), and not by RINOs or Democrats) do their work, rather than using the fact that he's the most powerful man on earth to order them to stop.
If Trump disagrees with what Mueller shows him that he found, then like any other citizen he can have his lawyers object those findings and prove them wrong.
If instead he silences the investigators, he's placing himself above the law, you see?
And that amounts to admitting that there are things that he wants to keep hidden, rather than being able to refute them in public...
Putting yourself above the law, as president, isn't a crime, it's anti-constitutional.
Presidents aren't only impeached for committing crimes, but also for not respecting the Constitution.
And in case you don't understand how he's putting himself above the law: the DOJ is supposed to be led by a person that the president himself chooses (in this case Trump's earliest and most fervent supporter, GOP Senator Jeff Sessions), BUT once that person starts working, he's supposed to be working independently from the presidency. That means that he's free to decide what to investigate and what not, based on the evidence that intelligence services gave him.
In this case, Sessions saw SO much evidence of collusion that he decided that as a Trump pick, he couldn't be neutral in this kind of investigation, so he recused himself and gave the direction of the investigation to Rosenstein - himself a Trump pick.
Rosenstein then appointed an independent Special Counsel, in other words someone NOT picked by Trump but who's a Republican with decades of very thorough and impartial work, to lead the investigation.
It's obvious that not placing yourself above the law, as president, means accepting that your own DOJ freely investigates EVEN your own campaign, as long as they decide to need to do, rather than forcing them to prematurely end the investigation, because forcing them to end it means refusing to be held accountable and treated equally before the law, you see?
1
I especially appreciate past quotes from former and current Republican members of congress. I am painfully aware of the hypocrisy that is going on today on every front, but it's helpful to have the actual words. Thank you for being such a precise archive.
4
Nothing - nothing -more to add about djt. His utter disdain for US - for beliefs we do hold dear, even when reality doesn't nearly meet the ideal, is clear.
Would like to add that Pruitt is also not above the law - or more precisely the regulations and guidelines that apply: he has styled himself a wannabe Saudi Prince - or maybe a Trump family member - with his expenditures on security, hotels, airfare and now - a $43,000 telephone booth. Dr. Carson's table and chairs, which brought him public humiliation, were at the least meant to be shared with other employees - and were just chump change.
The Trump approach is to destroy all evidence and any "leakers" - and to create a wall around their activity so that they cannot be called to account. I hope Mueller - and the Southern District of NY - manage to penetrate the Tower and end this criminal occupation of the White House. The complicity of the GO{P will not be forgotten.
2
Sure, the president is not above the law. Now who is going to tell that to him, the rest of the republican party, and all those who still support him? For his supporters, he is not a king but a god. They don't see the purpose to democracy and would be very happy if another election never took place. The republican agenda, such as it is, has never been about the fairness or equality or opportunity for all. It has always been about whatever is necessary to stay in power. So if it means denying facts and calling this president the king, they by God, they will do it.
3
THIS is not 'politics'... It's tyranny.
5
And just what Russian collusion is there left to investigate. It's become an investigation of colluding with The National Enquirer. The NYT is devoting thousands of man hours to destroy this president, assigning 3, 4 or 5 reporters to every twist and turn for what is so far a non-story. Now this editorial devoted to something that hasn't happened and is based solely and entirely on a rumor that the president may do something to stop what has become a national farce. The danger here is that the media and Democrats now firmly believe that political issues and disputes should be handled by a fishing expedition to discover wrongdoing by unleashing the full power of the federal government to overturn an election. Why doesn't the NYT and Democrats do what they say Trump should do and let the so-called investigation reach its inglorious end. Then they can sit around for the next few months or years and say that there was a conspiracy that kept Mueller from filing charges. Where or where was the outcry when one or the most powerful federal agencies, if not the most powerful, the IRS, targeted political opponents of the last administration and all evidence that most certainly would have reached the WH if not the president was conveniently destroyed, lost or mishandled while the primary IRS contact took the 5th and retired on a full pension. THAT was a true scandal and attack on our Constitution and Democracy. The NYT never once tried to connect the dots. Shame.
7
I agree.
Mueller only has the right to investigate the possible collusion that could have had with the Russians to get him elected.
Not to investigate Trump for anything he could have done that can get him impeached,
Telling the FBI not about a crime but the suspicion that a crime was committed was outside the rights Mueller had to investigate and therefore can be fired for cause.
1
Who says Mueller isn't investigating the possible collusion. I do believe that Mueller knows what his job is. That is why he was given the job in the first place. Don't forget, he is a Republican.
2
Here is Rod Rosenstein's letter which describes the scope of the Special Counsel:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/17/us/politics/document-Robe...
1
The President Is Not Above The Law", but, 40% of Americans think he should be.
Republicans don't have a problem with the hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children that were killed in a war they started, based on a series of systematic lies they told the American people. They do have a problem with Obama wearing a tan suit.
Republicans don't have a problem with torturing people, sometimes to death. They do have a problem with reasonable gun control.
Republicans don't have a problem endorsing a pedophile for the United States Senate. They do have a problem with Obama tossing a football in the Oval Office.
Republicans don't have a problem supporting a convicted racist. They do have a problem with having a black president.
Republicans don't have a problem stealing Supreme Court seats. They do have a problem with people that don't wear flag pins on their lapels.
Republicans don't have a problem giving a trillion and a half dollars to the filthy rich. They do have a problem with helping the poor in any way.
Republicans have deified moral bankruptcy, duplicity, and hypocrisy. So, I'm not very hopeful they will uphold their oaths to the Constitution when Trump uses it as a piece of Charmin.
For sometime now I have been asking people a simple question about the GOP, and I have yet to hear a credible answer, because there isn't one - "Name one thing in the last 50 years that Republicans have done that has benefited the majority of Americans?"
10
Tax cuts.
2
For whom, exactly?
Certainly not for me (single mom, university employee, CA voter). My taxes will be going up significantly (and I'm barely middle class around here).
For big business however? Sure. Lots of tax cuts -- so they can buy back their stock shares, to artificially inflate their prices...
The entire middle class is benefiting from this tax cut. It has produced the first real growth in worked incomes in twenty years. In just one month half a million people no longer needed food assistance in the EBT program.
WHY did Barack demand that the neediest STAY dependent on government? So he could fund Iran's government and war machine?
1
POTUS is above the law ONLY if We the People allow it.
2
I'm not worried about what happens to my country for my sake...I'll be OK regardless. However, I'm terribly worried about what happens to my country for my kids' sake. My grandparents left Eastern Europe when they were 16 years old, traveling alone to the US to make a better life for themselves and their future family. My older son and I often have conversations about how he might need to leave the US for a country where Democracy and the Rule of Law still survives. Make no mistake...if Trump is allowed to kill this investigation, our country will no longer be a Democracy, and all that "freedom" that Republican voters constantly shout about will be gone. If we survive this crisis with our freedom in tact, we must look to the cause of our near-demise and correct the underlying problems that got us here. Fake news, Fox propaganda, politics awash in money, the general lack of concern about our fellow Americans, racism, unchecked immigration, poor trade deals, opioids, hopelessness, faltering education systems, and the all the rest need to be fixed. I am a proud American who is angry and frightened at what my country is becoming.
2
One of the acts that got us here is the Supreme Court's decision on Citizens United. Also McConnell, Boehner and Ryan's commitment to deny Obama any progress in the agenda he put forth to the citizens of the U.S. when he ran for and won the Presidency. And of course McConnell's decision to not allow a Supreme Court nominee that Obama recommended to even have a hearing.
And their protection of Trump now.
4
If I've said it once one here, I've said it a thousand times. The GOP, their donors, their lobbyists etc don't care about the rule of law. They wouldn't bat an eye even if we willingly switched from a Democracy over to a full dictatorship. All that they care about is: "Will my taxes/regulations be reduced, or kept minimal? If yes, then blindly support xyz candidate/politician and blindly go along with anything else they do regardless."
3
Congressional Republicans will have much to answer for when the facts in this investigation are revealed. Their silence is an embarrassment to our great nation. They should have passed legislation by now regarding their support of Mueller, however their silence buys them time to bolster their draconian ideological initiatives.
2
Of course the president is not above the law. But he shouldn't be treated unjustly either. James Comey has made it clear that Robert Mueller should never have been appointed. There was no evidence that Donald Trump or anyone on his campaign did anything improper regarding Russia. There is none now.
Yet Robert Mueller has indicted and persecuted (not prosecuted) Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Richard Gates, Alex van der Zwaan, and George Papadopoulos for "crimes" that have nothing to do with Russian criminal collusion. The prosecutorial abuse is stunning. His investigation is out of control and has damaged the country.
Donald Trump has plenty of cause to fire Rod Rosenstein and Robert Mueller and put an end to the investigation. It would be politically unwise, so I doubt he will do it. But to suggest that doing so would be a constitutional crisis is silly.
Richard Nixon was hounded from office for minor peccadilloes, and somehow that has morphed into some sort of event of transcendent justice. And now we have echoes of that for Donald Trump?
I don't see it that way for Nixon or especially for Trump. But I guess I'm not trying to sell newspapers like the New York Times.
4
Richard Nixon had some success as President. He could have remained so if he did not lie, take part in a cover up and thought he was above the law.
What good has Trump done? He and his cronies are tearing our country apart.
2
Frightening that this essay is relevant. The damage to our democratic system and Separation of Powers is incalculable. The corruption and mingling of the Presidency and business interests is unprecedented. This hateful man should have never been allowed to run, never mind "win", and the republican Congress, particularly the House is complicit by not halting the anti American behavior from 45. That the populace is mind controlled by the propaganda coming from Fox breaks my heart.
3
This is a beautiful piece of writing.
4
The issue is what the American people want, not what Trump or the GOP want.
As soon as Americans start understanding that our government is in the hands of lawless individuals who will use all of the power of their offices to protect themselves from criminal prosecution, the sooner this nightmare will end.
Americans must organize and send a collective message to our representatives that if they do not remove Trump from office that they will not receive our vote.
2
Well Hilary won the popular vote, so that must be what they wanted.
However, thanks to the Electoral College, we have one of the worst humans possible in the White House.
If we get rid of the Electoral College, then the people will get the President the majority voted for.
3
I think we would all agree that no President is above the law. However, the blatant bias in the system is so disheartening. No one was ever fired or charged for so many abuses over the last eight years - the media and the judicial system simply looked the other way. If they reported negative stories about the Obama administration, they were slanted or buried. And the Clinton Foundation was an obvious pay-to-play racket. It has all but disappeared since Clinton lost the election - surely they could still find people to help with their charity? Who with a straight face can say the Clinton's are above-board?
If you are wondering why Republicans and Trump supporters are slow to jump on impeaching or indicting Trump for the media's parade of "broken laws" and scandals....this is why. The double-standard has caught up with them and credibility is non-existent.
4
Pffft. If Hillary had been elected, you'd have pretty much been ok with her being above the law (it never bothered you when Obama ignored it). Your sententious concern for the rule of law would be of much greater impact were it not so obviously selective; indeed, if respect for the law in this country has diminished, you can certainly claim to have played your part.
6
The Times' editorial states: "... If Mr. Trump takes such drastic action, he will be striking at the foundation of the American government, attempting to set a precedent that a president, alone among American citizens, is above the law..."
I beg to differ, but that precedent has been set in fact, if not in law. There are a lot of comments here referencing Nixon/Watergate. I too, was alive then and remember it well. In the years intervening Nixon and Trump we have seen rule by Executive Order expanded enormously, even exponentially. But to go back to Tricky Dick, we should not forget just what he and his cabal did while in power.
The use of the government to harass and intimidate political dissent was a matter of daily life - this is not selective memory on my part. COINTELPRO was not a small-scale operation. I'm bringing this up because I feel it important to understand what has happened in order to better understand what could happen.
The difference we now confront is that Trump now has mobilized a "base" that fully supports a fascist form of rule (those are the "fine people" Trump spoke of). Do we seriously think that Trump's "base" would sit by and do nothing if he is called to justice? Given the ties of those in Trump's inner circle to the military, if that military were called on to quell a fascist mob in rebellion, would they?
1
Yes, you point out Republican hypocrisy and appeal to their better angels.
Yes, you point out that all citizens are/should be subject to rule of law.
I am not a fan of the present administration. But many of our 'elites' of either party have feet of clay.
Many of those complaining about him are supporters of the American Empire, at war for as long as I can remember. Many are supporters of two rules of law, one for peons such as myself and one for those in power; perhaps not as obvious as the liberties taken by this administration but still entitled. Many are supporters of the fiscal advantage of positions of authority demand; how many in Congress are wealthier than when they entered by lots? How many follow the rules they foist on us? Many are supporters of corporate policies/monies to preserve their positions over the wishes of their constituencies.
Is it any wonder that a demagogue could be elected to the highest office in the land? Many believe that the rule of law had already been abandoned. Only recently has any in power considered, not actually acted on, the painful cost paid by those not in power for the last 40 years of 'policy'.
So while you make a strong case to the GOP to adhere to their oath of office to fix this six sigma excursion from 'normal' political behavior, consider how far that 'normal' behavior has drifted over the last several decades. Most of our citizens already understand this.
5
Hatch, unfortunately, is one of my senators. I know him all too well and I don't think for one second that he possesses enough integrity to pick country over party.
3
Even if Trump fires Mueller and/or Rosenstein, Jeff Sessions, John Kelly or the entire FBI it would never actually stop the investigation.
There will be many books and tell-alls, for decades to come. Trump is definitely better off letting it go on and actually trusting Mueller to settle the issues with some certainty surgically. Pull the band-aid off fast.
Oddly Mueller may be far gentler than the court of the press that would ensue if he fired them. The investigations will go on no matter what though.
5
How do you make it clear to someone who, throughout their entire life, was taught, and expected everything to be about him to understand that THIS job is not about him? It's an impossible task. This man has done nothing other than attempt to run the show the only way he knows how, the only way he has ever run things.
5
An excellent essay but one point: It claims that Republicans hold the three branches of our government. Perhaps the Supreme Court was meant; they have an edge thanks to the GOP/Mitch McConnell who refused to hold a hearing about Obama's nominee Merrick Garland. That was was egregious. Still I am not sure the Judiciary can otherwise be called Republican. Certainly it should be non-partisan and hopefully it still is. This brings up the issue of partisanship power grabbing above all which is at the root, seeped into the main GOP tap root, and why the law gets pushed aside the more they are able to do this. These are very perilous times for a nation supposedly about the rule of law.
4
It is regrettable that the original intent of the framers of the US Constitution (especially in terms of separation of powers doctrine) is so entirely betrayed by our pretence of a government constantly at risk of a shutdown due to funding. Clearly, Trump cannot divorce himself from business dealings of his own that create a conflict of interest. Given this fact, how can he be expected to conduct himself to uphold the interests of the government over his own desire to ‘rule’ as an oligarch? His will to power is the seed of rule-to-ruin and there is no redeeming glint of hope in his grip on the presidency. Do not be deceived.
Similar to the Nixon of Watergate, Trump envisages himself as answerable to none and above every other will including the Sovereign God. So the will of the people is being trampled on and his party has given up resisting Trump’s reinvention of Republicanism. I hope the Grassleys and Hatches and Grahams and others will continue to oppose any meddling by Trump in the very effective Muelker investigations. Currently these are the only true high-level government processes (and the Supreme Court) which are still operating ‘of’, ‘by’ and ‘for’ the people of the United States of America.
5
Critical issues being raised, and explored, are about ethical and moral behaviors of elected and selected policymakers.Words and deeds. Whose essence, controlled by legal mechanisms, agencies, and agents, are the underpinnings for necessary menschlich living and interactions. Between individuals and systems Carried out, or not.From local to national levels. Including the President. Laws enable and direct our choices. As makers. Laws do not create moral and ethical well being. Choices.Decisions.Consider: in divisive America, as well as in other democratic nations, over time, laws have co-existed with institutionalized WE-THEY social interactions in which daily violating of selected "the others" was enabled. Promulgated. Toxic, infectious violating which continues today even as incremental changes have been instituted. Laws can be, and are, as flawed as the people who create them. Support them. Block them. Transgress. Abide by them, or not! It takes, on average, 3 years of study in the USA, post BA, to become a lawyer; holding in abeyance state exams.What is involved in becoming a moral, ethical agent of the law? Being a prosecutor who remembers some, or all, of Gov. Barnes' caveat:The law should be a shield for the weak and powerless, not a club for the powerful?"Being an accountable policymaker who takes full personal responsibility for harmfull words voiced, deeds-done,which never should have been?Or not having said or enabled what is needed for equitable well being for ALL?
If Trump fires Mueller, then there should be riots in the streets.
6
Not riots (that would be counterproductive), but peaceful protests, and lots of them:
https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response-events/search/
3
I was 26 at the time of Watergate. Along with several of my friends, we sat in awe of the likes of Sam Ervin (generously quoting Shakespeare) who wagged his elderly, indignant and refreshingly admonishing finger at Nixon's gang who came before his committee to testify. What a spectacle. We were glued to the TV day after day. Those were more honorable times. Today, there is a pronounced deterioration in civility and good will toward one's political opponents More so than the democrats, republicans have waged jihad against anyone who would dare challenge them. Will they now rise to the occasion and restore our faith in the system? I'm not holding my breath.
4
Let us get real. If senior and leading republican law makers were going to do anything for the good of country and her citizens, they would have done so by now.
The only course at this time is for people to overwhelmingly vote to remove republican majority from both Senate and Congress to weaken and limit Trump presidency.
3
Well, I guess we're finally going to see if Richard Nixon's famous "If the President does it, it's legal" belief is correct.
As was noted in the column, the end result of "Watergate" was far from inevitable, and could have easily went the other way.
All you need to do is swap out Howard Baker, Lowell Weicker and Goldwater for spineless clowns like Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch and Paul Ryan and the history books might have looked quite different.
"The President is not above the law", along with it's more common companion phrase "Nobody is above the law" has always bee taken blindly at face value by most people.
However, when you honestly start drilling down at the law surrounding presidential power, it's quite obvious that those aphorisms that we've accepted as bedrock have giant cracks, and those cracks can potentially swallow our democracy whole.
3
The question here is, is Trump's bigotry so important for white people, that they would abandon the rule of law? I think it is.
Hate is much stronger than the rule of law!!!
As long as Trump demonizes non-white people, I can guarantee he will be just fine.
Everybody who voted for him last time will do the same now, no question about it.
The question is will those who didn't support him and underestimated him by not voting, come out and vote against him, or will he in fact even convince even more people by reminding them of people they hate enough to vote for him.
I think the latter is quite feasible.
Trump can even win the African American vote by pointing to immigrants, including or especially African immigrants, who come to the US and succeed in schools etc, and take their jobs, assuming African Americans believe they had any to start with, which is not impossible, as long as he can get them to hate another group enough.
There's a lot Trump can still do to win even more votes.
And, best of all, he will have the media happy to help spread his message, like they did last time.
To the rich, he could say, he wants even lesser regulations, and even bigger tax cuts, plus, everyone should be able to buy a gun much more easily at Walmart.
So, is Trump above the law?
No. He is so much above the law.
As long as he continues to be very racist, and the majority of white people love it, which they probably will, if the recent past is any indication, he will be just fine.
1
As a student of history, I find this sort of superbias (my term for a hit piece with graphics) unsettling. What is more dangerous: a foul mouthed president agitating his detractors, or the paper of record hijacked and turned into a propaganda outfit? As it stands and it needs to be emphasized, based on what we know; nothing is going to come of all the bluster over Trump. Mueller may exonerate him. I cannot recall more hubbub generated over less substance, with the result that readers KNOW Trump is guilty of a long list of offenses from treason to tax evasion. The evidence for a newspaper becoming a propaganda sheet is exactly this - readers lynching as yet un-convicted men.
In putting the cart of guilt before the horse of evaluation this newspaper backs itself into corner. I can be completely wrong in my reticence to join the Trump derangement bandwagon and come out smelling like a rose, because I do nothing that restricts justice. However this powerful newspaper, charged as it is with the protection of the truth, does itself great harm beating an anti-Trump war drum. Wise editorializing must be restrained lest it become Chicken Little.
PS Washington stole Indian land against the Treaty of Paris (1763) and Jefferson made slave importation illegal so that his slave breeding would carry more value.
7
Trump was convicted to reimburse the “Trump University” students he defrauded, at the tune of $25M. He also stiffed his contractors and threatened them with lawsuits they couldn’t afford or worse. He behaves like a mafia don.
6
Honestly, I'm tired of this whole "Constitutional Crisis" nonsense if Trump fires Sessions, Rosenstein and Mueller. So, what? There is zero evidence that his supporters (including those in Congress) will lift a finger to do anything against him. Please stop.
We know he's not above the law, but it means nothing if the laws will not be enforced. If he fires them, then the only possible check on the President could happen in November - not before.
4
Sorry, but the President has continuously Trumped rules of ethics, morality, and human decency. He displays no concepts of propriety. The president in his mind is not above the law, he is the law. Good Luck!
5
Right now the only Republicans following the rule of law are Mueller, Rosenstein, and Mueller. The spineless cowards in congress are completely devoid of honor as they enable and embolden the criminal Putin installed in our White House
3
Actually the Electoral college did that.
I am disgusted with the NYT Editors hatchet job on the current President....whose behavior is no better or worse than any other President. President Trump's one glaring difference from the 30 parade of lackluster, sub-standard presidents, Bush to Clinton to Junior Bush to "dont call me Barry" Obama......is that Trump has FOLLOWED THE LETTER OF THE LAW......every single one of the previous list strayed very far from their legal duties and oath to Uphold the Law.....and this is the most disgusting distortion of the obvious facts perpetrated by the NYT!!...........Every single judicial order has been obeyed by PRes Trump....every single action the President has taken has undergone legal review to ensure that, despite all the trash talk, the President does indeed follow the law......Unlike Bush LIES to wage war on Iraq....unlike Obama's royal arrogance in issuing executive Orders that cannot pass judicial review....Unlike Clintons corrupt behavior..............NO> the NYTs partisan attacks on the Office of the President are disgusting, an embarrassment to the average citizen who can see and think for him/herself. Stop insulting my intelligence with this Political Propaganda. It's very close to BLACKMAIL....somehting the editor's need to consider carefully.
8
Yes indeed. I don't understand why we aren't seeing in polls that Republicans are juiced up to vote in November to send a message to the NYT and Democrats who believe anything they suggest is the law is the law whether written and passed or not. The media speaks of Obama's illegal immigration order as if it were a program legitimately passed by Congress and signed into law, rather than an executive order than ran roughshod over the legislative process and our democracy. I happen to believe that we should find a pathway to citizenship for most of the illegal immigrants in the nation, but let's please not forget that they are not immigrants but ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
2
Tell that to the students he defrauded, the contractors he stiffed and the women he groped. Trump is the worst of the worst.
6
One of, if not the, first thing Trump did as president was immediately declared unlawful: The ban on Muslim travel to the U.S. It's one thing for people to still support him but it becomes very difficult to take you seriously when you state blatant falsehoods like "Trump has FOLLOWED THE LETTER OF THE LAW". It doesn't become true just because you put it in all caps, sorry.
5
This one's for Richard Nixon....
I call on Robert Mueller to write a conclusion to his investigation....THIS WEEK.
Its over....its time for Mr. Mueller to lay down the cards and reveal the damning evidence of something. So far, all the Special Counsel has been able to do is get dangerously close to committing the crime of BLACKMAILING the president with embarrassing details of his private life.....nothing remotely close to the "high crimes and misdemeanors" necessary for all the hyperbole in the Press Corps,,,,who are busy inciting the Mob to burn the President out of office. The Senators wait in the shadows like Brutus, hoping Caesar passes by in the hallway, soon.
If I dont have a complete detailed reveal of the results of Robert Mueller's overdrawn lengthy investigation this week.....it really is time for his resignation.
He has FAILED. there really is nothing to see here....
Stop trying to Blackmail the President.
1
Mueller has said absolutely nothing about Trump. Nor the investigation. You must be confused.
3
That's ridiculous. You have no idea what he has or has not uncovered. Why do you think you get to call the end of an investigation you know nothing about?
People have been indicted already AND pleaded guilty. There is a LOT of smoke—for example, Jared trying to set up a back channel through the Russian embassy—not to mention pretty damning signs of obstruction.
It took two years to investigate Watergate. This case is harder because it involves a closed foreign country that is our adversary, so it's much harder to get information. Mueller is going to have to rely on flipping other guilty parties to a large extent.
But Trump has been known for shady, unethical, or illegal behavior all his life—including hiring illegal immigrants, stiffing contractors (including the underpaid illegal immigrants!), defrauding people, lying, and most likely money laundering.
There is way too much smoke here, over too many years, to dismiss it without a thorough—THOROUGH—investigation. If you don't see it, you aren't keeping up.
1
Regardless of this op-ed, it must be noted that The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-eight percent (48%) disapprove.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administra...
4
According to NBC News/Wall St. Journal and Gallup polls Trump's approval rating is 39%. ABC/Washington Post gives Trump 44%. (Rasmussen has a tendency to be an outlier.)
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/
Trump came from a business world in which he manipulated laws, perverted laws, and likely right out broke laws. He bullied contractors/employees, schemed and scammed, paid millions to make problems go away. Why would anyone be surprised that he would continue to do so as President? A casino going bankrupt is odd enough, but our President, his GOP enablers, and Fox News are hell-bent on bankrupting our country and its reputation in every conceivable way. Why are people waiting for Mueller to be fired to start protesting, why aren't they already in the streets?
3
I do not think the Congress of 2017-2018 is in any form different than the "Kings stooges"!
They will all fall in line just like the Congressional Russian interference investigation.
Alas .. we are in a banana republic!
1
The best predictor of behavior in the future is behavior in the past.
While a simplistic axiom, if one considers the motivations of the Republican Party in the past 20 years, it is more than likely that if/when the occupant of the White House fires Rosenstein and Mueller, neither the House nor Senate will do anything at all, except to blame HRC, Obama, and WJC.
Trump was always dishonest in business. Then he went through what I'm sure he thought was his humorous "you're fired" period. He even stupidly thought he could copyright the phrase. Now that he is president he has continued with his dishonest business dealings by allowing his children to pretend they are running the business when it is clear he is using his office as president to make deals. Not only is he still campaigning, for him, it is still business as usual. So firing someone who is in his way is only normal behavior. Can the president pardon himself? He will do everything to make sure all his dirty laundry is not aired, even if he has to break the law. The GOP, who allowed this disgusting, mean, cheating, dishonest man to get the nomination for president will stand by and allow it to happen. They showed their true colors when they had no problem voting for a thrice-married crotch grabber with a reputation for cheating in business.
1
Included among those who are not above the law are every member of the DOJ and FISA court. Let's hope the DOJ will not put themselves in contempt of Congress regarding to delivering Comey memos he shared with his friend and whose content was leaked to the times.
WRT the ability to fire, the Constitution vests executive authority in the President as follows "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.". An executive has only two hands and his ability to execute comes from compelling employees to follow his direction which is useless without the ability to fire.
WRT Comey, wasn't it Rob Rosenstein who wrote a memo to Trump recommending his firing? Aren't numerous prominent members of both parties of congress on record of calling for his dismissal or being critical of his performance?
Many behaviors of the Justice department are under investigation by Congress. McCabe has been fired and other have been redeployed for Political bias. I expect many other firings are in order and hope those in our government who have put themselves above the law are impeached by Congress or fired. The impeachment process applies to high officers and judges as well. Let remove those who have put themselves above the law. Those who have abused our countriy's justice powers including Surveillance and search warrents.
1
The GOP gave us the Iraq War, a pathetic racist for a president, a stolen Supreme Court, and they whole-heartedly endorsed a pedophile for the Senate.
How can anyone dare to question their moral judgement...
2
"THE PRESIDENT IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW"
Will someone make the Capo-in-Chief understand this? He obviously does not get it.
2
Orrin Hatch has become a hatchet man for Mr. Trump. He is well aware that the the president has been trying to interfere with any and all investigations that relates to him either in his capacity as president or as a private citizen. He fired Comey because he did not give him loyalty oath. He has now been raising hell against Muller through the hacks of his party. Mr. Trump's attempts to undermine the investigation has been a hallmark of his presidency and Mr. Hatch has been well aware of it and yet he will not join his colleagues to protect Mr. Mueller and his investigation. He seemed apolitical when it came to Mr. Clinton but when it comes to a republican president, he has a different twist. What a hypocrite
1
Where were you with all this stuff when it was Bill Clinton?
2
The editorial title should be "The President of the United States of America is not Above the Law". There are many places in the world where that is not the case, including Russia, but I always thought the US was not one of them. This guy, Trump, doesn't want to be President of the US, he wants to be dictator/king Trump, like his other buddies - Putin, Kim Jong-un, Duterte and other power hungry, self-centered despots. He should be taken down along with all his lying buddies. Comey is right on the money, and he knows it well, that Trump is a liar and thief, another mob boss and syndicate. Lock Them Up!!!!! Now! He's ruining this country but doing well for himself and family.
1
The New York times won't publish any dissenting opinions so I'm wasting my time here. But Dear Editorial Board. Surprisingly, you were right about one thing in this editorial. "The President is not above the law". You started out right on the money, then quickly detoured into the same inane ramblings, so closely held on to by large portion of the left-leaning media.
The New York Times has become unhinged. It's a sad thing to see, but it's not unexpected. You've been openly called out by someone who will no longer sit idly by and watch your "reporting" go unchecked. You don't like it when you get scolded by daddy, so you have to act out, in the only platform you have. I understand that. But you're doing it in a way that not only exposes you for the partisan "editors" that you are, but you're doing it with inaccuracies as well.
If President Trump fires Robert Mueller, or Rod Rosenstein or anyone else for that matter, that is well within his right. Sure Mueller is Republican, but so were that 17 other challengers who went up against Trump in the primaries and were handily defeated. So is John McCain, who had his feelings hurt because Trump said he's not a hero for being captured. So is Jeff Flake who is only seeking face-time. The list is endless of individuals who have been told off publicly that the nonsense their pushing is just that.
So I urge the New York Times to continue to resist. You liberals are the reason Trump was elected. And why will be reelected in 2020.
4
The singular "achievement" of Donald Trump is to have successfully ripped the mask of "civility" and "fiscal probity" off of his party, and exposed them as little more than frauds, liars, racists, misogynists, and craven, power-addicted shills for their oligarch and plutocrat owners. Trump has castrated his party, and he knows that they are terrified of his rabid base, and will do his bidding irrespective of their oaths of office and ostensible fealty to our Constitution and our rule of law. His lifetime of criminal behavior and evasion of all responsibility for the carnage he has left in his wake of failed, fraudulent businesses, being a serial debt scofflaw, a pathological liar and serial sexual predator, has left him believing that he is untouchable. His party's emasculation proves that he was right. The nation stands at the precipice of a Constitutional crisis the likes of which we may never have previously experienced, but the entire corrupt party in power is more loyal to their power, perks and plutocrat puppet handlers than to our nation writ large.
