Trump's power will assuredly not be checked by this SCOTUS.
4
Goldberg gives Republicans too much undeserved benefit of the doubt. Trump does not "make his base discard their values out of loyalty to him". Most discard the facades of values they never actually held. And it doesn't look like they do it out of loyalty to Trump. They do it out of greed for power.
Most Republicans will probably support whatever Trump does? Be more precise, Goldberg. Most Republicans will CERTAINLY support whatever Trump does, whether it's grabbing the genitals of unwilling women or other deeds that he brags that he can do with impunity.
13
Our example to the world: Trump and Giuliani's claims to have the right to shoot someone and not face the consequences is the nadir of our culture. This is tantamount to excusing criminal behavior, giving license to anyone to commit heinous acts of criminal behavior.
POTUS should be setting the high bar in ethics, morals, and decency. Rather than raising the bar — the actions, statements, lies, threats, ignorance and abuse of power demonstrated by POTUS —indeed represents the nadir of all that this country and our democracy could ever hold up to the rest of the world as examples liberty and justice for ALL.
Now, no matter what happens, we have lost all our bargaining chips – lower we cannot go. Now, whenever any despotic regime needs an example to support their brutality, they only have to point to this regime as a model. Now, all the women and men that gave their lives to sustain our high minded system have been sacrificed in vain. Now, every plutocratic and oligarchical entity has been given liberty to expand their regimes with impunity. Now, it can be said that MAGA is antithetical to what truly made America great. Is that the message we want to send to our children, and indeed the rest of the world?
11
Even a King is not above the law. When the American colony was established the English Common Law came with it and also clearly the dictum of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) "The King himself should be under no man, but under God and the Law." applies.
NB Charles 1st was tried and executed for behaving unlawfully
9
Let's face it: Trump voters liked what they saw on the campaign trail: a bully, a liar, a misogynist, an unfaithful husband to all three of his wives, a serial bankrupt, a traitor who called on a foreign entity to interfere in the election, a businessman who doesn't accepts responsibility for his failures, a narcissist, and a racist. All of these traits were clearly on display during the election, so no one should be surprised at the shenanigans we now see played out on the political stage. If only Trump voters had been able to imagine how his past behavior might play out in the highest office in this country, perhaps they might not have voted for him. But there must be something fascinating, irresistable about a candidate who so clearly communicates that he will stomp his iron boot on citizens' faces everyday and he knows they will ask for more.
19
I weep for our country under this tyrant.
And half of America applauds as Trump laughs at the values and protocols that we have held dear since our birth.
17
We are going to find out off we experienced a soft coupe in November 2017. Many of us were in tears the morning after the election, fearing the worst. Those fears may prove to be utterly sober and correct. We are slowly finding ourselves ruled by an absurd minority of racist Christians, billionaires, Russians and Fox News brainwashed retirees for the near and present future...
16
I just do not understand how commentators can deliver one devastating critique after another and not say the words - Trump should resign or be removed. Republicans in Congress go along because they are not feeling any heat. They will not get any from their diwndling base, but the rest of us can deliver plenty. Why is there no movement?
5
His partially exposed crime syndicate responds that they have all been above the law for their entire privileged klepto lives. Until now. God speed, Mr Mueller.
6
We, the citizens of this country, have become like the frog who is placed in a big pot of cool water, with a flame under it.....gradually getting hotter, but no noticed by froggy until he is boiled to death. We just shake our heads and smile with bemusement at this clown's actions. Clown? No way, this guy has us in his sights and has since the beginning. Wake up or risk a vacation in one of Trump's Gulags....and they are coming if we don't notice that the water is almost at the boiling point.
10
Another character who considered himself "the embodiment of the Law" was the Lord Chancellor, in Gilbert and Sullivan's commentary on the British House of Lords. I quote from this gentleman's patter song, and although this program does not allow me to mark the text, I find the second verse especially relevant !
The Law is the true embodiment
Of everything that's excellent.
It has no kind of fault or flaw,
And I, my Lords, embody the Law.
The constitutional guardian I
Of pretty young Wards in Chancery,
All very agreeable girls — and none
Are over the age of twenty-one.
A pleasant occupation for
A rather susceptible Chancellor!
But though the compliment implied
Inflates me with legitimate pride,
It nevertheless can't be denied
That it has its inconvenient side.
For I'm not so old, and not so plain,
And I'm quite prepared to marry again,
But there'd be the deuce to pay in the Lords
If I fell in love with one of my Wards!
Which rather tries my temper, for
I'm such a susceptible Chancellor!
1
"1000 days left". The 22nd Amendment prevents a President from running more than twice. But there are some ways to circumvent that. He could be elected vice president then have the president resign. He could be appointed speaker of the house (the speaker does not have to be an elected official) and have the pres and vp resign. These and other nightmare scenarios are discussed in https://www.forbes.com/sites/jvdelong/2015/08/03/thinking-about-a-third-...
This is all going to get much, much worse before it gets better.
10
Trump is a citizen of this country. Just because he is president doesn't make him king, a despot or any of the titles the founding fathers were trying to protect us from.
He is not above the law. He has powers, as POTUS' do, but not to the extent that if he is guilty of something that excludes him from accountability.
His choice of Giuliani is like having a court jester to entertain his base but he is not a legal mind or expert and should not be taken seriously.
What should be taken seriously is a fair and thorough investigation. The Trump campaign was warned about Russian intervention and did nothing but open more arms and doors for them
As for HRC and Obama, they have nothing to do with this. Clinton was investigated and no charges brought.
Get over it. Focus on the now. We have an authoritarian wannabe president who worships dictators. That should trouble all of us to our core.
6
What is really frightening is that I have a hard time imagining Trump giving up his power even if he legitimately loses an election. And the Republicans in their current state are not far behind........if they lose at anything or anywhere, including the courts, they say it was rigged. How do you counter that? Hillary had three million more votes and they had a hard time even admitting that - and she lost!
6
Margo writes, "What is really frightening is that I have a hard time imagining Trump giving up his power even if he legitimately loses an election....Hillary had three million more votes and they had a hard time even admitting that - and she lost!"
Not to worry Margo...republicans know how to rig elections. Like the last one...here's a clue...Hillary didn't lose. Electronic voting machines have already been hacked. Official vote counts don't match exit polls...and for some strange reason the benefit was always for Trump. So, good news!!! Trump won't have to give a power....ever.
Beat the Christmas rush and from now on start referring to Trump as King Donald.
1
Does it occur to anyone that the most recent outlandish comments by and/or about Trump, this time concerning his impunity, was intended to engender an indignant reaction from his liberal opponents? Absent an imminent indictment of the President which seems highly unlikely, there is no other plausible explanation. It's almost as if the President and his team delight in tormenting their opponents. They are trying to get under liberals' skin, and they are succeeding. Perhaps this is something to think about the next time there is an outlandish Tweet or another pronouncement coming from Trump. No doubt this will be very soon.
1
The important thing to consider is that revelations about the prostitution of conservative intellectuals, as well as the corruptions of Manafort, Pruitt, and even Trump himself have functionally no effect on Trump's support. If you want to get rid of Trumpism, it is necessary to figure out why this is the case. Without understanding that reality, it is almost impossible to negate it. Simplistic slogans to the effect that Trump supporters and apologists are hypocritical, racist, misogynistic, ignorant, homophobes will not suffice any more than will the Democrats circular firing squad.
3
There haven’t been any recent presidential campaigns filled to the brim with daily news of indictments & criminality.
None where Vladamir Putin played a prominent role with his hands all over Trump's win.
Every cupboard in the Trump/Pence campaign has Russians, secret meetings, back channels and damaging emails.
Did Trump ever implement the sanctions on Russia voted into law last October?
And why is Putin being invited to the U.S. for a summit?
We just had election interference from Russia and our intelligence agencies confirmed it as fact. But he's invited to the White House?
Did Trump talk to Putin about that letter he dictated for his son? He met Putin July 8th, did that letter July 9th.
The Tower meeting is Trump's Achilles Heel:
Most legal eagles believe odds are with Mueller the federal courts, on up to the Supreme Court, will validate his inevitable subpoena.
6
Ms Goldberg hit a home run with this assessment of the Trumpian swamp and it occupants and fellow travelers in Congress and his alleged "legal" team. Cadet Bone spurs and his alleged staff are casting about to play to their hypocritical base which more and more shows it has no moral compass or respect for the Country and the Office of the Pres which Trump has turned into his own fiefdom and personal money store- an unbridled auto crat should abandon.
7
If the Supreme Court agrees that any President is above the law, there is no law. We'll be living in an autocracy. There already are few examples of accountability for crimes committed by well-known or wealthy individuals and thus, precious little justice for these folks. Think George W. Bush and the banksters that created the financial crisis. We've already gone to far, our spineless politicians have produced this environment. It's time we got rid of them, and put in place ethical ones if there are any around.
1
"by virtue of his position as the chief law enforcement officer, could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself.”
May I reorientate this argument? Imagine a CEO ordering his CFO to cook the books in order to gloss over an executive failure. The CFO is still technically subordinate to the CEO and should theoretically follow orders. However, they are both beholden to the shareholders. The CEO is terminable for even asking. The CFO would follow for compliance. Both are potentially guilty of federal crimes. GAAP laws still exist regardless of the CEO's personal feelings.
In the public sphere, the president is the CEO. However, that title does not exempt him or her from inappropriate behavior. We, the public, are the shareholders. Congress is our elected board. If the board fails to act under these circumstances in the private industry, you'd find yourself a new board terribly quick. No amount of executive privilege can countermand the reckless abuse of power. Personally, I can't wait to demonstrate exactly my feelings to the board.
3
"I asked Bob Bauer, who was Barack Obama’s White House counsel, about Giuliani’s argument. “Why in the world would you decide to invite into the discussion whether the president could murder people and escape indictment for as long as he or she is in office?” he asked. “That’s not where you want to go, because it rubs up so violently against everybody’s intuitions about the presidency and its relationship to the rule of law.”
Where was your moral outrage when Barack Obama had Anwar al-Awlaki killed in a drone strike (and his 16 year old son separately)? Both of them were U.S. Citizens. No due process - a true extrajudicial execution. No one is above the law, but some of us are less subject to it than others, depending on your political leanings.
I would wager that most of the people reading your column cannot even identify issue of justice that President Trump is obstructing.
The answer is yes, the LAW applies to him......but my question is this:
What about the unstable guy walking around thinking he can do
trump a favor by attempting to kill Comey? Those remarks of
Guiliani constitute a possible threat to another American Citizen. Giuliani should be arrested.
15
America reminds me of this school I worked for in Turkey. There was no board, the owner (who was not an educator) decided how many copies we were allowed to make, and cow towed to all the entitled parents.
The owner had his fancy car washed on our school grounds, my students had a clear view of this.
Yet the so called elite kept paying the tuition, and bought into the “royalty” of it all.
The school folded, parents walked away scratching their heads. They could not understand what happened.
The ignorant back the ignorant. The Trump voters will feel the blowback. But ultimately, it is their entitlement and ignorance that caused the damage.
And they will get nothing from this narcissistic man.
Nothing.
Ms. Goldberg has laid it all out: “So why did Giuliani say it? One explanation is that Giuliani [believes] his client’s interest lies in bludgeoning our moral intuitions.”...”It’s hard to imagine what we’ll have gotten used to by the time it’s all over.”
The blindness of the 87% is astonishing - the power of the propaganda machine of Fox, talk radio, Twitter, Facebook ... is undeniable, all made legal by indifference from the supine GOP Congress.
6
Trump may assert he has the right to commit murder but Obama once wore a tan suit.
5
You made me laugh so hard my ice tea came out my nose!
2
Once Trump declares himself God-King, he will not want to reign from a mere "house". The white house will be torn down and replaced with a tower. My question for the readers is this: will the tower become known as Barad-dûr or Orthanc? Make your preference known by replying.
1
"Trump has now claimed the powers of an autocrat."
But, Trump is a cartoon hero, who always seems to get his way. "There is no business like show business, like no business I know."
I suggest that critic of Trump, create Trump puppets and Trump robots that mimic his antics, over and over, again...
NY Times, Democrats, critics, try some Trump dolls, etc?
===========================================
3
Absolutely not. Of course if you listen to the ravings of the madman ex-mayor of NY (if you can follow his "reasoning"), you would think maybe trump is above the law. The "reasoning' of 2 madmen and a bunch weak kneed Republicans doesn't make it so.
Does the Law Apply to Donald Trump? It Doesn't Seem to Apply to The Times, or, At Least, the TRUTH!
Why do completely incompetent people lust the most for power?
Charitably, it could be a type of Dunning-Kruger artifact (where the stupid think that they are smart; after all they are stupid).
Psychologically, it could be because they know they are incompetent and so they try to mask it or over-compensate.
Tragically, it could be because they are angry and want to get even with a life full of humiliation and inadequacy.
My money is on door number 3. And we are all now engaged in a great un-civil war between Trump's child-like anger and our country's noble soul.
1
Why are we having this conversation? Trump. Seriously folks, this man has changed just about everything. We are having a national discussion about porn actors whom I have no personal feelings about one way or some other. We are witnessing the Trump organization, whoever, making bank on national policy. The President is trashing not only individuals but whole supporting structures of our American form of government. And, may I ask, who is He: a celebrity. a tabloid charmer, a self-styled alpha male.
There are moments when all of this crystalizes. It becomes some parody of any serious attempt to establish a government on Enlightenment values and thought. This man is some twisted version of Rodney Dangerfield at The Club. "Did someone step on a duck?" Folks have bled for this, died for this. My father lost his bearings for this. He fought in WWII and left something fundamental at Stalag Luft One. For what, now? Donald
Trump?
Bone spurs? Stormy Daniels? Spygate, please, give me a break. Real folks, real Americans, suffered for what? So that we could have a Mar A Lago chocolate confection praised?
Ask Trump supporters. Ask anyone who has paid a speeding ticket, a parking fine or worse, if American laws apply the them. What gives this man any right to suggest that American laws are not applicable to his sorry butt when they apply to ours?
3
Dorothy Parker said it best..."What fresh hell is this?"
7
Who said "Hell is other people"? The very craven Republicans will not do anything. We got to take over Congress or get into the streets constantly to impact for change. Remember the Vietnam War; mainstream was for the war at the beginning. After constant turmoil in the streets and campus, nearly everyone wanted an end to it. We must do the same for Trump and his crooks. Look to the young people again to lead the charge.
3
Michelle Goldberg says: "We’re 500 days into this waking nightmare of a presidency, and Trump has now claimed the powers of an autocrat. Assuming he serves out his term, there are almost 1,000 days left. It’s hard to imagine what we’ll have gotten used to by the time it’s all over." Unfortunately, at this point, I think he has at least a 50% chance, maybe higher, of getting re-elected as President. Don't forget that Trump has an 85% approval rating among Republicans. Yes, he is very unpopular outside of his base, but don't forget about GOP voter suppression and extreme gerrymandering, and Russia will probably interfere again in the 2020 election. Finally, besides turnout, I think the candidate that the Democrats nominate will be very important too. I'm hoping for a moderate white male to be honest. After Obama, I don't think Kamala Harris or Cory Booker would stand a chance against Trump. Not PC, but probably true.
3
Those who have suggested that the President of the USA is an elected monarch are being proved right. Monarchy tends to autocracy: see Henry VIII, who extended the power of the Crown to suit himself. Ironically, by the time of George III, the King's power was already limited, a fact lost on the Foudners, who believed (or said they did) that they were rejecting the King's rule. But it was actually Parliament that held the powoer, and Parliament (an instrument of the propertied classes) did not want to admit the Colonies to the United Kingdom as political and economic equals. There was some gap in the Founders' imagination in that they could envision an Executive only in terms of what they already knew as a King. Hence the pwoer of Presidential Pardon, which is a _royal_ prerogative. Nevertheless, the provision for impeachment makes it quite clear that the President is subject to the law. But the willingness of the Trumpists to overlook that fact means this will not end well.
3
Richard II of England said that the "law was written in his breast," borrowing from late Ancient Roman Law. Nobody in the English realm that had learned to value the law was happy about this. The result was tragic. I certainly distance myself from that ending. But rulers, all rulers, should take note that there are limits. Placing themselves above the law, or even saying they are, bodes only ill.
From the article: "Trump’s power grab could be checked... should Mueller pursue a subpoena against Trump, by the Supreme Court.
And what do you think the supreme court would decide? Regardless of political bias, even if all 9 justices were appointed by Fox News, those on the supreme court with conservative bias are most likely to base their ruling on their interpretation of what the original authors of the constitution meant. Perhaps the most dominant idea in the constitution is that there are 3 SEPARATE branches of government - executive, legislative, and judiciary, each of which checks the power of the other 2. There may be doubt concerning the founders' beliefs about gay marriage, abortion, civil rights, even slavery - but it's hard to imagine there is any doubt concerning the separation of powers.
So do you think any kind of fundamentalist supreme court would decide it's OK to cede IT'S OWN POWER to the executive branch? The more conservative the court, the more likely it is to tell trump to shove it.
4
When will sane people say "enough!" and pour into the streets?
Count me as one who's ready anytime now.
10
Odd and amazing that 45 is doing everything Conservatives charged 44 with, and yet they worship 45 without a hint of embarrassment. How frightfully we are made!
Like male lions, we seem unable to live together with others peacefully, rationally, and well. Can we, I wonder, evolve out of this genetic cesspool?
6
I only see one President in that photograph, the portrait of George Washington. The other guy is the kind of despot Washington pledged his life and his honor to defend us from.
7
So the founding fathers did not anticipate we would be stupid enough to elect a traitor and criminal as president. Clearly we let them down, but that doesn't mean we simply roll over here. Apparently we need to define "presidential" "qualities" "competencies" and "requirements." Time for suitable amendments.
9
I don't want to get used to this, but I'm so tired of it all! How to make it stop! It's like your neighbor playing music loudly that you hate, it makes me crazy.
8
As time moves on, we are being numbed by this circus of the absurd and the destruction of our sense of decency, democracy and American rightness.
Its like being constantly assaulted by stress hormones, eventually the cortisol in your system may have very serious health consequences that could kill you.
Perhaps the Republicans have already been killed by Trump and his toxic character and behavior and the zombies just haven't started rotting, yet...they just smell to high heaven.
7
Has the law ever applied to Trump? This man, who has consistently defrauded, lied, cheated and reneged as a businessman, has neatly avoided jail - and paid fines where the rest of us would have done time. Why has he ever been allowed to do the things he’s done? For the same reasons that will keep him safe now: the law is not applied equally.
The rich are allowed bend the law to their will without consequences, like hundreds of them were allowed to do in the last financial meltdown; like tens of thousands of them have been allowed to do over the past century - reshaping our laws in the process to meet their own needs. Trump is just being The Donald: rich, white, male and privileged. It’s worked before. Why would it not work now? Trot out the lawyers and watch.
3
According to Trump and his lawyers Obama would have had the absolute right to tap Trump's phones, infiltrate his campaign and do just about anything he wanted while in the white house. GOP yelled and screamed about Obama overreaching his presidential authority, but Trump is above the law. How can they claim to be patriots?
7
I always thought that in a republic, no one was above the law.
5
Trump cannot pardon himself, that is against the law. However, he's not been indicted or convicted, so this seems a bit of a ruse.
I think our experiment is over, and I pray the dissolution can happen peacefully.
Some brave Congressperson should introduce a resolution to dissolve the Union so we can get started figuring out how to do it without bloodshed.