4
Wow! The New York Times is throwing down the gauntlet with dark and threatening editorials!
Trump was elected with 63 million voters supporting him. Can he be overthrown by a handful of career bureaucrats working with the judiciary?
No. The Founding Fathers instituted the power of Presidential pardon partially in anticipation of this- to protect the President against extreme partisan harassment. And Mueller and his team work FOR the president under the executive branch of the government. Trump can fire them at will. Trump can pardon anyone for any reason, and that includes himself- even if the New York Times doesn't agree with it.
The Constitution is clear on this- Congress and Congress only can impeach and remove the President. That is the ONLY way.
Please stop this nonsense, NYT. You are embarrassing yourself.
5
The NYTs lost the election for the Democrats when, in 2015, you "corrected" an article you published announcing that Clinton was under "criminal investigation" over her use of a private email server to conduct all of her State Department business (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/us/politics/comey-book-clinton-emails.... As even one of the President's harshest critics, former FBI director Comey, admits you were wrong. What was your evidence? In any case, since then your editorial views have dictated the way you cover the news. Thanks to the all-important first amendment, you are not held accountable in a court of law for lying to your readers, but as a subscriber, I would appreciate your taking some responsibility for your actions and returning to a more balanced coverage of the news. I have not needed your oft repeated charge that the Russians tried to influence the 2016 election (https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/russian-election-hacking); of course they did, as we have tried to influence elections in countries around the world. But did the President collude in this effort? One assumes Comey would have told us if there was evidence he did. Instead it appears much more likely that government officials such as Comey, McCabe, and Brennan have used this twisting of the truth to overturn the results of the election. Investigate what happened before you write more self-serving editorials.
2
Those who voted for Trump got what they wanted, a pathological liar, racist who traffics in hate. Now the evil, self serving, sociopath, Donald Trump is in the White House, destroying our democracy, and ultimately the country, and those who have the constitutional responsibility to check this catastrophe, have turned their backs, and are profiting. It's the classic, bad people, cause bad results.
5
I beg your pardon .... I voted for Trump and do not consider myself to be a bad person....maybe I am in God's eye but not in yours-
1
The 'swamp' is the law. Drain that and you will be a banana republic.
1
Prosecutors ultimately accused Mr. Clinton of lying under oath, to cover up a sexual affair. The House of Representatives impeached him, but the Senate declined to convict, and Mr. Clinton stayed in office.
Call me stupid, but that statement alone would somewhat seem to contradict the title of this opinion. But no doubt everything else it’s spot on otherwise. Just like the tire’s fine other than the one tiny nail hole. Hissssssssss.
2
Have usually voted republican, but this president is a LOSER.
And I am not alone.
Not only should President Trump fire Rosenstein but put into motion investigations into this political witch hunt starting with Weismann, McCabe, Page, Strozk, Mueller, Rosenstein and the other dnc supporters. Why is Rosenstein refusing to comply with a Congressional subpoena? Because the documentation will expose the corrupt witch hunt. What most of America now knows is that Mueller and teams around him have cost the country millions because they jailed innocent Americans to 'get their man'. So they lied, cheated, targeted unlawfully, and withheld evidence resulting in 2 men dying in prison that were innocent and another committing suicide. General Flynn is guilty of nothing. Absolute power corrupts and Bob Mueller and his goon squad are as corrupt as the country has seen. Time to rid the FBI and Justice of these cancers.
1
This editorial should just stay posted daily for the next 6 months.
4
Putin saw a fellow gangster in Donald Trump, albeit a gangster who entered many American homes through "reality" television. He also saw someone to whom no American bank would lend money because of his six bankruptcies, someone whose first ex-wife related in print read Hitler's speeches as bedtime reading (never denied), and whose loose lips and fleshly appetites were a blackmailer's dream.
To repeat a popular backroom ditty, "If you've got the money, I've got the time." And Putin had the money, not only for Trump but also for Nigel Farage's UKIP in England (to destabilize the EU) and Marine Le Pen's Front National in France (for the same purpose). Le Pen was stupid enough to visit Putin just before the French presidential election, and the French, who remember their 1940-44 history of occupation and collaboration, recognized a collaborative when they saw one, and thus the FN lost the election.
Our GOP, with its openly voiced platform of hatred, saw in Trump an opportunity to enact every nasty questionable piece of legislation it could enact and have it gleefully signed. The "conservative" wing had Farage and a Le Pen family member address its 2018 CPAC gathering.
It's not just Trump who's a traitor who considers himself above the law, but it is the formerly honorable GOP who has become a subversive organization.
2
Personally, I have a very low tolerance for impolite and unethical behavior, regardless of where an individual falls on the political spectrum. I was enraged when Bill Clinton lied under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, and I'm enraged now by Donald Trump's even more egregious behavior. Because I do try to be impartial.
So for me, this week feels like when the existence of that Clinton-DNA-stained dress became known. Because my gut told me that Bill Clinton was a habitual liar, and then we had actual physical evidence. And now, my gut is telling me that Donald Trump has been way more unethical than Clinton ever was. But will enough people care, when the truly damning evidence comes to light? Or will we be flooded with apologists, like we were during the Clinton scandal?
In any case, if there was a Medal of Honor for civilians, I think that Robert S. Mueller III deserves one. Because I think it was strategic genius to hand off the Cohen investigation to the US attorney in New York. And hopefully, his efforts will ultimately liberate us from this incompetent and psychopathic cult of personality.
4
The editorial prefers not to mention Mr. Mueller’s latest moves against Trump’s attorney, which are highly questionable in terms of a possible violation of Constitutional rights and attorney-client privilege. Is there such a thing as prosecutor overreach? Politicized prosecution?
If you seek to convince a majority of Americans of your non-partisan interest, you can’t just make it a matter of Trump the tyrant vs. Mueller the hero. It won’t fly.
With regard to Bill Clinton: he committed war crimes in Serbia with his indiscriminate bombing campaign which killed many civilians, and as a liar convicted by the House of Representatives, he has received remarkably good press in the ensuing years, including for his corrupt and heavily politicized Foundation. The hatred for Trump is palpable; those of us who have a low opinion of Mr. Clinton can’t help but detect the distinct insinuation by the media that Bill was just an impish frat boy who told a fib while Trump is Lucifer.
Those who voted for Trump are looking for some acknowledgement that Democrat Presidents like Clinton have been corrupt, despotic and a threat to democracy too. If you turn this into a righteous Left vs. evil Right thing you won’t succeed in persuading the nation of your case. Obama put the IRS on conservative groups, his Attorney General colluded with Bill Clinton. Obama himself sent the CIA to Syria to work with blood-drenched jihadi groups for illegal regime change in Damascus. Please get off your high horse.
4
I pray every evening that Robert Mueller will soon enough wipe that insidious sneer off from Comrade Trump's face.
"Truth will out."
4
Hey, cut it out. Is the NYT trying to talk Trump out of firing Mueller, out of further incriminating himself, out of perhaps -- oh, please! -- starting the ball rolling on impeachment of this fool?
Let the man hang himself. Be quiet.
“The president is not a king but a citizen, deserving of the presumption of innocence and other protections, yet also vulnerable to lawful scrutiny.“
And yet the NYT is continuously presuming Trump’s guilt in its editorials and “reporting”. Wouldn’t that make the NYT a propaganda outlet?
1
McCain, you said you are not Romania?
I think what Donald Trump fails to realize is he is a public servant. He was elected to equally serve all citizens of the United States. He swore to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution that is the law of our land and the law of ALL the people who live within it's borders. He is not above the law no matter how much he believes he is the CEO of America and he can run it as he deems fit no matter what the cost or consequences. He works for us! He is held to the same laws, standards, and norms as every other citizen. He needs to be reminded of that no matter what the outcome of the reminder may be. If he breaks the law, he needs to pay for the crime he committed.
Epitaph on a Tyrant by WH Auden
Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.
The sooner Trump fires Mueller and his righteous band of holy warriors working the streets to exonerate Comey's misdeeds and malfeasance the better.
Time to test the constitution and both Politburos--the RNC and the DNC--and put an end to this snipe hunt and deep-swamp coup d'état.
2
Please stop re-printing a Tweet. You are journalists, just tell us what was written. Don't encourage that business, and his juvenile conduct. Twitter is for children, not adult world leaders.
1
I agree with the editorial board, but a significant portion of the U.S. citizenry does not be it due to blind loyalty to Trump, hatred of liberal elites, or plain ignorance and/or stupidity. Pontificate all you want, but the rule of law is quickly dying in this country, and a vast number of people do not care or actively cheer its demise.
Trump is asking a judge for him to review the material seized from Cohen. Huh?!? So that he can destroy anything that incriminates Cohen and him? Hmm...
If the judge agree to that he will be crossing my red line.
2
The NY Times should review its comments when the questions surrounded Clinton!! How differently this paper handles issues when it involves Democrats. More fascinating is the lack of outrage now that it appears there is little or no evidence of RUSSIAN COLLUSION.
I have warned my liberal friends in the past and I will do so again. Be careful of your efforts because you can bet that just as Republicans learned to play identity politics, if and when, this President is impeached no future Democratic President will be safe from being investigated about anything.
1
Trump's tweet reads: “Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!”
As a non-American who does not live in America, I couldn't care less about America's domestic political situation (Americans will sort it out the best way they know how -- pretty much the same way Americans don't care about who stole last year's elections in Kenya and they know that we Kenyans will sort it out the best way we know how).
However, that tweet by Trump is so ridiculous I cannot stop laughing (yes, we are now laughing at America). Mueller is a Republican. Rod Rosenstein is a Republican. Both Houses of Congress are in Republican hands. The Supreme Court has a majority of Republican appointed justices (one fraudulently). The FBI Director was appointed by Trump.
Yet, Trump believes that "13 hardened Democrats" (what is a "hardened Democrat" mean anyway?) will be the ones who end his presidency?
2
Trump, is a mess, but I personally don't care if he bathes in gallons of urine every night, or cheats on his wife. If he had a real goal of helping the common man and not the rich and huge corporations, I would lend a hand in chiseling his likeness on a mountain in South Dakota. His personal failings are used by the Democrats as a wedge issue, and really, it's a weak one.
The greatest modern President was FDR, hands down. Trump, plays the evil banker in, "It's a Wonderful Life." It's beyond my scope of understanding that he doesn't see that. He's in his seventies, and his legacy is going to be a greedy pervert?
Trump, is the quintessential disparity between the monied and the middle class. He's so locked in his rich mans dogma, he's a blind man in the darkest cave.
2
If this paper had done its job properly during the 2015-16 campaign, there might not have been a need for this editorial.
2
"History will come calling for Mr. Hatch and his colleagues"? History's been yelling at them since November 2016. Emoluments, collusion, hush money, fine Nazis, and an unending stream of whopping lies. Setting DeVos loose on the education system, Carson loose on housing for the poor, Pruitt destroying the environment while lining his pockets, and on and on. This Republican Congress could have stopped it, but they shrug as long as they get their tax cuts for the rich--really, it's hard to say which is more damaging, them or Trump.
1
"For months, investigators have been examining whether Mr. Trump’s campaign conspired with the Russian government to undermine American democracy"
If true, why are all of the headlines about who had sex with whom and how much cash changed hands as a result? Were there Russians in the various bedrooms 12 years ago?
Separately, if Russia has been running the U.S., via puppetry, since January 2017, wouldn't it have been a good idea to move this investigation along a little faster? How many years of a 4-year presidency should investigators use up to figure out that the president is a traitor conspiring with malevolent foreigners?
1
How long did Ken Starr take?
I understand that it is in the board's best interest to do all it can to bring about impeachment proceedings. Pieces like this, wishfully goading the vain Trump to fire Mueller, can only help bring that about--a sound business move for the New York Times, obviously. But is it actually the best thing for the country? Really wish you'd stick to critiquing the man's questionable policies and leave the sensational, rumor-mongering stuff to the tabloids.
1
How cute. It's like you still believe that Trumpistas actually care about the rule of law and the well-being of this democracy.
I've been under the assumption that the American experiment died in 2016 when the Republican party accepted Trump as their nominee. His unfitness for the job was apparent then and nothing he has done since has changed that dynamic. I could live with an idiot (Bush, Palin), a crook (Nixon) or a mentally unstable (Reagan) politician, but I draw the line at evil. I understand that I have to share America with religious fanatics, gun nuts, corporate lackeys, science deniers, moral scolds and various other Republican stereotypes. However this administration is evil. From the attempt to take healthcare away from the sick, to closing our doors to helpless refugees, to pulling the rug out from dreamers, to appointing lobbyist and corporate shills to head up agencies they actively oppose the work of, to turning, outright, lying into an acceptable form of political speech, we have watched the slow but steady dismantling of the federal government's very reason for existing. It's game over when we need to write editorials begging the Republican party to follow the laws our constitution was set up to enforce. We may, indeed, survive this crises but like Germany, Italy, the USSR and countless other civilizations before them, we will have to rebuild from the ashes. The first step to doing that is to admit this noble American experiment is a failure. There is enough blame to go around but the fault does not lie in our founding documents, it lies with us.
2
While Trump is a stain on the presidency, the Republican leaders are a cancer on democracy. When are they going to do their sworn duties to uphold the constitution?
4
It needs repeating: the disease that infects US these days is the Republican Party; Trump is an obnoxious symptom.
1
while i certainly appreciate and giggled (and sighed heavily at its implication) at the idea of our president is a "really [expletive] stupid Forrest Gump," a character with an IQ of about 75, i have to mention that Gump was a good person who generally tried to help every person he met and was willing to sacrifice himself to help others.
comparing him to Donald Trump is an insult to Forrest Gump and everything that character stood for.
2
The actual quote is "evil" Forrest Gump, not "stupid", thus making an accurate and striking distinction between Trump and the beloved Forrest Gump.
In '74 we could rely on a little bit of wisdom and sobriety in Congress, but today many GOP congressmen look dim and more than one senator sounds senile.
1
The Republican Party has destroyed the republic.
3
"A few senior Republicans have been saying the right things — including Mr. Hatch. He tweeted that anyone telling the president to fire Mr. Mueller “does not have the President or the nation’s best interest at heart.” Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, warned Mr. Trump that firing Mr. Mueller would be “the beginning of the end of his presidency."
Hatch's tweet falls into the category of "praising with faint damns," while Graham's alternating excoriations and warm support of Trump resemble, depicted on a graph, nothing so much as a sine wave.
There will be no congressional protection of Mueller from either house of Congress, at least not before January, 2019. A bill to prevent Trump from following his whim to fire Mueller will struggle to find a majority in the Senate and is a laughable proposal in the House. If it miraculously passed both, it's next stop is Trump's desk, where it will be, guess what?, VETOED. (Might as well use Trumpian composition techniques here.) Ok, now let's start laying odds and taking bets on this bill's likelihood of 67 votes in the Senate and 292 "ayes" in the House?
Right now, the moral compass of elected Republicans in the legislature mirrors Trump's, with the odd waffle here and there in the Senate and the miniscule-to-functionally-extinct complainant in the House.
But America's greatest threat remains the willful blindness and hands-over--ears deafness of tens of millions of its citizens. Dealing with Trump is the easy part.
Republicans don't have a problem with the hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children killed in a war they started, based on a series of systematic lies they told the American people. They do have a problem with Obama wearing a tan suit.
Republicans don't have a problem endorsing a credibly accused pedophile for the United States Senate. They do have a problem with Obama tossing a football in the Oval Office.
Republicans don't have a problem supporting a convicted racist. They do have a problem with having a black president.
Republicans don't have a problem stealing Supreme Court seats. They do have a problem with people that don't wear flag pins on their lapels.
Republicans don't have a problem giving a trillion and a half dollars to the filthy rich. They do have a problem with helping the poor in any way.
Republicans have made a God of morally bankruptcy and hypocrisy. So, I'm not very hopeful they will uphold their oaths to the Constitution when Trump uses that same document as a piece of Charmin. - As he has done so many time already.
For sometime now I have been asking people a simple question about the GOP, and I have yet to hear a single credible answer, and it's because there isn't one. The question is this: "Name one thing in the last fifty years that the Republican Party has done that has benefited the majority of Americans?" - The silence is deafening.
3
"The day of man has ended. The day of the Orc has arrived!" as one actor proclaims in the Tolkein adaptation of "The Two Towers." Trump has made himself de facto tyrant effective from his election date and is completely ignorant of both the Constitution and United States Code, which he nonethless swore a shambolic oath to uphold. Trump is striving mightily, like one of the LOTR protags, to involve the USA deeper in a foreign conflict, any one will do, so that he can use our military entanglement as a pretext to suspend the rule of law. Never has that concept been more imperilled than it is today, thanks to the innumerable idiots who thought he was a good alternative at the polls...
1
Of course the President is not above the law. So why did this page endorse Mrs. Clinton, a women who illegally secret classified information on an easily penetrable home brew server? That is a crime and easily proven by any first year law student. The lawless Comey chose not to indict. But there was a crime under any reckless standard. Had Trump not been elected, the corruption and conspiracy of the deep state (CIA and FBI) and their media lapdogs (NYTs) would never have been exposed. This paper remained mute on its swamp coverage. Now we know the truth of what happened. It is disturbing on many levels. America voted for the lesser of 2 evils. They got it right.
2
Trump once tweeted, “When someone attacks me, I always attack back...except 100x more. This has nothing to do with a tirade but rather, a way of life!”
He just tells us flat out: it has nothing to do with being justified or not, true or false, right or wrong. It's just what he does. It's his way of life.
That attitude is contemptible in anyone, and truly horrifying in a president.
2
I am no fan of Comey who erred greatly with his holier-than-thou tilting of the 2016 election, but he is infinitely more believable than a pathological liar who has stretched the truth more than 2,300 times since moving into the White House. And I find it ironic that Trump slams Comey as a "leaker and liar," then pardons Scooter Libby, a convicted leaker and liar.
Is anyone really relying on Hatch - the man who exclaimed 'You are one heckuva leader' and praised trump as the greatest president ever?!
Actually, this great nation should not tolerate a president who breaks the law and the breaks the law again and again and again to cover it up so that he can continue breaking the law.
Lying about a sexual affair is as natural to these folks as paying $130,000 to $1.6 million followed by threats to shush women up to cover up their many sexual affairs.
Even worse, our leader and the representative of our nation treats us like fools by repeatedly lying to us and everyone else around the world. And worse than that he is doing his best to shutdown all avenues of truth - censoring and "disappearing" science, attacking and hijacking the press with his propaganda outlets, and co-opting and sabotaging any and all legitimate investigations into his activities in collusion with Republicans. And even worse than that, as POTUS he makes up clearly false accusations against Hillary, Obama and others. And it getting worse yet, as our Constitution is flushed into the toxic trump swamp
Comey suggested that impeachment would be letting the American people off the hook - except the majority did their duty not voting for trump and should not be on the hook for what the deplorables did to our nation. Can we really wait until the next election as FOX continues to incite trump to dismantle everything that makes America great? Forget impeachment - indict him!
1
Why the rather bizzare graphics.
I am old and perhaps time and mores have passed me by
but this editororial sounds like was written by a precocious
College Sophomore at best.
If the Constitution did not forsee the problem with the
President being able to fire anyone in the Executive Branch
that is a problem with the Constitution, in part, which lead
to Andrew Johnson being impeached when Congress over-reached.
Perhaps we need a Constitutional Amendment that provides
for Special Prosecutors that can only be appointed and removed
by the President/Congress and Supreme Court.
As for Bill Clinton, he lied to the nation, he lied to Hillary
and he pressured his own personal secretary to hide evidence
for him, evidence that would have proved what he and Monica did -
actions that would have gotten any of us fired.
He should have been impeached.
But the New York Times said then and now that he should not
have been.
Now the New York Times says that Trump should be impeached,
and perhaps he should be and perhaps he will be,
but if he is not -
blame no one but those who
would not vote to convict
Bill"y - Goat " Clinton.
3
Wait, I thought the NY Times thought the law didn't matter? 11 million + illegal aliens and the NY Times says the law doesn't matter and is outdated so everyone should get amnesty. Nobody needs to follow the law, nobody should be prosecuted, nobody should be deported. They have children.
Trump has children too. Shouldn't the NY Times be advocating for amnesty for Trump if he did something illegal in order to maintain consistency? Editorial Board seems to have trouble making up their mind. Does law matter or does law not matter?
2
There are people, including me, who fault Bill Clinton for cavorting with a White House intern and other women for that matter, and this behavior weakened his presidency. But what Bill Clinton did was nothing compared to what Donald Trump is doing. Maybe we can get rid of Trump with impeachment, but for sure we need to oust him in future elections. In the elections this November and in 2020, vote for every Democrat in sight!
1
"The President Is Not Above The Law", but, 40% of Americans think he should be.
Republicans don't have a problem with the hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children that were killed in a war they started, based on a series of systematic lies they told the American people. They do have a problem with Obama wearing a tan suit.
Republicans don't have a problem with torturing people, sometimes to death. They do have a problem with reasonable gun control.
Republicans don't have a problem endorsing a pedophile for the United States Senate. They do have a problem with Obama tossing a football in the Oval Office.
Republicans don't have a problem supporting a convicted racist. They do have a problem with having a black president.
Republicans don't have a problem stealing Supreme Court seats. They do have a problem with people that don't wear flag pins on their lapels.
Republicans don't have a problem giving a trillion and a half dollars to the filthy rich. They do have a problem with helping the poor in any way.
Republicans have deified moral bankruptcy, duplicity, and hypocrisy. So, I'm not very hopeful they will uphold their oaths to the Constitution when Trump uses it as a piece of Charmin.
For sometime now I have been asking people a simple question about the GOP, and I have yet to hear a credible answer, because there isn't one - "Name one thing in the last 50 years that Republicans have done that has benefited the majority of Americans?"
When Trump was elected, not by the majority of the people, did the GOP see him as a savior on a white horse for their party and their toxic policies, a useful idiot who will sign anything put in front of him or someone to fear due to the childish tweets?
Trump throughout his less than stellar business life has skirted, perhaps not broken, many laws-zoning, stiffing contractors and suppliers, his university scam, failing to live to his agreement with New Jersey concerning his financing of two of his biggest failures. And in most cases, he got away with little or no punishment.
Trump will attempt to be above the law and the GOP "lawmakers" will be loathe to act accordingly lest they irritate their white base rather than work for the best interest of the country as a whole.
This piece is a warning shot for all Americans. However, given that Trump has somewhat successfully convinced those who should read this piece that this publication is fake news, that shot will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes.
I fear for this country more than the dark days of Nixon.
Yet once more, you do yourselves in with selective narrative...
First - let's agree on something Trump...
His presidential library's going to be a sight to behold - probably looking more like signage in Times Square or Tokyo than anything else, repeating notable tweets in twelve-foot-high letters on bright-as-day billboards...
Or had you envisioned something like the 42nd Street branch - only biglier...
Didn't think so...
So what's in it for you to bring up the Governor of Missouri - but not the (former) Mayor of Nashville...
Recall your ill-timed apologia...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/opinion/nashville-mayor-affair.html
"...this city loves her. She hugs schoolchildren. She looks genuinely joyful at city parades..."
Followed by...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/us/megan-barry-nashville.html
"...an abrupt and disappointing end to a mayoralty for which many in Nashville had once harbored great hopes...
If, like the 2016 election, you have a secret plan to aid and abet Trump's once and future presidency - it's working...
.....
Once again for clarity...What I wanted - and still want, above all else - is sustainable 4% private-sector domestic GDP growth...
For further clarity, I don't care if they get to this by stealing China's double-secret "China 2025" plan to do it...
Likely it's all being built on top of Facebook and Amazon, anyway...
2
In the beginning there was faith—which is childish; trust—which is vain; and illusion—which is dangerous.
Elie Wiesel "Night"
1
The republicans are just as negligent as the mad clown king djt. They have felt for decades that white upper class men are above the law and even in the most egregious circumstances is any punishment justified and then just a monetary fine. Colored law breakers--jail and loss of citizen rights.
No, djt is just the latest example of a greedy authoritarian party run amok. They will never prosecute any crime committed by the mad clown king.
Vote Democrat in November to make American whole again.
What the editors mean to say is "the president is not above the law" but democrats get a pass because BAMN. Democrats have set the bar and I mean the disdain for the constitution shown by Obama and his pen and phone. Where was the outrage of the NYT then? Where is the outrage about the misuse of the FISA court? or the "secret society" in the ranks of the FBI. The selectivity of this editorial renders in not credible.
1
Amen. Amen. Amen. Get ready to March if Trump fires Mueller or Rosenstein.
1
The word "if" appears in this editorial 7 times, the word "may" shows up 9 times, and the word "might" is included 3 times.
In other words, the entire editorial is based on hysterical speculation and supposition about things that haven't happened and for which there is no evidence of them being a clear and present danger, except in the fevered imaginings of the Editorial Board of the NY Times and the rest of the mainstream press.
This article would be meaningful, if it were in the past tense: "When the President fired X," "When the President shut down Y," etc. But, in fact, as it stands, it is an exercise in predicting the future, based on the reports of a hostile media that seems to have a vested interested in taking down the President of the United States.
That isn't an evidence-based argument. It's an attempt to create evidence to support an argument. There is no proof other than innuendo and anonymous sources to support any of it, but that innuendo feeds into the narrative the Times wants to create.
So far, no investigation has implicated the President in any nefarious wrongdoing. Some of the people in his orbit have been caught in falsehoods, but so far none of it tracks back to him.
And, the "porn star" and Playmate both acknowledge that their affairs were consensual. So, where's the problem with that?
Clinton did what he did while president. Trump did it well before taking office.
In your hysterical desire to effect a coup, you're showing your bias, NY Times.
1
Comey is right when he said that impeachment is not the solution to the problem.
You have to vote Trump out of the WH and , BTW,eradicate the GOP...this will be the solution to your democracy.Best of luck...YES YOU CAN!
1
One day, maybe 100 years from now, I believe your newspaper, if it exists, will publish a mea culpa. You helped to torpedo the candidacy of Bernie Sanders and relentlessly pushed HIllary Clinton as a candidate when you should have known she would lose. Since Trump's election your reporters and columnists have relentlessly reported on Donald Trump as a misogynist, a buffoon and a jerk, which only served to solidify his status as a rebel outsider and your status as the mouthpiece of a neoliberal elite. Now it appears Trump may be a tool of foreign powers, something far worse than a jerk. You helped create this monster and our country may never be the same.
1
The President is not above the law, and neither are Secretaries of State. Isn't that right, Hillary?
1
Telling lies is as American as apple pie. A standard half joking question once was, "Do you believe everything you read in the newspaper?" It's now been replaced by, "Do you believe everything you see or read on the Internet? Obviously many people believe almost anything so long as it's scandalous, crude, ridiculous, violent, salacious or serves their own world view. How do you prevent liars from being believed? The truth is fluid, it alone won't do it. Teaching ethics and its logic branch, critical thinking, in our primary schools in K through 12 would be a good start. Asking a few questions before you run off like a headless chicken would also help. Being able to track Internet liars back to their lairs would a least make it possible to hold them to account. Lots of luck with "Just tell the truth." Whose truth, what truth?
2
Trump's infantile tweets about "slimeballs," and the like are disgraceful and would be inappropriate coming from anyone, let alone the president of the US. That is hardly his greatest transgression, though, as he works overtime to discredit the press, our system of justice and turns a blind eye to Russia's assault on US elections. Just as ominously, In the face of an investigation that seems ever more likely to have him as a criminal target, Trump appears to be circling the wagons by appointing sycophants to surround him while stoking with redoubled efforts the resentment and hate of his staunchest supporters.
This is a black moment in US history, the kind where people will one day ask their friends and relatives who were upright and taking nourishment at the time, what they were doing while Trump raged around the White House. And no more so than individual members of the US Congress who were in a position to do something about a person Madelaine Albright calls the first "antidemocratic" US president in modern history.
2
None dare call it treason. I do; I believe Trump coordinated his campaign with a foreign adversary, an adversary committed to destroying our democracy.
2
Trump behaves like the dictator he wishes he could become. He has zero use for the truth and the institutions that protect democracy and freedom. His presidency has been a non stop assault on democracy. He is making us test our system to see if we can survive him. Right now, nobody knows the answer.
2
As the NYT says, Trump is not above the law. But nobody is claiming he is other than saying that a sitting President can not be prosecuted for a crime. He must first be impeached and convicted and evicted by the Senate. And he is of course entitled to the protection of the law, like yes a presumption of innocence, but also like due process, which presumably means in this context, if not proof beyond a reasonable doubt at least convincing proof, of a crime that is sufficiently grave to warrant eviction from the oval office. The Democrats in the Senate determined that lying under oath about just sex by a fellow Democrat was not such a crime so presumably not just anything will do to evict Trump even if some think he is morally unfit. The NYT obviously thinks that firing Mueller would be obstruction of justice and warrant eviction. But would it? As far as we know, Mueller hasn't come up with any evidence that Trump is guilty of anything, not collusion with the Russians, nor anything else. Mueller is still digging of course and he might come up with something for which the statue of limitations has not expired and is arguably sufficiently grave. But is the digging due process? Has any other American other than a known crime boss been subjected to such digging? Maybe due process entitles Trump to fire Mueller and stop the digging and then have Congress ask the SP to disclose what he has got and if something serious, than impeach him, but if nothing, end it.
2
let's hope that some of cohort have spoon fed this editorial to him since I understand that he has no concentration or the ability to read. True enough, the pitchforks and guillotines will roll should he fire Rosenstein or Mueller. If he thought the crowds at his inauguration were big, he hasn't seen anything until the crowds gather to protest his actions. He has had Trump wine, Trump suits, Trump real estate, Trump steaks and soon he will be TRUMP TOAST.
Thank you NYT. I need your input during these difficult times. Keep their feet to the fire until all this insanity ceases.
2
...and Ivanka's apparel line is exempt from tariffs;nepotism, corruption, banana republic
1
The "investigation" of the president is a corrupt one predicated on lies from a rival political campaign.
President Trump has every right to shut down this witch hunt, and he must act soon to preserve American democracy.
2
Mr. Trump has oft-professed his affinity for strongman leaders, including those such as Duterte and Putin who've unabashedly employed extra-judicial means to eliminate their enemies. He has also scapegoated Muslims, Mexicans and others, the unequivocal hallmark of fascism.
Speaking of fascism, Mussolini famously said that the route to power is navigated by "plucking the chicken one feather at a time."
I refer you now to the NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitt...
Mr. Trump *is* plucking those chickens, my fellow citizens, and does not understand, or care, that he is not above the law. That is only for losers and chumps in Mr. Trump's view. Enough said.
Trump is not the problem. Republicans who support this despicable man are. As more becomes known about his immoral practices his approval ratings increase. Trump does not even exist if it weren't for the firm and loyal support of a large numbers of the American public, particularly members of his own Party. The moral rot in this country exists solely with them.
1
Will we get to see, for the 106,537th time, the endless duplicity of the GOP?
Republicans feel that laws should only apply to Democrats not themselves.
And the FACT has been proven again, and again, and again.
They are nothing but duplicitous hypocrites, all.
Trump boasted he can shoot somebody on Fifth (or Park?) Avenue and get away with it. This statement is a hidden trigger for a lot of people who lives vicariously through the apparent lawlessness and shamelessness of Trump. It is frightening to imagine what would happen if enough evidence is unearthed to sink Trump.
1
In the beginning there was faith—which is childish; trust—which is vain; and illusion—which is dangerous.
Elie Wiesel "Night"
#neveragain
#voteblue2018
1
Tell us again how long the Whitewater investigation went on--and what the final $$ total for it was.
I don't recall the republicans having ANY problem what-so-ever with either the length or financial cost of that investigation. Or the expansion of it into areas that had nothing to do with an Arkansas financial deal.
And remind us, too, how long the "Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi" investigations--all the multiple investigations--went on, and at what financial cost, just so the republicans could ensure HRC was damaged beyond repair.
The republicans had no problem with the length or cost of those investigations, either.
But they now have the gall to complain about the length of an investigation into the acts of a foreign government, possibly aided by the current clown in the White House, to destroy our government?
Look up the word "hypocrisy" in any credible dictionary. It is now a synonym for "republican."
1
Baloney.
There have been no actions by Trump to interfere with the investigations to date.
It is childish of the Editorial Board to engage in inflammatory and speculative rhetoric.
2
Thank you ! This needed to be said.
3
So trump is perhaps the greatest test of our democracy in history. He's the lesson we didn't know we still needed to learn. Moreover, he's also a test of our nation's morality with his assault - attempted rape - of America's soul. I have faith the American people will step in and stop his violent attack, and we'll be greatly stronger for it. How can you not have that faith? Failing to stop him is utterly unthinkable.
2
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
--- Thomas Paine, published in “The American Crisis” on December 23. 1776 and days later read to George Washington’s troops before they crossed the Delaware River and attacked the British encampment in Trenton, New Jersey.
2
The Republican base will give Trump another mulligan.
Trump gets a blanket mulligan for anything & everything that occurred prior to his being sworn in.
The son of Billy Graham said "I believe he's president of the United States for a reason, I believe God put him there".
Thus it has been decreed.
1
If President Trump is not above the law, why is the New York Times forced to state this fact in a major editorial more than a year after Trump's inauguration?
Each time I think we've reached a nadir, the president sinks lower. Aides and advisors whose policies I vehemently disagree with are leaving en masse, having been the guys with the shovel following after a lumbering elephant to scoop up one stinky pile after another until they've had enough. And rather than celebrating departures of Trump appointees or hires intent on steering the country in every wrong direction possible, I'm concerned that with every adult in the room leaving, no one's at the wheel.
But the country really went off the rails when the GOP's adults in the room accepted Trump as their party's candidate. The GOP should have disavowed him then for the corrupt, small-minded, egotistical plutocrat he is and fielded a real candidate at their 2016 convention. Then they'd still have a viable party.
I lay the responsibility for the failure of the Senate and Congress to uphold the rule of law in the United States squarely at the clay feet of the Republicans in Congress and Senate who have wandered away in disgust, done too little too late, and shaken their heads and muttered while watching Trump desecrate the presidency.
You guys had your chance to do the right thing long ago, and you blew it. Now you're complicit, so you're trying to help Trump avoid the consequences of his awful behavior.
If the president can legally remove Mueller, how exactly is he above the law? Perhaps the law should not be written in a way that permits a sitting president to call off an investigation into him/her, but this is a headline no less hyperbolic than something one would find at Breitbart.
To be clear: The system "worked" when Bill Clinton was impeached only in the sense that it followed expected procedures in order to address a transgression that people only cared about for either malicious or prurient reasons. The country did not benefit from hearing about Monica Lewinsky's stained dress.
1
The trouble with all this--- have crimes-impeachable and and convictable acts-been committed while he has been president? All the rest is politics. I think it was Dershowitz said-don't try to make crimes out of political differences. Thinking of the recent new documentary on JFK, thinking of LBJ, what the Bush family has been up to for yrs. the Clintons and all their questionable behavior, it looks like most of our leaders have been crooks.
This is all playing with fire with the future of the country, far worse than those who have imagined that Trump is the end of the world. If Trump is pursued it boggles the mind what the Repubs will do with a Dem president the next time around. Think of it,this will be the end of our system, not Trump.
The better course would be to elect a President with a name different from all the tired power brokers around, and live with the results.
2
Should this be extended to include Trump’s family, current cabinet members and friends?
We also expect the president to be a role model for the rest of us, especially in their communications and how they treat their subordinates. Trump is a disaster in both those categories. He has incriminated himself via Tweet.
The president is not above the law? Is this comic relief? Based on what evidence is he not above the law?
Open sedition, consorting with Russia, using the White House for cash grab, should have produced indictments. So far, nothing. Trump's popularity is soaring, he has lost no adherents, and his opposition is reduced to a bunch of whining, disorganized babies. Angry people wanting to tear of the faces of non-Norwegian looking people vote; democrats don't. They do candle light vigils with pink caps on and declare victory.
Banks are above the law (only one obscure bank in Chinatown was nailed for the 2007 meltdown). The jackals were given money, and put back in charge. Big business is above the law. They are encouraged to pollute, destroy, and pay no taxes. And Trump is an instrument of something dramatically more powerful than banks, businesses, or others. He is the instrument of white christian supremacy. He is definitely above the law, pretty much as they are.
Or have you never stepped into a rural zip code, turned on AM radio, or attended a rural church service?
I suspect your next report is titled: good people get rich without effort.
Kalidan
The power of the Presidency comes with the requirement to perform the Responsibilities of the Presidency.
Little donnie has ignored the later. He is corrupt, and in violation of his oath of office.
It is corruption that destroys a Republic from within. Add religious zealots acting like political zombies who cheer slander and deliberate ignorance, and republican "leaders" acting like cheer-leaders for talking-point nonsense.
If you cheated to win, you can't be president. Show us the tax returns.
"But if the president does move against the investigators, it will be up to Congress to affirm the rule of law, the separation of powers and the American constitutional order."
People are getting fed up with this circus. Many of us think that this failure by the Republicans to step up to the plate and to inform the so-called POTUS that he is not above the law has already gone on long enough.
The Republicans have DEMONSTRATED that they are totally feckless Trump lap dogs or worse. ENOUGH. They have shown us who they are - WIMPS, gutless losers, not worthy of our respect any more.
Republican lawmakers have not responded appropriately so far. Even if they "do the right thing" when forced to act, they should suffer a defeat in November that will be remembered for several genarations.
The Republicans DESERVE to be washed away in a huge blue wave on November 6, 2018.
Well, from where I stand, it looks like he is well above the law. I know of no other president who has gotten away with such disgusting and possibly ( more than likely) criminal behavior and nothing has been done to contain him. BTW, has anyone seen his taxes yet?
Everything Trump has done concerning Russia, the election is clear evidence of obstruction of justice. Firing Comey? Obstruction. His rationale for firing Comey is still a convoluted ball of lies and confusion. His "red line" comments. Obstruction. If you're the target of an investigation, you don't get to tell the investigators what they can investigate. Let a private citizen try that. His pardoning of Libbey may be the 4th billboard in Ebbing, MO. "I will pardon you. Don't worry. Lie." Obstruction. And of course his threats to fire Rosenstein and Mueller are the most outrageous examples of Obstruction.
The old saying about "if it looks like duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck" is may be applied to the Mr. Trump: Donald is a Duck.
2
Lindsey Graham may have said that firing Robert Mueller would imperil his presidency and Charles Grassley may use the word "suicide" as a way to deter this Chief Executive from dismissing the Special Prosecutor but their warnings ring hollow. Their inaction in the face of the president's grave threats to Mueller continue to enable this lawless president to do as he pleases.
These senators have nothing to fear from this president. He can't fire them the way he did Rex Tillerson, H. R. McMaster, Sean Spicer and Anthony Scaramucci. They are silent while the president breaks the law to cover up wrongdoing, and their silence puts them in league with the president.
"We hope Mr. Trump recognizes this."
After everything, you really just don't get it.
1
RK - Exactly. The man is mentally ill and yet The Press insists on treating him as a functioning human being. His illness is the valid basis for his constitutional removal. Unfit to serve. Should never have cleared the primaries and especially the (now defunct) Electoral College. A republic in decline. You nailed it.
"The president is not a king but a citizen...vulnerable to lawful scrutiny."
This president is terrified of scrutiny, of being vulnerable. All bullies are.
And he is fighting back like a caged animal - desperate to get out - at any cost.
Find a way to give him an out. It will require a lot of money since that's all he cares about - but you could make him a real billionaire.
Let him leave with a veneer of dignity and buckets of money. Win Win!
I hope at the end of the news show with former FBI director Trump will be headed for jail. Putin said today any more bombs sent their way there will cause international chaos. For the survival of the world Trump and the GOP all need to step down. Look at the mess they created in only one year and a half.Trump sent bombs over to take eyes off of his daily court troubles ,corrupt lawyer friend. The GOP supporters are really in denial about what it is to be a christian and to save our planet what is the right thing to do.
When Trump is advised not to do something that is what he does. He got into office by lying to the American people. All he wanted to do was to do away with the FBI, DOJ, prosecutors, business regulations that affect him & his billionaire buddies. He wanted to protect himself, his businesses, & adulterous affairs. He wants to be king of america. He wants to make this country into his own image. Voting will get him out of office but it will be to late if he get’s all his changes made. Once out of office there will be no legitimate legal system left to prosecute him for his crimes. He doesn't even remember old Joe Smith in Iowa that voted for him. SAD SAD
I and many other Americans are terrified that by their silence Republicans are about to light a match that may ultimately destroy the Republic, all for the sake of protecting a disgusting, immoral would be Mussolini.
If Republicans continue to rationalize away Trump's blatant obstruction of justice and disrespect for the rule of law can a modern day Harper's Ferry be far away?
Even Bill Clinton...who was 100% guilty of perjury and sexual harassment...allowed multi-year investigations into his behavior to run their course. Nixon was the only President to tried to place himself above the law by using the power of his office to stop investigators in their tracks. And any other President who tries to do likewise deserves the same fate as Nixon.
1
excellent; yes to all of this.
2
Main difference between Nixon and Trump is that the former didn't rely on Russian KGB to hack the DNC.
"There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump"
http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-u...
1
We're really dealing with two separate issues:
1. This bully, liar, adulterer, treasonous, greedy President that we elected by way of an undemocratic electoral college, is a criminal. We will eventually see most of the crimes he's committed whether they be obstruction of justice, money laundering, treason, election crimes, etc.
He's been a self-absorbed, petty, merchant of avarice for decades. For some reason the Republicans, right-wing, conservatives, evangelicals and such, have chosen him to be their leader. As Comey says, this stains them, too.
His crimes are real, his honor is fake.
2. We are also facing a challenge of democracy by way of money and it's most dirty and corrupting influences. The top 1%, 5%, 10% benefited mightily from the last 'tax cut' that Trump and the Republicans pushed through. The rich won; which includes Trump.
The average, common American is struggling. The good jobs are few. The American Dream is just a dream. So, out of desperation and despair, what to do?
What will we do? Come together? Unite? I pray we show compassion and will towards creating the more perfect 'Union', and see fit to include us all in a dream of good housing, schools, neighborhoods, jobs, health care, and everything else the human life requires to thrive and reach potentials. We can do this. But, only We the People can do this: a plutocracy cannot, a deeply unequal society cannot.
Community. We must love each other more than money & property. Someday, I pray, we will.
It is often said,"To the victors go the spoils." Trump is taking this axiom to a vulgar and dangerous level. Since the corruption in government that lasted into the early 20th Century, Congress has laudably passed legislation to protect our democracy from graft, corruption, nepotism, megalomaniacs and all manner of dangers facing the United States.
The Nation avoided a Constitutional crisis when Congress stood, united enough, to reign in Richard Nixon. It engaged in partisan politics against Bill Clinton but the Senate, the wiser of the two Houses, did it's job appropriately enough and Clinton kept his job.
The question is now, do we have enough courageous legislators in Washington to do the right thing regarding Trump...will they put the good of the Country ahead of what their party wants or what is selfishly best for themselves?
History will judge these people...were they courageous enough to earn the respect of our Founding Patriots? Or will they be remembered as the Benedict Arnolds of the early 21st Century? Willing to allow a malignant cancer to spread his lies, immorality, deceits, greedy desires, lusts for power and flesh across the land with impunity?
We the People did not elect Donald Trump...an obsolete, undemocratic institution founded, in part, to protect the elites from the masses, and in many states delegates resulting from unconstitutional gerrymandering, the Electoral College, selected Donald Trump.
We must hold everyone accountable, enough.
2
There is more than a little of a sense of Francis Coppola's great film 'The Godfather' in Trump's presidency. And for those who are persuaded by Sean Hannity's cynical and vile rants on Fox about the 'Crime Families' of the Clintons, of Comey. and of Mueller attacking the Trump 'crime family' as if it's gang warfare instead of a constitutional crisis.
But the germ of truth is that Donald Trump is no stranger to shady mob figures from America and the corrupt regimes of the former Soviet Union. And to add to the madness now engulfing our nation is more than a little bit of Paddy Chayefsky's 'Network' in which a popular media figure goes mad ranting about how everything is rigged and he's 'not going to take it anymore'.
Trump's Apprentice show was an overblown hagiographic idea of a 'successful' billionaire to fit the 1980s-90s myth of 'smart business' leaders guiding participants to wealth and fame in business instead of the more truthful revelation of Trump as a self-promoting film flam man who knew suckers when he saw them.
And this narcissistic blowhard is now president and the party that he leads has abandoned their instinctual wisdom about Trump in exchange for the power that controlling the government gives them. By aligning themselves with Trump's mendacity, he is playing them for suckers also and now the question is are their any patriots remaining in the Republican party who are willing to call out the film flam man for the sake of the nation.
1
Unfortunately the GOP has become a cult and they will not do the right thing. Just two words - Eric Schneiderman. Fake can't pardon himself and he can't pardon DJ, Jared, Paul, Michael, and Hope for state crimes. There's a disgusting prison in upstate NY and we'll all sleep better when we see these folks arriving for induction.
1
I am looking forward to the day which I believe may be coming soon when Putin -- annoyed by Trump’s sudden burst of activity against him in Syria -- will finally begin releasing some of the hotel room “golden shower” tapes that Trump stars in. Netflix and HBO will bid furiously for the rights to show them. Fundamentalist preachers will appear on CNN and denounce Putin as Satan and defend Trump as a sinner who has redeemed himself by appointing Christian judges to the courts. Fox News will brand the tapes as an outright fraud created by friends of Hillary Clinton. Alan Dershowitz will draw attention to violations of Trump's civil rights. Melania will maintain radio silence, and will not defend him. Trump himself will announce further sanctions against Russia and point to acts of greater depravity by Bill Clinton. Mueller, Rosenstein and Sessions will all be let go and replaced by Trump flunkies. One of them will turn out to be Trump's hairdresser. Republicans will cover their eyes while announcing plans for further budget-breaking tax cuts. The present craziness is just beginning. We ain’t seen nothing yet.
1
NY Times has been crying wolf for a long time. This is being done not to advance democracy and American ideals, but to discredit a president who got elected against all odds and advancing an agenda which is not their liking. This is not the first president who criticized and resisted special counsel investigation.
2
Trump is NOT the legitimate "president" and he never was!
He's an election-tampering, hostile-foreign power colluding, usurper, demagogue, and wannabe authoritarian despot!
His "presidency" is based on illegality, most of his actions before/during/after seizing power have been illegal, and many of the actions of his family and "associates" are blatantly illegal.
Such a person should be subject to the harshest strictures of the law! In other words Trump should be BELOW the law's full force and punished to the fullest extent of the law.
2
The NY Times is right to focus on the Republicans as well as the President. Republican policies have a long history of violence against the public interest.
See https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
Trump was not legally elected according to the constitution. Over one million US citizens were denied their vote through illegal voter suppression on a massive scale in 29 states, organized by the Republican party. "Interstate Crosscheck". Kris Kobach. Blacks, Hispanics, poor and inner city Americans, mainly Democrats, were targeted. Don't stop with Trump. Don't allow Pence and Gorsuch to escape the swift hammer of justice. None of them are legally in office. NYT: expose "Interstate Crosscheck" now!
Given that Trump is aliterate (defined as knowing how to read but disliking reading) one of his aides should read this editorial to him.
Trump is a clear and present danger to this country and the world. Madelaine Albright who calls Trump the first antidemocratic president in modern American history is among many other sober people who are right to recognize his kinship and similarities to totalitarian leaders and movements of the past and present.
His infantile tweets about "slimeballs," and the like are disgraceful and would be inappropriate coming from anyone, let alone the president of the US. That is hardly his greatest transgression, though, as he works overtime to discredit the press, our system of justice and turns a blind eye to Russia's assault on US elections. Just as ominously, In the face of an investigation that seems ever more likely to have him as a criminal target, Trump appears to be circling the wagons by appointing unadulterated sycophants to surround him while stoking with redoubled efforts the resentment and hate of his staunchest supporters.
This is a black moment in US history, the kind where people will one day ask their friends and relatives who were upright and taking nourishment at the time, what they were doing while this madman raged around the White House.
Thank you. We are at a crisis point.
It is a joke to read old history from the 90's and expect any of it to have been true. Whitewater was enough for Republicans to sic a Special Prosecutor on the Clintons for years. A land deal?
As opposed to proven Russian interference. That one gets lukewarm endorsement. Americans as a mob are too ignorant and unwilling to read history for context. So thus America will continue to bumble along as a backwater Militaristic banana republic owned by Billionaire families.
More disturbing than Trump's incompetence and total disregard for the rule of law throughout his sordid, lurid tenure is Republicans' myopia and complicity in allowing him to besmirch American democracy, seemingly with impunity. Even Nixon, corrupt as he was, recognized the tsunami of resentment approaching, and he ultimately succumbed and resigned in disgrace. Trump. the classic narcissist, feels no such ignominy; his nihilistic sense of entitlement far outweighs any sense of shame. Yet if he is permitted to trample on the Constitution, Americans can blame Republicans for allowing it to happen. Disgrace extends from the White House to Capitol Hill, the latter enabling a disastrous president to maraud unchecked, destroying democracy in his wake. This is the horror and the pity of this current American conundrum that is the Trump presidency.
1
Nice to see this editorial, but it would've been nicer if the New York Times and other media have given a little more scrutiny to Donald Trumps "business practices" and his "business associates," instead of obsessing over "Hillary's emails" 24/7, during the 2016 election.
1
Unfortunately, with respect to President Clinton, when FBI Director Louis Freeh recommended a special prosecutor to investigate the illegal foreign cash and influence from Chinese in the 1996 elections, Janet Reno refused to recuse herself and then rejected the recommendation for a special prosecutor. Unwittingly, by putting partisan loyalty & protection of Clinton & the DNC ahead of the law, Janet Reno helped prevent what should have been a national reckoning with increasing foreign influence in US elections that started long before Russia, Facebook and the rise of the internet.
Gratefully, in contrast to Janet Reno, Attorney General Jeff Sessions showed his respect for the law and his ethical duty as an attorney as greater duties than partisan loyalty. He recused himself and let Rosenstein make an independent decision to appoint Mueller.
Had Reno done the same, and the illegal campaign finance donations from China properly and fully investigated and exposed, per Louis Freeh recommendation (just like James Comey recommendation to Sessions & then Rosenstein), what happened in 2016 may well have been avoided.
1
Fox News to Sinclair may gain in the short term by having a Russian puppet in the Oval Office, who will retweet their talking points and give them the access they crave. Any credibility they have as a legitimate news outlet will be shattered. In my personal opinion they are no better than a state run RT media outlet in Russia. GOP is already ruined in my book for they sacrificed any principles they had on the altar of Trump. The craving for absolute power and dominion over American lives has became a stain on the body politic of our nation. But this too shall pass for no one stays in power forever. Come later this year and 2020 we can truly restore our nation back to the lofty ideals our nation was founded upon.
1
The United States is a functional democracy, despite some elements that may point to its imperfections, like its outdated electoral system, by which the candidate who got the majority of votes may not be elected president.
However, for over more than two hundred years, the country has consolidated its institutions, the check and balances system, the separation of powers, the presidential limits and the rule of law as the pillar of the democratic edifice. President Trump is clearly a populist and his disdain for the rule of law is obvious. But since he took office, many of his policies have been overruled by the courts and obstructed by Congress. Both the legislative and judicial branches have proven effective in their duty to constrain an erratic president. We must feel relieved that two hundred
years of experience will prevent the United States from sliding into a dysfunctional democracy, under which a charismatic leader may rise to power and subvert the weak democratic institutions, like Venezuela and other Latin American countries. The populist wave and its consequences ought to be counteracted. I believe the United States is well prepared to do it.
1
Chatter in computer programming is that if you think you might get fired you plant a "time bomb" in the system. My wish is that Mr. Mueller has a time bomb somewhere so that if he gets fired ALL the information he has gathered immediately becomes public. No redactions. These are the wikileaks that can save us.
1
That doesn't sound very honorable.
Americans should mistrust the GOP-led Congress to do the right thing under the law. Watergate, the Iran-Contra, the Clinton hearings, and trials resulting from the Bush Administration’s push to war in Iraq were mostly public with all witnesses sworn under oath. The lessons Republicans apparently learned from these disgraceful events of Executive abuses of power were to not have public hearings and not to swear in many witnesses. Excuses from some congressional witnesses in “the Russia thing”, like citing Executive Privlegde when they were never employed by the Executive Branch or refusing to answer questions without taking the Fifth Amendment or outright lying, have been tolerated by a partisan dust devil working to erase its own guilty tracks of inadequate investigation and subverting justice. I think the constitutional crisis has already begun.
1
I used to think that Trump was just a big baby or senile, but now he seems more like Richard the 3rd who used guile and the human weaknesses of others to gain power. He used this guile to crush his fellow republicans in the primaries, Hillary Clinton in the campaign and Comey and Stormy Daniels as he seeks to silence any opposition. The latter show themselves as flawed human beings who make mistakes, but are ultimately sincere in their desire to do the right thing, but trump is a different kettle of fish.
Trump knows exactly what he is doing when he makes fun of the physically challenged, Muslim American war heroes and their families and even his base which he secretly mocks as rubes. Shakespeare's Richard 3rd is like a play book for nefarious politics as he seduces the wife of one of his victims, trashes his opposition and plays the people for support. In the end as he is deserted by everyone, he shouts, 'A horse, my kingdom for a horse' in a vain attempt to escape his fate. Let's hope that an ethical Congress will deny Trump that horse.
This is a great literary analogy.
Although many people found the Muslim American war hero family's endorsement of Hillary a step too far, given they were endorsing a woman who cynically voted in favor of the very war that killed their child! When Trump, after all, criticized that war and those responsible. . . It would have been one thing if Khizr Khan & his spouse were endorsing Bernie Sanders or Rand Paul, but there was something very off about their celebration of the intervention-first Hillary Clinton.
1
Above the law? Plenty are above the law these days. Namely: illegal immigrants, Wall Street, McCabe (so far) and Lynch (so far), Hillary and her crew, Comey - who admits to political decision making - and others in the DOJ. The "above the law" argument falls flat here.
The DOJ raiding Cohen's office (seemily) over sex tapes and wire fraud - or even leaking this information - has turned this into a smear job like the Slick Willy probe. The DOJ is not obligated to investigate and prosecute every suspected crime immediately; or at all. That it was done - in the middle of a Russia probe - is abusive and unnecessary.
It will likely be interpreted by many Trump voters - 63M looked at with disdain and contempt - as a desperate, last ditch attempt to claw back power. I didn't vote for Trump, but attempting to remove him under these circumstances is a mistake.
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Trump's cavalier disregard for the law--obstruction of justice and potential perjury--are the real problems here. Hillary, McCabe, illegal immigrants, etc. as others who might be deemed to have placed themselves "above the law" are all false equivalencies. Their supposed crimes do not excuse Trump in any way. And they are not the POTUS!
Trump's incompetence is the real issue, not his crimes (which are bad enough). He can't run his own government, and when he fails, he tries to circumvent the law to cover up his mistakes. This is what he always did as a businessman. Well, counter-suing and bankruptcy are not in the presidential tool kit. Resorting to obstruction of justice to avoid prosecution or impeachment is definitely a crime.
Why do you think that his lawyers don't want him to testify before Mueller? It is because he is certain, absolutely certain to perjure himself. That too is a crime, but Trump lies all the time without even thinking about it. It is habitual. So the danger of him committing this impeachable crime is simply too great a risk.
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My "above the law" argument is more about mocking the NYT for their editorial inconsistency.
Of course he shouldn't testify. What upside is there for him? Mueller will never release a statement saying "Trump's did nothing." There is too much pressure on him not to produce something.
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With all the resources at Mueller's behest, nothing after a year of hyper-intense attacks on the president. Either Trump is brilliant at "collusion" or Mueller enjoys wasting taxpayer money going down rabbit holes.
The sooner Trump fires Mueller and his righteous band of holy warriors working the streets, it seems, to exonerate Comey's misdeeds and malfeasance the better.
Time to test the constitution and both Politburos--the RNC and the DNC--and put an end to this snipe hunt and attempted deep-swamp coup d'état.
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Why don't we just have a permanent special counsel with an unlimited budget who investigates every president (and perhaps Congress!)? This way no future president can ever be above the law. If they've done nothing wrong there should be no problem.
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A sober analysis to find justice where abuse of power seems ubiquitous. But it gets worse, as we have a most vulgar pseudo-president who lashes out 'permanently' against any and all that dare criticize his misrule. Trump, whose modus operandi has been, and remains, the 'shooting the messenger'...instead of some humble introspection that perhaps, just perhaps, may awaken his perception that many voices out there may be right, that he could possibly be wrong on many fronts, and make at least an attempt, the appearance of, repentance, if not apology (for his numerous proven false assertions he so freely calls fake news or witch hunts). And to add injury to insult, he attacks our free press relentlessly as "Fake News'" when the reports are not to his liking...while basking in a mirror of vanity for the public attention that same free press is willing to give. For those out there desperate for a solution to our current pluto-kleptocracy, do not despair, as there is "rumor" the republican party may repent from it's complicity with crooked lying Trump, and finally agree he is no longer useful to their 'fait accompli' designs (tax cuts for the rich and powerful), and oust him from an undeserved office. They just won't tell us when, hypocrites as they are; and integrity and self-respect awol.
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If trump is guilty, he would rather darken than dispel the cloud of guilt around him. Far worse, we would no longer have future presidents not named trump (or kushner) who would politicize American justice to stay in perpetual power. Yes, "that would be a danger to every American, of whatever political leaning."
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Having lived through Watergate, it never occurred to me that something like it would rear its ugly head again. It has though, but much, much worse. Nixon was a statesman, and knew right wrong, and chose to cover up rather than come forward with the truth. It was simple as that a cover up.
But President Trump goes beyond the pale, he has no conscious, a serial liar, but his greatest weakness is, and danger to the country is, he does in fact believe he is above the law, or at least can twist it to always favor himself. Look at his legal team, it’s always they, whether to bail him out of a bankruptcy or a sordid scandal. Their always there.
And the Republican Congress I’m afraid, is not up to it if Trump does attempt to impair or remove the Special Counsel. I say this because to date only a handful of Republicans have spoken out against the President. And there were surely numerous instances where they could and should have. But they did not. And I now ask myself, what will it take for them to say no more Mr. President or we will impeach you. I just don’t know anymore.
It is much different today, we are so divided. And I’m afraid we’re losing our democratic principles and what our country has stood for hundreds of years.
Thank you Times, as well as the Washington Post. You continue to be the beacons of light through the endless fog of corruption of the Trump administration.
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At this time, President Trump is above the law. The GOP controlled Congress has made that clear. The GOP Congress has not fulfilled their constitutional mandate to be a check and balance upon the executive branch. They have not insisted upon codes of ethical conduct and repeatedly remained mute to Trump's abuse of the office of POTUS for self-interested gain and power.
The Trump presidency is the culmination of decades of GOP party propaganda which has driven a political divide in the US wider than the sky. The GOP loyalty pledge of party before country has culminated in the Trump presidency. Control of all 3 branches of government has resulted in representatives who cower before money and (therefore) power with nary a thought for the Constitution and rule of law.
The great political divide is built upon lies and hatred and the economic control of the 1% over the American voter. Responsibility is to the Donor Class and is maintained by ever increasing efforts to disenfranchise the vote. The rule of law is to be manipulated or ignored in deference to party purity for the GOP. So why would they bother to check a POTUS who does the same for himself? Quite frankly, many in the Trump cult could care less about the law or morals. The GOP also includes religious zealots bent upon wiping away the separation of church and state.
The American experiment is already in crisis.
Frankly, I have no faith in the Republicans. They have done everything to undermine the Mueller investigation. Hollow platitudes uttered to reporters are no substitute for action.
What have they done to protect the investigation? Nothing. Both Ryan and McConnell have refused to bring any legislation that would protect him to a vote and according to Sen. Feinstein the republicans have snuck an amendment into it that they will not reveal.
It is clear to me that the Republican party is all in with Trump. They own his ignorance, bullying tweets and unfitness for office lock, stock and barrel. Each and every one of them, even those who mildly voice their discomfort should be stained with Trump's legacy forever.
The only way to protect our democracy is to vote them out.
Mr. Trump may or may not be guilty of collusion. But, he's guilty of arrogance and it may bring his presidency to an end. Used to being "king" of his own private company and reality TV show, he seems unable to accept that his ascendancy to the Presidency did not bring his unbridled private power along for the ride.
I'm not sure Mr. Trump is above the law, but I know for sure that Clintons are above the law.
PS: When I want to add a link of a report about WhiteWater here, from CNN, I found the link has been removed, which I can access last year. How interesting.
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I hope that the president's statements about Mueller and Rosenstein are only bluff and bluster, but I fear that he may explode into another tantrum at some point in the near future, and fire both men. What really scares me is that I have seen zero evidence of any inclination on the GOP side to defend our democracy and the Constitution. There may be some tut-tutting and hand-wringing, but I fear that the Republican members of the House and Senate would ultimately acquiesce, as they have done repeatedly in the past, and allow the president to fire Rosenstein and Mueller, replacing them with compliant lapdogs who will follow presidential direction and conclude that the whole investigation was a total witch hunt.