3
It shouldn’t be the least bit surprising that Trump feels he is above the law. He has lived his entire life that way. The hope that somehow once he became president he would be awed by the office and all that goes with it has proved to be a joke. The presidency has been a natural extension of his past activities. He has his people take care of all the details as he wields his power. Where his legal theory comes from or what it is doesn’t matter, what does matter is the growing actual power given to him by the Congress, his party and his base that is feared by all. This will become worse if or when he is able to appoint more Supreme Court justices, adding to his control of all aspects of life. He has no limit to the power he wants to possess; only the voters and what remains of the justice system stands in his way.
2
1. The growing extremism of Republican voters is partly but not primarily due to Trump. Trump did not create his base, he inherited it.
People respond to propaganda. The growing extremism of Republican voters is the result of a generation of propaganda from Fox News and conservative talk. The extremism, the lies, and the behavior displayed daily on Fox News are now the norm for these voters. GOP politicians now speak only in Fox News talking points. See the book by popular Yale historian Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny.
The hypocrisy of the Republican politicians is off the charts. They would be apoplectic if Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton were in office displaying half the behaviors or claims of Trump.
2. A simple answer to Trump’s latest claim is that only Congress has the power to write laws. The President is the executive. He is required to “faithfully” carry out the laws. That includes complying with the law.
Questions about what the law and Constitution say are determined by the courts. Nowhere does the Constitution prohibit a court from examining a President’s actions and determining them to be in violation of the law.
The current GOP claim that if the President does something it’s legal gives to the president the right to create the law, which violates the Constitution.
The claim that what the President does cannot be viewed as obstruction of the law or of law enforcement is the same claim that he creates the law by his statements or actions.
4
This is a stupid question. The Constitution is the law isn’t it and it applies to everyone including the President.
And, given that the checks and balances between Congress and the Executive Branch requires that the President obey laws passed by Congress, a President not under the law pretty much makes that principle useless and vopiolates not only the Constitution in word but also the very principles of the Founders.
1
Trump has assumed power over the United States of America. No other president has done that before. With his little hands he has been able to squeeze the breath out of our Republican congress to the extent that they can't speak out on behalf of our country. His anointed officers have been able to deeply injure our immigration program, the environment, foreign trade, public schools and trust amongst our foreign allies and our own citizens. His world view is unlike anything we have seen before in a president, and it feels as if the world has slowed, stopped spinning, and begun to reverse. Tricky what happens to democracy when you're not paying attention.
7
"Trump has proved, again and again, that he can make his base discard their values out of loyalty to him."
That is pretty much the definition of an authoritarian cult.
13
I wonder how Republicans would feel about these memos regarding executive power if 'his' was replaced with 'her'.
4
I don't think we need to look any further in considering how Trump has attempted to debase the office of the president, and our ideas on democracy, in order to fit the office to his character and limited intellect, than to compare him to RFK. Bobby championed tolerance, compassion, progressive ideals and idealism itself, the idea of politics as service to a common good, of reaching out to others, of caring for the less fortunate, of social justice. Trump has not a scintilla of what made Bobby a genuine man of action, in the classical Greek sense, of morality in action. This sick joke of a president, who claims now that he cannot be wrong, clearly is running scared. We can only hope that the Mueller investigation wraps up soon, and I'm confident that its findings will probably result in impeachment with charges of treason.
4
Many of US remember the story of Benjamin Franklin speaking to a woman after the Constitutional Convention. She asked what kind of government they had given US. He answered: " A republic madame if you can keep it."
The founders did not have faith in the goodness of humankind. This is why they built so many checks and balances into the system. However, the system breaks down when one branch of government refuses to perform its duty before the Constitution. And, this started before Trump. Witness the 2009 inauguration night conspiracy and Mitch McConnell and the GOP theft of a Supreme Court seat and the federal judiciary.
Now, the power to check this president is in the hands of We the People. This is why we have to give control of Congress to the Democrats in November. It is our duty to vote in such a way that we keep our republic.
5
It has become abundantly clear that Trump does not care what any court says. The crunch is going to come when some court issues an opinion he doesn't like and he simply ignores it, because the Constitution does not give the court authority over the President.
The only remedy the Constitution provides is impeachment. The tolerance of congress for the destruction of the country is unfathomable.
11
Inconsistency in formulating positions has been used as a political strategy for many years by the GOP-At least since the Reagan Years; as Ms Goldberg has pointed out in several of her recent insightful articles for NYT. However seemingly, under the Trump-McConnell-Ryan Triumvirate, inconsistency has become more than simply a strategy to cover-up weaknesses in developing a cogent rationale for how their Party votes on any particular issue, rather, it has become their Party's raison d'etre.
From trade policy, to immigration, to formulating policies on national defense with our allies- or even to how to respond to accusations surrounding the Russian Hackergate scandal- few observers can deny (with a straight face) that, during their own internal arguments, the members of the Trump Administration, seemingly, never so much as mention that consistency, tradition or precedent ought to be any manner of a touch stone. And worse for our democracy, that rarely, if ever, does the Constitutionally mandated overseers of the Presidency (in the majority GOP led Congress) publicly raise objections to this notion of government by impulse, personality and seeming striped naked desperation.
Gack, I foresee this hideous future where Trump resigns right before getting impreached, and Pence pardons him. And Zinke and Pruitt continue their evil-doing, of, not to forget DeVos, the HUD idiot, Minuchin...Even if we get rid of Trump there is SO much damage. And then, Trump Jr or even Ivanka will run for president, and a bunch of 'humans' will vote for her..
I feel ill.
16
When the rot sets in, it manifests itself in various ways. One is supporting a leader because he and his followers share the same personal deficiencies while he provides them with scapegoats for their own shortcomings. Another is to remain committed to ideals that no longer resonate, for example, a democracy based market model that no longer "lifts all boats".Or a focus on what may be morally desirable but practicably not feasible, like free everything for everybody, or important but relatively niche areas of social justice. Or self-absorbed priorities like looking young and having fun rather than being well informed or educated. All come together to create the mess we now have and all will need to change if the republic is to survive as we know it.
2
The notion that a president cannot obstruct justice since that president would in so doing obstruct himself as the ultimate executive officer of the Justice Department is only true if the one presiding over the executive really wants and aims to deal justly with him or herself. In the event that the president in question wished to obstruct any just reckoning because of a knowingly committed crime, well, the president would not be obstructing himself, he would be obstructing only justice, the law, and the oath of office.
2
"... if they really believed their own theories of presidential power, Obama’s behavior in even the most paranoid right-wing scenarios about the Hillary Clinton email inquiry would be justified."
The unspoken belief among Trump and his Republican supporters is that white Americans can do whatever they want, whether or not it is legal. To them, President Obama's blackness is equivalent to the corruption and manifest unfitness of Mr. Trump.
10
I never really understood what was meant by "the tyranny of the minority" when I read about WWII and all of Hitler's atrocities. How could a small group of citizens gain so much power when much of the population didn't agree with their views. Now I understand that a series of unfortunate events allowed him absolute power.
Trump won the election through a fluke due to our outdated electoral college. This tool that was supposed to stop an unfit president actually empowered him. He was aided by the Russian interference and Hillary's unpopularity. He also deliberately and systematically encouraged our biases.
Once he got in office he started sowing mistrust against the media, our electoral process, and the government agencies that protect us. Congress recognizing that they had a rare opportunity to enact every Republican fantasy they've had for decades has chosen to go along with Trump as long as he rubber-stamps their agenda.
Now they can't afford to turn against him because all of the bricks he's laid with his base has made him untouchable. As long as Trump enjoys above 80% the GOP can't stand up to Trump and retain power because his supporters will run them out of office.
Trump thinks he's above the rules of law because he took steps to ensure it long before he became president. He understands how to twist reality until up and down are unrecognizable. We need to stop viewing him as a bumbling fool and see him as the threat to democracy he is.
19
Dear Mr. Landlord: Please make the person upstairs stop tap dancing, the person downstairs stop smoking, and my floormates keep their kids from playing with the elevators.... I don't care how you do it.
1
Please read Article II of the Constitution. You don't have to take my word for it as an attorney for 20+ years (both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney), there is only one express limitation on pardons. It is not allowed in impeachment. I don't know if it is your ignorance or bias, but there is a proposition of law that states when a limitation is given, anything not listed is not a limitation. Hence, the lack of a limitation of self pardoning means that the president can do it.
Also, educate your readers. Have them find the D.O.J. in the Constitution. You can't because it is a direct and subservient power of Article II (the President himself). Perhaps, you have heard that they serve at the will of the pleasure. That means he can fire any and all. It would be catastropic to do so from a political standpoint, but it is clearly permissible from a legal standpoint. Much of law school is engaging in these types of hypotheticals and how to handle them when and if they occur.
Mathew writes, "...there is only one express limitation on pardons. It is not allowed in impeachment....Hence, the lack of a limitation of self pardoning means that the president can do it....Much of law school is engaging in these types of hypotheticals and how to handle them when and if they occur."
So, if Trump were to have Congress arrested and imprisoned...he would be well within his "constitutional" rights. And once in prison, they won't be able to impeach him. Furthermore...he could do the same with SCOTUS. All perfectly legal, correct mr lawyer?
2
Seems that the law did not apply to Louis Learner, Hillary Clinton or the Obama administration. Obama did his best to ignore the Constitution. Holder enforced what he wanted ignored the rest. The NYT was silent on these issues and so president has been set. That Trump thinks that the law does not apply to him is just following president set by the editorial staff of the NYT, WPO,LAT and Chicago Trib. You have responsibility for this situation. You did not hold liberal progressive politicians to account for not following the law.
2
These are the actions of a cornered, narcissistic, guilty man, and not the actions of a leader.
11
"It’s fitting that just as Donald Trump passed the 500th day of his despicable presidency, he marked the occasion by tweeting that he is above the law, declaring that he has “the absolute right to PARDON myself.”"
So...are all the Berniebros happy now?!? All the Jill Stein voters happy? Everyone who claimed and still claims that Hillary would have been just as bad, or even worse. Maybe you are happy. Maybe, like Susan Sarandon, you want to crash the system and start over. "Some people feel that Donald Trump will bring the revolution immediately, if he gets in. Then things will really, you know, explode," Sarandon said.
Sarandon was worried that Hillary would have us in a war, that Hillary was corrupt. And what about Trump? We are still at war in Afghanistan. But that is so "out of site". What Sarandon is begging for is a war here...in this country. Or maybe she thought revolution would just kind of happen. Look at all the republicans who have now become Trumpkins. Even the former speaker of the house, John Boehner, says that the republican party has become the Trump party. Anyone who thought that Trump would drive them away...what do you think now?
I've been suggesting ever since Trump got elected that he wasn't the real problem. The real problem is all of his supporters. They aren't just deplorable...anyone who supports the despicable presidency deserves that same adjective. And all those who wanted revolution, time to wake up...and smell the fascism.
11
all these silly arguments about the ability of the president to do anything he wants, even kill people if he wants, just because he tweeted that he could. Just think, MSM is feverishly debating whether or not the president is infallible. the president is not infallible!! He's a terrible human being, who happens to be the president of this country. he is human and as fallible as humans come. And he is capable of inflicting great harm to millions of people and is doing so. His toxicity has spread into the brains of the body politic to a nauseating degree. It's time for sanity to reestablish itself. Every one with the least bit of humanity left must resist this wave, or we are lost.
5
Maybe proof of murder is what the Russians are holding over Trump?
9
Cesear's reign as a self-appointed emperor of Rome ended with his assassination.
7
Yes. I’m pretty sure the signatories to the Constitution didn’t believe the President was exempt from the law. If that is what they had intended, they would have stated it as such.
1
The reasons Trump is still polling favorably among the GOP faithful are threefold:
1. The powerless feel empowered by associating with him
2. Americans have been conditioned to "root" for their political parties as if they were cheering on their favorite football team -- with blind adoration devoid of fact or truth.
3. Countless Trump voters cannot admit to their mistakes
Add in the legal (thanks to deregulation of the FCC) propaganda spread by Fox News and other outlets, and you have the perfect storm for corruption and misinformation.
4
It's easy to understand what Trump is doing. He seeks absolute power, and seems to have it. What is harder to fathom is why reasonable people in roles of leadership sit back and let this happen. If they fear for their political survival, they don't deserve to survive. Never before in the history of our country have we needed men and women of courage and conviction, and never before have they been so scarce. As our would-be emperor says, sad!
See: RevolutionOfReason.com
TheRogueRevolutionist.com
3
Power grab or panic both bring trump one step closer to the light that will reveal his criminality. Trump thinks he can use the hand of public opinion to thwart Justice when in reality the hand of justice has already been placed on his shoulder, we want to you.
Ms Goldberg's column was good right to the very last paragraph. Yes, it is a nightmare but we shouldn't have to get used to anything that this president has done or will do in the future.
Don't be complacent and don't accept anything this narcissistic sociopath says as the last word. He is unfit, unstable and not suitable to be the president of this great country. And the very least of all, not above the law. Resist, demonstrate, write, call and vote. It is not okay and it is not acceptable.
5
Michelle, let's get a couple of things straight here:
1) The President can be indicted while in office.
2) The President cannot pardon himself.
That this is how the Supreme Court will rule when these notions get to them. And they will get to them, because that will be part of the Trump spectacle of narcissistic self-aggrandizement.
The overarching principle at work is that no man (or woman) is above the law. Assuming that Trump is human, that would include him.
Re: 1), this came about because a President can't be held criminally liable for actions he takes which are within the scope of his constitutional Presidential authorities. But he can certainly be held liable for other actions he takes outside of that. (See also: money laundering, and shooting the FBI Director.)
Re: 2), the founding Constitutional principles specifically disallow someone from being his own judge and jury.
All Trump is doing is laying the groundwork for a legal battle with Mueller. Given his cabal of legal ignorami, he will lose that. Whether he is removed from office depends on the midterm elections, but the money is on him not being removed. (And who wants a President Pence?) So we have to live with him for the time being.
So, what to do? A suggestion: I know this is radical, but how about the media focuses on what he's doing in the background to destroy our country, instead of hyping the scandals du jour to generate more clickstreams? Try it, you might like it. I know the country would.
6
We do not have a king. We have a president with checks and balances. No one is above the law including the president. His lawyers need a reality check.
1
I wonder how many Republicans actually care, it are silent. Would they react if he actually acted like a dictator and made the law be moot when it comes to him?
1
Our military is currently about 65% private contractors. The second amendment which is argued about constantly was really about a citizen army of regulated Militia's.
We currently have a professional army, the biggest in the world which is about 65% privately contracted. Who are they loyal to? Who gives out the federal contracts?
Erik Prince the Chairman of Blackwater has many of these contracts along with contracts with foreign dictators across the globe. Who is he loyal to?
The fact that this President makes the claim that he is above the law and his supporters in Congress have abdicated their power to check him is unprecedented. He is above the law if those who have the power to enforce abdicate it to him. They have. The President is right.
The question is what are we going to do about it?
4
Guiliani has a history of making over-the-top bullying remarks and taking borderline immoral action so I am not surprised at his comment about Trump shooting Comey. When Legal Aid Society lawyers went on strike in 1994 he threatened that if we did not return to work we would never be able to get a job in city government. We returned to work. He publicly announced his intention to divorce his first wife before telling her. Sounds alot like his buddying the White House, doesn't he?
4
Trump is playing you, and you keep falling for it. But it makes for great entertainment.
And people "entertained" by this are part of the problem. The president is not supposed to be an entertainer. He is supposed to be a faithful servant of the constitution and the citizenry.
3
Whether what Trump does is legal or not is moot. There is no mechanism to enforce the law and what the Supreme Court says is simply another Republican talking point.
5
The executive branch has far too much power. The congress needs to strip the Presidents power. Executive orders need to be reigned in by Congress. The US has become a tyranny certainly not a democracy. The Founding Brothers would be horrified to see how their version of the Constitution has been assailed by corporations and special interests, especially the religious right.
1
It would appear that the “ conservatives” in the Republican Party are sailing under false colours. A true conservative would call out Trump’s abuse of the Constitution and slap him down for it. It would seem that once again we have proof of the maxim, “all power corrupts”, just make sure that Trump does not get to try out the rest of the saying.
Republicans no longer exist they are Trumpists.
Evangelical christians have exposed the utter hypocrisy of christianity.
There are long term unfavorable consequences for congress going AWOL and allowing this to happen.
4
If a president can pardon himself, can Congress undo the pardon after he is out of office?
I saw Rudy Giuliani on Meet the Press the other morning. He did not seem like a lawyer at all. In fact, several times he appeared to be senile and out of touch with reality. Whatever he was in the past and whatever popularity or respect he previously enjoyed has now vanished. He's become a spin master, a hired gun, or a circus ringmaster inviting you to watch the greatest show on earth. A fitting end to a man who stood on stage at one Republican convention and sneered at Barack Obama, and shouted "Lock her up!" at another. No dignity and no grace make him look desperate for his one last shot at the limelight.
7
Following the logical strain, Trump could open fire on the entire Congress killing them all and not be held accountable...... Maybe, not such a bad idea, but it would appear to be illegal.
2
When the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence they listed their complaints about King George, starting with: "He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."
7
Visualize thousands of Americans scrambling to climb Trump's "delusional" Wall to get to Mexico as this chaos continues. One posted commentator indicates he was leaving for Mexico. But it could become a possible reality for more to join him because our democracy is definitely at stake. While drugs and crime are perceived to be prevalent in Mexico, we will be perceived as a criminal government as well. We won't be much different. Thank you Trump and Republicans.
The perfect TV reality show in Trump’s world. Rudy Giuliani defending Trump in front of Judge Judy.
4
Her honor gives her rose to Rudy, who gives it to Donaldo. Rudy gives his rose to Judge Judy, who gives it over to El Trumpo. DJT keeps his rose for himself.
If the idea is correct that the President is above the law, it is the end of America as we know it. If he could send folks to empty out your bank account, rape your wife and murder your children with no accountability, then there are no Constitutional Safeguards what so ever. This is perhaps only the 2nd existential crisis this country had ever faced, the first being the Civil War.
Surely the Founding Fathers did not mean the powers of pardon to be a refuge for criminal actions.
Does the Law Apply to Donald Trump?
Yes, it does.
Unless you are an absolute monarch or a dictator you cannot judge yourself, there have to be checks and balances.
And as long as the US calls itself a republic this fact is obvious and self explanatory.
That is statehood 101.
What I do not understand how why the US is discussing such a basic principle?
Is the US no republic any more?
Has the US become an absolute monarchy or a dictatorship or a Mafia style gang run by Don Trump?
I cannot remember any indication of that happening.
So why ask the question again and again?
Hereditary monarchy, if you can keep it.
The answer is simple, if not easy: no citizen is above the law. If Trump is a citizen, and I guess he is, then he is subject to whatever laws we the people are, no matter what office or title he holds. This is basic American civics. Why doesn't the person most in charge of defending our constitution understand this simple constitutional point? And why don't his enablers as well?
3
Forget about Trump. He has made himself irrelevant. The congress is beyond repair. Time to vote for new members and check the system after we discover new people to safeguard our democracy.
5
"Under Trump’s theory, Bauer said, Obama would have been well within his rights to call the attorney general or the F.B.I. director and simply say, “Lay off her.”"
That is correct. That does not mean that the President is above the law, as the left keeps dishonestly saying.
A sitting President is subject to three things, other than censure:
1. Impeachment and a Senate trial
2. Removal for incapacity
3. Removal via election.
Where in this is the President above the law? This IS the law. Yet you say: "tweeting that he is above the law".
He tweeted no such thing. He said he can pardon himself, which is debatable, but even if he can, he can then get impeached. He cannot pardon himself or anyone else in case of impeachment, i.e. following impeachment.
If the impeachment, whenever it occurs, is for a serious crime, such as murder, and he is removed from office by the Senate, the now former President can be indicted for murder.
Not sure why the left is hyperventilating about all this. Or rather, I guess we do know why the left is hyperventilating. The left wants to destroy Trump at any cost.