If Trump fires Mr. Rosenstein and/or Mr. Mueller and succeeds in halting or hamstringing the Russia investigation, and this Republican-controlled Congress, which has been intransigent past the point of dereliction of duty, lets him get away with it, they will not only betray every one of us Americans but the founding principles of democracy and the rule of law.
I think of our Founding Fathers, so thoughtfully toiling, thinking, writing, debating, and compromising to create their vision of a free nation and write our Constitution. I think of my late grandfather serving in our US Navy during WWII and every other veteran who fought for our freedom. I think of the more than two centuries of work it took to build our American institutions including our Department of Justice that Trump so despicably attacks without thought or care. I think of all the immigrants who left their countries of birth and risked dangerous ocean crossings to seek liberty in this brave new world, and who built America.
And then I think of the ignorant snake oil salesman and lifelong con artist squatting in our White House and shaming the office he illegitimately holds. I think of Trump's repugnant tweets, his attacks on our rule of law, our institutions, on private citizens, our allies and our free press-and seethe that the Republicans in Congress, especially McConnell and Ryan, do NOTHING to get this menace out of power. We will judge them harshly in November, and history will judge them even harsher.
President Trump has lived his entire life in a country of laws that do not apply to him. Why would he think that anything has changed? I believe that, in our heart of hearts, we all know how this current investigation ends. President Trump fires Mueller and Rosenstein, putting most of this distracting, distasteful mess behind him. There are lots of super strong words spoken and virtually zero meaningful action. The Republican Party cares about one thing and one thing only - maintaining power. Integrity means nothing and it has meant nothing for some time now. Egged on by Fox News, many Republicans in the House and Senate will speak out in support of Trump's actions, helping to muddy the waters, leaving just some really upset and angry Democrats and a couple of powerless, mouthy Republicans to speak lovely words, to no avail. Life will move on.
Comey's book is a pay off, to keep quiet about how the Obama administration handled the Russian interference, before the election. We know Obama didn't want to say or do anything, about Russian interference, before the election, that may tinge Hillary's win. When she won, she could deal with the Russians as she saw fit.
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We know Hillary had an illegal, private server. There was classified info on the Weiner/Abedin laptop.
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Back to Comey. Who will buy his book? Hillary voters? Why? He cost her the election. Trump voters? Comey was covering for Hillary. Bernie and Jill Stein voters? I doubt they could afford the $19.95.
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And, why can't we ask the question, was Hillary colluding with the Russians? She went along with the Iran deal. She wasn't going to change anything in the balance of power, internationally. Why wouldn't the Russians want her to win?
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I noticed the other day, while the talk was on Cohen, Russian collusion wasn't mentioned once. Mueller was investigating obstruction of justice. A counter intelligence operation has morphed into a mob investigation.
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Trump's numbers would approach 60% if he canned Mueller and Rosenstein. Or, go slow and pardon everyone that has been charged.
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Comey's book is a payoff.
Republican lawmakers seem very nonchalant about the possibility of Mr. Trump firing Mr. Mueller. Typical responses include rationalizes that Mr. Trump will not take such a divisive action or that Mr. Trump would face tremendous consequences for so doing.There is the problem with the Republican rationalizations: Mr. Trump is not a rational actor. We know that Mr. Trump has tried to fire Mr. Mueller on at least two occasions. The truth is, and I believe Mr. Trump senses this truth, that should Mr. Trump fire Mr. Mueller, a majority of Republicans will do nothing about it. Sure, Jeff Flake will protest as will other retiring Republican members--but those members will be marginalized by Devon Nunes and his ilk. I guess we have to hope that the retiring Republicans plus the existing Democrats will be sufficient to reign Mr. Trump in. But by that point, the damage will have been done.
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He's taunting them. There's no need to fire or otherwise thwart them, because the more they investigate, the less they find. This whole piece is wishful thinking ("the minority of Americans who support Mr. Trump", Mr. Mueller’s investigation has already yielded great benefit to the country"), evidently wanting Trump to fire Mueller before he starts revealing Obama's abuses. But former Presidents (not to mention former Secretaries of State and Presidential candidates) are not above the law, either.
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"THE PRESIDENT IS NOT ABOVE THE LAW" (NYTs)
This feel good nonsense remains to be seen and runs contrary to reality. It's much more toward the fairy tale side of the continuum of truth.
Nixon broke many laws and never even faced indictment much less trial; Clinton lied under oath, albeit on non-material matters, was impeached but never convicted......
Now we are approaching the DJT moment of: 'So, what are you going to do about it.' Now, this will be the real constitutional crisis that so many pundits spew out of their mouths all the time.
Now Clinton would have and Nixon did leave office peacefully.
What circumstantial evidence exists to suggest DJT and the GOP henchmen would leave peacefully? It's not in either of their natures to do so.
The Titan suggests that there is a plethora of circumstantial evidence to suggest DJT will not hop a chopper out like Nixon, and the GOP is still holding out hope that Russia will tilt the scales in their favor in 2018.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw
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Neither were the previous squads. So why the double standard? Independents, Classical Liberals, Libertarians, Constitutional Conservatives, and the extreme Left all point out the hypocrisy.
All the vitriol towards Trump and his predecessor Obama functioned to misdirect the public from the fact that Congress has not done its job, there IS a swamp, and both parties had drifted from their stated ideological roots over the last 40 years.
Given that Trump is now caving to Neocon/Neolib status quo....I would think everyone should be delighted...
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There can be no doubt that the framers of the constitution would have been well aware of the great constitutional case of Entick v Carrington (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entick_v_Carrington), which was decided in 1765 and establishes the important principle that any executive officer, who acts without lawful authority, is not acting in a public capacity at all, but as a private citizen and therefore subject to ordinary legal remedies. It might be added that all governmental powers must be exercised in good faith and for public purposes.
All this hyperventilation! If Trump moves against Muller or Muller finds something are grounds for impeachment. But I noticed in another article this weekend that Democrats in congress will not support impeachment before the election.
The president IS above the law until proven otherwise. This is is gambit. He may very well succeed at thwarting the law. He may very well be backed up with force to entrench his power. Everything about the republic is being challenged. Very dangerous times.
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Bravo New York Times! This Editorial should be read aloud to Congress and made part of the record.
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“This great nation can tolerate a president who makes mistakes,” declared Senator Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican. “But it cannot tolerate one who makes a mistake and then breaks the law to cover it up.”
But that's just the point, Editorial Board. I, at least, realize that you do not quote the august Senator from Utah at the head of your essay; the point is not to shame or to point the sharp finger of hypocrisy. Yet, it's there.
The Republican majority in Congress have done all it could to enable President Donald Trump. They looked the other way when his indiscretions on the campaign trail made headlines. No, he did not assault, racially insult--well, he didn't use the "n" word, but he encouraged it and the attendant violence.
He admitted (unwittingly) that he was a sexual aggressor and predator whose behavior would have landed an ordinary citizen on the police blotter and in jail awaiting felony charges. But as president, Mr. Trump's behavior, if not above the law, is certainly beyond what Americans term as acceptable.
President Clinton lied about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. But Mr. Trump, although not (yet) accused of conspiring with a (hostile) foreign power to win an election, stands publicly accused of it until he's cleared by the Special Prosector, a man of integrity whose office and duties are under daily attack by the Republican majority I cite above.
Without Robert Mueller's advocacy for the people, this president may have broken laws we don't know about.
"For months, investigators have been examining whether Mr. Trump’s campaign conspired with the Russian government to undermine American democracy..."
And they have found, what? Bank fraud by an adviser that long pre-dated the 2016 election? Lying to the FBI, which may soon be overturned by a judge? Payments to women for consensual affairs 10+ years old? But nothing indicating conspiracy with Russia. And yet the hysteria...
All along, Donald Trump's modus operandi has been to milk the system to serve his ends. He thinks that the system of law doesn't apply to him. He thinks that he's entitled to take advantage of the system but then he won't abide by its rules.
He's a one of the most dangerous megalomanic and inflated characters one could think of. The longer he stays in power, the more irreparable damage he will do to this nation and its democratic norms. Republican leaders have been willful contributors to the damage to our system of law and democratic principles by their open or tacit approval of this president. How could the Lincoln's party descend to such low level as it has now!
I find this hand-wringing by the esteemed Editorial Board to be amusing...
Their whole thesis is predicated on Donald Trump interfering with Mueller 's investigation ostensibly by pressuring Rosenstein or firing Mueller. While Trump may well be capable of doing both, he has yet to do so in ways that have resulted in indictments.
But that is not the critique that I have of the Board's thinking...
That is reserved for their lack of understanding that Trump is sharp enough to understand that, while Mueller could well be his downfall, Mueller is also his best hope to get out of the scrum, not only alive, but with the ball.
It Is in Trump's best interest for Mueller's process to run its course. It is in Trump's best interest to be declare that he is innocent of any charges.
And even if Trump IS indicted, the revelations over the past half year of the misconduct of the FBI and, by implication, the Department of Justice, gives any defense an opening seriously to challenge Mueller and his team for prosecutorial misconduct.
Going against Mueller is his reputation as an over-zealous prosecutor and an out-of-control leader of the FBI. Mueller has been sanctioned several times, and it was under Mueller's term as head of the FBI that mob boss Whitey Bulger was able to literally get away with murder and to flee to obscurity before honest FBI agents final moved to shut Bulger down.
Mueller's record as a prosecutor along with the FBI management hubris will be his Achilles heel.
The main problem with what this Editorial Piece is about doesn't apply to a man, who has never played by any rules, other than his own emotions, needs, and lies. He really doesn't see why his lies are anything that should be investigated, as isn't a man allowed to change his mind. His volatility is almost beyond being subjected to any of the order or outcome of this investigation. Good Luck to anyone that tries, as they might need to call in the white coats.
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No the president is not above the law. But it strikes me as odd that progressives believe a democrat is above the law. That it's okay for Congress to write legislation that excludes members of Congress. How is it Reps are so evil and must be stopped when Dems are no different?
NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW, or at least it should be that way...
How much more evidence is needed to show that Republicans and conservatives don't care about our Constitution or our laws or institutions, except where it fits their agenda?
How much more closer to "l'etat c'est moi" do we need to get before they stand up for the ideals and laws of our nation?
They certainly tried to find wrongdoing by Hillary for the last 30 years and not a single count, not a single FBI raid, not a single indictment for anything she did, here in reality (not some right-wing fantasy-land)?
And here we have a president who finds contempt for our Constitution and our traditions, who threatened to have political rivals locked up?
Save the country. Save the soldiers. Save the people. Save decency. Save truth. Save generosity. Save kindness. Please, Congress, save us.
Not above the law? So you say but Trump has proven time and time again that, unless the Senate and the House of Representatives of these United State of America are willing to exercise their powers of office, the President may very well exercise powers that place him above the laws of our Constitution.
Puhleeeese. Why are we even discussing this nonsense?
You are NOW in a constitutional crisis and have been since he was nominated.
Gerrymandering a spoils system where my tribe gets all the money. The US needs a good talking too.
In 2010, Mike Pence--then just a congressman--delivered a speech at Hillsdale College, the "conservative Harvard," entitled "The Presidency and the Constitution." In it he expressed the following (among other conservative bromides):
"[T]he president should never forget...that he has not risen above us, but is merely one of us, chosen by ballot, dismissed after his term, tasked not to transform and work his will upon us, but to bear the weight of decision and to carry out faithfully the design laid down in the Constitution in accordance with the Declaration of Independence...
The president is not our teacher, our tutor, our guide or ruler. He does not command us; we command him. We serve neither him nor his vision. It is not his job or his prerogative to redefine custom, law, and beliefs; to appropriate industries; to seize the country, as it were, by the shoulders or by the throat so as to impose by force of theatrical charisma his justice upon 300 million others. It is neither his job nor his prerogative to shift the power of decision away from them, and to him and the acolytes of his choosing."
Of course, this was merely a thinly veiled effort to malign President Obama. The fact that Pence stands watching silently while Trump rages and desecrates every political and constitutional norm imaginable shows him to be a hypocrite of the highest order.
Shame on you, Mr. Pence. Shame.
The importance you place on this subject is revealed by the balancing statements abstracted from Mr. Trump's tweets and the countervailing statements of Republican leaders (sadly of an earlier era) about a president and the rule of law.
The final evidence of this jeremiad as we prepare to enter our constitutional "final exam" is the end-note about the relationship of the editorial board to the paper, its publisher and the opinion section.
I pray for my country alongside your editorial board.
For 242 years we have relied on the Constitution, but we have also relied on the dignity of the office of president, and the statesmanlike qualities of the candidates we elect to that office. Donald Trump has upended this reliance utterly. He has no dignity and absolutely no statesmanlike qualities. He is willfully ignorant, petty and petulant.
Most of all, he believes that he is above the law.
Thank you, New York Times for this editorial. I believe that Donald Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he believes himself to be above the law. If not above the law, at least "smarter than the law." In his business dealings he has had a whole raft of escape mechanisms any time he is faced with something that presents what he perceives to be a danger to him, or with something he just doesn't want to do--like actually honoring contracts and paying people who have provided service for him.
His knowledge of the functioning of government is willfully ignorant. He doesn't understand or chooses to ignore the separation of powers. He thinks that Congress are courtiers who are supposed to do his bidding. He thinks that the courts are his cats paws, handing down his egotistical desires to anyone he doesn't like.
Most disturbingly, he sees government as a personal revenge machine. His presidential powers are things which he can misuse and abuse at will.
Trump is deadly dangerous for our nation. We must first curtail his power to destroy us in November and again in 2020.
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Sadly each and every day trump is in office empowers him further and he like a child on xmas morning discovers previously unknown or unseen gifts under the tree. His repub colleagues are by now frightened of him because they want to stay in office at any cost. Trump is not existing in a vacumm becauise enough of his policies {especially the EPA} have been targets of the rabid right wing for years and they gladly take the crumbs while letting him have the lion share of power. To quote hatch at this point is sheer folly, he's taken as much as he can and set up relatives to contimue taking long after he's gone..The country will just have to weather trump for however long and then just pick up the scattered pieces of what's left of the democracy. Looking at folks like trhe governor in Missouri and his insistence on staying in office with no hint of shame is just the tip of the iceberg that trump has enabled. It has been said that the Civil War was the defining event of this nation, that may no longer ne true. Voting out the current occupant of the wh is as big as deal as the country has ever faced.
The cynic in me thinks the Republicans in congress now are anticipating, actively planning for and enabling a huge Democratic sweep in November. They are retiring in droves -- why? Because Trump's consistent cries of WITCH HUNT will most definitely manifest under a Democratic congress-- the new Democrat majority will impeach him. And rightly so. But it will be a partisan affair. (it will never, ever happen with this congress even if Mueller submits his report tonight with undeniable evidence of crime and editorials like this continue to be published every single day. This congress is a total sham.) Once Trump is impeached under the Democratic congress, the country will be divided and broken beyond repair. I am becoming more and more certain that this is what Trump wants to happen: to be the martyr of a "liberal left" impeachment. He plays the victim so well.
I am nearly 60 years old, and I have lived through the end of the Cold War (air-raid bomb drills under my school desk), the revolutionary 60s (violence in the streets for months on end), Watergate and 9/11. And I have never been so frightened for my country as I am now. (And if you knew me, you'd know I am not one who is easily scared.)
This president has upended leadership in America. His shockingly divisive actions and words, his graceless lack of decorum, his firings and threats, his bald-faced attempt at power-grabbing, and his blatantly autocratic directives -- with no accompanying and forceful rebuttal from those in his party -- remind me that democracies can fail -- even ours. I feel an abyss opening up in America that I have never, in all of my 60 years with all of the historical upheaval, felt until now.
Republican lawmakers need to reread the Constitution (aka: their job descriptions) and understand that their duty is to serve as a check on the presidency. It's not to cower from the threat of Bully Trump's 4 am tweet storms or laugh off his lies with knowing eye rolls. Their job is to act with courage and resolve. It's disheartening to see them shirk their duties while on the government payroll.
We the people must resolve to save our democracy from such people. VOTE!
“This great nation can tolerate a president who makes mistakes,” declared Senator Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican. “But it cannot tolerate one who makes a mistake and then breaks the law to cover it up.”
Unfortunately, such comments in politics today should be qualified to reflect the speaker's true intention by putting a D or R in front of certain nouns and pronouns. Republicans will not tolerate a Democrat president breaking the law, but they will bend over backwards to protect a Republican president who breaks the law so he can stay in office to advance their agendas.
The problem is not now, but was back then.
What I mean is that, republicans ( almost to a man and woman ) voted for this President and administration in the first place. They wanted power and still do. The President ADMITTED ON TAPE that he had sexually assaulted multiple women and yet , they still voted for him. It was all about the tax cuts, the Supreme Court and repealing everything they could from the last administration. ( in particular health care )
They've got two out of three, and now some ( that voted for hypocritically ) are showing a ''backbone'' by sniping from the fringes and/or decided not to run again/retire because of '' family'' or other such nonsense, ( They see the bright writing on the wall of a blue wave )
A Constitution is a piece of paper that has powerful ideas written upon. It only breathes and lives via the people that support it and follow it closely.
I have no confidence that republicans will do so ...
There is only one drawback to invoking the idea that the president is not above the law -- a large chunk of the population thinks that he not only is, but ought to be.
A split that size within a national identity is psychotic. The blame for this situation arises from our poor system of education, which allows people to leave school without ever knowing what the US Constitution allows and disallows, and the reasons why it does so.
The reason our education is so deficient? Because a large portion of the country still does not accept that slavery made the original Constitution produce only civil war, and do not accept that it had to be changed if the country was going to survive ... at least, that is, survive as a democracy.
The Trump and Clinton situations are quite similar. Both involve sleazy actions unrelated to the Presidency - although Clinton's perjury occurred during his Presidency. (Notwithstanding lots of hyperventilating by those who want to impeach Trump, there is no evidence of any collusion with Russia.)
Did Trump pay off former mistresses? Probably.
Did he engage in sleazy real estate deals? Probably. (Can anyone engage in real estate development in NYC without paying off someone?)
But none of this will surprise anyone who voted for Trump. They knew he was an extremely flawed individual. As to whether Trump broke any laws, that remains to be seen, although it wouldn't surprise me if he did.
I was a young adult during the Watergate era. Those of us who remember that era know the cancer that is the Trump administration is far worse than anything evidenced during Nixon's tenure.
Of course Congressional Republicans should do everything possible to protect Mr. Mueller's role and the integrity of his investigation. However, they have had a year to act, in the face of at least two threats by Trump to fire Mr. Mueller, and they've refused to do so. Oh, sure, two or three Republicans have paid lip service to this responsibility, but none of them has the courage to do anything more than provide a sound bite.
We're now witnessing the failure of our Constitutional laws and protections. We now see that they are not self-executing. Our laws are only as strong as those willing to enforce them, and our rights only as protected as those willing to respect them. We see none of these qualities in the Republican leadership. They have abdicated their responsibilities as national leaders, and have become toadies to the dangerous, mentally unfit man now occupying the White House.
Congressional Republicans continue to be terrified of Trump's base. They know they cannot act against him, as long as his support remains rock solid. And so the audience this editorial should really have been directed to is Trump voters. Their role in this national nightmare has been too long ignored. But the fact is, the rule of law is eroding in this country because of them, and only because of them.
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You say the rule of law is eroding in this country because of Trump voters, and only because of them. How about all of the people who did not support Trump in the last election, but who stayed home and withheld their vote because for them, the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was not perfect enough, not their absolute favorite, not the exact right flavor of progressive?
If you're going to talk about the voter responsibility for this mess, let's apportion all of it, not just some of it. Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes. He is President only by the winner-take-all way our antiquated Electoral College apportions the elector votes in some states.
If a few thousand more Democrat/progressive voters in a few key states had taken the long view, the country-saving view, we would have not a perfect fantasy President (because there is no such thing), but we would have an extremely intelligent, competent, sane person, the first woman President, an attorney, a former First Lady, a former Senator, and a former Secretary of State, who was by all her training and previously held offices, the *best* prepared candidate to hold the office, in the entire history of our Republic.
As we confront the potential of a Constitutional crisis if Trump fires Mueller, I hope somebody remembers that is well past time for Congress not only to affirm that the President is not above the law, but also to take vigorous steps to reform the Electoral College.
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Well said. But it remains to be seen if many Republicans are taking it in.
No man or woman is above the law.
Donald Trump appears to think that he was coronated Emperor on January 20, 2017. He must have read that in Article XII of the Constitiution (“I want to protect Article I, Article II, Article XII — go down the list.”). Article XII does not exist.
Trump's knowledge and understanding of how our government works is negligible. He is accustomed to weilding his apparent wealth as a cudgel with which he beats hs opponents. He likes to bluster, and when that fails, to threaten a lawsuit. He makes thngs up and brags about that. He lies a great deal. He scams people, for example through Trump University.
The Legislature is supposed to oversee the Executive Branch. The present Congress, under Republican control, has failed to perform that oversight.
We the people need to start with correcting the behavior of Congress. We need to elect enough Democrats to change who has control of at least one of the two Houses of Congress. In 1974, after Nixon resigned in disgrace, we elected 291 Democrats to Congress in November 1974. This POTUS is at least as corrupt as Nixon was. Can we elect more than 291 Democrats this November? We should also work carefully to flip the Senate, which requires a net pick up of two seats.
There is law and there is vindictiveness and lies. This "investigation" is the latter. What ever happened to losing with dignity? Instead, people rise from the gutters in an attempt to bring others down into it. So sad.
Thank God that neither is McCabe, Comey, and Clinton. I guess the editorial board did not read the Inspector Generals report. I keep wondering what the Company line will be when the Mueller house of cards comes tumbling down...
1
The vagueness of "high crimes and misdemeanors" means a President can be removed from office for almost anything – including making a fool of himself – if there are enough votes in Congress to do so. Congress is supposed to CONTROL the President, not bend the knee to him, as Republicans have done the last two years. What we face now is a problem that can only be solved politically. The Republicans have to be voted out in November and replaced with politicians who are willing to defend the Constitution. This is our last chance to save this country.
Whether or not Trump fires one more person in his lifetime, it's time for the Republican "leadership" to stand up and say "Enough - now!!". Will they? I doubt it. Should they? There can be absolutely no doubt left in any logical, reasonable person's mind.
The President isn't, but thank God special prosecutors are, right?
The Stephanopoulos of the legal world, Bob Mueller must have been high when he first had the thought of calling a legal nondisclosure contract a campaign finance violation. Or is Mueller a long-time reader of Mad Magazine? I'm sure that legal trick is in there somewhere.
We peons outside of the legal profession have always thought the attorney-client privilege was a rich man's trick anyway. Might as well get it out of the law books now than wait for the progressive revolution, right?
"The President Is Not Above the Law"
Oh, yeah? Which law is that?
Despite the claims made in this editorial, history proves otherwise. A quick internet search will show dozens of instances where the White House (and other government agencies) has used its power to subvert justice applied to its occupants by presidents, the FBI, CIA, AG's, etc.. Denying this obvious truth is intellectually dishonest, but a tried and true ploy of the opposing party - and the perpetually self-righteous media. Trump is correct when he complains of disloyalty in his ranks of appointed positions. Of course, a large part of his success is based on promising to destroy those from whom he now seeks loyalty. Is he a "crook"? Most definitely - just like those that came before him, but he doesn't have a network to bail him out.
Trump sure acts like he has a lot to hide.
What is it that he does not want the American people know?
(Besides what's in his tax returns )
If the American people need to find a positive side to the Trump disaster, it is surely the great unveiling of chronic social injustice lingering in the United States for many decades. From the aftermath of revelations following the Weinstein Affair to confirmation of institutional racism still alive and tolerated in many US law enforcement agencies, the election of Donald Trump has served as a catalyst for a thorough taking of stock of what has ALWAYS been wrong with America.
Donald Trump's tweets are embarassing and dangerous. Yet it is possibly internet which will contribute to Americans' need to reform the nation, for it is impossible today for ordinary citizens to ignore the existence of forms of social justice in the rest of the developed Western world. Let us hope Americans have enough motivation to demand affordable higher education and paid vacations which most Europeans (even Russians) largely take for granted today.
The real problem is that our sitting President IS above the law.
The Congressional GOP faction will not rein him in -- they are complicit in their silence and inaction, knowing the damage they do to the rule of law and ignoring their own impact, sitting in mealy-mouthed sanctimonious superiority as if they had operational morals and ethics.
Blue Wave, you can't come soon enough or strong enough.
1
It's almost entertaining to see the people and entities who handed this election to Trump try to act like moral authorities now. The NY Times, James Comey, and/or Joe Scarborough all walking around acting like you didn't have a part in creating this.
I'm missing the part where Congress acts.
The GOP led Congress clearly failed to do anything (anything) constructive since 2010.
I'm not exactly waiting for Congress to ride in to the rescue now that our very Nation is threatened by a nascent dictator, who called those who did not vote for him, and I quote, "enemies."
1
The cost of firing either Rosenstein or Mueller will be catastrophic. What will make it far worse (if that is even possible) will be a shrug response from the Republican Congress. Those Republicans who plan to seek reelection will feel the full hate of the voters. I can think of nothing that will be more beneficial to the Democratic Party.
The President has already proven many times over that he is an immature and horribly flawed human. Congress knows this now and for the sake of the country they profess to respect and care for, they must stand up to Trump and take the side of the law.
1
If there is 3 or 4 rotten apples in a basket on your table chances are you will find most of the rest of the dozen of apples are beginning to rot or at best, are bruised.
The same with the world. Rotten apple have shown up in Germany, Merkel cleaned them out. Poland showing signs of drifting to the right.
Let's all do our best to keep our basket of apples in good health. Let's hope most of the rest of the world does the same. Those that do not, as well those that do, could see our Big Basket, our planet, go up in flames.
I learned this way back in 1949 in my first civics class in 8th grade. Lesson repeated again in 11th grade.
The 2016 presidential campaign saw a tidal wave of negative, fake, and downright crazy social media posts by supporters of both candidates, not to mention the endless vitriol spewed by Fox News against Clinton. To focus on Russian-controlled or Russian-originated tweets and posts and say that they, in even the slightest degree, influenced the outcome of the election, is absurd. The Mueller investigation is simply an exercise in sour grapes by the political establishment. It should be shut down. It is pointless, partisan, and contributes to the poisoning of our relations with Russia.
Virtually every article in the press on trump firing Mueller focuses on what Congress will do or not. Don't forget what "we the people..." Will do. There will be massive protests and rioting in the streets. I am presently canvassing district 4 in CA. I have been talking to many people. The intense anger is palpable. People are ready to explode!!!!
Until journalists get a grip on the basic psychology involved, they will continue to "huff and puff" and fail to focus energy in any useful manner. The whole thing is a circus with Mr. Trump the ringmaster stoking maximum response from the audience based on his underlying warped sense of reality. But, of course, it is not illegal to be mentally ill and this is a country of laws. Simplistic non-sense. Down the slippery slope.
Liberals seem to have awoken from a deep sleep merely because someone named Trump is in the White House. The Constitutional order is at stake, the Editors say. Indeed, it is. It has been, however, since 2001. The Patriot Act moreover is a legislated constitutional exemption authority that has been operating quietly, and otherwise like a ticking time bomb, for years. But it is an example of where liberals, and others, will surrender critical judgment to ideology. In this case, the GWOT is an ideology that has found not only media favor, but media promotion. A potential constitutional fracture will not come about due to Trump and his personal behavior. It may come about however, due to a larger government unchecked and unbalanced.
1
Who is going to explain to the President that he is not above the law? He clearly thinks that obeying the law is optional or a negotiation. Mr. Trump needs a comeuppance. Is our Congress and court system up to the task?
It puts things in perspective to be reminded of Bill Clinton's transgressions. Compared to the scandals of Trump, his family and inner circle, Bill Clinton was playing tiddlywinks.
I for one will not hold my breath and assume Congress will do the right thing. They have done next to nothing over the past decade and what they have done has largely been a miserable failure. Republicans are rotten to the core and Democrats are a bunch of wimps focused on "political correctness".
I suspect there will be ample motivation for voters to finally turn out in force this November. It is our responsibility to take back our country from the mob-like influences dominating politics today. The rule of law is crumbling before our very eyes and it is very likely that the riots of the 60's could look like child's play in comparison if voter apathy prevails.
The big question though is who is going to run for office and have the guts to stand up and leave ideological dogma behind? Will we have people to vote for that we can do so in good conscience? They alternative may well be a civil war.
Surely this will also apply to the next Democratic president.
Let us not get our hopes up about ridding ourselves of the man in the White House. Fox News, the Republican House and Senate, not to mention to the 40% core base, will do anything to maintain the status quo.
1
This is the beginning of the end. Once the connection was made between New York State and federal prosecutors the noose began to tighten around President Trump's neck. He will lash out and fight to the bitter end and I have no doubt it will be a nasty ending. Mr Trump has never really been completely stopped by anyone or anything in his life and he doesn't plan to give in any time soon. The response of the Republicans once this presidency crashes and burns will set the stage for decades to come. Truly deplorable doesn't seem so far off now, does it?
62
If Trump moves quickly there will be no law enforcement in this country by the end of the year. They are all fake organizations because they are out to get him. He thinks they should be there to do his bidding on arresting & jailing his enemies. Only in dictatorships does this happen. No free press, No law enforcement at the Federal Level & no independent court system. He will have his way...constitutionally illegal or not. Who will oppose him?
Trump firing Mueller would be done so a his own peril.
No matter if one supports, despises, Trump, a vast majority of Americans put rule of law above everything else. The functions of local, state and federal government operate, because of rule of law. Anyone, who puts themselves, above the law, are met with swift justice.
Trump, being President, is not immune, or exempted, from the constitutional law that binds this nation. It is ironic, that President Obama, a student of constitutional law, was perceived as above the law by the very people who voted Trump into office. Now, President Obama's successor, seems to daily trample on the constitution and rule of law.
By they, while President's Nixon and Clinton, committed acts worth of investigation,hearings and articles of impeachment, they both accepted rule of law. Nixon resigned, for not putting the nation through more pain. Clinton was tried, but cleared of his charges. The system worked, in both cases.
Trump has already shown he does not believe in rule of law, which makes him very dangerous. It is hoped that the law finally catches up with Trump, and he is dealt with accordingly. It will be a painful process, with a probable end result of the first president removed from office, by impeachment. Let's hope, if it reaches this point, Trump resigns to spare the nation of shame and pain.
3
Adam Davidson, of the New Yorker, just “predicted that the final stage of the Trump presidency had already begun. The investigation into Michael Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer and longtime fixer, marks the beginning of the end.”
James Comey interview only reaffirms this perception, which We The People have already been acting on by electing Dems in every special election. The GOP already is aware of the upcoming Blue Tsunami but the megalomaniac either doesn’t see it or does not understand it. PATHETIC.
Can't wait for the impeachment and subsequent criminal procedures.
3
Link: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/michael-cohen-and-the-end-stage...
Dear Editorial Board, after yet another Sunday morning of wild tweet rants, it just isn't enough anymore to call the president out on 'bluff and bluster'. The man is a danger to democracy and must be removed from office. Please have the courage to call for his impeachment. Thank you.
1
The GOP will not rise to the occasion. It's not capable of honorable actions, not after stealing a Supreme Court seat, trying to destroy health care for millions, and manufacturing budget deficits as an excuse to destroy Social Security and Medicare.
The GOP is a cancer destroying the host of OUR government. The only solution is to vote it out of power.
5
An important and classy editorial documenting that at this time in American history, our nation is at a very precarious juncture in its relatively short status as as the most powerful nation in the world.
Recognizing, however, there is another sharp division among our electorate (besides wealth, education and skin color), which is that the power of the United States comes from either: (1) pure military might due to its gargantuan defense budget (higher than the defense spending of the next 8 highest nations combined); OR (2) its implementation of Enlightenment values by our founding fathers in the structure of this nation along with opportunities for upward mobility and a can-do spirit that helped make it a model for democracy the world over.
History indicates all great and powerful nations come to an end, often by the over extension of its military and associated high "costs"; moral corruption and decay from within; and/or the challenges of a new belief system that provides an opening up period for significant social, economic, and political change.
In a democracy especially, it is not impossible to think our nation might elect a deranged, corrupt, and unfit charismatic person as president, especially in this media age of style over substance. But when powerful segments of the society turn a blind eye to the blatant defects of the character of a leader, excuse corrupt behavior, and support glaring disrespect for the law, ethics, and humans beings, we are toast.
1
This editorial is aimed at the wrong people: the Republican Party will never do anything to jeopardise their power even as it dwindles. They have become Trumps party and will always put party about the country. They will allow a dictatorship if that means holding on to power. Just look at their silence in face of Trump's lies, flip flops, attacks on corporations, individuals, the media, the judiciary, the FBI. There is no one he hasn't attacked but the Republicans are silent.
4
At the end of the day, the president is still a public servant — bound by and beholden to our Constitution.
Let Trump answer to it.
2
My greatest fear is that Mr. Trump's orchestration of the firing of Mr. Mueller could lead to a magnitude of civil unrest this Nation has never before seen.
This is especially problematic when one considers the lengths to which right wing media, Fox in particular, has deliberately attempted through non-sensical propaganda, to undermine the FBI, the CIA, the Justice Department, and honorable career public servants like Mr. Mueller and Mr. Comey.
The contributions of these radical propaganda outfits to this important national debate is, in the opinion of this writer, nothing short of treasonous.
3
You mean we aren't in a state of civil unrest yet?
Why waste ink on something that hasn't happened yet ... this whole editorial is about a hypothetical.
But let's play your game. If Trump were to fire Mueller, etc., etc., there may indeed occur a made-up, invented "constitutional crisis", which will likely end up at SCOTUS and President Trump will win. In fact, not just Trump, but the Presidency and our Republic will win.
This is not about who is above the law: an investigation is not law. A conspiracy with Russia to affect the election of 2016 might be a crime. If so, let's see it. The snail's pace of Mueller is hampering our relationship with Russia, which affects many other international issues. The unhinged Trump-hater left seems OK with that, since it wants to deprive Mr. Trump of any success - if he were about to cure cancer once and for all, you'd hide the vial.
This is not about who is above the law, but about how many branches of government we have. You want to create a fourth branch - in fact, you'd be happiest with a fifth - the media. But alas we have three, and the President is the head of the Administration.
If the fact that the President is Commander-in-Chief is often cited as an excuse for him/her being able to go to war without congressional approval (a view I don't support by the way), why can he not do whatever is in his power as the head of the Administrative branch, including fire people and order them what to do?
The ultimate consequence is at the ballot box.
Which, evidently, you fear.
6
"If so, let's see it. The snail's pace of Mueller is hampering our relationship with Russia, which affects many other international issues."
Read history, it's very enlightening. It took nearly two years for Nixon to be forced to resign. Of course you haven't seen the evidence yet, that's how investigations work...they keep evidence secret until they have the whole story.
And you do realize that four (or more? I'm losing count...) Trump administration officials have pleaded guilty to crimes, don't you?
And to answer your final question: firing a prosecutor that has evidence of criminal behavior by the President is in itself a crime, so yes, he can, but that will be obstruction of justice.
3
Nope - we relish the ballot box. Come November, you will see this miserable administration and congress come down.
4
"Why waste ink on something that hasn't happened yet ... this whole editorial is about a hypothetical."
By that logic, if a president says he might repeal a law, bomb a country, or do _anything_, we shouldn't talk about it until it's done.
4
This is ALL Republican created, fomented, aided and abetted. There is no overall Congressional failure, but solely Republican obstruction of any and all legislation to do due diligence in checking this illegitimate domestic enemy squatting in the White House. The Republican National Committee is a party to it, and I hold every Republican culpable for the damage, destruction and attacks on Americans.
Trump should be out of office at this very moment. The only reason he's still there is a complicit cabinet, a toady Senate Majority Leader and House Majority Leader, failed Republican legislators and dark mony PAC men feeding them all.
4
When the president is supported by a party that will do nothing to put a stop to his lying and misdeeds and yes, even crimes, and who will do anything he wants then his is above the law. End of story.
2
If Republican party thinks Trump is seriously hurting the party and its electoral prospect, then GOP itself can impeach its President and take full responsibility of that and face its consequences.
GOP must now understand they systematically undermining American democracy for long by deliberating promoting Christian fundamentalism, infusing religion (read, Christianity) in education system (besides are policies that damaged American education system), promoted white supremacists, gun lobby and racism. GOP's long term policies promoted liars and morally corrupt people in the party so much so that many of its top leaders (many involved in campaign finance and fund raising, donors) are alleged of sexual harassment, and threatening people who challenged them. Trump just exploited that Republican culture and beat each and every mainstream Republican leaders in the game they made laws about and promoted. Now most Republican leaders in Congress are either scared or strong supporter of Trump to promote their own political interest. Few who dared to stand up against Trump are also forced to retire or leave the party. Now Republican party need to clean up its act and sacrifice short term electoral prospect for its long term benefit or many be even survival.
Donald Trump does not seem to care about the rules of law or the laws of common decency for that matter. Congress is "fake led" by Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to this very day they are taking a very casual approach that is maddening.
No one should be above the law least of all the president.
2
"We quote his words not to level some sort of accusation of hypocrisy"
Though Hatch has firmly and often earned that.
2
All my life I have been told that the takedown of Richard Nixon was a heroic American moment. I have to believe that standards were considerably higher back then. Because if the investigation into Trump and collusion is a point by point reminder of Watergate, then a tragic injustice was perpetrated 44 years ago by yet another narcissistic generation.
"Maybe — and this is the scariest contingency to contemplate — Republican leaders would calculate that with their support, or mere acquiescence, Mr. Trump could get away with it."
To what end? I cannot contort my thinking any further to try an understand just what the GOP think they will gain? If it is shown that Trump broke the law and the GOP allows a criminal to remain in office, do they really believe they keep their power? Again, for what? "A hand with a pen"? Is that all it is?
The GOP is making a grave, grace miscalculation here if they think the citizenry will behave like sheep for Trump; that we will continue to tolerate his lies and insane ranting. The precipice is near, and it is not "we the people" who are going over and into the abyss.
2
As a person #45 is completely unhinged, and as a president he hasn't a clue.
That much is perfectly clear to any sane citizen. He has already attempted to obstruct justice twice, in threatening to fire Mr. Mueller. The dire warning in this editorial should be well-heeded, as the GOP congress is quite capable of ignoring any of #45's impulsive, anti-constitutional actions. We Americans need to rise up as one against this heinous regime, the minute #45 tries to fire the special counsel.
2
There seems to be this unspoken deal that is trump doesn't fire Mueller, then everything is ok and we'll leave him alone. Mueller or not, Trump has to go. We already know he's guilty of a half dozen crimes- the evidence is uncontroverted. Either directly obstructing justice by firing Comey, or inciting it from his Twitter account, or violating the emoluments clause, or using the justice department to attack political enemies (Washington Post), and on and on...
And then when you consider his dishonesty and incompetence and what he's doing both domestically and internationally to our nation and the world. I think he's realized that he can't fire Mueller. He still has to go. Our country and our world desperately need to purge him. This is not debatable. Trump has to go.
1
This is a welcome editorial, though I fear it will do nothing to change the mind of this dangerous narcissist. Mr. Trump (I refuse to acknowledge that man as President) has lived in the shadow of the law his entire life. He made a career off of racial discrimination and highly leveraged trickery. There seems to be little hope that those who have overlooked clear evidence of sexual harassment, numerous affairs (including a violation of election law in the process), collusion with a foreign government and, of course, obvious obstruction of justice to turn on him now. I do not believe that science has yet discovered a method to implant a spine into the spineless.
2
If Donald J. Trump were to fire Mr. Mueller, I am confident that the American people, millions of whom are wary of this president's autocratic tendencies, will not sit idly by and allow the United States of America to descend from its Democratic pinnacle, to its dictatorial base. We will demand action, and I am confident that massive and unrelenting protests will force Congress to uphold its constitutional duties and rid us of Mr. Trump.
2
It is painful to read about Trump family’s criminal deals, and yet, he was elected as the president of this country. He is getting away with committing crimes, thinking that he is above the law. Why people who elected him still support him, knowing what he’s all about?
1
History should be a teacher and a benchmark for learning what is both right and wrong.
Alas, I am struck by the absence of memory and the attention to what we have done before. The degradation of public education and our economic fortunes have clouded any consistent judgement when it comes to electing moral or qualified people.
People who voted for Trump (not Trumpites), say that they don't care what or how he conducts himself as long as he creates jobs and gets the country moving. They have adopted the " hear no evil...see no evil...say no evil" approach to electing public officials...which says a great deal about where our moral compass is as a country right now.
Life is imperfect-I get it...however, it does not mean we cannot strive to elect moral persons to run our goverment and manage our resources...anything other than that is a Faustian bargain..put more bluntly a deal with the devil that we will pay the"piper" later on.
Trump is not just a liar...the evidence is starting to mount that he is an aider and abettor of criminal behavior (at the least) and a criminal at the worst. He is not above the law...
Somewhere, Sam Ervin is smiling.
1
There have been a few telltale signals to emerge from this past year's investigation that are beyond disagreement. The first is that it is mind-boggling how many people in the president's circle have "forgotten" their meetings with Russians. Only when pushed have they recalled those meetings. How can so many people, in such high places, in such a short time-span truly forget meetings with representatives of a nation that is not our friend? They were either incredibly naive to believe such forgetfulness would be excused or assumed that even if caught, Trump would take care of them later.
Second, the president has acted as mouthpiece for all his cronies in stating nothing wrong was ever done. Yet, if he is correct, why is it that all of these people act so guilty? Any parent can tell you that when something wrong has been done in the home, the child who screams loudly that "it wasn't me" (even before an accusation has been leveled) is usually the guilty party. Today, we have entire White House team scurrying about screaming "I didn't do anything!" Trump himself is even worse. He runs about screaming "I did nothing wrong but don't you dare look at my business records!"
Everyone in the predient's circle, including the president, is doing a terrible job of pretending nothing is wrong. When those wrongs are eventually uncovered, Congress can pretend they are of no consequence. If they do, their days of pretending will be very short.
1
Trump is unable to recognize this. Since his youth,,he’s been protected by money and lawyers. I believe that he believes that he’s above the law. The Constitution, checks and balances ? These are mere inconveniences to Trump.
I think that what it will come down to is the Congress. I fear that Republican senators and congressmen will check to see which way the wind is blowing and vote accordingly. This may be the most corrupt and self serving Congress since the days of President Grant.
6
We are already in a constitutional crisis. It has been ongoing for nearly a year and a half. The GOP has so far refused to do anything about and in fact has aided and abetted it.
9
The President of the United States is a public servant. Examine that concept in contrast with Trump's behavior as President. He is not above the law, and he does seem to use the office that he holds for his own purposes.
6
Today was a test day for my seniors in our Economics and Government class. One questions asked was, “What is the rule of law, and what role does it play in a democracy?” Most students got the answer right; “A concept where every member of a society including rulers, must follow the law. All are equal in a democracy and no one is above the law.” It is too bad that our current leader seems to be contemplating testing this concept and in the process, ripping apart the very fabric of our democracy. How do I explain that to my students?
5
Mr. Trump using his office to protect himself from being investigated for campaign wrongdoing is only a constitutional crisis if the US Congress makes it one.
I doubt this current Republican Congress has the moral or ethical fortitude to enforce our Constitution in this instance. It would go against their own ideological, political, and financial best interests. And these self interests are now all that counts with this Republican Congress. The upholding, or not, of the US Constitution is just a means to that end.
MB
7
The Board wrote: "Maybe — and this is the scariest contingency to contemplate — Republican leaders would calculate that with their support, or mere acquiescence, Mr. Trump could get away with it."
This is EXACTLY why the GOP has remained silent - they are hoping trump fires Rosenstein and Mueller in order that they can be free of the constant barrage of the trump empires gang being found guilty of crimes that supported, even tacitly, one country's attack against another.
The Republican party behaves as if afraid of trump's anger (tweets). Why? Because trump regards no boundaries when it comes to enemies; ANYONE who opposes trump is his fair game for attacking back, only "100x more." And that could hurt and possibly cost them in their next district elections.
Do not expect the Republican party to do the right thing, because the incentives for keeping trump are too good:
--passing widespread voter suppression laws,
--gutting govt. of hundreds of office and staff positions,
--reducing govt. institutional budgets,
--overturning hundreds of protective federal laws,
--eliminating federal/scientific research & data from public office websites,
--deporting thousands of immigrants,
--reducing healthcare to a privilege,
--keeping minimum wages low and education costs high, and
--reducing the taxes of the 5% who own 80% of the country.
trump is the store that keeps giving kids free candy. The GOP loves candy.
8
Democracy is in critical condition and we're talking about saving the decision on what extreme measures would be acceptable until after the patient has already coded.
The time to take sides on this issue is here and now
Enough people picking the right side today may prevent the very outcome we fear. It will also hold lawmakers accountable for their future actions if the worst course of events comes to pass.
Our system of government is at stake. We know this. We're reminded every day with every tweet and overt threat to the rule of law.
Democrats have been working on a plan to respond to the firing of Mr. Rosenstein. An anonymous Congressman described it to the National Journal earlier this week as a 24 to 48 hour "cooling-off period" that would give them a chance to "reach out across the aisle" and speak to Republicans about next steps.
Do we not know that firing Mr. Rosenstein is a thing that may very well happen? We're talking about it, right? Why should lawmakers wait to have the serious conversations we elect them and pay them to have? If they don't care enough about the rule of law to care now, then what faith can we have that they will care when the chips are down?
As for the Republicans, when it comes to write about this period in the American story, they will have a prominent place in the history books. Whether they're remembered for standing-up to tyranny or groveling to an autocrat is entirely up to them.
It's time for everyone to make a choice.
5
This editorial hit to the core of what we all should gravely fear. The fundamental and deep belief in the rule of law by which this nation has abided for nearly three centuries is being rapidly eroded away on a daily basis by this administration. The casting of doubt by this president on our most important and valued institutions, particularly the courts, law enforcement, and established, trusted news sources, is in profound conflict with the office he holds and is violently shaking the foundation on which this nation was founded. Once the legitimacy of these institutions is lost, that foundation will collapse and our democracy will be in great peril. My hope is that this New York Times editorial will be studied in the future as a warning taken seriously and not as deeply regretted missed opportunity to demand that our all leaders be held to the highest standards of the law. It could very well make the critical and life-altering difference between maintaining our republic and living under the tyranny of a dictatorship.
2
Many top Republicans agree with Lindsey Graham that if Trump fires Mueller it will be the "beginning of the end of his presidency." They should say the same thing if Trump pardons anyone indicted by Mueller's investigation. Obstruction of justice by any other name is still obstruction of justice.
6
Robert Mueller needs to issue his final report and conclusions...THIS WEEK.
Otherwise, its time for him to resign and admit this has been a total waste of time and money..........
His "investigation" has morphed into an attempt at Blackmail.
1
Millions of Americans voted for Trump. This "investigation" of the President is also targeted at the voters who support him. If the President is expressing frustrations and anger at the direction of it and its intended outcome, he is not alone.
4
Please explain why anyone should be afraid of knowing the truth without regard to who they voted for.
12
This conservative is highly desirous of knowing the truth.
What concerns me, however, is being allowed to see the whole truth...all of the evidence that there is on offer, not the selected tidbits that support a specific conclusion.
I am not sure that Special Prosecutor Mueller and his team will be willing to offer the entirety of their evidence.
Neither am I sure that Special Prosecutor Mueller and his team will actually obtain all of the evidence that is necessary for the public to assess the validity of his work.
Already we know that the most senior levels of the FBI are willing to be "less than candid" when it comes to owning up to their own illegal actions and that those actions were taken for POLITICAL reasons.
Already we know that the FISA application used to start the wiretapping of the Trump Tower may have relied on speculative evidence that should never have been presented and not properly tagged as being funded as a political hit piece by the Clinton campaign.
If Mueller returns no indictments on Trump, Trump is off the hook. However, if Mueller does return indictments against Trump without also returning indictments against all of the others who were found during the investigation to have violated the laws, then Mueller is going to be guilty of selective prosecution.
And, if Mueller is guilty of selective prosecution, he will be justly accused of having a degree of political bias.
That is as much a danger to our Constitution as anything else.
2
I'm sorry, but that's absurd.
If you truly believe that from now on, this is no longer a country of "law and order" but that anybody who gets the support of a minority (or let's say even a majority, because that doesn't matter here) of supporters can simply CLAIM to be innocent and then already has the right to end any investigation that tries to verify whether that's true or not, then you have to admit that you no longer believe in the rule of law, no?
Investigating a president is NOT the same thing AT ALL as investigating all his supporters.
Nobody is claiming that his supporters are criminals. Nobody is even asking for investigating his supporters.
But a bipartisan commission in a GOP-led Congress, together with Trump's OWN Department of Justice picks Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein, decided that an independent investigation had to take place.
You cannot possibly believe that Jeff Sessions is "targeting" you as a person ... and if you do, why would that be true ... ?
A very frightening time for our democracy. No matter what your partisan stripe, we must all agree that no man, woman or institution is above the law.
I am skeptical that the Republicans will put country before party, their recent track record is hardly encouraging, but that is what must happen in a democracy. If the Republicans fail to do this, the electorate must vote them out of office if we want freedom and democracy to be more than just slogans.
6
Mr. Trump has already done terrible damage to our republic by threatening his political enemies and signaling protection of his co-conspirators by official acts and public statements. I am 59 years old and the damage to confidence in our form of government will not be repaired in my lifetime. To the extent that the United States is a symbol of liberal democracy, billions have been harmed by this man.
My father, an Air Force officer, died in service after taking an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Every day Trump is in office is an affront to his memory and the memories of every person in public service, law enforcement or the military who has ever taken that oath.
When I was 10 years old, my dad said that I should only join the military if I was willing to die for the cause our country was engaged in, but if I did, I should not hesitate. He carried a large life insurance policy knowing that he risked his life every day. When he died in a military plane crash in 1970, it was away from combat, but this distinction was meaningless to his wife and four small sons aged 5 to 11.
That day Trump was enjoying a deferment for bone spurs, looking for ways to profit from his ample inheritance. It consumes me with anger to think about it.
8
Actually, Barack Obama leads Trump by a LONG shot in attacking his political opponents. Barack even sued NUNS, for crying out loud. Reporters were jailed or sat at home watching one of Jim Clapper's boys going through her documents, deleting some and reading others.
Obama didn't have to use official acts or statement when he ordered the IRS and EPA to attack his political enemies, they heard it all if dozens of visits to the Oval Office. Obama actually did stuff that Richard Nixon only dreamed of trying.
Nixon and Carter both served in the US Navy during War Time......neither went to Ivy League colleges....both got ridiculed out of office, basicly by the Boomers, who by and large ALL avoided military duty because of the Vietnam War. It sounds to me like,we both are from that tail end of the Boomer generation....that watched the older brothers and sisters engage in wild protest and devolve into meaningless protests that were often see as "fun"....offering no positive alternative other than utopias envisioned while using mind expanding drugs...........Reagan came next....again,,,,no Ivy League background...but with something of a vision......Bush...the first in a long line of Ivy Leaguers, at least served during WW2...but cynically sabotaged everything Reagan built.....then came Clinton, the boomer Ivy League draft dodger....then Dubya, the Ivy Leaguer who ducked serious duty by serving in the AL ANG.....followed by Obama.....actually an Ivy League GenXer, who knew NOTHING about duty and responsibility....finally reverting back to an old-timer,from the Ivy Leagues of course,,,,,, Trump
1
Since when do nuns have any special moral authority? The Little Sisters of the Poor presumed to impose their religious beliefs on their employees. They dissembled--bore false witness--by claiming that to decline to pay for health insurance covering contraception made them complicit in the use of contraception. Really? And given that condoms are the single best way to slow the spread of HIV, are they not complicit in the deaths of people who have died of AIDS by discouraging their use? Obama was right in opposing the Little Sisters in court, and their position was morally bankrupt. Recent events should have made it clear to you that the Catholic Church is not above moral failure and does not deserve a presumption of innocence.
The thing is, Donald Trump has always felt himself to be above the law, even before he had the first notions of running for any office. When the laws placed any kind of responsibilities on Trump as a businessman, he cavalierly ignored those laws and used methods more closely associated with organized crime, things like bribery and intimidation, to evade discovery or punishment.
He is acting no differently now from the way he has always behaved.
7
I am not sure how you are observing that Trump is disobeying the law. It sounds like you are simply parroting what you read in the papers. Remember the old saying, "dont believe everything you read in the papers"? You are being played.
As near as I can discern with my own eyes and ears.....Trump has actually done a respectable job of OBEYING the law, of upholding his oath of office. For all his smack talk and arrogance, Trump has so far carefully obeyed every single judicial order meted out, he has faithfully upheld every piece of legislation placed in front of him by Congress, AND he has dealt more honestly, with more equal treatment all of our foreign neighbors.
You should be more careful of joining the Press Corps generated Mob.
Not much is going to happen until the midterm elections are over.
With trending going the way it seems (and we can only cross our fingers), only then will Congress have a threat to put real pressure on the president.
Until then, Mueller will keep digging and Trump will keep Tweeting.
3
In 1780, John Adams enshrined in the Massachusetts Constitution the primacy of the rule of law by seeking to establish "a government of laws and not of men." President Trump is about to test the fealty of Congress and American people to this principle.
Contemporary psychologists now tell us the human mind favors both strong, singular control mechanisms as well as a love of diversity. Thus, in American political history we worship the so-called "strong father" patriarchy whose chief exponent would be President Nixon who said "when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." Ever since, a whole segment of the male political class has devoted their lives to the advancement of the "unitary executive theory," in which the President is said to be vested with considerably more power than the Constitution affords. President Bush took the nation to war falsely under protection of this theory. Opposing this adherence to monolithic control is consensual, freedom-loving approach of representative democracy.
It is artistically fitting that during this present moment of America's accelerating slide into moral, economic, social and political chaos that the leader and head of it all is a man completely opposed in thought, word and deed to the main principle on which The Republic of the United States of America was founded.
Sometimes it takes a full-scale melt-down for everyone to remember what they really care about. Even Trump's congregation has its limits.
6
You have been completely misled by powerful political men/women who have no interest in you, in the Republic, or anything remotely close to what John Adams said. They only want POWER. And Trump is a threat to their unchallenged grip on Power.
And smears aired on MSNBC don't constitute "due process under law." Ultimately, whatever any prosecutor brings against Donald Trump and members of his team will have to do so in a court of law. There's the only forum that matters.
1
Smears don't constitute due process under the law...
Tell that to Donald 'Nickname' Trump.
1
For smears in the national media, no one takes a back seat to Fox.
1
HLB Enginnering:
Smears on FOX are just fine, right?
1
Part of the issue here is that our system of laws does put the President above the law in too many respects.
From the Trump Presidency, we have learned, or been reminded of, the following:
*Executive Privilege is so sweeping that it nearly provides the sort of blanket protection that diplomatic immunity provides to diplomats. Yet, it's much harder to expel the President.
*Conflict of interest laws that apply to every other member of the Executive branch don't apply to the President.
*Presidents may be able to use their pardon power to pardon themselves. While the theory is untested, the theory itself is not a fringe theory.
*Our means for removing a President who is unfit are too dependent on the principles of those who are most loyal to the President. The 25th Amendment places the power in the hands of the Vice President and the Cabinet, who owe their political futures to the President. Impeachment, designed as a political tool, is perhaps too political for it can seemingly only work when the President and the Congress are from different parties.
*There are no laws requiring routine mental health assessments of the President.
*There are no laws requiring a President to disclose detailed information about taxes and other financial dealings.
*The Presidential Records Act seemingly has no means of enforcement. If it did, President Trump would not still be tweeting from his personal account.
We need laws that hold the President accountable to the rule of law.
7
In the end, we won't be relying on those in office who swore their duty to the United States Constitution. We will all be voting this coming November and in so doing, have the opportunity to lend our voices, small when alone but loud when united, to change how our country is governed.
The leadership we need, want and for some, pray for, can be changed if "We, the People", want to change it. And based on today's public sentiment, that change may be coming quickly. And we as a nation need to let this process move forward as the founders had intended.
No man is above the law but the grey areas regarding "what is the law" exist, perhaps intentionally. But change is coming and unfortunately, some extremely long-time public servants, and perhaps others that are not so "long-time" have already interpreted the ultimate outcome as some have chosen not to run for re-election. Names we know and recognize even though they are from far away districts or states.
The President is not above the law and some of his most prominent supporters have already shown their cards regarding this assumption. But time is our nation's most valuable catalyst during these hard and difficult times. November will tell the story better than any commentator possibly can.
6
I recommend to my friends on the left to forego the ad hominem attacks and come up with policies that The People might actually be willing to support with their votes.
By continuing the personal vendetta against President Trump, you risk alienating the very people on who you must rely to achieve your political goals...
Remember that, as you drive your base to vote on the emotional, you are also encouraging your opposition to bring-out the vote on an emotional basis also.
You lost the election in 2016, and certainly in 2010 as a result of the emotional vote, and as was shown in 2016, the emotional voted did not break your way.
Get back to the politics of reason and you might actually have a chance of taking back some of what you have lost since 2010. There is no guarantee that you will return to power in any legislative body that is now held by the right.
The Owl. You bring out a valid point in what constitutes an "emotional vote". But as I see things, voting has always been an act of emotion.
What makes one run out to polling place? Why bother voting? Does it matter if it is Presidential election or just a mid-term? And most commonly, will my vote matter?
But where your assertion is wrong is in presuming that I lost an election. I never ran for office and most likely never will.
I am not liberal or for that matter seeking to insert a specific form of government. I am an American who simply hopes for good leadership regardless of how my vote was cast. And I encourage all American's to register to vote and then do so.
That said, from my standpoint, we all lost in the elections you mention not because good men and women weren't emotionally moved to vote. But because those who they elected are often self-serving and party driven.
When you whisper the words "political goals", "opposition", "lost elections" ... that didn't "break your way", and conclude with "get back to the politics of reason", at least to me, you reveal your notion that there has to be a better way.
I imagine that you have distrust in openly voicing these inclinations. But trust me, you are on the right track. This is not about Liberal or Conservative. This is simply about right and wrong, something all of us can relate to. The emotion you speak of simply gets in the way and makes it harder to come around.
1
That the editorial board felt compelled to add a brief statement at the end of this thoughtful piece indicating their opinion represents their thoughts and not that of the newsroom and Op-Ed section really defines the age we live in.
This is something that should be understood by any thoughtful American. I assume this is a standard statement (I really don’t remember seeing it before) that I have missed at the bottom of these opinion pieces. But in the context of this opinion piece and the assertion by the President and his supporters of “fake news” for anything that challenges their vision it is troubling. We now see the use of the term by other politicians in Europe and other countries around the world.
We can thank the President and his supporters at Fox News and other spin factories aligned with him for this threat to a free and vibrant press. It is truly a sad day for this country. Thanks to the NYT and others for trying to provide some push back.
7
I see no point in debating the reality of "fake news".....as I believe that ALL news is "fake" to some extent. That is the editor's job......slant the news one way or the other in order to support one political agenda or the other.....and of course, sensationalize it so as to increase sales and the profit margin. "If it bleeds...it leads"...as they say in the ole Newsroom! Or, if its the NYT..."All the news that fits....we print." What I find disgusting is how distorted a picture the present day Media is willing to present..........Arabs protesting their governments with signs in English? Most of the 'facts' on Trump are actually nothing more than rumors or speculation or mockery. Since when did SNL become accurate newscasting? Steven Colbert?? Fox news is obviously just an equally distorted foil to the other news stations(a clever marketing strategy, wouldnt you say?)
The Fourth Estate has a fair degree of responsibility for the term "fake news" being able to gain such a foothold...
One only has to look at Wolf Blitzer's show and his breathless announcements of breaking news that is hardly worthy of being news. Rachel Maddow has had a couple of these, as has the Washington Post and, yes, the New York Times.
And before all of you liberals get caught up in nuclear excitement, Fox News has had its share of whoppers, too.
1
It is by now blatantly obvious that for most Republicans in Congress retaining the majority is much more important that the rule of law. Only a willfully blind and deaf man can claim that Trump is fit for office. GOP Congressmen may be not be the brightest collection of Americans but are not deluded fools. They know that if Trump falls so goes their grip on Congress. If the Trump voters turn against them nothing will stand between them and a wave of Democrats sweeping them out of office. Trump knows his survival depends on his unwavering base, which is why he keeps throwing it bones to inflame it. That is how he got where he is and that is how he intends to remain.
6
Regardless how you feel about Trump it is absurd to allow a civil suit against a President to go forward while the President holds office. The Lewinsky matter should not have been allowed to go forward against Clinton. Congress, then under Republican control, should have had the good sense to enact legislation staying the proceedings, but of course they wanted to get even for Watergate. Now, we have this silly suit against Trump, and agai,n we need a law staying this kind of suit. The President is one-third of our government and does not have time for selfish, partisan games.
We also need to get off this obsession with so-called "obstruction of justice". Of course a President is not above the law, but at the same time, any President is inevitably at the center of a political firestorm, and has to have some flexibility to counter his political enemies. The President should not be expected to operate with his political hands tied behind him. If Trump fired Comey, so what? He had every right under the constitution to do so. Arguing his motives were not entirely pure is overeach.
I wish the leaders in both parties would hold a conference, reach a nonsense on how we are going to run our democracy. Let's agree in general we are going to return to fighting out policy and cultural wars at the ballot box.