The principle, applied to all Presidents, not just Trump, which the Democrats seem to forget, is that it ought to be difficult to remove a President, since it is undoing the will of the people and should not be done lightly. Elections are the best path, though not the only path. Trump never said otherwise.
1
I recommended this comment, not because I agree with it (I'm not familiar enough with constitutional law to be sure of the issues, which are unprecedented and therefore unclear) but because it's well-argued and makes a strong case.
Trump's motivation for claiming in advance of any legal charges that he is able to pardon himself is unclear. It would seem that he'd be better off by pulling the pardon out of his back pocket only when he is convicted of crimes, rather than give the other side ample warning of his eventual strategy. The "art of the deal" includes a lot of bluff and indirection - witness the on-again-off-again pattern of the North Korea summit.
My guess is that he is talking of a pardon now, in order to send a message to those currently charged with crimes - Flynn, Manafort, et. al. - that he's ready to pardon any crime they may be convicted of, and that therefore they need not yield to Muller's coercion to testify against him.
Unsure of whether the self-pardon will work, he's claiming that power now as a way to maximize its impact on the current investigation. If they turn on him, he's signaling, they'll be confessing to crimes that will ruin their reputations forever, in order to avoid going to jail, while HE will walk away unharmed, loyally supported by his base.
1
Im not sure the sunlight reaches you with your head so deeply buried in the sand. You mention impeachment. Impeachment requires a congress willing to do its duty. Sadly, we have no evidence this congress recognizes its duty. Toady pence will never rebel against his supreme leader. So much for the incapacitation argument. That leaves the election of 2020.
Is there anybody out there that believes trump would not attempt to “postpone” the election if he though he could get away with it? I would bet that cretin Giuliani has floated the idea.
That is why we “ trump haters” are concerned.
John, you are wrong. The authors of the Constitution wanted to ensure that the president never had the regal authority of a King.
As you mentioned, Impeachment is for "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" so clearly presidents can commit crimes, and therefore can not pardon themselves to absolve guilt.
The presidential oath:
"I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Presidents do not "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" by claiming royal privilege to be able to do utterly anything.
Take Trump's claim to it's logical conclusion: He could unilaterally alter the Constitution, dissolve Congress and make himself an actual King.
Trump's claim is utter nonsense promoted by an uniformed grifter who has been caught conspiring with Russians and botched the cover-up.
Polls may support that some 87% of Republicans support Trump and his cringe worthy minions. But those who admit to being members of the Republican Party have also shrunk by some 30% leaving only the Trumpian stalwarts and their forlorn victimhood behind. So the rock looks much bigger because the waters are receding but we still find ourselves between it and a hard place.
3
Thank you for your important insight that Trump is "bludgeoning our moral intuitions." The close connection between moral intuitions and law is critical, essential to the common good and the basis of our obligation to obey just laws. Regarding himself above them, Trump as divider in chief is trying to sever this connection.
As Augustine said, and as Thomas Aquinas and Martin Luther King, Jr. affirmed, "that which is not just seems to be no law at all." To preserve our democracy, people of good will must find a way to shield ourselves from Trump's deliberate attempts to destroy our moral sensibilities by trying to shock them out of existence.
3
What’s left of this nation’s functioning governmental institutions after this presidency is over will have to focus, for years at least, on filling the gaps left by constitutional lack of clarity or legal oversights to assure that the abuses of power and commingling of government and business that we’re experiencing today will never occur again.
6
Please don't imply that the GOP has "moral intuitions" and Trump's base has "values." A person either has these or he/she doesn't. After 500 days, it's obvious neither group has either.
10
Trump and his dimwit minions are making it up. The president can never be above the law. We don't elect kings or dictators, we elect presidents. Human detritus Trump clearly has no interest in or comprehension of democracy and governance, so his beliefs are irrelevant. His claim of pardoning himself has no legal standing, as Nixon discovered. Trump will discover this as well but never accept it, and the Republican party will pay dearly for ignoring this threat to the country's foundational principles.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
5
Every day, I pray for sentiments like these to prevail. Here's hoping . . .
The statement issued by President Trump's legal team that the President reigns with the authority of an absolute monarch is unprecedented and is predicated upon the "Perfect Storm" presently existing in our Federal government:
• a decidedly Right Leaning Supreme Court
• a sycophantic and self-serving Republican majority
• an Executive Branch lead by a President who places self before nation and is totally dismissive of the rule of law
The most expeditious resolution would be for the Republican Party to "man up" and face down this President. That is unlikely as they have vacillated in doing their duty for over a year.
This leaves the Supreme Court to do what the Legislative Branch has not, to clearly state the limitations of Presidential Authority in matters which include not only the suspicion of criminal illegality by the President's family, Campaign Staff, and the President himself, but of their collusion with a hostile foreign power to attain the Presidency.
The overreaching and unbridled hubris of this administration cannot go unchecked if democracy is to endure.
Whether the SCOTUS is up to this task is unfortunately an open question.
5
Trump did not claim that he is above the law. Trump claims that he is the law. The man who is supposed to enforce and faithfully execute the law has become the thing.
But the law is independent of the person. Trump has a temporary elected office job. Trump is a citizen and a person,
But unless and until the Article I legislative branch along with the Article III judicial branch of our divided limited power constitutional republic act and assert their powers Trump reigns triumphant.
12
If I have read the problem correctly, we have problems with the power that Constitution gives to the President. A president cannot be called to a regular court, he has to be "impeached" by the Congress, therefore it comes down to a political majority to do it or not. Hopefully, if a president decides to pardon himself which is equivalent to recognize his guilt since only convicted criminals can be pardoned, perhaps we may get into repairing the fault in the Constitution.
5
Do we still have three branch's of government? Seems like the legislative branch has all but disappeared. Have not heard squat from those folks in quite awhile. With Trump on the throne, the judicial branch will be next to go.
10
It is apparent that Trump's base shares the same values as Trump, who has no values except to enrich himself while he is in office, to desecrate his Oath of Office, to tear down our Constitution, to make sure that our country continues its perilous journey towards Fascism, to appeal to the racist in the base and to appeal to the greed in Congress, his Cabinet and his donors.
These are not values, these are sins against Americans.
15
The question is easy to answer. Of course, The Apprentice, who would be king, is subject to the rule of law. But like most bullies , he behaves as if he is beyond the reach of the law. And, of course, his tv lawyers ( or stenographers) suggest, in their memo , that he is above the law. That as far as they know , he could murder James Comey without suffering any legal consequences. It is highly ironic that the tv reality personality sitting in the Oval Office refuses to accept the reality that he is , like anyone else, subject to the laws of the land.
8
I've lived under presidents since FDR's first term.
We Americans have weathered some of the worst things that can beset a country, and yet remain united in purpose and intent due to a Constitution that was birthed by men of such integrity we have only seen the likes upon occasion during the years since.
I'm on my way out of this life, but I have family that will be affected by the politics and culture long afterwards.
And for the first time in my life, I fear for them in ways I cannot express with words.
This administration is dangerous, its leader is slowly becoming dangerous, and the congress will, if it continues as it is, be the most dangerous of all.
26
We wring our hands and worry about a Trump branded authoritarianism taking root in America while the grim authoritarian professionals in Russia who worked to install Trump in power continue their work to undermine our democratic institutions unimpeded by any American government effort. A nation of voters that cannot even see the threat of authoritarianism roaring into view will certainly be powerless to stop it.
10
So if our president can commit any crime (including murder!), then stop any investigation into it, and then pardon himself so he could never be prosecuted for it even after he left office, how is our country different than Russia under Putin, Cuba under Castro, North Korea under the Kim regimes, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, and Libya under Qaddafi?
Unknown to most Americans was, apparently, our vote as part of the 2016 election to convert our constitutional democracy into a monarchy. All hail King Donald! And Queen Melania, Prince Donald Jr. and Princess Invanka!
12
The distance between the rule of law and marching your enemies to the firing squad is getting shorter by the day.
11
You know who can pardon Donald Trump? A president Mike Pence.
3
The people I know that support are not poor nor unemployed nor uneducated. They are angry and racist (but don’t think they are racist). You can’t reason with them, you can’t explain the bad policy - they aren’t listening and they don’t care. Without a major catastrophic event that effects white people - they will never wise up
15
This man is already saying he has “absolute power” to do what he wants in all matters. Absolute is a word used by dictators & tyrants. Which will he declare....dictator or god-king or emperor? If democrats start picking up votes in these summer primaries he will declare elections rigged & therefore invalid, canceling the Nov 6 elections. He believes only he can govern this sad country...he & his Russian/Israeli cohorts.
3
Strangely, I can't see my post on your site - when I last looked, it was posted about 13 or so minutes ago - perhaps you can enlighten me as to where I can see my post on your site,
Yours expectantly,
Jan Laidlaw
Australia
I was under the impression
Congress makes the law,
the president enforces the law,
and the courts interpret the law.
Am I wrong? How does that get twisted into
"I am above the law"?
It's like saying I have a job, therefore I need not go to work.
Or a police officer claiming he is the law rather than the enforcer of the law. Or a priest claims that as a vicar of Christ he cannot sin. Theater of the absurd it is.
When every word spoken is a lie,
and what is written down is never read,
then language becomes its own end rather than a mechanism of discourse. What we have now is the doublespeak of Orwell's 1984 as a deliberate policy of the institution of the presidency.
7
Nothing says Constitutional Republic like an Autocratic, Despotic, Malignant Narcissistic Psychopath, with Kleptocratic tendencies who dreams of being Emperor.
Nice job Conservatives. Frankenstein's monster eventually wrecked ruin upon the Dr. and the villagers as well.
Pres. O managed to get the car back on the road, but the next Democratic Pres. is going to need a whole new ride, 'cause this one looks totaled.
Maybe the insurance co. will sell it back to us cheap. My dads a TV repairman. He's got an awesome set of tools. We can fix it. Yeah....sure...give me a hit of that...that's better.
The emperor has no clothes~!
5
Ms. Goldberg fails to answer the question she posed in the headline. Her sniffs suggest she thinks she knows the answer, but her apparent lack of a law degree, or anything meaningful to make her opinions matter, make her unqualified to answer. It's apparently a very difficult question, and one the Michelle Goldbergs of the world should avoid, to make way for the scholars who have better ideas. Of course, we all hope it's not true, but luckily, Ms. Goldberg doesn't get to decide. Can't the NYT find someone with real cred' who can hash this out?
2
Republican Congress,
Do you know anyone convicted even for a misdomeaner who eneters old age with guilty and likewise unpleasant feelings.
They isually never anticipate thet will be therir lot.
President Putin is impressed; Vice President Trump is learning fast.
6
Guilty! Guilty!Guilty!
3
The irony of the portrait of George Washington in the background is not lost on us. Washington must be spinning in his grave.
8
Trump is rather pathetic. Here is a 72 year old man who cannot apologize, cannot tell the truth, and cannot abide by the law. He is the subject of an investigation as are many of his associates; it does not look like Melania likes him. He suffers from severe puffery. If he weren’t ruining my country, I would feel sorry for him.
5
If he can pardon himself, he could do us all a favor and impeach himself.
7
On day 1499, Donald will pick up an AK47 and go hunting on 5th Avenue.
2
In a Harry Potter world, George Washington would reach down out of his portrait and slap disgusting donnie upside his orange-colored pate. Unfortunately, the United States is fast becoming the malignant dystopia of trumpland. Resist. Vote today.
6
I daresay, there would never have been a fascist dictator in the history of the world if there weren't willfully ignorant people and spineless enablers to support them no matter what they did, whether it was killing six million Jews, poisoning reporters, beheading protesters, jailing dissenters, or even shooting someone on 5th Avenue.
8
Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? Trump knows
4
It is simply now more apparent than ever that ALL republicans are in fact traitors to the United States of America. Every single last one.
21
Wow, just wow! I'm glad I'm an Independent. A plague on both their houses.
My friend, a lifelong Republican will cast a vote for a Dem governor for the first time in his life, and he is in his 70's. so not all are traitors.
1
Quite remarkable really. Even Adolf Hitler asked the Reichstag to go through the motions of voting him unlimited powers in 1933. Trump ignores even this democratic pretense. He just argues he's already got it: "...as long as I'm President, I control all criminal investigations, I can't be charged with a crime, and as President, I have the authority to pardon myself of any crime."
So if Trump finally tires of late-night comedian Stephen Colbert's caustic monologues, he can order the Secret Service to arrest and incarcerate him. Naturally Colbert's attorneys will get the court to issue a habeas corpus writ ordering his release; but the President simply ignores it. The judge then holds the President in criminal contempt which is unenforceable because the President is still the President. The Republican Congress will not impeach him, certainly not for the sake of Colbert, so the comedian just sits in jail indefinitely. No more comedy sketches and the President is safe from Colbert's irritating ridicule.
Shortly before leaving office, should he even choose to do so, Trump simply pardons himself for any crimes connected with Colbert's illegal incarceration. What we have is a President who is arguing that he can violate the constitution with impunity so long as he's got a compliant, sycophantic majority in Congress who won't impeach him and in any case, can pardon himself of any impeachable offenses. Truly an amazing state of affairs.
6
“Does the Law Apply to Donald Trump?”
YES
Next...........
1
The American banana republic is upon us. Juan Peron, Manuel Noriega, Daniel Ortega, Augusto Pinochet, move over. You now have an American president who shares all of your values and despises democracy as much as you guys did. These leaders have had killed or locked up their political opponents. This circus of horrors has come to America. The president hasn’t yet killed his political opposition but locking them up is what he swore to do before he was elected to the White House. Democracy is giving way to anarchy and Congressional Republicans fiddle while Washington burns.
14
The Banana Republic started when we let the Supreme Court decide an election in 2001. I definitely hold the NOT SO Supreme Court for Citizen's United and the money that has corrupted our elections. Now Russia gets to hack our voting machines. Congress fiddles while cyber hackers plan the next election outcome. What a terrible mess we have gotten ourselves in to.
4
January 25, 2016: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay? It's like, incredible.”--Donald Trump, Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States.
And the president's lead lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, jacked another shell into the chamber making the rounds of the Sunday talk shows with his assertion that Trump could shoot former F.B.I. director James Comey in the Oval Office and still not be indicted for it while still serving as president.
This what we have come to as a nation. The president is clearly playing to his base. Recent polling indicates that his numbers are edging up ever so slightly. Republicans' support for him has gone from 85% to 87%. To them, No. 45 can do no wrong.
A little over 21 years ago, two Hollywood hits, Absolute Power and Murder At 1600 were released. Fantasy has now become a reality. Presidents have been murdered, but when a candidate for the office suggests that he will escape prosecution for a broad daylight homicide; or when his lead lawyer tells the world that a president who kills another while in office may not be prosecuted while in office...
We've gone off the cliff. We're done unless we remove this cancer from the body politic. Even if we did, we have Mike "I'm a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third" Pence in the on-deck circle.
Is this a dream? Or is this really happening? Is Trump Stalin or Lenin or Hitler re-incarnated? Who are we?
12
Trump seems to think he is Jesus of Nazareth. Problem is Jesus was a humble, loving, benevolent man, and Trump is the devil incarnate.
5
Nobody should be above the law. Perhaps the law is no warranty for doing things right.
As a German I remember that destroying Jewish businesses was legal. Later it became clear it was inhuman and unethical ( it was clear then), but legal in the third Reich.
Everybody including Donald Trump is responsible for his own actions no matter what the actual law is.
Democrats lost it completely and left the nation with this mess. If the other side pushes total right you have keep the balance and go left. If you don't you will go down into being meaningless. This where Democrats are today, just afraid to full fill their own obligations. Trump will stay in power for all 8 years! May be even longer. He represents the typical American Culture of bullying. Put something better to that or die.
6
>
If a POTUS cannot be indicted while in office; and/or she/he can pardon their-self; and only Congress can impeach and indict a POTUS; and the POTUS controls the military and Fed law enforcement, then simple logic dictates that he could order the military and/or Fed law enforcement to arrest Congress (at least the Dems) and intern them in a labor camp indefinitely, thereby, curtailing any impeachment process.
And if you think the above idea has not run through DJT's mind.....well you are what I call stupid. This is where we are headed.....DJT will never say you got me. He'd rather light the world on fire than say I lost.
To answer your question apparently so. Stay tuned.
Optimism will do you no good here.
3
Sovereign immunity went out with the Magna Carta. When Trump finds out he’ll say how nobody knew this before he found it out.
1
Mr. "President" does Not know enough to Care...or care enough to Know.
He has no Need to...He is Above it all. He is the Embodiment of
Sociopathic Personality Disorder. He holds the Prize....We pay the Price.
6
Hitler's percentage of the German vote in 1932 was around the same as Trump's approval rating. Both claimed to be above the law. Along with King Louis XVI of France, he claimed essentially that he was the state. Do I see a pattern here?
3
Nightmares only end, like all dreams good or bad, when you wake up. America needs to be fully “woke” to the fact that Donald J. Trump is a lying, malignant narcissistic con artist who is serially demeaning the Office of President while dismantling the very guardrails of our Democracy, abdicating America’s global, moral leadership and polarizing our own citizens with his divisive, cruel and targeted racist tweets. Wake up and vote!
8
And this is different from every other US president since Reagan exactly how? I mean other than the racism being a bit more genteel? Sister Souljah? Barack Obama castigating black men for, "acting like boys instead of men"? Racism is used by every politician because it works.
1
If we have a deep state somewhere, please deep state, do you’re duty and use your skills in intelligence and military matters to ride to the rescue of your country. All WE can do is vote, write comments, and protest. Those assets may not be enough to get the job done.
8
I don't believe this Supreme Court will check Trumps powers. For sure there are certainly four justices that are all republican all the time. It is just a question of whether Kennedy will be all in or not.
2
The Law is so vague, so outdated, so badly in need of being rewritten to avoid this type of oddity, that it is not even funny to say we are stuck in the 18th Century while patting ourselves on our backs that we are the most advanced democracy on earth. Until our well paid liberal pundits call a spade a spade we will keep getting Trumps and Bushes and Pences and Cheneys and Quayles elected to high office. And they will appoint Clarence Thomases and Neil Gorsuchs to the Supreme Court. And the NYT will keep pretending to be objective.
7
The blather over the White House memo is entertaining but inconsequential. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is not going to indict President Trump. The Supreme Court would rule that the Constitution provides that only Congress can place presidents on trial for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” If Mueller has evidence that Trump unlawfully colluded with Russia or obstructed justice, he will provide his findings to Congress. If Congress impeaches and convicts the president, Trump could not pardon himself. The Constitution states that the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
1
"If Congress impeaches and convicts the president..." That's a mighty big "if" you have there, if you don't mind my saying so.
The rantings of "Mad King Donald" need not make more headlines if the feckless Congress regains its "feck" and recognizes that it must defend America. Isn't it time for GOP lawmakers to step up to the plate and say "Enough is enough?" Where is their sense of patriotism? Is the party really more important to them than the nation? Is legislating the only job they can keep?
The MSM can help them with career choices. Let them know their intransigence may lead to new directions after November. Otherwise, their legacies are doomed to the dustbin of history, and their souls are beyond redemption.
4
An autocrat he plays the part
Self interest darkness, a cult
shades the facts .half truths
and lies. insults his weapon
and his art.
his party silent on abuse
dictator- like from the start
the constitution torn, ignored
his presidency a paddlers mart
1
"Trump has managed to turn much of what remains of his party into an authoritarian cult". Wants complete power, do away with laws, harass or murder people that don't like him or people who he does not like, prevent immigration, expel those already living here. As Indiana Jones was fond of saying "Nazis. Gee I hate these guys". "First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist; Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist; Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist; Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me. "
2
Which is precisely why Democrats need to re-evaluate their stance on the 2nd Amendment. It will be the Trumpshirts that take away our right bear arms in defense of liberty...