Most constitutional lawyers I've been reading are saying that the President has the constitutional power to fire Rosenstein and/or Mueller, however foolish he would be to do so. Many people realize also that shutting down the Mueller investigation wouldn't shut down investigations/grand jury proceedings in New York, which are independent of the Justice Department. Unless and until Mueller (or his successor, if any) issues a report --- to the Justice Department, we have yet to learn of a law that Mr. Trump has broken --- what we know is that several of his cohorts have either admitted to doing so, indicted, or are under investigation.
3
Ah, several have been caught up in Mueller's web.
We have yet to see any of them challenged, yet, so we really don't yet know whether Mueller actually has the goods. Right now he is sitting with indictments on peripheral stuff, and some of those who have plead guilty may have their pleas rejected.
It's time for all to sit back an let the legal system run its course. Remember, how guilty O.J. Simpson appeared to be at his trial for the murders of his ex-wife and a conscientious restaurant employee.
1
He won't fire Mueller because there was no collusion with the Russians by the Trump campaign. I'd does appear that Trump does like to keep people whipped up while he goes about essentially neutering agencies such as the EPA while everyone watches the train wreck.
Yes, it would be more effective for the left to focus on what is happening instead of gleefully constructing scenarios in which Trump can be the villain.
But to do so might not tap into the emotions of the base and might force the left to articulate workable...and supportable...policies and programs.
Paul Ryan has decided not to run for re-election. That is your answer to the question of “will the Republicans do the right thing”. Ryan is running away because he does not want to deal with a Trump impeachment and all the associated headaches. I do not think for a minute the Republicans will do the right thing. Trump can fire Mueller without impunity and the current brand of Republicans will do nothing. This is going to be the death of the Republican Party or the death of the United States constitution.
12
Lets keep this simple. The president is above the law if the law is changed. There is no freedom of the press if the law is changed. There is no freedom if the law is changed. There is no law.
2
The problem the US faces is that trump thinks he *is* the law just the same when he was a property developer and his investors and employees were beholden to him. The problem rises to the level of crisis because his supporters think this is just fine.
2
The New York Times Editorial Board was compelled by events and duty to write this opinion. It is historic. The most widely-read and widely-respected major news outlet recognized a juncture, a juncture relative to their "free press" standing in this republic.
This is no small thing - to state that our President "is openly attacking both Mr. Mueller and Rod Rosenstein".
Nor is it a small thing - to publically inform Republican leadership that "the scariest contingency to contemplate — Republican leaders would calculate that with their support, or mere acquiescence, Mr. Trump could get away with it."
There is zero doubt in my mind: this was a clearly defined juncture for the NYT Editorial Board. Before this opinion was published, many discussions of a free press' duty occurred with professional introspective review. This is evident in weight, measure, and tone.
No, this opinion is not a small thing. This opinion was leadership.
Leaders define where a line of duty is laid; and when duty demands, leaders carry-out a planned, unequivocal response. If our Congressional leaders and members are unprepared to succeed (act), they will not.
11
Just to be clear: it's a fact--- not an opinion--- that Trump attacked Mueller, and Rosenstein. Here's part of a tweet he put out last Wednesday:
"Much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation, headed up by the all Democrat loyalists, or people that worked for Obama. Mueller is most conflicted of all (except Rosenstein who signed FISA & Comey letter)."
So, here's the tally of negative attack labels he's smeared Mueller and Rosenstein with so far: "fake," "corrupt," and "conflicted." As the investigation continues, we can expect that his condemnations will become even harsher and more untethered from reality. Any bets on how long it is before he calls Mueller "immoral" or "traitor"?
1
Who is attacking who? From a different perspective, it looks like Mueller and Rosenstein are BLACKMAILING the President.
Just so Trump understands... if he obstructs justice by firing anyone who will hamper the Mueller investigation, there will be such an outpouring of protests that the Arab spring will look like a little league baseball game. Don't do it Mr. Trump unless you want to see this country descend into Civil War. Maybe that's what you want. But, you won't be happy with the result. None of us will be. And it's possible none of us will survive.
1
A CIVIL WAR MAY ALREADY BE UPON US
Political divisions have been a constant of U.S. politics. But we now have a president who treats anyone who disagrees with him as an enemy worthy only of contempt, insult and ridicule. The voice of a statesman trying to unite the nation has been replaced by the shouts of a rabble rouser stoking a partisan crowd with a bullhorn.
The result has been a political climate so toxic and estranged that reasonable debate has become impossible. People avoid any discussions of politics with family and friends who they know disagree. They fear it will trigger a relationship-ending quarrel. And so much has become politicized: healthcare, the economy, world trade, taxes, even sports.
Instead of reasonable debate, we huddle in our bubbles of the like-minded, demonizing those with whom we disagree while we stoke our sense of righteousness. The truth becomes what we want to believe and anyone who dares tell us otherwise is a liar.
If the first casualty of war is truth, then this nation is already at war.
How do we avoid escalating this conflict? I don’t have a simple answer. But it’s clear our nation will enter a conflict we’ll all later regret if we continue down this divisive path.
6
It's fascism that is dividing this nation. Trump and his followers or supporters do not believe following the letter of the law and are undermining the fabric of our society. If he disagrees with a court ruling, he attacks the judge and the courts.
He has unbridled contempt for the Constitution. He doesn't want to read it or even hear about it. Republicans in control of Congress are acting like spineless cowards. They have forfeited their power to exercise their independence over his autocracy. That leaves the rest of us, who are against everything Trump stands for, with two options. Vote for the Democratic candidates in the mid terms in hopes of restoring an independent Legislative Branch or take to the streets.
I'll opt for the first option.
A well put argument. I hesitate to use the term civil war to describe where we seem to be headed, but there is no doubt that it is a potential we face. The NRA is no longer just an advocate for a gun in every hand, it espouses a neo-fascist outlook on its television channel and in advertisements, insisting that when there is any sort of disruptive public dissent, the police have no choice but the crackdown with "the iron fist". (Its spokeswoman added "the iron fist of truth", but the addition of that word is meaningless. Iron fist is what people here and some cheer.) The cheap politicians who make up the Freedom Caucus in the House have been raised on right wing talk radio and are imbued with its spirit to disregard settling arguments but, instead, always making them worse. The right wing media, in turn, has no interest in resolving problems because they take in millions through continual disrupt and distrust.
Civil war, indeed, is a looming potential of which we must be aware while trying to avoid being alarmist.
1
He's built a cult following with of the vast majority of the Republican party. I believed he'd never be elected, I believed his supporters would turn on him once they saw his failures. It's time to stop underestimating him. The longer he continues to operate like this without consequence, the more normalized it gets. The window to draw a line isn't going to be open forever.
6
If Trump fires either or both Rosenstein and Mueller it will be tantamount to a confession of the guilt his behavior up to this point more than suggests. If the American people support the Republican party after they choose to support Trump after such an action than we get exactly what we deserve.
At some point, you have to put responsibility on the American voters themselves to do the right thing. Fox News propaganda is no excuse, there has to be enough Americans with the knowledge of history and government to put partisanship aside and sweep the bums out of power for a very long time should they nakedly choose power over law.
6
Orrin Hatch believes that this president is above the law because Hatch and his accomplices in the Senate and Congress refuse to protect Robert Mueller from a possible firing by the president, without cause. Republicans on the Hill know full well that the president wants Mueller gone but are loath to consider new legislation to protect him from presidential pique.
Hatch was ready to go after Bill Clinton but now finds excuses to drag his feet to prevent a certain Constitutional crisis if Mueller is dismissed. Yes, the president is full of bluster but he has no respect for the rule of law. That's why Hatch and his fellow senators need to read the president the riot act now, before it's too late.
3
Supposedly, "The President Is Not Above The Law", but since the era (and error) of the "National Security State and the Double Government" [Michael Glennon] c. 1947, 'we the American people' have been living under the threat of a potential "Imperial Presidency".
Most presidents, particularly Ike Eisenhower in his farewell address, have avoided the temptation of expanding that merely 'potential' role, and the overt appearance of actually 'acting like an Emperor' --- but faux-Emperor Trump, in this new 21st century of this metastasizing Disguised Global Capitalist Empire, has crossed the Rubicon (or Potomac).
Empire, is the ultimate existential threat to any coutry and people --- and more so in the case of an extremely well disguised, truly global, and capitalist-fueled Empire which lures and lulls 'consumers' with the softer propagandist powers of advertising, rather than representing 'citizens' with the responsibility and power to maintain the "concent of the governed".
Ironically, and fortunately, we have the opportunity to awaken to the problem of being ruled by an Empire --- as our forefathers knew so well --- precisely because of the alarm, not of Paul Revere, but of faux-Emperor Trump.
As my only (and peaceful) protest sign reads on the front side:
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
and under the image of an American flag, on the other side:
"We can't be
an EMPIRE"
49
I believe this type of talk does nobody any good - it whips up panic in an already stressed society. Elections (several special elections) are still being held, and have gone against all odds to Democrats. Various candidates for whom Trump has shown support have gone down in flames. We have elections coming in six months that will allow the will of the people to be exercised. While calling Trump out on his constant lying, tweeting, conduct unbecoming the office of POTUS, and backing up our words by getting out to vote - we should not fall into a state of hysterical claims that we are heading toward fascism, or Imperialism. It is distressing enough to see the state of things in Washington, but there are a few clues that even complicit Republicans see the writing on the wall - the many resignations are one clue. As Trump continues to unravel, as the law closes in around him - things may get worse, but we have to control our own worst urges of panic about Trump having enough power to circumvent our Constitution. While I have seen things these last two years that I never believed I would see in my lifetime - I still have faith in the spirit of the American people, the Constitution, and the rule of law.
I feel sorry for you. As an american citizen, you are expected to think for yourself....not become a pawn of partisan Press Corps exagerated journalism.
Beware the Mob.....that is how you avoid Empire.
Absent enforcement of the rule of law we have chaos and lawlessness like that which we are currently experiencing at the hands of Trump and the GOP.
The fact that Trump has been allowed to remain in office in the face of his lawlessness proves that our "experiment" is over. It's done. Stick a knife in it.
We have a different nation now and a different set of political rules that will challenge ever single law that gets in its way.
If American citizens refuse to vote and pay attention to what these people are doing, the experiment will not survive this Congress and this president.
2
No one is above the law and no American citizen is below it. We all have equal legal rights and responsibilities, but somehow many people have become convinced that we must put up with shady dealings and gross behavior from the people who are in office because we put them there. We do not have to take that and continue to be governed by bad actors. We Americans must have enough understanding and personal respect to exercise our powers.
3
We are at the point of losing our country. And yet too many people that I talk to think Trump is doing a good job and that Obama and Clinton are the real criminals. And now they also point their fingers at Comey, Mueller, and Rosenstein. These are the folks that they want to see in orange jumpsuits and shackles, going to jail. These are the Trump supporters who are gathering in their evangelical prayer groups to petition God for Trump to save their country. I find it interesting that Trump is taking a four-day golf trip this week--in the midst of everything that is going on in DC. Does he plan to do his firing from the 10th tee? Time will tell. Those of us who want to save our country are going to have to get out and vote to send candidates to Congress that will hold Trump and the GOP accountable for their behavior. The answer is at the ballot box--I just hope it's not to late when November rolls around.
6
This is much more than a constitutional crisis, it is a mob control crisis. Trump's popularity is increasing in the Republican base with every new revelation of corruption and criminality. The Republicans in congress are not afraid of dumping Trump, they are terrified of the vengeful mobs he could unleash.
The Republicans in congress may dismiss obstruction of justice as "a matter of opinion" and the collusion with Russians they will regard merely has harmless discussions. They real harm to Trump, unavoidable and indefensible by his supporters, would be RICO (The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act).
Al Capone was put into prison for tax evasion. That is what terrorizes Trump - the criminal and financial malfeasance to be exposed by the FBI raid on his lawyer's records. If only half of what is suspected turns out to be verifiable, Trump will spend the remainder of his life in prison. At this point, mere impeachment is the least of his problems.
5
"Alas, that whiff of higher executive function is gone." Excellent--of course, it refers to the functions of the frontal lobes of the brain. But there is also still another tactic that Trump could use to save himself and throw the American nation under the bus--pardons for all! How we'd get out of the way of the wheels of that bus would remain to be seen.
The American body politic has contracted a virus for which it has no antibodies. Few, if any of us, has ever encountered a person like our current president, who was elected because voters mistakenly believed what they had seen on TV, without understanding that everything on TV, particularly "Reality TV", is a fabrication.
For 200 years the American political system functioned on a series of assumptions and traditions that we took for granted. When the Republicans denied Obama his right to appoint a Supreme Court justice, they were indicating that the old rules and traditions of fair play and decency no longer mattered. When Trump became the leader of a one party government, checks and balances were rendered largely ineffective.
Now that we understand the symptoms of Trumpitis, legislative measures will be needed to create the antibodies to neutralize future corrupt demagogues, until then our only antidote against this plague will rest with the uncertainties of voter choice.
4
According to Bernie's babies and bullies there was no difference between Trump and Clinton, so they stayed home and this is what's we got.
From Gorsuch ad the courts to science, the environment, education, housing, healthcare system, taxes, honoring agreements and treaties, our global standing to name but a few of Trump's horrors
I'm waiting to hear a mea culpa.
4
When the Democrats take back the House of Representatives in November (and they WILL), the impeachment of Donald J Trump will be the first order of business. The problem however, is that they will likely not win enough seats in the Senate to secure a conviction that would at long last remove him from office. In the meantime, Trump will continue his assault on the rule of law and continue to loot the Treasury. We haven't even hit bottom yet.
2
The thing is - if Mr. Trump fires Mr. Mueller, many of us will take to the streets. If we take to the streets, Mr. Trump will declare martial law and suspend further elections in what he will purport to be a necessary move to safeguard security. He will officially muzzle unfavorable press. Consider, also, Trump supporters are the civilians with the guns.
The military is going to have to make some hard decisions. Are you with the majority of citizens of the United States or against us?
Most people, because they don't have the time or don't have the inclination, don't follow the news as closely as those of us who typically comment in this forum. They are at the mercy of Fox News and its ilk or more conventional news with its abbreviated stories, sound bites, and feel-good human interest segments.
"Ignorance and misinformation can handicap the progress of a city or a company, but they can, if allowed to prevail in foreign policy, handicap this country's security. In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, America's leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem."
excerpt from JFK's speech, undelivered, Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963
Substitute domestic policy and there you have it.
3
The thing is - if Mr. Trump fires Mr. Mueller, many of us will take to the streets. If we take to the streets, Mr. Trump will declare martial law and suspend further elections in what he will purport to be a necessary move to safeguard security. He will officially muzzle unfavorable press. Consider, also, Trump supporters are the civilians with the guns.
The military is going to have to make some hard decisions. Are you with the majority of citizens of the United States or against us?
Most people, because they don't have the time or don't have the inclination, don't follow the news as closely as those of us who typically comment in this forum. They are at the mercy of Fox News and its ilk or more conventional news with its abbreviated stories, sound bites, and feel-good human interest segments.
"Ignorance and misinformation can handicap the progress of a city or a company, but they can, if allowed to prevail in foreign policy, handicap this country's security. In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, America's leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem."
excerpt from JFK's speech, undelivered, Dallas, Nov. 22, 1963
Substitute domestic policy and there you have it.
2
While traveling this past week, I skipped passed the Fox business news channel and happened on a Lou Dobbs "interview" with a House member of the so called "Freedom Caucus". He was saying that the investigation by the Special Counsel is fake. He was not challenged on this assertion because, of course, Dobbs and Fox support that idea.
So long as a black man or a poor white person is arrested by police and forced to either plead guilty or face a trial he can't pay for, the Republicans are for law and order, night and day. Crackdown! Lock'em up, throw away the key! Yet, the Mueller investigation has to date resulted in indictments of a number of those around Trump and of 13 Russians who were trying to distort our election process for the benefit of their country. This is a fake investigation? Yes, if you are Republican and, quite suddenly, the rule of law and the ordinary court process doesn't look so good. Suddenly, it is being used for politic ends.
The far right, their owned and operated media and Republicans generally, are laying the groundwork for a schism in America which cannot be repaired. No amount of healing will work if circumstances force the impeachment or resignation of Trump. Yet, ultimately, they are working for their own defeat because in a nation where citizens have no trust in each other, or in the legitimacy of the justice system, cannot survive, cannot work for common solutions, but only more conflict. We are headed toward a dark place at light speed.
2
This has to end - this presidency has long been a cancer and it is metastasizing daily and at breakneck speed. The damage to America has been and is profound, deep, and continuing. And I say this as a Canadian who is not a great fan of American foreign policy, but I recognize the importance of a stable and strong America to international peace and good order . . . God, how I miss President Obama.
4
The polarization in this country, which helped elect Mr. Trump, is the true enemy.
We can all have a great time in the partisan mud wrestling match, but what happens if it becomes real? What happens if our budget explodes, the debts we have to other nations come due, and military and economic foes lead to the loss of America's sense of leadership and idealism in the world?
What happens if the partisan divide leads us to hate each so much that the rule of law succumbs? Inside all the vitriol could be a loss in our nation's ability to respond. What are we going to do if the fears of Trumps criminality are revealed to be true in the courts? What if some tiny minority of the 35% of President Trump's supporters cannot accept this reality, like the reality that global warming is real and evolution happens? Could our ignorance and partisanship lead to actual violence among Americans if legitimate legal means are used?
It is looking very much like we as a nation have to confront out narcissist "leader". His personal ambitions and delusions are always going to be unassailable in his mind. Maybe the Republicans in Congress finally come around to realize the true danger in being the fuel of Trumps narcissism. When that happens, we can just hope that the rule of law can overcome the tribalism that got us here.
2
If trump fires Mueller and/or Rosenstein, we need a nationwide strike. I do not believe this GOP Congress will hold him accountable, so we must force them to do their job.
2
The bottom line is that the NY Times had a much different position when Bill Clinton placed himself above the law and the Democrats in the Senate protected him. The vote to remove him from office was 50-50 and not a single Democrat voted to remove Clinton. Clinton lied repeatedly to a federal judge in a case accusing him of sexual predation that he eventually settled for almost a million dollars. Clinton attempted to suborn perjury from his secretary, a government employee, calling her in to the office on her day off to try to convince her to testify that Monica Lewinsky was her friend and did not have a relationship with Clinton. Clinton used the full force his administration, all government employees, to try to discredit her as a witness against him and to prevent the courts and investigators from knowing the truth. There is nothing to debate. Clinton lied under oath, obstructed justice, and abused his power as president to prevent the administration of justice. Thus, Trump's most ardent critics, including the Times, lack even a scintilla of moral authority. I suspect that Trump may have done something impeachable, but the defenders of Bill Clinton 20 years ago laid the foundation for Trump's defense. Don't blame the Republicans if they rally around the president of their party. As troubling as the prospect is, they will only be following precedent established by Democrats and endorsed by the Times.
1
I'm sorry, but lying under oath about having a mistress means lying about your private sex life (and he did so, obviously, in order to save his marriage). Democrats at the time decided that that does NOT impair his competence as president.
And now you guys are using this as a pretext to support a president who not only divorced three times, but had multiple affairs during those marriages (including the last one, and including when his wife was pregnant), lied about them, and brags about assaulting women ... ?
What kind of childish excuse is this ... ? "You started so now I'm going to actively promote something much worse!" ... ? What about trying to MAGA ... ? Did you already forget that slogan?
That being said, this is not about Trump's private life at all, it's about something MUCH more serious and important: collusion with Russia, one of our biggest enemies.
No president EVER decided to end such kind of investigations before they were over, and doing so would end the independence of the DOJ, even though that independence is enshrined in the Constitution.
So THAT is what's at stake here, you see? Not whether Trump lied to his wives and the American people about his many affairs - as he obviously did.
How bizarre to see Dennis Hastert's noble words expressing indignance at Bill Clinton's attempted cover-up of an extramarital affair: "Republicans in the Congress can be proud that they stood by the principles that have made this nation strong . . ."
Of course, now we know that Hastert was actively paying off men whom he had molested when they were boys, back when he was their trusted wrestling coach.
How could any of us possibly have faith in this current Republican Congress to punish Trump for subverting our democracy? Members of Trump's base absorb Fox's skewed narratives, then pressure their Republican representatives to play along . . . or pay the consequences.
Until this dynamic shifts, we are stuck with an amoral narcissist in charge.
So it comes down to the majority of us who are disgusted by this whole phenomenon to take it to the streets if Trump shuts down the Russian investigation. For days. For weeks. As long as it takes. Everyone should reduce their consumption of goods, especially gasoline, as much as possible. It's also worth considering withdrawing all of your money from your bank and moving it to a credit union. Putting pressure on the titans of business, in any and every way possible, will be paramount in this situation. Individually, we have no leverage.
Real patriots will react strongly in this constitutional crisis and not relent, grow complacent, or retreat into the myriad distractions that the digital world offers.
1
Thanks.
This so-called president has disgraced the office. His tweets read like they are straight from his enabling paper, the National Enquirer.
Please also call out Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich for their disgraceful characterization of the "crime family" of Mueller.
3
It's difficult to have any faith that Mr. Hatch and his fellow senators will really do much if Trump fires Mueller. In fact, I'd say it's very unlikely. Republicans in Congress, and Mr. Hatch in particular, have shown no inclination to deter Trump in any way. They enthusiastically voted for his unfair and damaging tax plan, and they have never spoken against any of his executive orders or nominations. Rubber stamp is too mild to describe the approval given to all Trump actions. So, no, I think Mr. Hatch is promising much more than he will be willing to deliver when the time comes. Trump can shut down Mueller's investigation any time he chooses. There may be some posturing by a few Republicans in Congress, just for appearances, but in the end, unless the Democrats can muster the votes, Trump will face no fallout at all.
83
The Democrats will not do anything as well.
It is shocking to think how many Republicans, in Congress and elsewhere, believe that they can indefinitely "get away with" evading the law and their own sworn oaths of office. Those who fail to fulfill their Constitutional obligations should not only be voted out of office -- permanently -- but should also be prosecuted for aiding and abetting the obstruction of justice themselves.
As the celebrated document puts it: "...and Justice for All."
5
As to the juvenile locked in solitary at Rikers Island, maybe we should remember that S/H was assumed ‘guilty’ prior to trial.
That juvenile, and thousands others, suffer untold trauma as their lives slip away.
So, why cannot trump relax in the spa of federal prison while his guilt is proven?
We know we where is, and we’ve heard what he’s said.
Enough already.
1
Most, if not everyone reading this editorial knows that no one is above the law... except Donald Trump. This man honestly believes that being in the Oval Office shields him from scrutiny. His cabinet, what's left of it, is incapable of and afraid of impressing the idea that Mr. Trump is possibly in serious legal jeopardy. He thinks he's KOTUS. King of the US, not President.
Where will there be an end to all this? I hate to imagine it but I'm starting to visualize the Feds showing up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW with a warrant.
I sincerely hope I'm wrong.
4
No one is above the Law:
Not the president.
Not Representatives and Senators either! They cannot put allegiance to party or president above their Oaths of Office. Defense of the Constitution must come first. Failing that, they too are in violation of the law.
Those in Congress who are unable or unwilling to place Loyalty to Constitution above all else should resign. For they are no longer fit to serve.
13
We often forget that within the history of world powers and governments, our republican democracy is so far only a blip at under 300 years. The U.S. has only been a superpower for 80 years, give or take. That's nothing in the grand scheme of things. I say this because if we take for granted our own wonderful-but-flawed system of government, it's not out of the realm of possibility that we could lose it. We need to stand up and protect what the founders created. If Americans don't get out there and vote for decency and honesty, we deserve what we get.
16
But it's worth noting that the last time Americans voted for decency and honesty, they got Trump instead, a burden that no country deserves.
6
HR: Wake up and smell the coffee! We lost our republican democracy on 22 November 1963 when JFK was assassinated, a political murder in which the v.p.,FBI head Hoover, TEXAS oil men, JCS and INTEL. agencies were involved. Recall "avertissement" by IKE about preponderant influence of mil. ind. complex. JFK wanted out of VN, and above mentioned sought lucrative defense contracts if we became widely involved. Garson, author of Macbird was asked if she really believed that LBJ was complicit in the conspiracy, and she replied that his participation was the least of his crimes!Nothing in American life has been the same since!Read Fensterwald, whom I worked for as a researcher and who was def. atty. for James Earl Ray, PROUTY, SUMMERS, LANE among others. They are not "conspiracy theorists," but as Roger Stone put it, they are conspiracy realists.Who defines honesty and decency?Myth that "we deserve what we get" since often we are presented with choices, all of which are unacceptable!Have seen no proof that 1 vote was changed as a result of "Russian involvement!"President should be allowed to serve out his term, perhaps two terms, to serve the American people honorably!
That this president shows both contempt for, and holds himself above the law should surprise nobody -- After all, this is what got him elected.
As a candidate, Donald Trump always presented himself as one who couldn't care less about government or the politics surrounding the office, and his appeal was to those who thought he would bring about "change".
It's too bad they didn't realize that they would be putting this country and the U.S. Constitution at risk by voting for him.
And now that there's not so much as a shadow of a doubt about the extremes he went to in order obtain his position, and the extent to which he is using thise privileges to enrich himself, while engaging in actions and rhetoric that may well supercede convention and possibly upend the U.S. justice system, Americans should take note and exercise their privilege and right to vote.
Especially as there is no longer an independent Congress to represent the will of the People.
So, VOTE.
Nothing less than the future of our nation depends on it.
16
Under the law:
The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation defined in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:
(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
(iii) any other matters within the scope of the Special Counsel law.
If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, he is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters (e.g., obstruction of justice).
Mr. Mueller investigated the Cohen case before transferring it. And he has investigated Trump Corporation. These matters may or may not fit within Mueller's jurisdiction. I think it is a close question and that Trump has the right to challenge whether Mueller exceeded his jurisdiction.
If Mueller's investigation complies with the law, Trump is a dead duck. If not, Mueller's replacement may be authorized. That is the law. Too many folks ignore the law in furtherance of what seems right to them. That is not how it works.
Point (ii) actually gives Mueller the authority to investigate ANY matter that arose during the investigation.
So no, Trump cannot claim that Mueller exceeded his jurisdiction, as the law itself stipulates that anything that Mueller discovers during his investigation or that he might deem relevant, by definition should be investigated by him.
That's why the Times is right, and Trump shouldn't fire Mueller under ANY pretext. Mueller is a Republican who is getting clear bipartisan support in Congress, and from a majority of the American people. He's also highly competent and professional, according to both sides of the aisle. So now, he needs to be able to do his job.
If he'd ever make mistakes during his investigation (and it's human to make mistakes, so we can't discard that possibility), Trump's lawyers will have all the time needed to publicly expose those mistakes, as is the case in any fair process.
If however Trump himself ends the investigation, he's literally putting himself above the law, as that means refusing to comply with an ongoing investigation.
10
It's not "a close question" at all. If Mueller finds information that could be evidence of a crime, he is not only authorized but duty-bound to investigate it, or refer it to another prosecutor for investigation. It would not be surprising to learn that the Trump Organization is anything but tangential.
1
Trump’s dealings with the Russians, dating back many years, have been conducted through various entities of the Trump Organization. Trump made no effort to maintain clear boundaries between his campaign and his Organization. It’s hard to see how Mueller could even begin to satisfy his narrowest mandate, (i) above, without investigating the Trump Organization. If Cohen did meet Russian representatives in Prague, or anywhere else, it’s hard to see how investigating him exceeds Mueller’s jurisdiction. I don’t see how this is a “close question” except to those whose goals are obfuscation and obstruction.
Vote. Americans this is something we must do. I work elections and the percentage of people who are registered to vote vs. those who vote is embarrassing. Our constitution gives us the right and privilege to vote. It is our duty and responsibility to vote. Vote. Please vote.
45
Sally, I don't disagree but The simple act of voting cannot override the gross manipulation of our elections via gerrymandering and other actions.
Add to this the gutting of the Voter Rights Act and people ARE actively being kept from voting.
For instance, in Alabama, they began requiring ID for voting. Soon after, they state began closing DMVs, many of them in impoverished areas.
In short, it's simply not as simple as people choosing to not go the polls.
8
3 million votes discarded by the Electoral College was just the tip of the iceberg of voter nullification in this totally broken relic of slavery system.
The concluding sentence reminds us that this self governing thing is still very much an experiment, and one that at the moment does not appear to be working out all that well.
9
I think it worked as well as it could. In today's culture, the only possible candidate to take on a massive Neocon-Neoliberal Uniparty was a self funded Billionaire who was well known.
"Alas, that whiff of higher executive function is gone." To me, that sentence buried in an excellent editorial sums up the inescapable truth that has characterized Trump's wild ride from the moment he declared through today. The man does not possess a working executive function, nonetheless a higher level of one. That may be a strange thing to say about someone considered a "brilliant businessman", but the fact that he enjoys that facade is a result of an entirely different set of skills, none of which are pertinent to the presidency; in fact, quite the opposite.
Like the editors, I hold out hope that the Republicans will do their jobs and ensure that this investigation continues. My argument would be about partisanship, but not in the usual sense. Right now we are experiencing a level of partisanship that is as dangerously toxic as it gets. I would suggest that in such situations, which we have faced before, what appears to be a "fix" in the form of an intervention of any kind, from the Saturday night massacre to the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v Gore, the results are not palliative but exacerbate the underlying dissension bringing it to crisis proportions, if not immediately, then down the road. As this editorial points out, in Watergate the GOP stood up and did the right thing. Bush v Gore led to an excess of hubris and disrepute, two thing the party should consider should this president fully exercise his untethered will.
10
I would suggest that all readers of this excellent editorial share it on all social media platforms possible.
It is that important to get as many Americans as possible to understand the gravity of the current, and untenable, situation in which we find ourselves.
16
I share these same reservations about Republican principle. At the same time though, I'm a little less panicked than the editorial board. I'm not like Paul Ryan; I think there is a very real possibility Trump will move against the Mueller investigation. Congress would be wise to take preemptive steps against such an action. However, I do agree with Lindsey Graham for once. With or without Republican complacency, interfering with the Mueller investigation will hold political consequence for Mr. Trump. There's no way around this point.
If a majority of Americans support the Mueller investigation, we'll see public opinion reflected in midterm elections. Early indicators are already leaning against Trump. Any known action against Mueller is another nail in the coffin. The only question is whether Senate Republicans will come off the fence once Trump is impeached. Make no mistake either: Interfering with the Mueller investigation is 100 percent grounds for impeachment by default. The only way Trump could survive such a decision is surviving midterms first and then moving against Mueller. We're not there yet.
Trump can continue to fume. I rest easy on the Mueller investigation. The right geometry of circumstance, happenstance, and consequence have aligned to give Mueller running room for a few more months. If Trump acts against him, he'll pay now or later.
5
On the other hand, a constitutional crisis may serve as a much needed audit of America's legal/political system, and it may well shine a very bright light on the corruption built into the Republican Party, leading to massive changes in Congress in 2018.
I have utterly no confidence in the Republican Party to rise above greed and the need for power to instead serve the American people and its constitution by impeaching and convicting Trump. It would be wonderful to be proved wrong, but one could go broke betting on the moral strength of the Republicans.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
59
"but one could go broke betting on the moral strength of the Republican"
A large contingent of their voters have done exactly that.
2
Nothing guarantees such an outcome.
You seem to have forgotten that Trump has an 80% approval rating among GOP voters. That's clearly not because of what he accomplished (= mostly nothing, except for two bills that go radically against his own campaign promises on deficits and taxes). It's because of his tweets and rhetoric, systematically declared to be true and the only truth by GOP voters' MSM, Fox News.
In that case, GOP Congress members can only stand up to him when they decide to no longer run for re-election, in other words, to give up their own career. So they won't stand up to him.
In such a context, nothing guarantees that if Trump actively ends the investigations, his supporters will believe that he did something wrong - quite on the contrary, as the outrage from Democrats may even increase their perception of a president who's being attacked for merely political reasons, and as a consequence increase their willingness to go out and vote.
In other words, the GOP didn't become so corrupt overnight. It's the result of two decades of Fox News brainwashing, combined with the SC Citizens United ruling, so as long as Trump asks conservatives to vote for the GOP, they will do so, no matter what.
The system was designed to get rid of corrupt politicians through elections ... but that was long before the 24/7 news cycle and Fox News existed, and THAT's where the real problem/danger today lies.
1
We need another Crisis to see what is painfully evident?
You believe that the Democrats are above Greed and Power?
Amen and thank you. Your editorial is a glint of hope in a dark time. Someone cares about the America the Founders envisioned. Someone is working to protect that America.
25
Thank you for the piece, but forget about Trump recognizing that he's not above the law. The real question is: will the Republicans in power do anything? One derives hope from this quote by Senate leader, Mitch McConnell: "Time after time, the President came to a fork in the road. Time after time, he had the opportunity to choose the noble and honorable path. Time after time, he chose the path of lies and lawlessness--for the simple reason that he did not want to endanger his hold on public office."
But whoah-hold on! That was Mitch McConnell during the Clinton trial. And when I wrote him directly, quoting his own words back to him, regarding Trump? No response, of course. But, we do have this gem of a response from McConnell, who, after being publicly berated by Trump last Fall, had this to say to the press of President Trump: “We have the same agenda,” McConnell said. “We’ve been friends and acquaintances for a long time.”
Yeah, I think McConnell's words of years ago now apply equally to the Republican position today. Time after time, they will choose the path of lies and lawlessness--for the simple reason that they do not want to endanger their hold on office. They're afraid of a tweet-storm. They will do nothing, and we have to be prepared with mass, peaceful protest to show them that they must have the courage to speak truth to the lies and do the right thing.
223
Brannon said:
"They will do nothing, and we have to be prepared with mass, peaceful protest to show them that they must have the courage to speak truth to the lies and do the right thing."
I disagree.
The Republicans are Trump's lap dogs, and will never do anything to rein him in. They have neglected their constitutional duty to oversee the Executive Branch.
We have to vote them out of office on November 6, 2018.
Mr. Perkison...I suggest you open your eyes. Dont let the NYTs and its like minded journalists do the thinking and observing for you......A different perspective might conclude that it is Trump who is the only one in government that is respecting the law.....as he has been careful to commit to actions only after careful legal review, despite all the smack talk you have heard, when you look at the facts, you know this to be true. Further, President Trump has wisely obeyed every single judicial order that he,as President, has sworn to uphold thru the Executive Branch of Govt....even the judicial orders from that "mexican" judge the Press Corps want you to believe Trump "hates"......Even in the execution of foreign policy, Pres Trump has followed exactly within the legal bounds of his office....despite all the roaring and posturing....the President has followed the letter of the law........The same cannot be said for any of his detractors who have used slander, rumour mongering, outright lying, and borderline Blackmail to force the man from office.
Wherever Hugo:
Trump has no respect for the law at all. He sees the law as an inconvenience that he has to find a way around.
And he hires lawyers like Michael Cohen. 'Nuf said.
I agree, no president is above the law. As far as I am concerned, Donald J. Trump, our current president, has done nothing to place himself above the law. The problem is that the Establishment, especially the liberal opposition, is still seething from the loss of their candidate. No, the election did not go their way. Well, too bad, Trump is the president, like it not. Trump may not have the popular vote, much of which comes from liberal urban enclaves whose value structure does not represent the entire nation. The Founding Fathers established the Electoral College for that reason, to ensure that the results of the presidential election would reflect the right values and beliefs. Thank you.
4
Southern Boy,
When a president does not know that to be The Superior of All is The Servant to All, he has failed in reflecting the core values and our multi-faceted culture that with our Constitution make America the greatest nation on earth. Trump has self-destructed and is preparing to leave the highest post in the Country. We are left to restore and rebuild our Country with measures of moral and concrete infrastructure. The Electoral College has failed in its duty and responsibility.
23
Sorry Sir. what's the real answer? In my view, it's slavery. In a direct election system, the South would have lost every time because a huge percentage of its population was slaves, and slaves couldn't vote. But an Electoral College allows states to count slaves, albeit at a discount (the three-fifths clause), and that's what gave the South the inside track in presidential elections. And thus it's no surprise that eight of the first nine presidential races were won by a Virginian. (Virginia was the most populous state at the time, and had a massive slave population that boosted its electoral vote count.)
This pro-slavery compromise was not clear to everyone when the Constitution was adopted, but it was clearly evident to everyone when the Electoral College was amended after the Jefferson-Adams contest of 1796 and 1800. These elections were decided, in large part, by the extra electoral votes created by slavery. Without the 13 extra electoral votes created by Southern slavery, John Adams would've won even in 1800, and every federalist knows that after the election.
And yet when the Constitution is amended, the slavery bias is preserved.
So please. Even if painful in Tennessee. This is how compromise happened 200 years ago.
38
Here's the real problem though: YOU may believe that Trump has done nothing to place himself above the law, based on the news that you're reading and believing.
In a democracy, however, there's a separation of the three branches of power, which means that IF a political opponent believes or fears that a sitting president or cabinet member or member of Congress did something wrong, and if Congress doubts, then an independent prosecutor must investigate. And IF that prosecutor believes he found something, he must be able to PROVE it, he cannot just say so.
That's why Hillary's email problem has been investigated so thoroughly and for months and months, for instance.
If Trump would obstructing these investigations, however, or systematically fire prosecutors, THEN he clearly puts himself above the law, you see?
And that cannot but create a constitutional crisis, as it's the Constitution itself that says that no president should ever do this.
41
This is an editorial of historic import. It illustrates perfectly why I subscribe to the New York Times. Each word has been measured and lined up alongside its fellows with great care and deliberation. The content is accurate, newsworthy, a snapshot of our moment in time. The outcome of these deliberative processes will resonate in literally every single household on this planet, without exception.
Thank you for the expertly assembled links, and the attention to layout & design. I am preserving this document in my own personal archive, as one of the most salient expositions of where we are in modern human history, this 2018.
36
This congress will not do it. It is now up to the people in overwhelming majority to change the color of that body - from yellow to blue - in November. Otherwise, the nation will have been lost. It now really all comes down to that.
43
"Of course, this president has been known to huff and puff, to bluff and bluster, and he may be doing no more than that now."
I am convinced that this is not the case. Mr. Trump appears to me to behave like a con-man cornered, extremely fearful of the humiliation and other damage that will come with exposure. Firing Rosenstein, even attempting to fire Mueller directly, are two major cards president Trump has left to play. He will not hesitate in the least to play those cards when he thinks he can get away with it, or when he perceives he has no options left. Consideration for the Constitution and the country do not even register with him compared to his personal well being.
45
Spot on. He is a con man cornered.
Over the past 250 years, the one thing that has made us different than most other nations on earth is our reverence for the rule of law. It has not been easy or pretty but our fealty to our Constitution and the notion of governing ourselves has brought us to this point.
If a person in the most powerful position in our country can simply thumb his nose at the law and shut down any investigation into his alleged wrongdoing, then we are no different that any dictatorship or autocratic system.
The fundamental challenge to our constitutional system of government, separate from the specific ethical, moral and intellectual failings of the particular man who is president today, is that too great a percentage of the nation's wealth is now concentrated in the hands of too few. By most accounts, the top 1% of the nation's wealthiest control nearly 40% of our nation's wealth. And with lax campaign finance laws, the uber-wealthy's ability to essentially buy any politician is unchecked.
This is the power struggle we face today: Our constitutional system vs. the uber-wealthy and their hunger for power. David Koch is worth an estimated $60 billion. Steven Schwartzman and Robert Mercer (funder of Cambridge Analytica), each an estimated $12 billion. The Ricketts family, an estimated $6 billion. These are among Trump's and the GOP's biggest supporters, because their money gives them power.
Our constitutional system is not for sale. This entire Trump matter tests that very proposition.
233
Actually, thanks to SCOTUS decisions like Citizens United, our Constitutional system IS up for sale. Trump and his sycophantic Congress are the “bargains” they buy with their money. When money equals speech, the people with the most money get the most and the loudest speech.
If our Constitutional System were for sale, the multi-billionaire Democrats who lavished their treasures on Hillary Clinton would own the System lock, stock and barrel. Buffett alone is worth more than the four Republicans you mentioned. So is Bezo. So is Gates. At the last count, Buffet had $116 Billion in Berkshire CASH to play with. I'll see your Koch Bros. with a Bloomberg & Soros. If money is power, the Democrats are in the driver's seat.
Not that facts will matter to you, but here are some that you can verify for yourself. George Washington was the richest man after the Revolutionary War. Benjamin Franklin was extremely wealthy. Sam Adams was the richest man in MA. Do you know how many of those evil white men were rich that created our country?
The are no Republicans who have enough respect for the Constitution and our laws to do the right thing when it comes to Trump. For them it’s party and donors first. Senator Graham told us all that when the disasterous tax legislation was passed. THE DONORS WANTED IT. AS A RESULT EVEN THOUGH MANY HAD PROBLEMS WITH IT, THEY VOTED FOR IT.
30
Clearly the President should not be above the law, but unfortunately, between elections, our Constitution holds him accountable only to Congress--which, being led by fellow Republicans, has shown itself to be utterly craven.
Once this all blows over, assuming (perhaps optimistically) that the country survives, I hope the Constitution will be amended to limit presidents' control over investigations of their own actions. Not being above the law means not being able to fire the prosecutor or judge, it means not being able to pardon away witnesses who might otherwise flip against you, and it means that if you have committed a serious crime, you can be indicted.
On those fronts, at least, the President does seem presently to be above the law.
21
The parliamentary system's vote of no confidence to call timely elections to deal with mistakes like Trump is a better idea.
7
Do not put much faith in a constitutional amendment to limit presidential power over investigations. Regardless of how badly Trump acts, the likelihood of 2/3rds of Congress and 3/4ths of the state legislatures concurring in such a change is vanishingly small. Finding a herd of unicorns roaming free in Manhattan would be more likely.
1
@ Steve Bolger
But what if once again part of the progressives in this country are too politically illiterate to understand that they have to vote against Trump and for no matter what Democratic candidate, all while having conservatives continuing to believe the president's tweets and Fox News' lies ... ?
In that case, it might well be that "we the people" end up re-electing Trump.
Today, news media are controlling to a large extent how people vote, and they've become experts in fabricating "alternative facts". That's why a constitutional amendment might not be such a bad idea after all.
Noah Feldman (Harvard Law professor) has written some good Bloomberg articles on this.
The trouble is that the Constitution vests the executive power with the President. See Article II. There is no Constitutional concept of a prosecution divorced from executive authority or, in other words, delegated Presidential authority.
In contrast with other countries and U.S. states that have independent criminal justice officers, arguably the President can determine to end any federal investigation or prosecution at any time, because he is the ultimate boss of all executive branch employees. And arguably this is a good thing, because our government is supposed to be accountable to the people. And a headless governmental agency is not accountable.
Now how can this work when the President himself should be investigated? Well, arguably the President is constrained by political forces and the separation of powers, including the power of Congress to investigate and impeach and remove. Arguably we don't need the criminal justice system to apply to sitting Presidents -- you could view all actions of the President, including criminal behavior, as political questions during the time he remains in office.
But once the President is removed or fails to win re-election, then a new administration could take up an investigation of the former President, serving as a criminal deterrent. The only open question is whether the President could pardon himself prior to leaving office.
10
Very interesting, thanks.
It also shows how this kind of system may no longer be the best way to guarantee political independence and the rule of law at the same time, as contrary to centuries ago, voters are now living in a 24/7 news cycle, AND we're having the biggest media in terms of audience (Fox News) constantly spreading lies about the president, the state of the union, and who's doing what in DC.
So all that Trump needs in order for his voters to stick with him, is that Fox News sticks with him, and accepts to continue to fabricate lie after lie about what he did and said.
And that's when a system where it's in the end voters who decide whether to punish a sitting president (through no longer electing him or electing a candidate who promises to let him be prosecuted once he takes over) will happen or not, may have reached its limits.
That also means that we'd urgently need a Constitutional amendment, solving this problem ... but how?
1
Do you think all the claims about "separation of powers" under the Constitution are fake?
Private citizens are at liberty to initiate lawsuits under the rule of law, and the issue of standing is resolved the level of a motion to dismiss.
The Law is not a obstacle to truth or freedom. It is a tool for pursuit of these, not a barrier to prevent them.
A criminal can not be the executive. The act of violating the Presidential Oath of Office causes the person to lose all special protection designed to protect the Government of the United States.
Those that think we still have free-elections have not been paying attention.
The Law serves Humans, not the reverse.
As much as we despise the President's character and policies, he would never be able to do what he has done without the support of his voters and supporters in Congress and Senate. They are President Trump's willing executioners. As stated by the NYT, "No one is above the law, not even the President." But surely if the majority of the voters in the Electoral College said that this President is above the law, then unfortunately in our democratic system, President Trump is above the law.
10
No. A vote for president is not a vote for a change of the meaning of the Constitution.
1
President Trump has never seen himself as "another citizen" subject to the rule of law. In Trump-world, only one person matters, because there is only really one person. Rule of law? Trump is law, Trump is justice, Trump is truth. Or at least that appears to be the post-republic future...
As sketched here, hope rests in Republican senators and representatives. But Trump already is the republican party, the rest is fading into irrelevant noise. Look at the record. It's party before country, money before all. How did it come to this?
40
For Trump voters, as far as I know, Trump indeed is "law, justice, truth" not because they admire him so much, but because those values were entirely destroyed under Obama and by Obama and the Democrats (and they believe this because Fox News has eagerly constructed this perception of reality, lie after lie).
It's BECAUSE there is no longer any justice or truth in DC, in their eyes, that it doesn't matter that Trump behaves like that too. What matters is to have someone in the White House who at least still defends their other values (immigration, gang crime, abortion ...), even if it's in a dictatorial way, simply because there's no choice anymore: it's either corrupt Democrats defending liberal values (but those values threaten the very essence of America), or corrupt Republicans defending conservative values.
That's why they imagine that Trump "says it like it is": at least he doesn't try to hide the fact that he's so corrupt and lying and considering himself to be above the law. And if he's fighting such an ugly fight on behalf of their values, then he's actually truly a hero.
The only difference between Trump and McConnell, Boehner or Ryan here is that the others still tried to keep up an image of decency and rule of law. But GOP voters KNOW that that's totally false, so by attacking them during the campaign, Trump reinforced his reputation of having the guts to say it like it is even more.
So no, I don't see McConnell or any other important Republican do something
Michael, hope hardly rests with the Republican senators who remain complicit in this circus. Senator McConnell refused to bring a vote on Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court, Senator Grassley has been busy trying to undermine Mr. Steele and many Republicans took Russian money for their campaigns. Where is the hope?
In perhaps the worse mistake in U.S. history Americans gave the Republican Party too much power. They seem absolutely intent on abusing it. The question is becoming: just how high will the cost be of restoring constitutional norms?
59
I'm not sure about giving the Republicans too much power was the worst mistake in U.S. history. How about not ending slavery at the time of the revolution? Or, ending the fairness doctrine? How about "corporations are people too"? Or, "money is speech"?
The question is, why did Americans give Republicans too much power?
The answer is, that the Republicans took this power in illegal ways, manipulating the system, using propaganda and divisive issues to divide the nation along fake news and with spewing hate. All in the employment of the despicable oligarchy, and those who hope that a piece of meat will fall of the table for them.
If the president goes beyond huffing and puffing, and moves to shut down the investigators, Republican legislators will be judged by their response, as your editorial says. But we the people as a whole, we will also be judged by our response--by our acquiescence or our speech and assembly to petition for redress.
33
Failure to demand a run-off election when no candidate wins a popular majority is a mortal sin against democracy.
1
Items (the original is well worth reading, an acute summary by a researcher who has plumbed the depths: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/michael-cohen-and-the-end-stage...
His stupid greed: a perfect patsy for Putin et al.
"In Azerbaijan, he did business with a likely money launderer for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. In the Republic of Georgia, he partnered with a group that was being investigated for a possible role in the largest known bank-fraud and money-laundering case in history. In Indonesia, his development partner is “knee-deep in dirty politics”; there are criminal investigations of his deals in Brazil; the FBI is reportedly looking into his daughter Ivanka’s role in the Trump hotel in Vancouver, for which she worked with a Malaysian family that has admitted to financial fraud. Back home, Donald, Jr., and Ivanka were investigated for financial crimes associated with the Trump hotel in SoHo—an investigation that was halted suspiciously. His Taj Mahal casino received what was then the largest fine in history for money-laundering violations."
"[a] long history of links to New York Mafia figures and other financial irregularities. ... enough was known about Trump’s shady business before he was elected; ... they liked that he was someone willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, ... that all rich businesspeople have to do shady things from time to time. ... Those who hate Trump already think he’s a crook; those who love him don’t care.
32
[missed the end quote: "] Sometimes somebody puts it all together so well it's better to reference the original than try to paraphrase. Here's more:
"Donald Trump did not sit atop a global empire. He was not an intuitive genius and tough guy who created billions of dollars of wealth through fearlessness. He had a small, sad operation, mostly run by his two oldest children and Michael Cohen, a lousy lawyer who barely keeps up the pretenses of lawyering and who now faces an avalanche of charges, from taxicab-backed bank fraud to money laundering and campaign-finance violations.
"Cohen, Donald, Jr., and Ivanka monetized their willingness to sign contracts with people rejected by all sensible partners. Even in this, the Trump Organization left money on the table, taking a million dollars here, five million there, even though the service they provided—giving branding legitimacy to blatantly sketchy projects—was worth far more. It was not a company that built value over decades, accumulating assets and leveraging wealth. It burned through whatever good will and brand value it established as quickly as possible, then moved on to the next scheme."
The story of how Adam Davidson has came break this news over the years is well worth reading, so here's the link again. Some Trumpians are denying the criminality, but the corrupt cheating for quick bucks is plain for all to see.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/michael-cohen-and-the-end-stage...
30
Davidson's article is the most important piece I've read since this horrific debacle began. It is a very dim light at the end of this seemingly endless tunnel and I am grateful for it! Thanks for bringing it to the attention of others.
13
That is an excellent article. The entire family is a criminal enterprise, and always has been.
Fox, Sinclair, Breitbart, some GOP politicians and others have been preparing the groundwork for Trump to arrange for the firing of Mueller, Rosenstein and perhaps others. Even a supposedly rational Republican like Paul Ryan, who is not running for reelection, is arguing that there is no need to pass legislation that would restrain Trump. Yes, there will be a firestorm when, in my prediction, Trump fires persons in an attempt to shut down the investigation; but he may well have reason to believe that his friendly news organs, WH staff, politicians, donors, and supporters will be able to contain the damage, which in any case is probably less than if the full facts were uncovered by a completed investigation.
14
People should consider this matter in light of the possibility that Trump is not guilty. Mueller has dug deep and has made no case. When has he dug enough? Never according to many Democrats, but that's against the law.
5
I thought you had a good legal mind and attempted to be objective. The evidence is overwhelming. The case is all too clear. Have a look:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/michael-cohen-and-the-end-stage...
26
I am amused when I see people saying that "Mueller has no case" as it seems more an expression of hope than a statement of fact.
66
Surely you're aware of the fact that Mueller hasn't concluded his investigation yet. Why would he make a case now, before he's finished? Let's think this through.
5
The propaganda machine, FOX and Sinclair, have accounted for all outcomes of Meuller's investigation.
They are reporting that because H. Clinton campaign took over funding Steele's opposition research efforts, she colluded with Russia to discredit Trump. She funded a foreign national to get information from Russian sources to discredit Trump.
Any proof that turns up in Mueller's investigation to disturb that narrative is already being painted as planted. My fear is that Republicans will use this to show an inconclusive picture of whatever Meuller turns up and they will claim that therefore there will be no impeachment, removal, or conviction.
But, even if our House and Senate Republicans muster the courage to accept the facts, will 30%-40% of Americans do the same? Or, will they refuse to accept it? I've listened to talk radio (Rush Limbaugh, Hannity) and watched FOX news for about 2 weeks now. People call in furious that we even have an investigation against Trump. They believe, really believe, that Trump has done nothing wrong and that this is a massive effort to undo the election. They also believe that anything can be faked: tapes, video, documents. And, they believe that personal testimony will be someone in on the conspiracy.
Is Freedom of Speech going to be what ruins our great nation? There must be a way to deal with this kind of severe propaganda without sacrificing our Freedom of Speech.
27
There is...start with the statement that Money is not Free Speech.
The corruption of the Supreme Court by Koch money and the "Federalist Society" leave us arguing about whether Justice is a process for Fairness and Truth, or is only about getting even with those who you think wronged you?
It is well past time to discuss politics at the family gatherings.
3
It does appear that Clinton's campaign relied more on Russian help than did Trump's.
If Trump fires Mueller or Rosenstein, it will not be a constitutional crisis. The constitution provides a remedy: the House can impeach him. If the House fails to do it - which it will - it will be exercising its constitutional prerogative. Its failure to act is within the bounds of our Constitution.
But, the failure of the House to act in the event of such a brazen violation of the principles on which our nation was founded - that no person is above the law - will indeed be the end of the American experiment. Our founding fathers warned of factions, but prescient as they were, their Constitution provides no remedy for what we are seeing now: the complete trashing of everything they fought for and held dear by the Trump apololgists in the Republican Party.
26
Given that the Republican congress is unlikely to impeach, we citizens can take matters into our own hands and get out into the streets and peacefully protest. That's what I'm planning to do. And, I'm en route to D.C. right now just in case.
I disagree: There will be a constitutional crisis if Trump gets rid of Mueller. Merely having available the constitutional remedy of impeachment and removal from office is not enough if its use is blocked by House Republicans. Trump will avoid removal and succeed in placing himself above the law.
If Mr. Mueller were to be replaced by another competent prosecutor, that would be far different from his not being replaced at all. The appointment of a special counsel is provided for by law. Outright elimination of the office and its investigation is clearly obstruction and grounds for impeachment. But if the President replaces a particular special counsel with another competent special counsel and allows the investigation to go on, that is a very different matter. Trump complains that Mueller has conducted an overly broad investigation. Maybe he hasn't, maybe he has. But, for sure, impeaching a President based on maybes is not a great idea.
3
Don't you think that it's odd that the "president," who is the subject of the investigation, gets to decide when that investigation has "gone too far?" It would be the same thing as the defendant at a trial determining when the D.A. has "crossed the line." That sort of thing would be subject of a farce. Just like we have now, come to think of it.
1
Firing the Special Counsel based on maybes isn't such a great idea either. Firing the Special Counsel to get rid of the Russia investigation, as he did, and told Russian diplomats so, with Comey, is certainly not a great idea. That's already obstruction of justice right there...
Why would he replace Mueller if not to put in a prosecutor whom Trump is certain will not fully investigate and will not be impartial. This is such a silly comment you've made.
The difference between this president and all of the others is that this one simply does not believe in the rule of law or the Constitution. In fact, though he hardly seems to understand what those things are, he has, all the same, repeatedly called for the abandonment of the Constitution and the rule of law.
54
Republican Congressmen do seem to be bailing out at an unprecedented rate. They know the end is near for the Republicans loyal to Trump. Instead of standing up to Trump, they are rats abandoning a sinking ship.
70
Some of us have been wondering where and when does the role of The President begin and end in governing our Country. The Trump Presidency is a learning lesson; one that we could do without.
We listened to Trump announce that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. Right there we should have been on on guard, alert and 'woke'. Something reeks like big cheese here, and we are not a Nation of Mice, but of Men, Women and Children.
Some of us were so anxious for something new than the same-old, same-old, or a transformation. The concept of this transformation remains foggy to this American, who believed we were in possession of a strong government and bright minds with a healthy constitution.
Apparently we finally elected a president who tells us how and what it is; right on the nose and this is a novelty, a breath of fresh air, a time in history to pass on to those, with a vision for the Future of our Country.
The above novelty is wearing off; our focus remains on this president, and he is becoming an excuse for not keeping our wits about us, not moving as a democratic and responsible nation, not knowing how all this is going to pan out.
Well, at least it solves the puzzle of why a few golden friends have recently mentioned in passing that they wish to become 'lawyers'. Only Racine or Corneille could describe this damaging, deteriorating and dangerous presidency with poetic justice.
5
I agree that the Constitution is threatened -- indeed, the threat is more profound, not just to the U.S. Constitution but to the entire principle of rule by law, rather than by political pressure and expedience. But I have no faith that more than a tiny fraction of Republicans in office perceive this, or care about it.
Mitch McConnell has consistently denied that there's anything to be concerned about. Paul Ryan has on rare occasions been pressed into saying a few words critical of Trump, but there is no evidence that he would view it as his responsibility to (for example) defend the Constitution.
The truth is that the Republicans who do care about the Constitution (or even about the distinction between truth and lies) are leaving their party, or have gone underground within it.
18
The notion that the president could be "above the law" started with Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard M. Nixon, which essentially did just that. Instead of having to answer for Watergate, he got off the hook. Though somewhat disgraced, he was given enough political rehabilitation by the Establishment to where he managed to influence affairs far longer than people might have thought he should have, had he been convicted and done time. Trump may well exacerbate the notions of what is or isn't legal, or Constitutional, but one may take a quantum of solace in that there is probably nothing in his background that would ever qualify him for any form of political rehabilitation.
13
What Ford's pardon actually did was institutionalize the different justice for the rich and powerful and everyone else.
13
Ford's pardon was the result of Nixon saying to him:
"Pardon me boy! This is the chap who knew to choose you!"
Gerald Ford pardons President Richard M. Nixon for Watergate.
President George H. W. Bush pardons former secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger; former national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane; former assistant secretary of state Elliott Abrams; and three former CIA officials: Clair E. George, Alan D. Fiers Jr. and Duane R. "Dewey" Clarridge. All from the Iran Contra affair.
And now President Donald Trump pardons Lewis Libby who had had his sentence previously commuted by President George W. Bush.
Is there a Republican pattern here?
I share the feelings and fears of other posters that Republican congressmen will put party and allegiance to this corrupt president over their oath to preserve and defend the Constitution. But to be fair, I remember when Clinton was being impeached I, and many of my Democratic friends and colleagues, were passionately against it. I don't recall that we used the phrase "witch hunt," but we did feel that Ken Starr was more persecuting than prosecuting Clinton. We asked how a president could be impeached for a personal liaison with a consenting adult. We closed our eyes to his perjury or rationalized it by saying that lying about sex to save a family doesn't count. The stakes are much higher now, but in our nation's current state of tribalism, I will not be surprised if Republicans decide to "stand by their man" in spite of whatever evidence is presented. I only hope that our republic will survive the storm to come.
13
Republicans who still keep silent about Trump's egregious behavior should stop and consider that all majorities come to an end sooner or later, and when they do, a reckoning comes. They should also understand that the time is soon coming when they will be asked to declare their loyalty to a man who doesn't know the meaning of the word, or to the Constitution and the people who elected them. And their choice will be visible for all to see and judge.
What I fear most is that when those elected to uphold the law and Constitution do not obey it themselves, they give free license for everyone else to ignore it too. The last time our Constitution and rule of law was usurped, it resulted in the bloodiest warfare in our history. "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it". George Santayana
137
You mean like ignoring immigration laws? You mean like defending private sexual affairs in the Oval Office?
Which war are you talking about? Senior's Desert Storm? or Junior's invasion of Iraq?
You seem to forget that you are now engaged in a time where YOU have lost your majorities...
I sense that your remarks, Kingfish. have more to so with your loss of power than they do for responsible governance.
If Trump committed material crimes, then of course he is not above the law. However, nothing has been proven, Mueller and Rosenstein remain un-fired, Mueller has been at this Russian cahooting gig for many months now and has yet to close on Trump, while he’s indicted, apart from Russians, only a few secondary personnel on allegations that he has yet to demonstrate as even related to Russian cahooting – which, after all, is what he was empowered to investigate. I’m constantly reminded here of what I already know, which is that Rosenstein’s appointment memo authorized Mueller to pursue “other” matters; but everyone clearly understood that to mean potential crimes that directly contributed to suspected Russian cahooting.
Comey? He should have been fired by OBAMA for his outrageous interference in the 2016 election, which damaged Mrs. Clinton far more decisively than anything the Russians did.
This was not intended to be an IRS “nightmare audit” of Trump’s entire life as fishing expedition to damage him in order to please #NeverTrumpers.
If Mueller can demonstrate that Trump cahooted with Russians in their intentional interference with our election, then I will join the weight of this commentariat in demanding his impeachment. But he doesn’t appear able to do that, and indicting a political consultant for money laundering is something a state AG or a big-city district atty. can do perfectly well without the help of a “special counsel”.
Put up or go home, Mr. Mueller.
8
However, if this drags on interminably with as little beef as has been delivered so far by Mueller, in a patent effort to find ANYTHING Trump may have done at any time in his life with which #NeverTrumpers can seek to pummel Trump, when their real objective is to damage his policies, and lacking any probable cause to pursue the president, then I would favor precisely the action the editors warn us of – fire Mueller, fire Rosenstein, and take the opportunity to fire Sessions as well, on general principles.
If Rosenstein INTENDED to authorize Mueller to go after anything he could find, then he authorized a fishing expedition to damage the president of the United States by any means possible, and Trump should fire him immediately for this monumental and offensive presumption.
Did Trump cahoot with Russians to affect our election? If not, then let’s end this ideological charade.
4
The only question is whether Trump or his campaign did something illegal. Full stop. If they didn't, he is fine and this will all end. If he did, Mueller, a Republican and decorated military hero and prosecutor, will and should expose it. Nobody is above the law. Not even Trump.