Charles I felt the same way, did he not, right up to when he lost his head.
My God! What would it take to get us to march in the streets if not this?
Are we really having a discussion about whether or not the President of the United States can kill the FBI director with impunity and no consequences to himself???
Why are the Democrats not leading the marches to the White House??
12
One way that psychopaths win is to obfuscate. It matters not what the truth is— just lie. Lie repeatedly. There is no need to keep the lies straight. The bad liars do that. When the bad liars get caught in their inconsistencies, they fold. Truly psychopathic liars lie, lie about their lying, lie about what you have confronted them about, etc. They never budge from this pattern, leaving the rest of us to go to great lengths to prove they are lying. Since that is too much work, we finally walk away from them. Then the psychopathic liar gets off scot free.
3
Next thing you know he'll be pardoning himself for being a draft dodger during the Vietnam War. But maybe not. He probably wouldn't want to reveal what a coward he was then and still is now. What a guy! We're so lucky to have him as our president. Not!!!
3
Trump cries of "witch hunt" rings hallow. By the way does this witch lives in the white house?
“So why did Guiliani say it?”
• Because he’s nuts.
• Because he wants Trump to indeed shoot somebody so he can drag the US down to the level of his insanity.
This, from a lawyer and former mayor.
Then again, if you’re with Trump, you have to throw sanity out the window.
With Ryan and McConell, the spine too.
So much winning, folks! So much winning.
3
What if Giuliani's crack about shooting Comey was really meant to give Trump's base the idea that maybe someone should shoot Mueller?
1
Lock him up & throw in the Republicans for good measure.
1
Michelle is not understanding that Rudy is part of the con. Rudy distracts attention with his absurd rantings while The Donald lifts your wallet.
These guys not only have zero regard for our Constitution or the rule of Law, they despise them.
If only John Candy were alive to play The Donald in the coming mini series.
Jack Nicholson can reprise his character from The Shining and be an impeccable Rudy - Here's Rudy!!!!!
1
Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!
Don’t mob bosses have others take take of their enemies and the disloya? So no worries, Trump won’t shoot anyone himself.
1
Please remember: he campaigned on his "right" to murder without punishment or censure! He said, as a candidate, that he could murder someone on 5th Avenue and nobody would care (paraphrasing) because, he claimed, he was that popular. I don't know what happened to our country, but this monster and his monster cronies must be removed from office, and his "monster cronies" are his foul and fetid enablers in Congress! His disgusting family (by blood and by syndicate) need to be indicted. It will be a new Independence Day when they are all in handcuffs, walking into a LEGITIMATE courtroom!
Did the law apply to him in elementary school? Speaking as a retired educator, he behaves exactly like the "You're mother is fat and ugly" kid on the playground. And when caught, the response is "I was just joking. He just can't take a joke". Is Trump laughing? Perhaps, but I imagine with Mueller on his tail and the basket of indictments of his thug buddies, he's probably needing multiple trips to the restroom.
How to fix it? We might have to wait it out until he graduates and moves on to middle school. Or vote him out...
3
What I find fascinating is that before 9/11 most of the New Yorkers I know loathed Rudy Giuiliani. He won favor for his handling of that day. However most of the mess, including the financial cost of 9/11, was borne by Michael Bloomberg before he succumbed to empire building in the form of multiple monuments to his legacy and a third term. Maybe it is the office of Mayor of the City of New York that gives rise to such appalling grandiosity.
If we dismiss the rule of law in dealing with Trump, then he has succeeded in lowering us all to his level. We cannot afford to do that. We must believe the law will prevail. We must believe in our justice system and that the courts will act as responsibly as they always have. The alternative is too terrible to consider.
5
Whether or not the law applies to his office, not him personally, is as useful as arguing about angels on a pin head. What matters is that his office is answerable to the people, and that answerability is manifested through the power of congress. It is congress that is failing in its constitutional duty.
As for him personally, he can never be above the law.
1
When Nixon lost in 1960 he resisted challenging the results in Illinois because he thought it might provoke a constitutional crisis over voter fraud. He resigned in 74, yes knowing he’d get the boot, but sparing the country the drama of a trial and government upheaval. As bad as he was, in the end he put country and democracy above himself. He understood history and what the US stands for.
Trump on the other hand doesn’t have a clue about the country or what it represents. It’s power adulation and money that concerns him. Unfortunately these values are embraced by too many Americans. The cult of celebrity has taken over responsibility and respectability.
It’s a different America.
1
In the middle ages, scholastic theologians drew the distinction between God's absolute and ordained power, that is, the ability of God to do anything he wished short of a logical contradiction (he couldn't make himself not exist) and his power constrained by the laws of nature. For the most part, they concluded that while God had absolute power, he almost always acts using his potentia ordinata.
In the 20th century, John XXIII spoke about his own reputed powers: "It is true that when I speak ex cathedra in matters of faith and morals, I speak infallibly." Then he quickly added, "But I will never speak ex cathedra in matters of faith and morals."
Both medievals and John realized the problem with absolute power and knowledge. When the absolute becomes the norm, there is no stability. If God performed a miracle whenever he wished, we would live in an inconceivably precarious world. Sadly, that kind of sophistication is lost on the intellectual lightweight of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And we see the effects of unpredictable and unrestrained action every day in this administration.
Yes, the law applies to Trump; he just doesn't know that yet, as his misfit pseudo-lawyers are being paid a bonus for tricking him into believing he is monkey's king, chasing his tail of intrigues and making us pay dearly by doubling down on his arrogance and abuse. Ought we not commiserate with him, however disgraceful, desperate to obstruct justice, trailing his very steps, hence lashing back in a most disturbing jerky way. He is hammering one more nail in his political coffin.
If Donald Trump shot Rudy Giuliani, would anybody miss him? Could Donald Trump then give himself a presidential Medal of Honor along with his self-pardon? Would Putin also give him a medal? Would Donald, Jr, mount the trophy head on the wall?
4
All this talk about Trump getting away with shooting Mueller in the Oval Office is just so much nonsense. It takes some degree of courage to shoot another person and Trump, like bullies in every school yard and walk of life, is anything but brave. Ultimately, Trump is a coward, fearful that something will happen that will force him to recognize what every rational person already knows - that Donald J. Trump is well below average in every positive virtue and far worse than average in every negative vice.
3
When a lawyer becomes a shill for obvious criminal activity, the lawyer becomes a criminal.
3
What on earth was Mr Giuliani thinking?! Was he signalling to Mr Trump that he should "rid himself of this meddlesome special prosecutor" in the event of the opportunity arising in the near future. Or is he signalling to misguided Trump supporters that one or many of them should murder Mr Mueller in the expectation that the pardon is already prepared and just awaiting signature!! All this is amazingly awful.
3
Carter Clinton Bush 1 and 2 Obama i presume you are all waiting for Mueller. And I trust you will use your authority to say something substantial after his report.
Laws make societies fair. They make the citizens of those societies plodding and predictable to predators who find advantage in disregarding laws and rules.
Trump has made a career of putting razor blades in his boxing gloves, spitting on baseballs, corking bats, injecting racehorses with anphetamines, hiring his "fixers" to hammer opponent's knees......
This is the "art" behind Trump's deals. We shouldn't expect that he'll change. Good luck, America.
7
If we look at this in terms of organizational theory, the hard right thinks of this in terms of a unitary form of government, with power flowing directly from top to bottom. But that flies in the face of, not only what the Founding Fathers meant, but how they converted their requirement that power be diffuse, into specifications, and ultimately down into work flows.
The Founders deliberately created what we now today call matrix management. Matrix management deliberately distributes power, serving as a check on that power. The Justice Department is matrixed, in this instance, to the President for whom they receive operational input, but also from the other two branches of government: the Legislative (for the legal authority), and the Justice Department (for judicial guidance on applying laws that the Legislative Branch crafts, subject to signature by the President, and review by the Judicial branch).
Matrix management is not as efficient as a top down form of government: it takes time; it can be slow, and cumbersome. But it is more effective at stakeholder management because diffuse power forces all parties to work together.
And for the Founders, that was precisely the point that they wanted to make. The Founders knew that a heterogeneous society required input from all of the stakeholders, with power flowing up from the bottom, not just down from the top. Pure genius.
1
I read her columns as a curiosity. Ive learned of her selective and at times questionable use of ‘facts’. She is a questionable spokesperson for valid perspectives on Trump. It’s a shame
1,000 more days left of this dumpster fire?! The country cannot survive such immolation. The election of 2016 was a bloodless coup on everyone who is not a straight, white male. By 2020 there will not be much left in the way of institutions for these acidic gorgons to erode.
4
The latest tweets are Trumpian emanations from the dark matter of what he uses for a brain, coarse examples of his habitual, delusional dissimulation, and typical of his penchant for evoking outrage. It is pathetic that our great nation must endure this idiocy, but the fact remains that nobody is above the law; that the Mueller investigation will proceed and very probably lead to the impeachment or forced resignation of Trump. Nixon won his election in a landslide and yet resigned in disgrace; clever Clinton's popularity did not preserve him from the disgrace of an impeachment. The Republicans will use their man as long as they can and when he is only a liability, they will say, "you're fired." Have patience.
1
I keep trying to figure out all these pollsters stats about the voters.
I would absolutely never vote for a person like our fake vile King wanna be.
He and his entire group of ??? Of true republicans do not represent the stats.
I don’t believe this dangerous reality show star has that much support in normal republican brain function.
Once that is established we can run him out of the country with felony and treason charges or put him in prison awaiting trial and execution. Ivanka can make a reality show about his prison time.
Btw Lord and Taylor is selling her clothing line in their stores.
Do not shop at Lord and Taylor in protest and let the company know.
Remember my fellow republicans and all voters ..... our truth has been warped by the simple term “fake news”.
The freedom caucus must be politically obliterated. We must vote en masse for the opposites of trump land candidates.
1
When a presidential candidate says that he could shoot someone in broad daylight and get away with it, his message is clear. What isn't so clear is why so many Americans vote for him in spite of it, and are surprised that he continues to flout the law, human decency and morality at every opportunity.
4
We may be witnessing a coup d'état. The Republican Part is enabling it and the majority of the GOP support it. Democracy is hanging by a thread.
3
Of course the law applies to Trump. Mueller isn't buying Giuliani's babble and neither should we.
7
No person is above the law.
Not even Enmperor Donald the First from Queens (not even Brooklyn -- Queens, for god's sake).
If Trump is stupid enough to try to make the assertion that he is above the law (and I am half convinced the fool WILL do that), he is going to end up badly on a personal basis, either in a mental institution or put upon by the mob.
Just look at how dictators like Mussolini ended up.
Here are two links to shorts description of Mussolini's last days in Italy.
https://youtu.be/Z9AAnXo0F5c
https://youtu.be/12_s028JYOU
Dictators do not end well. Donald should understand that.
3
To all those members of the GOP who supported the ban against anything Obama for 8 years, you should have read Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. You created the laboratory fed by racism, greed and anti-humanitarian petri dishes in which a Frankenstein was spawned. And this modern day monster is much more destructive. Until you start really looking at what you have created, democracy will continue to be assaulted, and your children and grandchildren will take decades trying to put the world back together today. Time to reign in this creature who now thinks he is an imperial highness to whom everything is owed. We want a president. To the rest of America, make your votes count!
8
Where is the GOP during all these ridiculous statements? Have they so totally abdicated their role of being a check & balance, that they allow the Liar-in-Chief and his surrogates to get away with making statements that he could literally murder someone in the Oval Office and could not be indicted for it? What is wrong with these people? And what is wrong with the people of this country that we're willing to put up with this nonsense?
3
Didn't we have a Revolution about this?
7
If Putin’s goal was to destroy our democracy he certainly picked the right man to do it. The idea that a president has the authority to pardon himself is a stretch. At this point he is not subject to the law but, is the law.
5
Putin has established that the power to turn a nations. Itizens against one another is just a few clicks away. Successful beyond his dreams, this brave new weapon looms over the western democracies.
2
“because he is the arbiter of justice”
Really? How on earth can anyone claim that?
The constitution nowhere confers that power on the executive branch or the president.
Trump knows he will land in jail or exiled in Russia if he does not establish the monarchal powers needed to stay a citizen of these United States.
His destiny is clear and Congress needs to expedite its fulfillment.
2
So he thinks he is untouchable. That's what many criminals and Mafia bosses think. Until they are in Prison.
3
To the gentleman from Cedar Rapids: The reading of your last sentence with its 5 commas in your 1st paragraph is confusing and thus seems to presents alternative facts. "Almost 200 years later Archibald Cox, on the night his boss, Elliott Richardson, was fired by Richard Nixon, reminded us that "ours is a government of laws, not of men." Thank you tho for including this truism at the end of the sentence in quotes which should be engraved in stone on a plaque affixed, for example, to any number of law library circulation desks.
ITMT here is this from the Wa Po...
By Carroll Kilpatrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 21, 1973; Page A01
"In the most traumatic government upheaval of the Watergate crisis, President Nixon yesterday discharged Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and accepted the resignations of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus."
These dangerous strategies have little precedence in our constitutional history. Andrew Jackson comes to mind. Upon learning that the Supreme Court found in favor of the Cherokee Nation is a case that challenged the bogus treaty mandating their removal from Georgia, the fiery Jackson is reputed to have said "the Supreme Court has ruled, now let them enforce it." The infamous Trail of Tears followed.
Those who advise not attacking Trump during this year's midterm elections are playing with fire. Team Trump, a gang of misfits and political bomb throwers with in some cases treasonous ties to Russia, play hardball. Democrats seeking to replace Trump's acolytes need a better playbook. The consequences are too drastic to play nice.
1
Trump wants every law to be in his favour regardless of his actions and words.
What can we do to show the rest of the world Americans are better than Donald Trump?
7
We could place ads of apology in leading international newspapers.
3
By Trumpian logic it's foolish to claim that the president thinks he is above the law. That's because in Trumpland the president is the law. So ipso facto, facto ipso abracadabra Trump is also correct in saying that he has no need pardon himself because he's innocent. That's because on Planet Trump the law, which Trump sets, clearly states that the president can't break the law. When it come to President Trump it's not "presumed innocent until proven guilty," it's innocent by re-ipsa-lipsynquitor definition. Guilt? No guilt, No guilt, Hillary's the Guilt!
3
If you are an American (as I am) and this does not frighten you, then you are either a Republican or a fascist or possibly both. November 6th, 2018 may be the last time this country experiences a true expression of democracy. The outcome of that event will determine if all future votes become little more than political theatre designed to impart legitimacy to the illegitimate.
1
If it doesn't apply to him when he's behaving like a dictator in an authoritarian regime, the only way to get rid of him is assassination. We live in strange times.
4
We are slowly bleeding out the word "united" in the United States. For me, it is time to stop the carnage even if it means the rise to power of President Pence. I just can't take this mockery of government any longer (which is of course the Trump strategy).
We as a nation have lost our way and the GOP has handed and continues to hand Trump unfettered access to un-unite us. The extent to which this has transpired is sickening.
I get it. Trump's core supporters want their guns, their religious beliefs, less or no immigration, lower taxes, and less intrusion on their businesses. They also like "Carry a Big Stick" talk when it comes to diplomacy and are prone to leaning white and right.
But enough is enough already. Last check, we were the "United States" and not the "Un-United States". The longer this presidency festers, the less united we will be. It is time to cut off the head of the snake even if it means having to bow to President Pence.
"L'Etat, c'est moi." As I recall, that didn't go over very well in the long run.
3
Michelle's arguments are always cogent, sane, heartening. Here we are, with #45 now claiming he is above the rule of law, and his staff lawyers, his base, his GOP congress acceding to that statement. If we have no rule of law, what do we have? We have bupkes! We have nothing, and we must recognize that it is an autocracy Trump is creating here, assisted by his base and the cowardly GOP, all for their own political and economic gain. Trump is a clear and present danger to our democracy. We all need to protest that daily, vote in November, never back off from attacking these traitorous tyrants.
4
The hypothetical, academic or never here are almost upon us. I It's unclear whether the Republicans in congress or the president are more surreal.
It is clear that our democracy that many have sacrificed their lives for is threatened by our two faced draft dodging leader.
Please vote in the midterms and through them out and then have them drawn & quartered after due process.
3
Lock him up along with all of his felonious friends and lose the key. Is crazy Rudy G supposed to provide serious legal support to crooked Donald T or is his presence intended solely for comic relief? An unfiltered and unhinged Giuliani speaking for an unfiltered and unhinged Trump is a train wreck of epic proportion.
And how is any of this despicable behavior, comprised of nothing but lies, denials, probable lawlessness, supreme arrogance, incivility, raging rants and threats--not to mention the countless nefarious Russian connections to seemingly everyone connected to Trump-- even mildly acceptable to 87% of Republicans? Mind blown...check.
1
thought experiment: do the Trump people think he could just go kill someone for fun and not have to answer for it (apart from impeachment)?
1
In my wildest dreams, I could ever imagine how Trump will terrorize the GOP in Congress. Not a single one of them have the bones or spine to utter a word in objection.
Next, and to prove the point, Trump will march to the Capitol and shoot both Cocaine McConnell and lame Ryan.
The rest of GOP will carry him on their shoulders and march down PA Ave shouting:
Long Live Emporer Trump.
5
I forget where I read this, but it stuck: Margaret Attwood said that that she doesn't worry (yet) about Canada becoming an authoritarian/fascist state because that can only happen if a third of the population supports authoritarianism.
Well, guess where America is right now.
1
The Deal Maker in Chief’s deck of playing carts is stacked with “Get Out of Jail” cards.
But Robert Mueller plays hard ball … he does not play poker with anyone.
4
Nope according to the GOP. They like the control of all 3 branches of government, kind of like a dictatorship! They will not give this up and colluded with the Russians too. Pro Russia platform in the GOP. Payments to RNC.
Trumpism is a virus, spread by ignorance, gullibility,frustration and anger, but mostly by ignorance. People who have legitimately suffered and felt some righteous indignation have bought into their messiah, Donald. They have bought into the cheapening of America in hopes of better wages and a return to white supremacy. But this is a dis-ease, and Trump is not the cure. An honest reckoning is, but far be it from Trump to do it.
I have argued against impeachment because then we will be stuck with Pence for a few years, but now I so want to see Donald Trump and his corrupt cohorts taken away in handcuffs, tried, and put in prison for a good long time. How else do you stop a sociopath who just rides roughshod over everybody? For the Constitution to work our leaders have to have some respect for the law. This man has none, and the Republican Party leaders are apparently too abjectly cowardly to stand up to him.
8
Trump was illegitimately elected with the collusion of the Russians, the assistance of Wikileaks about the Democrats, and Comey's inappropriate last minute email intervention.
Despite his lack of experience, his extremist views, his shady business record as a multiple bankrupted and likely money laundering real estate developer, and his amoral character with many divorces and inappropriate
sexual behavior, the Republican base especially the Religious Right voted for him.
His campaign was marked by outlandish statements, demagoguery, and the most embarrassing debate performances ever. The press did the most incompetent
job ever vetting this obviously unqualified charlatan.
The Republican Party and its Religious base looked the other way and instead the press dwelled on the Wikileaks and on the stupid emails. Thus, Hillary was electorally defeated despite being a true Patriot with enormous experience and pragmatism.
It is not surprising that our sociopathic President identifies with autocrats since his whole privileged life he has acted like one and has been above the law.
What amazes me is how such an unfit and amoral enemy of the American ideals can hold this office and be permitted to do so. I believe he should be treated like a citizen not a king. He should be indicted for his many crimes and his business should be investigated for money laundering. He should be impeached and convicted for being anathema to his Country.