17
"...but everyone clearly understood that to mean potential crimes that directly contributed to suspected Russian cahooting."
I watched Rosenstein testify before Congress. He was specifically asked that if "any crime unrelated to Trump/Russia collusion/interference" was discovered during the investigation would Mueller have the authority to deal with it: Rosenstein said, "YES". I suspect that whatever evidence of criminal activity Mueller discovered and referred to the SDNY AG re Michael Cohen, the decision to hand it over was tactical rather than a decision that it was outside the scope of his investigatory mandate, especially considering he has indicated Manafort and Gates and prosecuted the "Dutch" lawyer.
A reminder: Watergate took two years for a local botched robbery and a cover-up. Mueller's been at it for only ten months and he's dealing with international entanglements of how many stripes, only he knows/is finding out. (Ten months is an insignificant amount of time even when one is trying to get a Court order for child support from a dead beat parent who has skipped the jurisdiction.)
12
If Trump does fire any or all of those people, what happens to all of the work that has already been done? Surely it doesn't just go away. Doesn't it belong to the American people, who paid for it? What stops the info from coming out without Mueller? Would the Democrats be able to appoint a new special prosecutor once they regain power, whenever that may be, even a few years down the line? Is there a statute of limitations on any of this stuff?
I never see any answers to these questions!
11
Lordy, I hope that someone, somewhere, is working on a libretto, and that a composer is sketching out her themes.
This could become the greatest opera, the likes of which we might never have witnessed before, "The Rise and Fall of Donald Trump."
7
The opera I want to see composed and staged is the one about James Comey.
We must wait to see how the arc of the story works out.
In the meantime, VOTE!
Ah, but who would want to watch?
Definitely Opera Buffo
A Constitutional crisis seems to be looming as Donald Trump, angered to an extremely volatile rage, about the the seizure of documents at his "fixer' lawyer, Michael Cohen, offices announced that he has the power to fire the Special Counsel. It seems highly unlikely that retiring Speaker Paul Ryan, who openly collaborated with Rep. Devin Nunes in his multiple attempts to sabotage the House Intelligence Committee investigation to defend Mr. Trump including sanctioning obtaining and using classified, secret FBI documents over the objections of the Trump-appointed new FBI Director, would move to impeach the President. That only may embolden Mr. Trump either to fire Mr. Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who oversees the Special Counsel. The situation is dire. We may be faced with a massive failure of Congress to "support and defend the Constitution" and the "rule of law." The choice is stark: autocracy or democracy.
9
It would seem that it should not matter what party one has alliance to, this president is dangerous. The country has taken a turn towards those in congress more concerned with staying in office then doing what the majority of the country wants. His base is not a majority, their majority is not the strength of the country as a whole. They may have hold most of the wealth, but we the people hold the majority of the votes. I am reminded of something from a typing exercise~"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country". Yes party was used as well, but we need all good people to stand up for our country. When I took the oath~5 times~ to serve in the military as well as in federal service I was deeply committed to protecting the constitution. This president and what appears to be the entire congress are not. I have to have faith that the law will prevail and this nightmare will end soon. Took 2 years for Nixon to be gone, at least he did not cause as much damage as we are witnessing trump causing.
20
This whole thing is crazy. My biggest fear is that ultimately there will be a conclusion that the GOP stole an election with the help of a foreign enemy and that some will go to jail as a result of that determination. But the things that occurred in the meantime will slide. Like everything. Gorsuch primarily, but also all of the destruction of USA positions that the foreign power in question might welcome. Like the destruction of our Department of State, our EPA, the trade deals, Middle East positions, etc. And we'll be relying on a GOP-controlled Congress to resolve this inequity.
45
You get it right, sadly!
"If he doesn’t, how Republican lawmakers respond will shape the future not only of this presidency and of one of the country’s great political parties, but of the American experiment itself."
The editorial is a good summation of how things may play out. It is telling how the last line above reveals how much of a sense the nation now has that Trump could escape any reckoning for his disregard of simple decency and respect of long-established institutions, norms, and values let alone for any crime that may come to light and the profound fear that entails.
We now have come to a point where one of our greatest papers feels how fragile and tenuous our sense of ourselves as a nation has become when the editors feel compelled to write of "the American experiment". Has it failed? Or has it already succeeded and we will collectively re-affirm the great potential for good, fairness, and reason our form of government and values provide?
15
I became a U.S. citizen on Dec. 22 2016. One of my citizenship interview questions was : What is the rule of law? The answer is: No one is above the law. I think of this at every step of this drama and want all members of Congress to take the citizenship test and know what it really takes to be a citizen. I am heart broken that I became a citizen of a country that is tearing itself apart.
116
They will do something about Trump, now that he is an anchor around their necks, but they will wait until primary season is over. They will convince him to leave without impeachement if he promises not to start a war on the way out.
10
Thank you. I continue to fear that the Republican Party is too far gone to recognize its patriotic duty, as it did, finally, during the Watergate era. And so we resist - and Congress will hear our anger if the charlatan in the White House decides to go full Trump and fire either Mr. Rosenstein or Mr. Mueller. So frightening to think it has come to this.
26
Well said. I do not know if Americans who support this president and certainly Congress realize how frightened many of us are right now. For me at least, my angst transcends my personal feelings against Trump...and, believe me, they are numerous and deep (and not complimentary). But this is not the point of my comment. As this op ed points out, it is the danger to our democracy, our Constitution, and the rule of law which are being threatened daily, hourly, by Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress who show no desire to uphold law and order. Just think about it...both our executive and legislative branches of government, 2/3rds of our nation's governing bodies, are complicit in one way or the other of spinning, diverting, or covering up the truth and facts as they relate to Russian interference. This is indeed ominous.
All I can think is that we have got to put pressure on our Congress. Trump is a lost soul, a lost cause, beyond redemption, and growing more erratic with each passing minute. I truly believe he is having a break-down. At this point, it seems as if the fate of our country is in our hands...to and through our representatives - Blue, Red, or Purple.
65
Plus trump and the gop have been rapidly appointing "friendly" judges: ie. loading up the judicial branch.
Most Americans, maybe all, believe that no one can obstruct justice to protect themselves from justice .. least of all the President. But as individuals, we are powerless to enforce justice .. especially for the President. Should the President act to stymie justice by firing Mr. Mueller we are 100% dependent on Congress to enforce 'truth, justice and the American way'.
If Congress, for partisan reasons, refuses to carry out justice then Congress (at least the 'partisans') would be guilty of obstructing justice. That sounds like the end of the world, but the people have the final say .. we can vote to remove Congress. The wheels of justice turn s-l-o-w-l-y, but they never stop.
38
I have to hold on to "but the people have the final say..we can vote to remove Congress." I am well aware of how slow the wheels of justice turn as well as the way the federal government moves as well. Light at the end of the tunnel not being an on coming train, but the light of a better tomorrow.
8
The 'fly in the ointment' here is the gerrymandering that can prevent the people from choosing their rep. in Congress. Add the Electoral College, which can prevent the people from electing the President and America is almost Russia, with a self-selected government in perpetuity!
Feeling all sanguine about "the people have the final say" is not entirely warranted because the naked truth is: sometimes we don't have the final say.
This is a historic opportunity for a bipartisan reconsideration of the too-close-to-monarchical power that the presidency has accrued. Presidents from both parties have either been willing to accept such power from a supine Congress, or have asserted it unilaterally and gotten away with it, or, worst of all, have exercised it in secret.
Trump is merely a klaxon horn warning, but it's been building for decades. And all of us, Democrats like me as well as Republicans, independents and all, will need be willing to live with future presidents that we favor being less able to singlehandedly advance the policies we want.
That's the cost of restoring a real balance of power in federal governance. We should all use this moment to consider whether we are willing to pay it.
12
Good points. This president has conned his followers to believ he will "fix" everything they want fixed. And we all heard him say he is the "only one" that will/can. How dangerous that is.
As a #nevertrump conservative, I don't see much chance that the GOP will stand up to Trump so long as his base of support within the party holds. And with most GOP voters primarily getting their news from conservative media, I wouldn't hold your breath. No matter what Trump does, they see Hillary and Obama as being as bad or worse, and many are buying into the idea that the FBI is rotten to the core.
I see few cracks in his support among my conservative friends (although most seem to wish he would stop tweeting).
17
World Law. The President is not above World Law. Where is the enforcement of World Law these days? It is hardly mentioned. Not sure why World Law is not being enforced.
4
It doesn't help that the US pre-"covfefe" has left, avoided, and discredited any international court that would've been of substance (see e.g. US v Nicaragua), and made a general mockery of said law (Abu Ghraib by President Cheney and Dubya, and...sigh...Obama's "we tortured some folks" and move-forward responses to that).
But the GOP are attacking World Law too anyway, in case it ever becomes a credible threat. Those totally-not-anti-Semitic-or-anything "globalist" tweets by the party's 4chan wing, directed most recently at Paul Ryan; Orban's obsession with Soros; "covfefe"'s own attacks on the UN and NATO and friends-with-benefitsship with putin and his fellow tyrannical miniputins...just as We the Sane have a protest network in place for firings, they have a slander (and worse) network in place for just in case their boss is remotely in trouble.
The "Lyin' Comey" website was one test of their Emergency Whackadoodle System.
If as he purports, but shows no evidence, that DT really cares about the nation, its people and its history, he would step down and leave the fallout to adults. Maybe that is what November will tell us. Let's hope. By the way, how he survived the primaries and became the nominee still shocks me to no end.
19
Congressional Republicans have shown little inclination to restrain Trump's denigration of all those connected with the investigation, demonstrating a passivity that can only exacerbate Trump's campaign of contempt. As this volatile situation nears a crisis stage, congressional Republicans are most likely to redouble their support for their embattled president and to use every possible means to blame the Democrats, Comey, Sessions, Obama, Hillary and anyone else who can serve as a scapegoat for their machinations. The only bipartisanship we can expect in the coming months is mutual finger-pointing and increased acrimony.
10
- and never before one could have watched such a complete and total self-deconstruction of a stereotypical ''US Mobster''.
It beats nearly all existing fiction.
11
I am getting tire of the talk. I want to see some action, before even more damage is done under this administration. As it is, our nation is quickly losing the respect of the world, even among our former friend and allies. ACT, Mr Hatch - stop talking and so something - NOW!
61
"Maybe — and this is the scariest contingency to contemplate — Republican leaders would calculate that with their support, or mere acquiescence, Mr. Trump could get away with it."
The above sentence hit me like a two by four.
If we are to remain America, a nation founded on the rule of law, we can not have a president who knowingly breaks those laws with impunity.
Just as daylight and darkness can't exist simultaneously, America will either continue to be a free country or a dictatorship. It can't be both.
144
Yes, but the good and true "America" you refer to has been in a state of decay for some years now. It has been a story of not necessarily disrespect for the law, though that has been a factor, but disrespect for the American voter. At that point, corruption is inevitable.
Congressional Republicans' response to Trump's firing of the Special Counsel will be the ultimate test of whether the Congress truly represents the American people or it is just the rubber stamp organ of the ruling party, like those in China or Russia, exists to legitimize the action of the strongman.
38
Based on what they taught me in civics class back in the day, presidents just like everybody else have to answer to the law and the courts. For example, if the president walked up to a random person in Washington DC and killed them in cold blood, they could be put on trial for murder. This all sounds great.
There's a big problem with that viewpoint, though, which is that no current or former president has ever faced a criminal trial for his actions, and it wasn't because they were all such fine upstanding citizens. What protects them is a tacit agreement between the political players that removal from office is the greatest penalty a president can face. And we saw this agreement in action in 1974, when Gerald Ford pardoned the known crook Richard Nixon.
13
As long as the DemoPublicans keep the majority of the country in relatively oblivious comfort, they will continue to be elected.
But it will all shake out, maybe within our lifetimes, owing to the inexorable forces of nature that we have collectively set into motion.
5
"Forces of nature" tend to come in the form of disasters with huge losses of property, life, and order. Cockroaches and the rich are well-positioned to weather it. Can't wait.
What if Congress does not act? I think we all assume, in our hearts, that if Trump shuts down the Mueller investigation, good men and women in Congress will put country first. But what if they don’t? Can we assume the voters will bring change? It’s impossible to assume anything. The only thing we can count on is ourselves. If Congress fails we will have to rise up as never before.
159
@Patrick: you ask, "can we assume the voters will bring change?" Well, what voters, I may ask?
Because I'm pretty sure that if Donald Trump gets away with obstructing justice, it's just a matter of time before he obstructs the constitution altogether. He could cancel elections--would Republicans yell and scream? He could jail liberal journalists and political opponents, make a mockery out of what remains of the justice system, and declare martial law. He could demand loyalty from everyone and those who won't do pledg, would be on a black list.
I can cite so many examples from autocracies old and new, that it would make your head spin.
All it takes is for one man to think he has unfettered power--which, if Republicans say and do nothing nothing, he will.
9
Again, apologies for my ignorance, but if Congress doesn't act to protect Mueller, what's stopping them cancelling the November elections and just calling USA a Republican dictatorship?
Boston Harbor welcomes your tea. Watch for the lantern or two in the Old North Church (MoveOn.org). We regret that we have but 60 million lives to give for our country. Daughters and Sons of Liberty, can we do no less than stand together in front of tanks? We cannot.
How Republicans will respond to a constitutional crisis is directly correlated to how the American people will respond -- and the outlook is not encouraging. Trump's support is now at its highest since his first 100 days. His approval rating is somewhere between 40%-50% depending on which poll you read. Among Republican voters, his support is absurdly high. Unlike during Nixon's time, this crisis is happening when voter polarization is more extreme than at any time since the civil war. Unless the American people can come together and get beyond the internet and cable fueled propellant of tribalism and identity politics, the great American experiment will be over.
32
You're right - it's a remarkable situation. Despite the flaw in most polls, there is historic evidence to compare the times to. Take George W Bush for example. A statesman among statesman in comparison, but his approval rating at the end of his term were very low. That's because he made quite a few bad decisions, not because he was a scurrilous crank. Now there is a president who has done far worse, in areas well beyond his presidential role, and he's loved by at least 40% of people who *will not* factor in his conduct as president or decent human being.
To those supporters, "it’s when overriding your principles is the easy thing to do that you have ...." checked out as a member of civil society. And all along I thought you were about being taken seriously.
7
This too shall pass (poll numbers). I believe these numbers are artificially inflated by the recent Syrian bombing (horrifying, if true) and will most likely settle lower after another bone headed and/or completely inappropriate move by the cretin in the White House. Just take a deep breath and RESIST!
12
I was 20, serving in the military at the time of Nixon. I know it is much different now. Congress would best serve ALL of their constituents then just those that are towing the party line. You are absolutely correct ALL American people need to come together to fight this terror. And it is a terror that this is happening to our country because of those that should protect all of is are more concerned with protecting themselves.
The editors have correctly identified that the responsibility to work through this will rest with conservatives who control all three branches of government.
The result will be that the owner-masters of the conservative movement will not permit their chosen marketer to go down. This will end the fiction that the Constitution means anything except the aggrandizement of the rich and powerful. Please understand that half the population supports this. For them it is a simple trade: the conservative half of the population give the rich and powerful more money and more immunity for their bad behavior and in return the rich and powerful provide immunity and absolution to the conservative half of the population. Given the Constitution's structural protection of conservatives, the result is inevitable.
For conservatives, suicide is preferable to any loss of relative status and immunity. And they have no issue with taking the rest of us with them. They also count on the pro-life half of the population (so-called liberals) not being willing to kill to preserve the Constitution. Or the Gospels of the New Testament for that matter. In this, they have six millennia of history to support them.
15
The very premise of Mr. Mueller's investigation, some sort of collusion between Mr. Trump and Russia, is unlawful. Collusion is not a crime. And anyway, the entire foundation of the investigation is based upon a fiction, a political fiction, dreamt up and paid for by Mrs. Clinton and her campaign, embodied by the fake dossier, and widely spread by the likes of this editorial board. So how about the editors here concern themselves, just once in a while, with the law as it applies to everyone and not just the very controversial but brilliantly effective President Trump.
8
If your premise was true, then there wouldn't have been 70 contacts between Trumps team and Russians. There wouldn't be 5 guilty pleas, 13 Russian indictments and one sentence to jail. Whenever people say there was no collusion, I say, why was there so much CONTACT between Trump's team and Russians. That is not normal.
21
First, the "premise" of the investigation is not that there was "some sort of collusion." And second, the premise is not "unlawful." At least I think that's what you're saying.
Satire? The one and only brilliantly effective thing trump has done is con an awful lot of people, to their and our detriment. As of this moment, we are still a country of laws. When those laws do not apply to a president, he becomes a ruler, we are then ruled and no longer a free people. That concerns the heck out of me.
2
I agree with everything stated in this editorial.
And yet, almost every day I read and/or hear in various news media that there is a constitutional grey area about whether a sitting President can be charged with any crime. Is this true?
If yes, how so? If he had been charged with committing murder would this also be true?
If not, must we wait until there are sufficient votes for this President to be impeached in the House and convicted in the Senate?
Even the rosiest blue predictions do not foresee a 67-seat Democratic majority in the Senate.
Could anyone weigh in on what the debate is about whether a sitting President can be charged with a specific crime, and not just the vaguer "high crimes and misdemeanors?'
7
Thomas Jefferson was confronted with this early on in his administration. If you have an arrest warrant for the Commander in Chief, he reasoned, who is going to serve it? You have to get past the army first. Since then, the custom has long been that presidents are more or less immune from prosecution and lawsuits, but *only* for the duration of their terms. Otherwise, any POTUS would spend all his time in court.
4
A bigger question you should answer is what crimes do you feel that resident Trump has committed?
Is the Republican party willing to allow the president to put himself above the law, thereby creating a legal precedent for dictatorship? In that event I could only wish that 3 Republican senators would caucus with the Democrats, thereby throwing control of the Senate to Democrats. Maybe this would get the attention of the GOP leadership.
21
A vitally important editorial on the heels of week that ought go down in history for its unprecedented attack by North American commander in chief on the rule of law. Can such a transparent effort to undermine democracy possibly succeed? That this remains a question speaks to the perilous situation Trump's manipulation of poorly educated has foisted on the body politic. Pay teachers a living wage and insist upon a coherent defensible nationwide curriculum for red and blue state schools.
24
Pay for teachers is a state-level initiative, not the preview of the President.
I don't understand what you think President Trump has done to undermine the rule of law. Could you be more forthcoming?
1
Lied left and right?
How far back in the succession of US presidents do we have to go to find one that did not at least stretch the boundaries of his constitutional authority, or run directly over or around them? Is it even possible, especially when viewed through partisan goggles?
I fear we have reached the stage where the practice and perception of the office has gone too far, and that the incremental growth of executive powers has allowed for too much autonomy and authority, and simultaneously weakened the checking power of Congress.
6
Trump is proving to be the first president that has not clue of the constitution. His wealth and success is an illusion too many have fallen prey to. His perception of the office of president is that he is omnipotent. He will not ever realize he "WORKS FOR THE PEOPLE" not for himself or those that paid to put him into office. When I watched him take the oath of office he was just blase. His speech was the worst I ever heard. I wondered how is this going to be? We get the answer to that everyday.
but no need to worry - Von Clownstick has become such a... loser -(if that is the right expression) - that his days are numbered the one way or the other.
10
This editorial is excellent. I'm sorry it had to be written.
I'm reading a short little book called, "On Tyranny," almost a treatise. The author takes great pains not to mention names, but calls it a set of lessons for our time from the 20th century.
Lesson one seems applicable to this editorial. It reads, "Do Not Obey in Advance." This is precisely what I'm witnessing from Congressional Republicans. They have sent signals to Donald Trump, over and over, that they will not check him.
They are obeying in advance. The question remains what the rest of us who detest what this president is doing to this country, his open flouting of the rule of law in words, as well as actions, will do in return.
Because, should the GOP--already attacking the FBI in a concerted effort to stand with Trump--is telling him, we're with you, raw power is worth our obeisance.
And then, get ready for all hell to break loose. The man who has never been checked no matter how fast and loose he operated his businesses, will see that even in government, he can bend the branches of government to his will.
People, our democracy is at stake. Without the rule of law, it's a short trip to dictatorship, to tyranny, to cancelled elections, to jailing journalists, to poisoning opponents.
If you think I"m crazy, I urge you to look at what's happening in Poland and Hungary.
Trump may not know history, but he knows the rules of autocrats.
381
"People, our democracy is at stake. Without the rule of law, it's a short trip to dictatorship,..." starting with voter disenfranchisement.
The subversion of our Democracy pre-dates Donald Trump, was engineered, to avoid the word "conspired" so many in the center and on the left have refused to voice for well into a decade, well before DT arrived on stage.
I fear the Trump saga, irregardless of how far it goes, will obfuscate that underlying reality enabling the engineers to continue to undermine our societal values through both the ballot box as well as growing undertows of forces such as ALEC and "oligarch" funded institutions such as Cambridge Analytica.
1
You are correct. Frightening so. Those that strengthen/embolden him are a great danger to us too. I wonder every day, how can these people continue to be conned by him. I realize just as those that are conned by the likes of Maddof and all the others that can sell ice to an Eskimo. Yes that is what we are up against.
1
"... raw power is worth our obeisance."
"Only I can fix it."
No, it's not a replica (cheap and shoddy, designed here but fabricated in China under the Trump brand) of the Weimar Republic's end, but it is absolutely a poorly written and produced sequel, the results of which will be equally horrible.
1
FF Von Clownstick told US all before - that he will destroy the US government when elected -
We - or let's say ''some of US'' - elected him for exactly that reason.
-(and it's no excuse that some of the ''some'' thought they were just electing an internet meme)
8
Yes, the “What’s wrong with this picture?” question may be answered simply: Congress is missing. Never before in the history of our great country has one of the three branches failed to carry out it’s Constitutional duty.
Like so many Americans I will pray, when a critical juncture is reached, that the GOP-led Congress will do the right thing and put country above party. Failing to do so may damage forever the republic.
82
@gsteve, Congress routinely fails to carry out its constitutional duty. Best recent example is the McConnell gambit in which he refused to advise or consent on Obama's supreme court nomination. I fear that McConnell and his ilk, who place party and personal power over citizens and country, would fail to act if they felt endangered. Of course, they're fools if they think they could survive the national outrage of ignoring Trump taking out Mueller.
2
gsteve: If "thoughts and prayers" espoused by so many on the right are any indication of effectiveness, I hope you, "like so many Americans" will do more than pray!
1
I am with you on this. We the people need to keep calling, emailing, snail mail writing to our representatives. It is going to take the majority of us that are displease to put as much pressure on them as we can. Hassle/harass them to make sure they hear our voice.
I remember Watergate. I was a teenager and people were plenty scared. When it was over, we all rejoiced that the system worked. The rule of law protected us. I said to myself that I will never have to live through this again. No future president would ever try to circumvent the law like Nixon did.
I'm living through it again and I'm plenty scared... again. This time, the only way that we get through it is with overwhelming evidence. Not testimony, but hard evidence. This is because Trump and Fox News have vanquished the truth. They have successfully convinced millions that the truth is only what you want it to be. They have reduced facts to mere whims of fancy. In doing so, Fox and all of its so called friends have done more damage to our republic than Osama bin Landen could have ever hoped to achieve. He wanted to take us down by killing us. It's easier if we just destroy ourselves with our own lies. Without the truth, there can be no rule of law and therefore, no republic.
The Republicans are so spineless that they will sit on their hands no matter much evidence is presented. We have to hang on until Nov. and replace them. It's really come to that.
Therefore, it is absolutely essential that the Mueller team wrap this up and present their evidence to the American people directly before the election. Mind you, the justice department can still keep the findings under wraps. It may all boil down to a patriot handing an envelope to a reporter in a garage.
667
Dr Rozenblit, You know this, and I know this, but one of my dearest friends, one of the only two GOOD people I know, lives with a mother who watches NOTHING but Fox News. That mother is the widow of a WWII veteran, and she proudly displays a statement about him signed by Barack Obama. But she believes every word she hears from the TV.
imo The American Revolution was not a revolution. It was a war pitching one group of oligarchs against another group of oligarchs; it used patriots to fight conscripts. As with EVERY other war in modern times: Rich men start them, poor men fight them, young men die.
My father - a nobody - fought in France in 1916, and Thank God he was wounded and repatriated - otherwise no me or my siblings.
3
Bruce, I live through Watergate too and I continue to reject the blithe notion that the "system worked". It was only a diligent and honest press that saved us, and by the skin of our teeth, not our government. If we had a system that works we would not now be faced with yet another constitutional crisis in the making, and one that makes the Watergate scandal seem modest in comparison. Some may say my pessimism is just seeing the glass as half full. No, I am seeing it as almost empty.
4
@Bruce Rosenblit - If trump fires Rosenstein, Mueller is either next or he's effectively shut down. If republicans allow that to happen, it's essentially game over, and you won't hear a peep from the likes of Mitch McConnell. Laws won't matter anymore - they're for the little people. Power is the only thing republicans care about - that and money.
They've stolen a supreme court seat and paid no price for doing so, looked the other way on Russia as it's been to their advantage, made voting more difficult and we know vote counts susceptible to tampering. What makes you think they wouldn't rig an election or two if they thought they could get away with it? And yes - I'm as terrified as you are. I try to have faith that we'll right the ship in November, if it's still afloat.
1
Quite true, but neither should Hillary Clinton, Comey. or any of the numerous people involved. The president has never indicated he was above the law, NEVER!!!
3
@vulcanalex: Trump doesn't say "I'm above the law;" he just acts as if he is every chance he gets.
6
Do you really think it matters what Trump "indicates" as long as his actions place him above the law? Since when have you believed anything Trump "indicates," anyway?
1
Why do you bring up Clinton and Comey? How are they in any way relevant? This quagmire is of Trump's own making.
4
Agreed, the President is not above the law, but if so where has been the demand the President consult Congress before engaging in an act of war? I find the acceptance of Presidential war-making ability with no Congressional consultation to be a signal threat to our well-being let alone to the well-being of those we attack.
The War Powers Act of 1973 and the Constitution need to be honored.
46
Tim Kaine made the case eloquently on TV this morning that Trump must have the permission of Congress before engaging in an act of war. He mentioned that Obama did so specifically with reference to Syria. Kaine accused Trump multiple times of thinking he isn't the US President but our King.
18
Thank you NY Times. It is time for all of us to contact our US congressional representatives and let them know that we stand by Robert Mueller's investigation. In the last month or so, I have written to both of my US Senators with a simple question: "Will you do everything in your power to ensure that Robert Mueller is allowed to complete his investigation?" Each time I email, I receive an immediate thank you email that informs me that a full response is on its way. I heard back from Senator Bob Casey after my first email to him, with a complete accounting of his position. After 4 attempts, I have yet to hear back from Senator Toomey with any position. Four emails with a simple question- NO RESPONSE. Will the Republicans in Congress be complicit, or will they work to uphold the pledge they took to the constitution of the United States? We may soon find out. Let's work together to help them chose wisely.
128
I urge you to call their offices. I've been told that emails are good but phone calls (and hard copies of letters or post cards, mailed via USPS) are better.
14
Congress will turn on the President when their constituents do, so don’t hold your breath. Those low info voters who voted for DT also put into office his sycophantic Congressional members. Even if Mueller’s findings show outright collusion, which I doubt he will find, we are in a race to see which comes first: the November election or the demise of our Constitution.
Everything I was ever taught in school indicated that the law applies equally to all Americans including the president. Equality under the law is one of the foundations of our democratic republic, but we've not really been a democratic republic for at least a couple of decades. Instead, we have become a plutocracy or an oligarchy - take your pick. Under that system, just as in Orwell's "Animal Farm", we are all equal, but some are more equal than others.
Also, Fox News has had 22 years to spout its bilious rantings in favor of the right and against the left.
I have a feeling we may shortly find out the answer to the question of whether the president is above the law, and we might not like that answer.
117
Trump is the man for whom McConnell thwarted the Constitution to disallow President Obama from having heard his nominee for Supreme Court. Trump is not the only Republican who acts as though he is above the law.
The Republicans spent 8 years obstructing legislation, spreading false information, and avoiding responsibility. In that time, the polarization and rancor has reached new heights. They ushered in the extremists of the Tea Party and ushered out standards of evidence, due process, and comity. They are all responsible for the state we find ourselves in now.
661
vulcanalex -
Please explain how "the law allowed for that delay" under our Constitution. I'm pretty familiar with that document, and it seems to me that McConnell betrayed his oath of office.
Also, let's not forget that McConnell, thinking Hillary was going to win, publicly pledged to keep that seat open for another four years.
Can't wait for your response. Am holding my breath.
284
@Suzanne Moniz, Providence: I posted a long comment but I neglected to point out, as you did, that Mitch McConnell--and his fellow seditionists in the senate (Charles Grassley, et al), e.g., stood by and allowed the Constitution to become toilet paper for their nefarious ends--the embarrassing of President Obama and the road gang, hard at work, paving the way for a Trump presidency.
Even then, in the March of 2016, Donald Trump was thought to have little chance to defeat Hillary Clinton. Yet McConnell stood in front of the Courtroom door and forbade any discussion of Judge Merrick Garland. I was always under the impression that the Constitution was the basis for our laws, but I guess I was wrong.
The law, as McConnell and the Republicans see it, is the stare decisis that applies only to those holding the electoral majority in Congress. Should a Democratic-majority Congress behave in a like manner, the Right would go to the Supreme Court, complaining daily all the way.
Under Donald Trump, the law is what he tweets--or doesn't. His supreme unfitness for the office is recognized by every Republican, yet they grovel at his feet to serve his needs--his and those of the Donor Base--the real "base" from which Trump derives his standing and power.
Please forgive the length of my reply. This current administration upsets me so that I simply cannot get over the party of "law and order" turning away from the Constitution in fright and in fealty to the one percent.
248
@Suzanne Moniz: let's not forget how McConnell (it always seems to be him!) refused to join Barack Obama in telling the American people in September of 2016 that the Russians had meddled in our election. President Obama wanted a bipartisan announcement of this, but McConnell, citing it was too close to the election and might throw it, refused.
Looks like ol' Mitch knew what he was doing--at the very least, he got what he prayed for. Raw power, by any means, is what the Republican party is all about these days.
141
Every day the so-called president holds the job, we become weaker, less capable of uniting and more vulnerable. Foot dragging with respect to shoring up our election process from tampering has already increased the likely questionable outcome for many contests.
The so-called president represents only a small and shrinking number of Americans and possess no understanding of what his role is as president.
He needs to go.
203
He is not the only one. Every one of his sycophants needs to be voted out of office as well, but I doubt that those who voted for them realize the danger their own livelihoods and life are in because of them.
5
That's like your opinion, man.
So you have built an empire, and you have a basis in international diplomacy and you are a political consultant?
We elected President Trump because Mrs Clinton and the Democratic Party could not counter Trumps base.