8
“It’s hard to imagine what we will have gotten used to...”
Kind of makes the point as to why this president and his obsequious sycophants make me feel as if Gilead is just around the corner.
4
When are the sheep we call Congress going to wake up and say "enough!"? This has gone too far!
1
The astonishing thing to me are the Trump sycophants who continue to support his narcissism no matter how much he undermines checks and balances and flagrantly violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution. His latest missive that he is above the law because as President he can both commit a crime and pardon himself seems so patently absurd that it is a wonder how he hasn't been impeached.
How a Republican Congress continues to remain silent in the face of such flagrant violations of the law only shows how badly we have already lost our democracy and become a fascist state.
4
First of all, if he's innocent, why bring this up?
Second, if he can absolutely pardon himself, then he could kill thousands just for the fun of it and suffer no consequences whatsoever.
Does that sounds right? Of course not.
Get the lunatic out of office before he destroys our country.
9
Trump and Nixon are two peas of the same pod. Both are/were batty. But Tricky Dick was pretty smart and Trump is, well, not. How do we manage to elect these dictator-wanna-be's? At any rate, I find Trump's authoritarian tendencies to be pretty scary, and the lack of Republican concern to be even scarier. What is happening to this country?
5
Mr Giuliani is not, it seems, familiar with the case of the Duc d'Enghien and what befell the dictator who had him executed.
If the Trump presidency ends at the end of this term & he doesn't get us into a nuclear exchange with someone in a last sociopathic attempt to save himself we can count ourselves lucky. Still the damage to our republic won't heal any time soon, if at all.
With an 87 approval rate for a non-popularly "elected" bigot among Republicans we can clearly see an authoritarian, no-nothing, bigoted pro-rich party which has emerged over more than 40 years
5
Burnish the bejeweled crown! Tailor the ermine cape! Mint the golden coin! Create the diamond thumb ring! Fashion the silver saber! "All hail, King Donald!"
2
Think Erdogan, think Duterte. If the army supports Trump we are all lost.
1
They (Trump's attorneys) are taking a sledgehammer to the Constitution. Unbelievable...
...and they know exactly what they're doing, and what it implies. If he can pardon himself for the Russia probe, he's pardonable for anything.
Next, rule by executive decree...
...and the thing is: they KNOW better...
They would be screaming bloody murder if Clinton had won and attempted anything close to this, and I would have agreed with them.
They know what this means. I assume they're on a race against time, before the midterms and the 2020 Presidential race.
So they're just going to take one swing after another. See what cracks form: what case law, what counter-arguments, what reaction (if any) from somebody other than columnists and subscribers to the New York Times.
Where is Congress in all this??? Nobody wants the Supreme Court to at least weigh-in???
The complete silence given this Constitutional crisis by either of the other two branches of government is at least as distressing as what's coming from the Executive branch.
3
Perhaps the "Summer White House" can be moved to Versailles? It lacks the golf course of Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey, but is otherwise fit for a King!
We hold our public officials to a HIGHER standard of ethics and scrutiny than we do private citizens.
That is because we give them a position of TRUST, in which they have a duty to the people and to US Constitution.
Donald Trump thinks that being elected is a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. He thinks that he can commit whatever criminal acts he wants and will walk free.
Memo to Donald:
You ain't playin' "Monopoly", fella. This is for all the marbles, and there are millions more people who disapprove of how you are conducting our public business than approve.
We also disapprove of how you (and your cronies like Scott Pruitt) are filling your own pockets doing our business.
Mess with our democracy at your peril.
History teaches that dictators never end well.
Oh, wait, ... Donald never reads history.
1
Could the decision to declare himself President for life be far behind?
3
In any other country, a party flushing it's traditional values down the toilet in the carefree way the Republicans are would be considered unelectable.
But let's see what happens in November.
3
Trump’s disrespect of America is mind blowing! He disregards institutions, laws, and Americans themselves. He lies and insults people on a regular basis. And to his supporters..he is betraying you as we speak.
5
And all this time, not a sound from the Legislative Branch. The man who would be king is left unfettered by the fools on the Hill. Reading and watching the news is not enough folks. The king and his sycophants must be thrown off the ship as they did in Boston back in the day. If this country has any pride, the G.O.P. (Grand Old Patriarchs) will be relegated only to history books. As a political party, they are all washed up, hopefully on a deserted island.
3
Trump should stop playing around; he should declare himself emperor and be done with it!
2
You think the Gorsuch Court will do anything the Ruler disagrees with? Until today I thought Jon Mecham was correct to say this Republic has gone through worse. Now I think that armed force is the only way to save the Republic.
3
Yes. Rally the volunteers. It wasn’t far from where you live that a movement to remove a king started.
1
Trump supporters turn a blind eye to every Trump outrage because they are getting the only thing they care about…a booming economy.
When Obama did anything remotely resembling the autocratic behavior of this administration, he was vilified. Sign an executive order? What an outrage!!! Now much of what is being done by this administration is accomplished with executive orders.
Why the double standard? Surely race is a factor. We have a new understanding of just how racist this country is. But it also has something to do with the fact that much of the Obama administration was spent slogging through economic recovery.
The Obama administration achieved economic recovery—with NO help from Republicans—and now the sociopath in the White House reaps the rewards.
The cost of the current boost to the economy is a ballooning deficit, something that was not tolerated during the Obama administration. It's a bogus, short-term strategy doomed to fail, but tell that to a Trump supporter who can't look past their personal tax return.
When the economy is in shambles again, we will elect Democrats to fix it again.
5
If Trump can pardon himself then he can legaly murder opponents, dissolve Congress, cancel elections, name an heir, stamp us all with his mark, and erect an idol with golden hair.
2
I wish there were more Democrats like Michelle in congress. Where is the outrage?
3
I see an utter destruction of democracy here. A new dictator in the USA. No one is above the law, period.
5
Trump's latest outrages were done to knock Stormy off the front pages.
3
Keep fighting the Good Fight Michelle - this raging dumpster fire called the Trump administration has to end. Eventually this con-man will paint himself into a comer that will exhaust even his staunchest supporters.
1
We all knew it would come to this. The duly “?????” elected president “king” of the US has the constitutional authority to treat the laws of the country, enacted by the duly ”????” elected congressional representatives of the country, as he alone believes they apply, without confirmation by the Supreme Court, which is empowered by the constitution to decide if the laws enacted by the congress are within the scope of the authority granted them by the constitution, as long as a significant, not a majority, of citizens support such actions. With this as justification for his actions, he could murder any member of the justice department over which he has the constitutional authority to use as he pleases, and denies the law enforcement agencies the ability to investigate of the crime, then he has acted within the power granted him by the constitution, written by men who wished to devise a government under which no citizen would be above the law, and no act of the government could restrain the freedom of its citizens by personal edict of any member of that government, let alone the taking of their life.
2
When each one of you looks back on what you did in this important time, will you think to yourself that this was a good way to spend my time? (Bill Clinton is writing Fiction) What seems so strange to me is each leader's lack of urgency, each citizen's lack of urgency. Look back at Putin's face at the Olympics when not one world leader showed up and Trump's face at the correspondents dinner. They despise all of you for mistreating them. They are dividing you from your allies and creating dissension within. They are tearing down the pillars of your government and people seem bored....very odd....
2
NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALL GOOD MEN (& WOMEN) TO COME TO THE AID OF THEIR COUNTRY.
1
Should we survive Trump's presidency--which is not at all certain--we need a Congress that pushes back against this hideous president's authoritarianism. The first order of business should be to enact veto-proof legislation codifying some of the things that have heretofore rested on faith in the ethical soundness of our presidents. No more presidential candidates running for office without first releasing their tax returns. No more nepotism permitted. No more holding on to your properties while being president. No more banning any reporters from WH events.
That we've come to the point where we need to codify ethics is why thoughtful people everywhere understand that America has already relinquished its role as the leader of the free world.
4
Somebody wrote:
We will have to choose between "no man is above the law" and "impeachment is the only check on Presidential power".
Logically, this is an incorrect statement.
No man is above the law. The president is human, thus subject to all the laws.
If the president broke no laws, but this countrymen are unhappy with his leadership,, then they can use the impeachment process to elect somebody capable of uniting the country.
Being let’s say truly incompetent and a bully is not the crime, but a kind of behavior bad enough to incite the people not to follow the leader.
That’s the situation in which the impeachment is used...
For example, the very notion that the President believes to be above the law is the reason big enough to impeach him...
Craving to be above the law is not the crime but a sign of gross personal incompetence and detachment from reality...
Of course it does. And he'll find out soon enough that this is the case.
Trump can claim all the power he wants to. The law will determine how much he is entitled to. Our system is sound and all the histrionics contribute nothing but more fodder to get him re-elected in 2 years. If he is NOT above the law, then any claims to the contrary can be dismissed. If he is tried and convicted of a crime, then all his claims about immunity will be ignored as he is shackled and imprisoned.
Now we have to hear that Trump's main man, bug eyed Count Guillani, tries to con people into believing that Trump's lies are not lies they are just "mistakes". But according to Trump's Chief Minister of Untruth, they are "alternate facts.
Next we might hear that Trump doesn't lie, he "fibs'.
Just last week Trump et al were whining about Obama "spying" on their campaign. And remember the congressional investigations into the IRS's treatment of tea party organizations?
If the President has the power that Trump's Red Hats claim he does then Obama would have been completely within his rights in both cases [if either were actually true].
It's hard to blame Trump for the blind acceptance of his followers who seemingly prefer an authoritarian State to the present form of our republic. Trump is the embodiment of their pique, but not the cause of it.
If Trump is impeached - which I would love to witness - no doubt Pence would pardon him for any crimes.
1
Almost daily since this self-serving con man won the presidency of the greatest nation in the world we are given legitimate reasons to vote him and his spineless and immoral Republican backers out of office. But I have no faith in the electorate so far because even if Trump openly joined hands with Putin to control America, Trump's supporters and the Republican Party shills would claim this is ok because it will "Make America Great Again".
America has become a nation of Zombies for Trump.
President Trump tweeted that he had the absolute right to pardon himself.
Only in the kingdoms or the banana republics...
How many lawyers should the Trump legal team hire to figure out that something is legally impossible and politically suicidal?
Let’s count the sentences needed to prove this case.
The president has only the legal right to pardon the convicted criminals.
It means the incumbent can pardon somebody only after those were found guilty in the court of law.
Now, if the White House legal team believes that the convicted criminals have the legal rights to pardon themselves, then we have far more urgent national security threats than Kim Jong Un...
Nobody is above the laws in the democratic republic. If anybody broke the law, including the president, he or she is a subject of the criminal investigation.
The very moment the president were found guilty of committing the crime and legally proven that he broke the oath to uphold the laws, he would be the subject of imminent impeachment, and deprived of the legal rights top pardon anybody, including self...
No president has the right to pardon the innocent people.
The criminals have no right to pardon himself.
Don’t you remember the conservative pundits warning this nation several years ago that Obama was acting as a king?
What happened to those people? How come that’s now acceptable Trump ruling as the emperor?
1
Why are we going through all this?
If, as the president has repeatedly professed, he has done nothing wrong, why waste all this time and money defending himself and creating ever-increasing national angst?
Since the truth will eventually come out; let it.
2
In Mr. Trump's world up is down and down is up. The only constant in this maelstrom is his primacy above everything and everyone else. Trump Uber Alles!
I remain hopeful this claim of an autocrat will finally be a bridge too far for those few remaining legislators who retain a shred of allegiance to the oath they swore to "uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States".
In search of our bearings, we have become another Ben Stein as a teacher searching for his student: "Bueller...Bueller...Bueller" but, instead of a comedy, we tragically are seeking our formerly trusted representatives to perhaps just represent us and defend us against "enemies foreign and domestic".
The smart people learn from history.
Why?
It’s cyclical. The people repeat the same kind of stupid mistakes for many millenniums.
We are at extremely important crossroad.
The historical equivalent is the Roman Republic at the moment Cesar was deciding whether to cross Rubicon and lead his troops to Rome and overthrow the Senate.
The idea that the President is above the law is our contemporary Rubicon.
The question is what the US Senate will do, impeach this President or let him end the Republic as we know it...
1
The hypocrisy and double standards of this administration along with the Repblican party is astounding. The complete disregard for the law is outrageous. If Obama had done a fraction of what Trump has done, he would have been hauled out of the White House so fast it would have made heads spin. Actually, he wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the White House to begin with. Why do we as a nation tolerate such behavior from the people who are supposed to be representing us here and around the world? We need to put an end to this nightmare and vote all of them out of office.
7
Donald Trump: L'Etat, c'est moi.
And the Repuicans are just fine with it.
What's next Droit du seigneur?
Assuming Trump doesn't tweet oit his Lordly rights in French, Is there ANY authoritarian statement that he could make that would cause Congressional Republicans to remember their Oath of Office?
Do Republicans even believe in democracy anymore?
Any American that still believes in democracy needs to vote accordingly in 2018 and 2020. The U.S. would not be the first country to vote away their freedom. Trump supporters may not be swayable but they can be out numbered.
1
For 87% of Republicans and base, they are not discarding their values for trump. Trump's values ARE Republican values. Even evangelicals share their values with the trump.
Systematic government corruption IS HIS DEAL. It's trump's art of the BIG corrupt deal. He has no use for an incorruptible government he can't abuse for his own benefit.
Did shooting of Comey come up between Giuliani and POTUS? Did he inadvertently telegraph trump's next move? Had Giuliani babbled about Comey shooting trump, the Secret Service would certainly be all over this. As POTUS, he CAN kill his enemies with impunity, as long as it is overseas and a Predator drone is used.
Republicans refuse to be criticized and called out as racists, misogynists, uneducated and worse because of their support of trump. Are Adolf's supporters exempt from harsh criticism if they claim they didn't agree with his racism, bigotry, militarism and Final Solution? In spite of this, they still supported this tyrant thereby giving him the power to do evil. Likewise with trump. The 87% of Republicans supporting trump are enabling and supporting his unconstitutional and immoral actions. It appears Republicans don't even mind being lied to.
The base's fealty to trump will end viciously once he is voted out or impeached. Without the power of the POTUS he is legally doomed. There's a reason dictators dictate for life. If you lose power you get what happened to Qaddafi.
If he has the power to pardon himself, what else is next?
4
How is it that the Chief Law Enforcement does not observe the law.
The least we could do is stop lecturing other countries about law and order
3
The Republican Congress is so weak, and feckless that they have given the Keys to the Kingdom to Trump. He can now do anything he wants as Congress sits idly by and enables him to become a Dictator. Recently I have heard people say Trump may actually get a second term. My concern is will there even be an election, or will the Republican Congress make him Supreme Leader for life. Can’t happen? Just watch as Ryan, McConnell and the rank and file of the Republicans melt into a puddle of mush before their Supreme Leader.
1
One of the many perturbing developments is the idea they push that when anyone expresses shock, disgust or disagreement with these outrageous claims and tweets, they are being hysterical, that it's just a joke, that it wasn't meant to be taken literally.
Words do matter.
1
Have we really as the country sunk so low that we are now debating whether the president that has been found guilty of committing the crime has the right to pardon self?
Let’s analyze a specific case to better understand this topic.
If President Trump shot wife Melania and all his children, would he be able to pardon self and stay in the office?
1
Trumps finishes what George W. Bush started. Dick Cheney's business ties to Iraq War were okay. 9/11 was misrepresented to create war hysteria. Financial meltdown and hurricane disasters never mattered.
Bush rocked the boat and now Trump will capsize our democracy. All because Fox News and radio propagandists made Americans cynical enough to accept it.
If Mr. Giuliani is correct, l now live in a country where there's someone with the right to kill me with impunity. (007 was made up.) And that person is my president.
5
I hope I never get used to the willful ignorance, the eager embrace of authoritarianism, and the spiteful mean-spiritedness of so many fellow Americans.
I hope I never get used to the craven, power-seeking abdication of responsibility by Congressional Republicans.
I hope I never get used to Trump.
Instead, I will continue to transform my anger and disgust into action to defend our democracy against authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption.
1
Please someone point out the difference between Donald Trump and Louis XIV.
1
Trump has never believed he should be held accountable, whether in business or in the Presidency. Now he is declaring that he has an absolute right to pardon himself, which is the ultimate lack of restraint. He is now laying the groundwork with his followers, and it is naive to think he isn’t serious about this. I believe that many of Trump’s followers will turn to the streets if push comes to shove, and neither Trump nor his pathetic party are capable of moderating their worst impulses. This is simply the path to dictatorship.
1
So the argument is that Trump could shoot anyone else running for President in 2020 and pardon himself. Maybe shoot all those journalist- and us commentators- who criticize him. I think I'd be safer in North Korea.
1
Certainly had Hillary Clinton won in 2016 she’d have already pardoned herself.
1
I, for one, will not get used to this.
1
Michelle Goldberg
It is way, way past time to stop trying to destroy the President.
Instead of posting inflammatory posts, I suggest that you read the Constitution of the United States. I think you will find answers to your questions there.
President Trump was elected fairly You seek problems that do not list.
If you want another president, you and the rest of the left can try voting in the next presidential election.
This is seriously depressing – the nation’s Justice Department of Legal Council says the Commander in Chief is above the law?
Say it ain’t so, Joe!
As for the incoherently babbling attorney let’s not assume anything, shall we? (legend in his own mind nowadays. He was booed in his own backyard, Yankee Stadium. All the proof one needs).
A shady lawyer is the one who gives a bad name and reputation to all those who actually take their oath and job seriously. Many more of decent ones than the incoherent babblers.
Hopefully, as a nation, we are a whole lot better than this bunch of embarrassing clowns at the helm.
1
The only solution! Vote for every Democrat in sight in November. We need to save out nation!
1
It’s time for a violent revolution against Trump and the Republican Party. They have become anti-American. They don’t represent anything I think of when I think of this great country, and it sickens me to see what they have done to our democracy.
3
The important thing to consider is that revelations about the prostitution of conservative intellectuals, as well as the corruptions of Manafort, Pruitt, and even Trump himself have functionally no effect on Trump's support. If you want to get rid of Trumpism, it is necessary to figure out why this is the case. Without understanding that reality, it is almost impossible to negate it. Simplistic slogans to the effect that Trump supporters and apologists are hypocritical, racist, misogynistic, ignorant, homophobes will not suffice any more than will the Democrats circular firing squad.
1
If what Giuliani says is true, is there anything to stop donors from asking the President to kill say one of their competitors, a neighbour they don’t like, a spouse they don’t want to to divorce?
Even the leaders of the most corrupt Third World dictatorships would blush at the claims coming out of this White House. If the United States still has a democratic vocation, this would be the moment to show it.
3
Trump hails himself as a legal tyrant, law unto himself. What's next, he declares himself a god and demands worship as Caesar Trump? Does the GOP really sanction these claims that spell death to the republic to placate their corporate masters? Frightening.
6
It's well over time for Trump, this would-be dictator creep, to go. The only thing stopping this from taking place is a complicit and weak-kneed Republican Congress.
Such degrading hypotheticals about shooting James Comey and "someone on 5th Avenue" illustrate how little the current Administration cares about the value of human life and anyone (especially victims of violent crime) other than themselves.
What laws? Those people in the White House are making their own laws, each one to suit a particular offense to our country and now our former allies. Never in the history of our once great country have we had to live through such a nightmare. Watergate was a tea party compared to this mess.
America won't get used to Trump's abuses, but it will take a long while to clear up the stain and stench of this pathological presidency. Trump's and Giuliani's precedents aren't good: King Charles I claimed to rule by divine right. He was beheaded. George III chose to rule rather than reign. He lost America. Even if 87% of Republicans are behind Trump, that's still not even half the country. And the other half can effectively prevent Trump, his cabinet, and Congress move in any direction or do anything at all if Trump overthrows the Constitution. Without any violence at all, massive protests, day after day, and civil disobedience will oblige the forces of tyrannical, arbitrary, and criminal despotism to back down.
3
I’m starting to think (and I know I'm not alone) that it really isn’t going to matter what the Mueller investigation comes up with. We already know a lot about the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia and other foreign agents. We’ve seen explicit evidence of obstruction of justice. We know Trump has been involved in money laundering and a lifetime of tax evasion and business corruption and mob ties. But his base doesn’t care about any of it. They can dismiss all of it as part of a lefty conspiracy to get their hero. They love that he thumbs his nose at “norms“ and common decency. They love that he lies and never apologizes. They love his racism and misogyny and cruelty. What we see as self-serving pomposity they see as self-confidence. What we see as decadence and cowardice, they view as traits ginned up by the fake news. Like the true believers at Jonestown these poor folks are happy to drink the Kool-Aid. He makes them feel like they belong to something and they have each other and right wing media barkers to reinforce their delusions. They’re all bought in. Republicans who don't buy into the Trump delusion like Mike Schmidt and Nicole Wallace and Jennifer Rubin and George Will have become compelling but lonely voices of sanity and patriotism. The only near term solution of any consequence is for the Democrats to take back the House and the Senate and start getting real loud and aggressive about exposing the orange haired charlatan at last. Mueller alone is not enough.
1
Oh God - claiming he has an absolute right to pardon himself sounds as if he expects to be found guilty of some or many crimes - and expects to be needing to pull that one out of the magic hat.
POTUS - Problem Of The United States.
1
The story is starting to sound familiar: "After assuming control of government, Julius Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms ... and was eventually proclaimed 'dictator in perpetuity', giving him additional authority ... Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebellious senators ..." - Wikipedia
Trump runs the Executive Branch of the government. He is the chief law enforcement officer of the land. He can direct the FBI to investigate anything, or instruct them to call off investigations. The president can also control what the DOJ prosecutes. And he can fire anyone.
How could this happen? A single person with this much power? Shocking!
However, the answer is very simple. In the 2016 election, 63 million American citizens WANTED him to have this power. More importantly, in our representative republic, a clear majority of the states WANTED Trump to have this power.
So there it is.
Pardoning power? It is unlimited. It is in the Constitution. Along with the rest of it. Don't like it? Change the Constitution through amendment. This has actually been done before.
Congress can impeach and remove President Trump if they choose. That, too, is in the Constitution. Mueller is free to resign his prosecutorial position within the Executive branch and start work for Legislative Branch to work towards the noble goal of impeachment. In fact, Trump would encourage it. And Mueller could bring his team with him. It would save Trump the trouble of firing the whole pathetic bunch.
The problem is that the GOP has totally capitulated to Trump. They fear the NRA and Trump in the same way. They do not call out either that even Trump's lawyers lie about the Donnie Jr. memo, of that their client never told them the truth-lying to one's own lawyers has got to be among the dumbest things one can do.Even if the dems take a house of Congress , which will slow things down, there is so much being done by executive fiat that we will still be in trouble. To us outsides there sure seems to be interference in our legal processes.
Putin is succeeding where all previous Russian Cold War dictators (Kruschev, Bresnev, et al) failed.
America is fracturing, chaotic, and as far as I can determine in free-fall. The United States is no longer United.
Empires rot from the inside. Eventually they rot to the point that a swift kick from the outside collapses the whole edifice.
1
Surely, in any country, anywhere in the world, no one, and I repeat, no one is above the law
We may be watching Democracy die a horrific death.
The House and Senate Republican enablers of Trump along with his fanatic base have become cult followers - throwing reason to the winds - and all come up with soiled hands.
The painting of Washington juxtaposed with Trump in the foreground of the photo shows just how far our body politic has fallen.
"Giuliani said this proves the president shouldn’t testify because 'our recollection keeps changing'." "Recollection" he calls it! I'm reading this column but find it difficult to type because my jaw keeps hitting the keyboard.
Is this the inchoate ranting of a dyspeptically vainglorious old fool or is it an attempt to pass for authentic legal argumentation? Add to this Giuliani's insane remark about shooting James Comey and we really plunge into a fun-house of warped mirrors, apparently locked inside for eternity.
3
From what I understand,
the Huff News reporter
suggested the idea of shooting
Comey and Giuliani took the bait.
Of course, he should have said
that the idea of violence is repugnant
but he tied it into today's storyline.
The verbiage gets crazier and crazier.
The lawyers obfuscate brilliantly.
Trump will be audacious because
he knows he has an 87% approval
rating amongst Republicans and
he can get away with anything.
We are doomed.
There are times when the very essence of our democracy demands to be defended by a militancy greater than the forces that threaten its existence.
This cannot happen when the pubic discourse is in defensive mode, merely reacting to what dominates us daily....Trump's implacable outrages, utterly dismissive of truth, reason or consequence.
Sometimes a notion exists that there needs to be an uprising...a public outcry... a shout... employing all the savvy of the social media and the press that overwhelm's the machine that created Trump so relentlessly and effectively.
Gloves off. Lock him up!
1
I think Trump and his lawyers are aiming for distraction hoping that Mueller will be sidetracked fighting their claims. What matters above all else is whether Trump had illicit conversations with the Russians and, if so, whether Mueller can get someone to talk. With the evidence we already know, there remains a real possibility of success. If Mueller prevails, Trump is a dead duck, and it doesn’t matter what Trump claims. The methodical search for a deep throat is hardly exciting or entertaining. But that’s the prize and I’m keeping my eye on it.
Trump feeds on fear and ignorance, and this country if full of it.
The bigger they are (in their own minds), the harder they will feel the fall. Can't wait!
1
Trump as the arbiter of justice has me on the verge of tears for our nation.
It appears our heads are so far in the sand only our feet are sticking out.
It is difficult to think we as a nation have become so myopic. It isn't just the Republicans, the Democrats are similar enough in their particular outlook that the difference is negligible.
It is more than worrisome that cumulatively so many people either cannot or will not judge based on fact. Responding as Mr Guiliani did with his shooting Mr Comey remark is a classic example of accepting egregious mental drivel.
We are either a better people than our leaders project or we are truly lost and without hope.
Unless the youth of our nation, under attack by the world our so called leaders are forcing on them, vote en masse and deny further erosion of their liberty they will inherit chains of debt and possibly those of imprisonment.
We are being led to chaos by men who literally have no care for anyone beyond themselves.
Wake up America. Wake up before it is too late.
The fascists are marching.
1
I often wonder what the Joint Chiefs say among themselves, in private. Will these patriotic men who have dedicated their lives to the service of their country stand idly by while the values they've spent their lives promoting and defending are under such attack? Joe Dunford, and no doubt the rest of them, are great men, and know their roles are non-political; we should never have to think about a military coup in America....that sort of thing is reserved for "banana republics." Do we not already, however, resemble such a nation, with this cabal of thieves and grifters infecting the White House and the body politic? I wonder how the Chiefs feel?
When you can no longer defend his innocence, argue that he is above the law...
1
Hey if we take enough money from the public schools, get all the good teachers to leave by starving them out, promote reality TV as a way of life to middle America, maybe we can get them all so dumb that they won't mind if it becomes legal that their elected officials can take huge amounts of money from rich donors and corporations, they won't mind if their water and air are fouled again in the name of company profits, and they won't even realize that Trump is fooling them by being against immigrants when the real enemy is automation and robots. They won't even realize that the tax cut was for the rich, but the poor and middle class are responsible for most of the national debt. Hey we can turn the US into Mexico with ultra-rich people living in castles behind big walls, and the rest of the people living in serfdoms surrounding each castle.
1
Donald Trump is simply doing what is known as CYOA with his audacious tweets in order to do his deals unmolested and enrich himself further . He is playing straight into the Republican conservative agenda which has always been dismantling our form of government to suit their authoritarian beliefs . They will remain silent because it suits them very well and they tolerate his gross incompetence to achieve this end . Stay tuned to more outrageous claims and acts by this president , and to a congress that looks the other way . He certainly cut a big deal with the Republicans who mouth corruption while sticking their hand out to those who have benefited starting with the huge tax cut he gifted to the 1% and corporations . As the saying goes , everyone has their price .
This is yet another in one of Trumps outrageous bad of deceptive tricks. According to his new, new, new TV lawyers, Donald Trump can commit Mass Murder without consequence in Washington DC? Is that right, Mr. Guiliani? How about the consequences to our nation? Brutal truth time!
Ms. Goldberg writes "Trump has proved, again and again, that he can make his base discard their values out of loyalty to him." The apparent implacable subservience of Trump's base to his ignorance, arrogance, dishonesty, ineptitude, and self-absorption is as disturbing as their discarding of traditional American values. Is the Trump base so obtuse as to still hold out for some redeeming value in this demagogue? Are their principles so warped as to blind them to the daily damage Trump does to the nation's soul? Will the base ever get on the road to recovery or is it blindly fixed on its path of aiding and abetting damage to the needs of the nation and its future generations?
3
the base is a cult.
1
In an interview with Chris Cuomo last night, Giuliani was affable and occasionally uncomfortable. He babbled around these issues and finally settled on what seems most plausible.
Even though he is acting more like a PR hack, he is Trump's criminal defense attorney. His ultimate answer to Cuomo's surprisingly well-informed pressure was to concede that he was merely doing what criminal defense lawyers do: Putting up the best defense for their client, even if they suspect (or know) that the client is guilty.
5
What are the stages of grief again? Oh, yes - denial, anger bargaining, depression and, finally, acceptance. Our nation was diagnosed as terminal in November 2016. We've been, half of us anyway, through denial and anger, with some even having tried bargaining. Now it's full-on depression, as we watch our nation pass away before our eyes. The media, too much of it, continue to wallow in Trump's circus of the macabre, while the destruction of the federal government accelerates. Tim Snyder's "On Tyranny" is terrifyingly instructive, with every phase and facet of a nation's descent into authoritarianism now checked off. The Supreme Court?? You have got to be kidding. The highjacking of Garland's seat was the final key piece of the strategy. And Trump, supremely confident in his control of a supine congress, struts and cavorts on the global stage. What's left? Acceptance. Because we don't even use paper ballots anymore, and our "government" doesn't even care if a foreign power meddles with the electronics - that is, as long as the right people are elected, and the concentration of the nation's riches continues unabated.
11
Trump didn’t tweet that he is above the law. He tweeted: “As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to pardon myself.” Trump should have tweeted: “Numerous scholars have stated that I have the right to pardon myself except in cases of impeachment” Many scholars do assert presidents have right to pardon themselves, but no one asserts that right is absolute. The Constitution states the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Trump doesn’t argue he could pardon himself if he were impeached and convicted. He should have tweeted: “As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to pardon myself, except in cases of impeachment.” The tweet merely illustrates Trump’s imprecise uses of the English language, not a grab for dictatorial power.
2
It will be a nice change when Congress is staffed by caring concerned lawmakers who understand the term "service" and replace the spineless eunuchs of the GOP who are in Congress for the power, prestige and the $176K paycheck while bootlicking the Liar-in-Chief and his rabble followers. Time to get out in November, broom the losers, and pull America out of the Trump swamp.
12
The 176K is nothing more than a retainer to let these Grifters use the power and prestige of their position to advance their financial interests. And it is these Grifters that have set the standard that makes trumps entry easy, co-grifters as it were. And as others have pointed out a swamp is a natural filter, the co-grifters have established a sewer and cesspool to feed off of.
For those old enough to recall, Adolph Hitler felt that he was "above the law" and that he could never be removed from office. He was proven to be exceedingly wrong, as will happen with Trump. We may have to endure Trump and his Dictatorship for a while, but he too will pass and his foolishness forgotten, as has been Hitler's and Mussolinii's and myriad others. We and our descendants will pay a high price, but this too shall pass...........Law will prevail or the country will fail. Simple as that.
5
Republicans, my fellow citizens, where are you? Your silence is deafening, your hypocrisy profound. It’s time to stand up for democracy, before your president shoots it in the Oval Office.
10
So we know he doesn't pay his taxes, he colludes with the Russians (Treason) pretends he doesn't believe in climate change hopping that his money protects his children and grandchildren trust me he does not give a flip about yours much less mine. Now he will pardon himself and brag on it. What will pardon say absolved from treason and stealing from the USA and all its peolpe.
Chuck from Ohio
4
I think the danger of getting used to this madness is less likely than our becoming so dispirited by it that we simply give up. There are certain major news outlets that report in neutral terms whenever this administration behaves in a quasi normal manner despite their daily assault on our legal and social structure. This is one way we begin the descent into acceptance, another is to silently allow others to express bigoted and hateful attitudes without challenge.
For Guiliani to say out loud that it wouldn’t be prosecutable if the president shot the FBI director is beyond incredible. It confirms my fears about this administarion. They represent the worst of our species and somehow have all gravitated toward each other in consolidated power. I have no doubt that in another place with less order and structure, they would capable of committing serious atrocities and feel no regret. Just consider the response to the loss of life in Puerto Rico and the callous behavior at our Southern border. I base this opinion on their words and behavior which is irrefutable evidence of their intentions toward those who oppose their agenda.
I find it useful to remember how quickly our world changed when Trump became president, it makes me hopeful that we can right this ship of state by actively opposing what is going on and installing a better class of leadership. This is no time for the majority to be silent.
15
By the logic of Trump's lawyers, any official in charge of an investigation should not therefore be subject to obstruction of justice for interfering with that investigation. This could apply for example to a chief of police or for that matter to the judge in criminal cases. Since both a police chief and a judge can dismiss a case and otherwise limit its investigations, are they not both likewise free to do whatever they want with the case whether or not they can pardon themselves?
The anti-constitutional idea any American public official can do whatever they want with their official duties was never the intention of the founders, men who were explicitly rejected creating another king. They saw the principal power as being invested in the legislative branch, which is why it is Article 1. As examples, Congress can impeach and the Senate remove a president, Congress is supposed to declare war even though the president is commander-in-chief, and Congress must originate all revenue bills. Finally, Constitutional Amendments must pass both houses and the states. They chose not to create another king regardless of what a given president may want to think.
7
Fundamental to our democracy is the Rule of Law and that the Law is applied equally. A President’s powers are defined in constitutional Law and are limited. They are not above the law. If those responsible for enforcing the law demonstrate to a court the need for evidence that is in the President's possession, be it documents, transcriptions of conversations or testimony, he must comply. If he refuses, the Court is unlikely to issue a warrant for his arrest, which is what it would do to any other citizen. It is then up to Congress to determine if his refusal is an impeachable offense.
Impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial in the Senate are not criminal proceedings. There is no jeopardy of imprisonment or fine, just removal from office. The Constitution is deliberately vague in its language describing reasons for impeachment. It lists the specific crimes of Treason and Bribery and then adds the phrase "other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” leaving Congress to determine what they may be.
Congress must decide that if a President violates a court order, or cooperates with a foreign power to win an election or profits from a personal business not held in a blind trust or inhibits a legally authorized investigation of criminal behavior, are high crimes or misdemeanors that warrant removal from office. To do so and save our democracy, Republicans would have to join Democrats. The mid-term elections will determine if that is even a possibility
10
Republican/conservative/authoritarians have ALWAYS believed that the rich and powerful were above the rule of law, because for them the only function of the law is to keep others who might challenge their damaging and capricious behavior from having the power to do so.
In their world, equal justice under the law was always a convenient but sham talking point, designed to keep the masses quiescent. In their worldview, money and power talks, everything else walks, and whoever has the Do-Re-Mi (thanks, Woody Guthrie) gets to Do whatever they want.
They're just speaking of it more blatantly know, because they perceive that those challengers have even less power than usual. (And if don't go vote them out, they may well be right.)
18
I'd feel a lot more comfortable reading Linda Greenhouse on the constitutionality of Trump's behavior and the claims of his lawyers.
We stumbled into a Trump presidency, but it's unlikely we'll be stumbling out.
1
Do not imagine that the current regime will surrender power gracefully after an electoral defeat, assuming of course that the votes are counted fairly. It has far too many tools in hand, including the military, well-armed right wing fanatics, an electronic spy apparatus vaster than any previous government has owned, and an immense propaganda machine.
Destruction of democratic norms since 9/11 has added to that toolbox. We've had heated discussions about the U.S. torturing suspected terrorists--mostly imagined as men of Middle Eastern descent. The debate centered around whether it was efficacious in producing information, and whether it might lead to other countries torturing captured U.S. soldiers. What the debaters (IMO mostly white people) failed to understand--or could not bear to think about--is that legitimizing torture against non-citizens is just one step away from legitimizing it against political dissidents in this country.
This nation has been on a slide to fascism for a long time. If we don't do more than hope Mueller or the November elections will solve the problem for us, whatever democracy we have enjoyed to date will be--not drowned in a bathtub, but waterboarded to death.
5
“That’s not where you want to go, because it rubs up so violently against everybody’s intuitions about the presidency and its relationship to the rule of law.” Well, obviously not everybody's intuition. The Fox News-Republican axis remains solid, a majority of Americans now believe the Mueller probe is politically motivated, Congress seems anesthetized. The slippery slide will continue until we vote them out.
3
I’m proud to know republicans and Independents who are embarrassed by and deeply regret their support of trump. Maybe there is hope.....
1
Trump's base has not discarded their values out of loyalty to him. Tribal loyalty is their core value.
3
Greetings from Germany,
in Germany one of the former Presidents had to leave office because he received a hotel-night and a dinner some 700$ worth. Another president left because some remarks regarding the army (not offensive , or hate-speech,...)
And in comparison Donald "Benedict Arnold" Trump:
I can not believe that there is not a single republican senator or member United States House of Representatives who stands up and say: "enough is enough. If we don't fight him today, tomorrow there will be no more democracy in the states."
kind regards
Matthias
9
His whole life, Mr. Trump has skipped out on the law by buying his way out, lying his way out. Why would that change now? He's always been cocooned and cushioned by wealth, celebrity and status. In capitalist America, celebrity and wealth are our royalty and we pay obeisance to them. Why should something as inconsequential as the office of the president change that?
Look to Congress and the Republican party for your answer.
1
It is apparent that trump is stating that he IS GUILTY, and that he will pardon himself for any crime.
5
The person to watch now is Pence. And it seems we hear silence from him on pardon issues. Also, I believe Kevin McCarthy is just waiting for Pres. Pence with the knowledge of trump's crimes.
6
The problem with Pence is that, if he has had his eyes open, he will have see the degree of crime: Obstruction, collusion and dishonesty in the Whitehouse, and since he has not turned his boss in to the Mueller Team, or ordered his arrest, then one can pretty well figure he is part and parcel of the conspiracy and is merely waiting for Donald to go Just Too Far so that HE can have the seat, since HE knows what to do with it...in his mind.
Time to arrest them both, their public statements, which are supposed to be the honest truth, have been anything but truthful, and he commits the crime of obstruction of justice every time he tweets about the investigation or anyone surrounding it. He also commits character assassination of all of his perceived 'enemies', those who do not agree with everything he says.
His aiding and abetting of Pruitt in destroying the EPA is one small part of the whole scenario, and it is like he and his Cabinet are busy taking an axe to the Tree of Democracy.
Whatever happened to
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter."
Trump did not swear that, but all of our officers and enlisted men did.
1
The line of argument we're getting from Donald Trump and his lawyers, like Trump's demonstrated attitude since he took office, is based on the false assumption that everyone in the Executive Branch of the US Government works for him.
In fact, everyone in every branch of the US Government works for the American people on a basis established in the Constitution. If Trump were a normal president, he'd recognize that he's the manager of the government, not the owner. Any powers vested in the president exist to be exercised in the performance of his proper duties, not in the cause of enabling him to commit crimes or to undermine the very Constitution with impunity.
I know, this is stating the obvious. But we're dealing with a president who probably doesn't get it and with presidential lawyers who pretend not to. And they're backed up by what you rightly call an authoritarian cult.
I hoped at first that a President Trump would prove to be just a harmful charlatan within the usual scope of charlatanism. However, it's no exaggeration now to speak of "this waking nightmare of a presidency".
Why would an innocent man as he has alleged all along need to pardon himself. Lock him up. Lock him up. Lock him up and throw away the key.
4
Locking him up with other prisoners might be seen as cruel and unusual punishment....for them!
Part of Trump's strategy as a realtor was to just wear creditors down. He did this to anyone he justifiably owed money to - he'd stall and sue and refuse to pay and finally his creditors simply gave up. Now, he obviously thinks that if he behaves more and more outrageously every single day, we'll all get tired of our own outrage. It's not that we'll accept his behavior or normalize it, it's that the American people will simply be exhausted from rage and frustration. His idiocy never stops. I so appreciate journalists like Michelle Goldberg. The daily grind of covering the scofflaw in the White House has to be simply exhausting. By the time one crazy episode has been covered, three more have occurred. It's negative in the extreme and very wearing on the nervous system. However, everything he does must be called out. NONE of this is normal.
4
A thousand more days of this waking nightmare is surely terrifying, but if the projected blue wave in November doesn't materialize, it could mean 1500 more days. And if Trump continues his trajectory toward dictatorship, he could decide to be leader for life, passing the crown to one of his children upon his death. The Republicans in Congress would no doubt be all in favor of eliminating the possibility of a Democrat in the White House. This might seem like a far-fetched scenario, but two years ago, could any of us have imagined we would be where we are today?
13
Lets get this over with. Congress - do your job. Mueller - get the facts out ASAP. Supreme Court - do your job and make it clear that no one is above the law.
Trump has always felt entitled - as a wealthy person, as a reality TV star, and as president. He is entitled to no more than the rest of us.
When he sees Mike Pence for the first time after his impeachment and conviction, he should begin the conversation with, "pardon me."
Too much conventional wisdom, I think.
Too much assertion of generalities, too.
Why believe a poll about Trump's popularity?
Do we govern by polls now?
I'm not convinced that the country is becoming desensitized to Trump and his attacks on the Constitution, rule of law, and political norms.
But I do think that if this conventional wisdom is repeated and repeated, it will become "truth."
Just like the coastal "elites" conventional wisdom.
No one even defines "elite." Is aiming for a college education and getting one elitist?
How far, to borrow from the late Sen. Moynihan, are we going to define deviancy down? How much longer are we going to cater to the lowest common denominator, instead of insisting on pride in education, pride in intellect, pride in our constitution and rule of there law.
The whole conversation is about the tyranny of a tedious minority, and I no longer care how mistreated they feel.
Of course Trump caters to them.
My question is, why does the media cater to Trump, Guiliani and this minority?
Remember, Hillary Clinton won. The Russians interfered, and still she won.
That should be the starting point of any conversation about Trump and his gang of thugs.
15
Thank you. I couldn't agree with you more.
2
Under Trump’s theory, Bauer said, Obama would have been well within his rights to call the attorney general or the F.B.I. director and simply say, “Lay off her.”
Is that not what Obama did?
If only we could do what Reagan did with the air traffic controllers. FIRE THEM ALL! I mean ALL! And start with a
"clean slate"?
Those that care about our country, and its citizens.
If Trump is successful, Democracy is lost. Or as FOX news puts it "Trump frees us from Democracy."
3
The constitution does not name a “chief law enforcement officer.” There is no such thing. The president has a duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and he has the power to make appointments. The power of the judicial department is bestowed on it by congress, not the president. He is in no sense an actual law enforcement officer in the judicial department and has no direct authority with respect to its activities.
3
What is happening now with Trump is beyond what we Democrats expected when he was supposedly elected. Apparently there are no depths to which traitorous republicans will not sink in supporting him.
6
So, what happens if: 1) the “Blue Wave” of Democrats doesn’t happen this year and Trumpublicans still control the House and Senate until the Election of 2020, 2) the Supreme Court between now and 2020 gets one or two more Trump appointees, 3) the governorships and statehouses still stay majority GOP, and 4) the Presidential Election of 2020 turns out to be a nail-biter which Trump ultimately loses in The Electoral College. Will Trump turn over the reigns of power or will he refuse to leave the playing field? What would his wild-eyed followers do? We’ve seen the Trump rallies and we’ve seen Charlottesville.
Would Trump follow the Constitution?
1
No trump will never admit defeat & will declare himself ruler for life “dictator or emperor”.
In fact, the Republicans have enabled and supported Trump's excesses and corruption. That makes them as culpable as Trump.
Fascism not possible? Look at the emboldened white racists who wear body armor in Portland and are free to literally beat protesters. The police seemed unable to contain their glee and their violence. Brown Shirts as in the 30's?
A rousing mid term may bring us back to some semblance of order, especially if both House and Senate become Democratic. Can you see a modern day 'Nuremburg' trial with Trump's mafia saying repeatedly "I was only following orders". Maybe the GOP, then, will become the loyal opposition they are supposed to be. Trump can sit out his term or not. Checks and Balances may be back in place.
And: Everyone believes Mattis may save us somehow. But, he appears to be off message regarding NK. How long will he hold on?
A level playing field where truth prevails is not where Trump and followers can operate and win. Cheating by lies and nonsense is their norm. Projections of rigging the system have forecast their schemes from day one. Trump took over the GOP ship that was ripe for piracy. That so many among those who identify as Republican follow Trump is no surprise, but their black flag is still a cause for great alarm.
3
I've stopped being frightened and am now terrified. Terrified that I will not live to see the end of this nightmare of a presidency. That justice as we knew it will fade away in the Republican Trump haze; that decency is dead forever; that the assault on our democracy will destroy our country; that hate has overcome love; that the tenets of religion - to care for and forgive one another has been lost; that our experiment in democracy, our fragile being , our respect for one another , has been besmirched by an evil overlay of Trumpism.... How and when will it end? Will I live to find out? How did we let this happen?
11
We are looking at the end of the beginning. The beginning of the end happened under Reagan. Phase Two was Gingrich and the Contract with America. Phase III was W's wholly illegal attack on Iraq and the lies used to wage it. Phase IV was the 8 year relentless attack on Obama's attempt to govern culminating with the GOP theft of a Supreme Court seat. We are approaching the triumph of neo-fascism in America. If Trump is not impeached and removed from office during the next Congressional session (as this Congress definitely will not do it), and if Trump is reelected in 2020, anyone not a card-carrying member of the Trump Red Hat Brigade should keep a bag packed by the door, cash on hand, a valid passport at the ready, and an escape plan in place. There are too many angry, misinformed Trump acolytes with too many guns, and it seems that they are just waiting for Trump to call them to arms.
1
It seems to me that the only way this president's push for unlimited power is going to be checked is if the Democrats to take over one or both houses of Congress. The Republicans are not going to do it. For that to happen Democrats and left-leaning Independents are going to have to overlook their internal disagreements and vote in the midterms for anyone with a D after their names.
This means if you still have a beat up old Bernie sticker on your car and left the Democratic Party after the 2016 debacle, you may have to hold your nose and vote for a corporate Democrat with all of the appeal of cold oatmeal.
This also means that if you were a fervent Clinton supporter and absolutely believe in your heart that THAT MAN and his Berniebros caused your beloved Hillary to lose the election and the Democratic candidate in your district is a diehard Berner whose website is plastered of pictures of the candidate and THAT MAN, you still need to vote for him or her.
Close your eyes, hold your nose and think of Nancy Pelosi--no wait a minute don't think of her--too divisive--think of the expression on Donald Trump's face, the explosion of outraged tweets and best of all the cries of agony from your Trump supporting friends when they learn that the Democrats have taken over Congress.
Oh yes and there is the salvation of our Democratic institutions to think of as well. We can do it.
Besides how shocking this is (and yes, we can still, thankfully, shocked): it makes me think of all the things that I wish I could pardon myself for: unkindness, half-truths, irresponsibility, selfishness, lack of stick-to-itiveness, fuzzy thinking, carelessness--the list goes on and on.
Oh well. Perhaps when I'm President.
3
I am about to be interviewed for US Citizenship. Number 12 of the 100 Civics questions I must be able to answer is:
12. What is the “rule of law”?
The official answers are:
▪ Everyone must follow the law.
▪ Leaders must obey the law.
▪ Government must obey the law.
▪ No one is above the law.
I guess they should start adding the caveat "except Donald Trump".
3
Does the law apply to DT?
Even after the last two years, I can't believe he's even trying to pull this.
Silly me.
1
I think Trump has made a big mistake. It’s too easy to understand the reductio ad absurdum implications of his “I’m above the law” assertion. He could shoot (or even just imprison) Jim Comey and get away with it? No heavy thinking needed to figure out that’s wrong.
1
"Trump's power grab could be checked by a Democratic victory in the midterms......"
I am convinced that may be the only way to slow down, if not stop, the Trump train wreck. Elected Republicans have abdicated their Constitutional duties and debased the GOP in order to be part of the cult.
Also, why did Giuliani say what he did? Because it was simple and extreme, like Trump's base.
10
What a chilling statement from Rudolph Giuliani - "... Trump couldn't be subpoenaed or indicted while in office even if he'd shot the former F.B.I. director James Comey."
History echoes yet again.
Anaxarchus supposedly convinced Alexander the Great that the drunken murder of Cleitus was not a crime because Alexander was king.
Ancient writers saw this flattery for what it was, yet the legal representative of a modern-day President, is prepared to muse out aloud on the legality of killing a citizen in cold blood?
How can murder be reduced to a flippant possibility? Is this an attempt to set a new low in the level of public debate?
16
Trump is nothing but a free agent, with zero allegiance to his native country. Whichever country offers him the most money wins the United States of America. He seems happy enough with Russia as his boss for the moment. They’re letting him play dictator while they destroy our democracy. China is not far behind. It’s time for the media to stop asking these absurd questions in their headlines. It means Putin has already won. The uncertainty in the headlines reflect the success Trump is having in gaslighting his base and the media. I’m surprised that Ms. Goldberg has succumbed as well.
2
"Authoritarian cult" says it all. It appears the Republican Congress and his constituents are in lock step with Trump.
The only way to break the spell is to end the Republican supine rule in Congress and start oversight investigations on multiple fronts.
Otherwise, our country will continue to decline in the eyes of the world but with the support of too many blind and ignorant followers ( this includes corporations happy to receive billions in tax cuts who have been willing to look the other way).
2
No, the law does not apply to Trump and there is GOP leadership to confirm it. Just because Muller is trying to apply the law to Trump et al, it does not mean he will succeed because the president will pardon himself and his band, with impunity.
As with many Emperors, ours is naked.
I have been skeptical about the possibility of impeachment, given Trump's hold on the Republican party. But I'm beginning to think that Mueller's report will reveal blatantly criminal behavior by Trump. Evidence seized from Michael Cohen will show that he was acting as a bag man for bribes paid to Trump by Middle Eastern potentates and Russian oligarchs, and that money received from foreign sources was used to pay off Stormy Daniels and Trump's Playboy bunny girlfriend. In the face of this type of evidence, Republicans will be forced to either remove Trump or accede to allowing our government to be run by a known criminal.
5
I read and listen to some degree but now that the long winter of 2018 is behind us in VT I am spending more time at the lake so perhaps I have missed something. I do recall a pundit saying that Mr. Mueller is not going to save us. The only thing that will save us is by getting rid of the feckless Republicans and Democrats in Congress who are not doing the bidding of the people who elected them, to do their bidding, but are responding to the KOCH-TO-PUS and dark money. And because of that, it is up to us to vote in November. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018, is the day. Put it on your calendar. Give someone a ride to the polls that day. Go door-to-door and get people registered to vote. It is 154 days from today. Vote people, like your life depended on it because it does.
1
Trump is allowing the GOP, in Congress and among the voters, to show their suspected true nature: racist, xenophobic, fact-denying, merging church and state. What is unexpected is the support for autocratic rule that Trump continues to threaten.
Trump's absurd claim does not merit discussion on the pages of this esteemed publication. The fact that is does appear here legitimizes it--especially in the eyes of his "base"-ment followers and other citizens Constitutionally ignorant enough to accept it.
He needs to be removed, but the founders never made provisions for a politically, morally dysfunctional legislature and so his rampage against 240 years of Constitutionally mandated government continues.
The Republics fate now resides in the hands of Robert Muller.
1
After watching how Trump is handling this situation, I have some new found respect for Nixon.
It's appalling we are in this moment, and it's deplorable that the American experiment is being held hostage to fear of a mob. Neither Republican nor Democratic elected officials will take a stand against this assault on our country's constitution and our descent into an authoritarian cult. No one acts because of their fear of "Trump's base." Really? Where are the profiles in courage for this age?
15
Let's understand the concept of a presidential pardon. I would think that a pardon cannot be issued lacking an individuals conviction for a crime. In the case of a presidential pardon an individual must have been convicted of a federal crime. Is Trump anticipating a conviction? Or is the concept of presidential pardon being expanded to a pre-conviction power to pardon before the fact? Even considering Trump and his hand puppets' limited mental bandwidths they can't be waiting to expand the concept that prior to indictment, trial or conviction would allow a presidential pardon, just in case?
Has Lewis Carroll been given an office in the White House?
Taking to the extreme, the President’s position regarding “Presidential Power”, would justify death squads to eliminate political enemies.
The Democrats should immediately propose an amendment to the Constitution to make it clear that the President is not above the law. Article V of the Constitution states in part, “The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution…” If the Republicans refuse to go along with the amendment, let the voters decide its outcome.
5
“The president cannot obstruct Justice, because he is the arbiter of Justice.” Sounds an awful lot like “it depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is”.
I'm not a historian, but is the Trump era appear to be German history (circa 1930s) repeating itself?
1
America: Your Constitutional Crisis Has Arrived.
The president and his legal team are claiming that it is acceptable and within the law for the president to commit murder. Not just of the president's enemies, the president could in theory murder anyone.
After each killing, the president would pardon himself and carry on with his day. He would be judge, jury, and executioner along with being the president.
That is one way to deal with political opponents.
Is it the American way?
How many days will it be before an increasingly unhinged tyrant attempts to pardon himself, and what crimes will be absolved? Murder?
The cold hard truth is that unless Congress acts now to constrain the president, he WILL be above the law. Is there a member of the Senate or House who believes the constitution grants the right to commit murder on the president?
3
Killing anti trump protesters in the name of national security. His base would gladly take up their guns to help defend this dictator & believe that they are protecting “national” security.
"But another [explanation of Trump's claim that he would have legal impunity to shoot James Comey] is that his client’s interest lies in bludgeoning our moral intuitions."
I think Ms. Goldberg is right on here an in the rest of her column. None of these maximalist claims are meant to be taken seriously legally. They are all political trial balloons, so that Trump can measure the response of his base, and of congressional Republicans. So far, both parties appear to be giving a thumbs up to lawless dictatorship.
3
It is time for the media - the responsible media, in any case to start calling a spade a spade; President Trump aspires to be a tyrant. The US polity is designed to apply the law equally to all citizens great and small, rich and poor. Trump aims to make himself as President - the super-great - above the law. If this is the case - essentially equal treatment under the law applies to no citizen and we become a nation under tyranny. It is the media's responsibility not to mince words - Trump aspires to tyranny and all citizens who abet him in this aspiration abet the destruction of American justice. Use these words and put the national conversation in this harsh light - lest the harsh glare of tyranny be upon us. No joke.
9
I prefer a President who believes in the rule of law. I think statement that sort of President -one who believed in the rule of law -would make is "why would I pardon myself if I DID do something wrong?"
...that is, if the ludicrous notion of self-pardons came up - which is nothing but an attack on the very idea of separate but equal branches of government. This presidency is a stain on the Republic.
7
The authoritarian streak runs deep in the Republican psyche. Who was it that said that democrats fall over each other, republicans fall in line?
2
Reduced to its simplest terms Trump's is a thug, double standard based tenure. That he currently enjoys an 87% approval rating among Republicans is deeply troubling. They are in essence giving a green light to words, actions and behavior that spit in the face of the values and protocols long established by the Constitution, our finest document soon to be in tatters with chilling consequences if we are not vigilant. How can one shamelessly abandon respect for the rule of law or re-interpret the rule of law to whitewash a reprehensible Presidency? Using Trump as conduit to attain a political agenda renders meaningless the once held, conservative espousal and defense of a narrow view of our Constitution. Where a strict interpretation of the rule of law is concerned the cherished GOP pejorative "liberal" has now become ironically self-referential.
4
When did Donald Trump become Louis XIV? "L'etat, c'est moi" works when you head a family business like Trump Inc., but not a constitutional government. Apparently neither the President nor the Republican party accept that as fact. These are the people, who, in spite of all their rhetoric about individual freedom in the past, are voting in favor of monarchy. The Tea Party had best retire their Revolutionary War hats now; their support goes to good old King George.
I used to say as a joke that when it comes to "checks and balances", Trump is so uninformed that he thinks "checks" are pieces of paper, and "balances" are what the bank tells you you have in your account.
Sadly, it appears that I nailed it.
Trump has ZERO idea of what "checks and balances" means.
It is time to teach the ignoramus a lesson in civics (which he obviously slept through in school).
Time to VOTE A STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC TICKET on November 6, 2018. Top to bottom, from Senator, Governor and Representative to deputy assistant dog catcher.
Vote as if our democracy depends upon it, BECAUSE IT DOES.
If you fail to vote, do not come complaining to me about the outcome. Democracy is NOT a spectator sport.
So if DJT thinks he's above the law, if someone steals from or harms him aren't they too? By extension, aren't we all?
How desperately corrupt the Republicans have become. They think, or slink, the only way they can hope to hold power is by treason, bullying, coercion, lies, and suitcases of cash. The Koch Brothers' last gasp petro dollars aided by the majority lightweights, where each dollar is a vote (just not in the Constitution), of SCOTUS. What will they do for an encore???
The last time the Republicans were this corrupt, their President resigned. Before that, it took one of their own, Theodore Roosevelt, to clean things up. Sadly, no one in their wings has any resemblance to TR. In the meantime it's a beeline to back to 19th century with Pay-for-Play for All. Porkers at the trough.
Republicans — and Democrats — have already endorsed presidents' tacit (and not-so-tacit) claim of a privilege to kill enemies, including Americans, abroad with impunity. Under Pres. Obama, Americans Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16 year old son, Abdulrahman (neither of whom was ever even charged with a crime) were killed in Yemen in American drone strikes. The 8 year old daughter of Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a US drone strike in the first couple of weeks of Trump's presidency.
The Republicans have repeatedly endorsed the view that the president is above the law on issues of foreign policy. They show every sign of doing so domestically when the law protects Americans from environmental hazards or the injustices of employers. Democrats like Andrew Cuomo seem little better. Both parties (but especially Republicans) have used redistricting to subvert democracy.
Barack Obama was arguably the most secretive president in US history . . . until Donald Trump.
We have been seeing for decades what Yale law professor Jack Balkin calls "constitutional rot." Neither party will hold its executive accountable. Both the executive and legislative branches increasingly treat law as subordinate to political and monetary gain. Will a Supreme Court with four fanatically right-wing members and one additional conservative even try to rein in the other two branches?
Trump is a horror, but he has been made possible by years of American decay, some of it deliberate.
2
At what point does the Republican base rebuke, the falsehoods and distortions the President is declaring. Now, declaring he is above the law, because I am the supreme executive authority.
Tweeter it’s time to do the right thing, shut down Donald’s tweeter account. The false fact mongering and illegal statements are reasons to throw the switch on his account.
It’s the right thing to do.
7
Trump clearly cannot pardon himself. Read the Federalist. Giuliani says crazy stuff so that Fox News finds ways to support it and lost voters then believe it. No wonder Trump's approval rating is going up. Much of the electorate is confused and uneducated.
1
In the days of Richard M. Nixon, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, and David Brinkley, we had a nation that, while divided, was united around the basic concepts of traitorous behavior and corruption of a national officeholder. If Nixon had ever tried to do what Trump is trying to do, such as profiting from his office and making foreign policy decisions that are possibly based on self-interest and not the national interest, Nixon would have been impeached as fast as possible. Now, there is not only corruption of the executive branch, but of the legislative branch as well, supposedly mirroring the feelings of their Republican constituents. When did public corruption and treason become American values? I really want to know.
1
Totally consistent with the rise of the Third Reich. The big question is whether the fall will also be consistent with Germany's fate in 1945.
4
Trump and Republicans pretend to believe he has more power than King George had at the time of the revolution.
Maybe they will also claim he was elected by divine right. And we can soon see that Jr. will be called Prince.
What a bunch of clowns the Republican Party has become. Time for the circus to leave town. Mr. Tom Freedman is right , there is only one party to vote for so we can resume normalcy by ridding ourselves of the ringmaster McConnell and take down the big tent .
17
“That’s not where you want to go, because it rubs up so violently against everybody’s intuitions about the presidency and its relationship to the rule of law.” If 87% of Republican voters support this (that's 10s of millions of Americans that always vote) it doesn't really matter what the rest of us think, unless we vote today and in November. History would suggest that Democrats won't bother to vote, and then it is history.
18
We will have to choose between "no man is above the law" and "impeachment is the only check on Presidential power". We cannot have both. If impeachment is the only check on Presidential power, then a man is indeed above the law if 31 Senators say he is.
15
No, that's incoherent.
Taking the last first, however the senate decides an impeachment, that decision is legal. They decide if he stays or goes, according to constitutional procedure. Either way, he's not above the law, because the senate decides his fate.
Second, impeachment is not the only legal constraint on the president's power. If it were, Nixon would be right: because the president does it, it's legal.
The law applies to the president as much as anyone. What Trump forgets is that he's sworn to uphold the law. Upholding the law includes prosecuting those who violate it, including himself. If he fails to do that, he's not faithfully fulfilling his duties to his office. For that, he can be impeached.
3
Do you believe McConnell will speedily bring the charges to a vote if impeachment charges are brought by congress?
Finding 31 Senators will be tantamount to finding life on Mars.
2
The issue here is rule by law vs. rule by lawyers. The case against Trump would be much stronger if there hadn't been a plain effort, from Day One, to undo the past election. As it is both sides are contributing equally to the meltdown.
Nonsense. Trump is causing the meltdowns. He is unfit to be president and must be impeached BECAUSE he broke/breaks the law and/or obstructed justice in firing Comey. All the rest is noise.
This is the way a democracy dies folks. Somehow a person is placed at the top to the government with no morals, scruples or respect for the law. Next the intended checks and balances are not applied due to a complicit legislature, and the authoritarian in charge consolidates their power. I honestly believe that if Congress is not turned from Republican control later this year we can kiss democratic government in the US goodbye.
70
Michelle, we are in Saddam Hussein territory now. In one famous event, Saddam and his cabinet were discussing demands from the opposition, including, I think, a demand that Saddam transition out of power. One cabinet member suggested that the demand be discussed. Saddam took this cabinet member into the next room and shot him. Saddam was not indicted or impeached for that "execution." This is the power Trump is claiming for himself.
57
Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.
To cite the article: "The president’s actions, (the president's lawyers) wrote, “by virtue of his position as the chief law enforcement officer, could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself.”"
That's putting the chart before the horse. If the president obstructs justice (e.g., as was the case with the Watergate scandal) ), then it follows that he cannot be the chief law enforcement officer anymore, and therefore he must be impeached...
29
Through an obsequious show of total loyalty, Republicans have acknowledged that Donald Trump is the pinnacle of their achievement. He represents their peak accomplishment in terms of wisdom, intelligence, compassion, integrity, and temperament.
The Republican party can only grow downward from there, since anyone who attempts to rise above is seen as attacking Trump, gets immediately denounced, and sees their support within the GOP base collapse.
31
And if he's indicted, what's next?
"President" Pence, who is quite a bit slicker than this man-child of a president, could be even worse. He's be the 21st century's snake-oil salesman, able to convince nearly every Republican and even some Dems, into thinking his agenda is the way forward. It would be essentially the same agenda with a religious fervor.
So, while we're all so focused on DJT, we need to look at the Dems and wonder if they're prepared to adopt the policy of getting elected into office, rather than allowing ideologues to lose the mid-terms.
A Democratic Speaker of the House may be our nation's only hope to fend off Pence. And, if Pence gets caught himself doing something impeachable, a Dem Speaker stepping up to the White House may be able to turn the nation around before it's too late.
I desperately hope I'm wrong in my prediction, but I fear the Dems will blow it this fall.
30
If you want the Dems to succeed, join us and work for the midterms. Don't just watch and cross your fingers--get in the game.
I now have a new nightmare scenario. Thanks a lot.
I'll do what I can do locally. It would help if the Dems settled on a national theme of what the party has done for every day Americans and what it can do for future generations. Call it Madison Avenue brand marketing if you will but it's got to be done.
A major part of the Republicans' success is grabbing the attention of the emotional tugs of many independent Americans.
That can be countered but only with a national ad series reminding folks of what Dems have done for them and the generations behind them.
Since the current President could not govern or win elections based on intelligence, reason, analysis, care, intellect, managerial skill or similar qualities, but still wanted the limelight and graft potential of a Presidency, he has to govern (or as he believes rule) by illegal means. It's a given.
17
Yes the law applies to Mr.Trump and if it is 500 days or 1000 days, we will not forget it.There are many people who have lived through other presidencies and realize that the current occupant of the Oval Office is an aberration to our democracy.By the time the farmers feel the results of a trade war, the time people realize that they have a tiny tax cut, and the United States stands alone shunned by our allies who we are ignoring, then Mr.Trump is going to have to face the consequences.
37
It is a distraction to the public and a bait to Mueller. The public fell for it but Mueller has kept his cool.
When the chicken comes home to roost, we will see at what length the Republicans would try to pervert American justice
62
When I studied American government in junior high school, as I recall, our system of “checks and balances” was illustrated in my textbooks with an equilateral triangle giving equal weight to the judicial, legislative and executive powers. Although Trump would have been in junior high at about the same time and presumably would have been using some of the same textbooks, he seems to recall that triangle rather differently. In his mind (and Giuliani’s) it has become an extremely steep “pyramid” with the executive branch towering over the other two.
This is no longer a “checks and balances” presidency it has become a “pyramid scheme” in every sense.
119
Partially since the judiciary has been politicized and a lot of public service has been politicized, mostly by those who would be losing otherwise, namely the dying out grand old white patriarchy.
1
Trump may have looked at the triangle but never bothered to read the words explaining it. He doesn't "read" books.
3
I'm afraid we're far past the point where Democratic control of Congress could do anything to check Trump's power. Trump can simply ignore the legislative branch, and he has enough support from the public and law enforcement to do whatever he likes. The sane 60% of the population won't be enough to withstand the heavily armed and fanatical 40% who worship him. There really isn't any way out of this, and it's time for the news media to stop pretending there can be a happy ending.
72
Stop with the doom & gloom. If the legislative branch cuts off the money what will Trump do? I assume you think he'd order the executive branch to break the law and make absolutely clear that he intends to become a dictator. At which point his support will fall well below 40%. The Republicans will start losing every election. If they persist they will cease to exist.
1
The "heavily armed" Trump supporters is an illusion created by fringe groups within our society. We have not yet reached a point where they would or should be influencing elections.
Unfortunately I agree with you.Sad time for America.
Republican voters began making moral compromises for Trump in 2015, when they repeatedly let him off the hook for gaffs they wouldn't tolerate from any other candidate. They wanted him so badly they forgave anything, and so the compromises have got bigger. And now that trump is openly musing about things that would have made Republicans call for an armed uprising had Obama proposed it, the degree to which they have sold their souls is apparent. Will it be worth it? Time will tell, but I think history will judge them harshly.
86
From this vantage point, something dramatic must happen in the days that follow, no matter the course. And I cannot escape the fear that the U.S. is on the edge of devolving into lawlessness and internal conflict. Good people need to step up before it's too late.
93
Remember when Trump infamously called upon Russia to "find" Hillary Clinton's missing emails? If Trump and Kim Jung Un are going to meet face to face soon and since North Korea has notoriously kidnapped Japanese citizens and South Korean citizens, I wonder if Kim Jung Un might keep Donald Trump and when he proposes ransom, we just say, "Keep him!" It's the political version of the old O. Henry story. Trump could learn first hand what it's like to live under a despotic autocrat, something that he keeps trying to impose on the rest of us. Can't you just hear him calling, "My Generals! My Generals! My kingdom (and that's us, folks) for My Generals!" or "Vladimir, help me! Find me!" He could demand to have media attention for his plight, but the decimated media would respond, in Sarah Sanders style, "we're continuing to move forward on nothing about nothing but doing whatever the evil leaders say, and we refer you to your lawyers." Ivanka could sashay over to Un and offer him, say, some nice shoes and a sweater with her brand name on it in exchange for Daddy's release. And so on.... it's the effects of living in Donald's Lunatic Asylum Where the Inmates Run the Whole Shebang! or more accurately, Donald's Prison Where the Convicts are in Charge. And when he calls for a drink of water, we can refer him to Scott Pruitt for some of that "Pruitt Water" that he makes out in back in that little funny shed.
2
"But justice is very far from guaranteed".
It seems that the terms "justice" and "law" have very little in common anymore.
Perhaps this is a lesson for law schools in the US to emphasize the role of justice and ethics in democracy.
I doubt that Giuliani and Sekulow know how democracies should work; Trump certainly has no clue.
31
Frankly I don’t think they care at all whether or not we are a democracy.
1
If Trump can "pardon" himself from impeachment and the ensuing trial of impeachment, shred the Constitution. If Trump can "pardon" himself for "high crimes and misdemeanors" after being ejected from office via impeachment and conviction, shred the Constitution. The Founding Fathers did make some "deals with the Devil" in order to get the Constitution ratified, but absolute immunity for the Chief Executive wasn't one of them.
19
If only. We have a congress that seems perfectly happy to let him continue to shred our constitution, as well as all of our governmental traditions and norms. Even with a big win in the fall, it is doubtful that a 2/3 majority in the Senate will be possible. I think we are stuck with trump until 2020, at a minimum. Assuming we even have elections in 2020.
10
The way things are going, your concerns about having an election in 2020 are beginning to be of concern to me also. In this current post-fact and post-truth country, anything seems possible. It's a very helpless feeling, particularly since my one vote is overmatched 12 to 1 by Wyoming farmers and ranchers.
We fought a Revolution about precisely this issue: is a king, or president, above his own laws? We decided then that no man can ignore the law. Almost 200 years later Archibald Cox, on the night his boss, Elliott Richardson, was fired by Richard Nixon, reminded us that "ours is a government of laws, not of men."
This is precisely why we have Sec. 4 in the 2nd article of the Constitution: to allow the removal mortals who forget what fools they are and attempt to rule rather than govern. More disturbing, though, is that the Republicans don't seem to care about the rule of law; they are more interested in ruling than in the law. It is a sad day indeed for our democracy (what's left of it) when the majority party cannot even recognize how the Constitution is being subverted by a megalomaniac and his minions.
79
Trump is way too much of a distraction from what McConnell Ryan are doing to harm our democracy and country.
Rodrigo Duterte has certainly made himself judge, jury, and executioner in the Philippines. Perhaps Trump has something like that in mind, but with an emphasis on taking out his political enemies versus Duterte's focus on the drug trade. Chances are, his Republican base would applaud.
18
The one thing this latest barrage of silliness from the New American Government has taught us, is the obsolescence of outrage, and its melodramatic distillates, fear and loathing. Document them, cross-reference them, and ignore proselytizing their horror. These are symptoms of a melancholy puerility, not of any credible threat. He is going to go down. Let's not overcompensate in anticipation of tidying up; he warrants no trace of his days with us.
21
Carl Sandburg once said something to the effect "if the facts are on your side argue the facts, if the law is on your side argue the law. If neither is on your side pound on the table and yell". Not exactly the quote but you get the idea.
In Trumps case the facts are not on his side and I believe neither is the law. All of this is pounding the table and yelling loudly.
When all else fails obfuscate, obfuscate, obfuscate. All this and he hasn't been indicted.Wonder what he'll say and do after he's indicted? This show is now much more interesting than the Apprentice. This is just starting to get good.
27
I'm sure there were people in Weimar Germany who said the same. Your democracy is now under threat, and that's not something I'd ever thought I'd be writing to an American. In the film 'A Man for all Seasons' there a recurring line 'This isn't Spain, you know. This is England.', usually said when someone was being warned about England's slide into despotism under Henry VIII
The GOP's silence is obstructing Justice.
Isn't knowing that you can to stop a crime, and purposefully not acting to stop that crime, a crime itself.
Imagine!
33
No No No. You're mixing up our current mess with the last episode of Seinfeld.
1
While it is true that many of Trump's claims of Kingship have not been tested in the courts, he is beginning to own our courts. Even the Supreme Court may soon be a republican body. And, while stacking the courts is not new, it has more significance when your country is under the control of a mobster with malevolent intentions. Every move made by Trump should concern us and the world. He will take us all down if we continue to allow him to realize his fantasies. There is a very large and growing gap between Trump's fantasies and reality. The Justice department is under siege and most other agencies are now run by thugs intent on destroying the very departments they claim to head. We can hope that Trump takes himself down before more disaster, but the current GOP is dead to all of this and does not want to wake up.
51
Will Trump's impetuous, audacious, and bombastic tweet quite possibly be the "smoking gun" that reveals his thinking and ergo his intent?
13
Does any sane person imagine that the Founders established the presidential pardon for the benefit of a con-man like Trump to pardon himself of his own corruption?
If Trump personally commits a murder against a family member could he then simply walk into the Oval Office and write out a pardon to himself? That is in keeping with Original Intent? The Supreme Court would uphold that?
Republicans are now hopelessly corrupt and cynical. So the responsibility for saving this republic rests entirely on the shoulders of Democratic voters, especially younger voters who are notorious for staying home, and instead arrive at the voting stations in unprecedented numbers.
What possible excuse, aside from one's own personal death, could there possibly be for not showing up on November 6th?
62
"Does any sane person imagine that the Founders established the presidential pardon for the benefit of a con-man like Trump...?"
Quite exactly the opposite. In Federalist Paper #74 Hamilton discusses the rationale for placing the power to pardon with the Executive, rather than with Congress. In doing so, the Founders made a glaring error when they made an assumption about the personal character of any President:
"It is not to be doubted that a single man OF PRUDENCE AND GOOD SENSE is better fitted..... than any numerous body whatever."
3
Another Trump attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, drove home the claim of sweeping presidential authority, telling HuffPost that Trump couldn’t be subpoenaed or indicted while in office even if he’d shot the former F.B.I. director James Comey.
Giuliani's public advancing of a hypothetical that posits the legal murder of a named citizen of the United States by the President of the United States proves Comey was right - Don Corleone is in the Oval Office.
35
Trump's lawyers did not argue that he could not obstruct justice. They argued that he could not obstruct justice by disposing of a federal investigation or by firing an incompetent FBI director. The president has unitary authority over all federal agencies. He has the authority to influence and even shut down any federal investigation and to fire any federal appointee. The idea that by exercising his Article II authorities he could somehow obstruct justice is nonsensical. Such a theory would make a mere criminal statute, rather than the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. This is not a blanket get-out-of-jail-free card, making the president a monarch above the law. It does not even mean that he could not obstruct justice. A president could obstruct justice by attempting to suborn false testimony or by using his presidential authorities to try to intimidate a witness (both of which were done by Bill Clinton while he was president) or by destroying evidence. Furthermore, if a president misuses his otherwise legitimate authority over federal agencies for self-dealing, the Congress has the power to impeach him and remove him from office, but neither his telling Comey that he hopes that a investigation will be closed soon, nor his firing Comey, can possibly constitute obstruction of justice.
3
You claim "The president has unitary authority over all federal agencies," but this is just an absurd right-wing talking point. One y'all completely forgot about while Obama was president.
I think it is sad that things are playing out this way. I think that Trump is an unfit president, but I also think that most of our government is unfit, and the opposition party is also unfit.
So what happens? The rhetoric is just rhetoric. Not much will really happen, because unfortunately, the allogations of collusion were untrue in my view. This president has plenty to be embarassed about, but he didn't participate in collusion with the Russians in my view. This was never a question.
Now they're just pushing the limits of the laws because Mueller is doing the same. I stated long ago that if you put a rich person in the room with a special prosecutor, there will be an obstruction charge. Some say, "If you have nothing to hide, then why not be interviewed."
As someone who has seen the justice system from multiple perspectives (some not so good), it is obvious why nobody would want to be interviewed by a special prosecutor. Our justice system does not do as it proposes to do: to seek the truth, rather it seeks to put people in jail.
Now we're getting extreme comments out of the administration, pushing the limits of the constitution. Let's make a deal: if Trump goes to Jail, Bill and Hillary Clinton go to Jail.
Seem fair?
The DNC is just as low as the RNC with the Lewinski case. Do we care to push this to the limit? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to do so. It would perhaps be the linchpoint in whether the US could ever become a dictatorship. Let's push it!
This comment exemllifies why the country faces the crisis it does.
Clear evidence of a sitting president 1) colluding with a foreign power, 2) obstructing justice, and 3) threatening an illegal power grab.
And yet the counter argument is false equivalence and talking about the clintons. Good heavens, man.
3
I repeatedly suggest that all stop referring to it as "the Lewinsky case." It was the Clinton case.
1
Um, Bill Clinton has been out of office almost 20 years. Are we over it yet? Hillary Clinton was never elected president.
Trump is president. He and people near him have lied publicly about their relationship with figures close to Putin. First there were no meetings. Then there were meetings, but not about the election. Then there were meetings about the election, but no collusion. Mueller continues to expose a web of connections, all of which were categorically denied a year ago.
I still today have yet to see how anyone could have thought Monica Lewinsky was a threat to the president or the country. I also cannot fathom how anyone can be sure Donald Trump is not being manipulated — perhaps, knowing him, unawares — by foreign powers. We know he loves money more than his country. If he didn't, he would have divested himself of his businesses for the honor of being president.
Equivalence? For 8 years, we had honest governance. Not one scandal during the Obama administration; not one secretary resigned under a cloud. With Trump, we've had so many scandals we can't keep track, and a resignation every month. Not to mention the competence of the likes of deVoss and Pruitt and Sessions.
Neither party is made of saints. But only one is actively ripping you off and undermining the government's ability to enforce the law. Perhaps Trump is right when he claims there's no collusion, but this for sure: there's no equivalence either.
3
If I had to guess I would say it is very unlikely that any English Monarch ever pardoned himself or herself. The monarch was above the law and didn’t need to do that. The word “pardon” would have had no meaning to the founders other than an act of mercy shown by the monarch to a British subject. That is the power that they gave the president. I doubt that a “self pardon” existed under English law, which forms the basis for our laws. If they wanted to give the president the power to self-pardon, they would have put a king in charge of the executive department, instead of a president.
17
It's wrong, tactically and primarily psychologically, to bring up the notion of 'getting used to it.' Each of us, in our own little way, must fight what this President represents, day after day after day, until he's dissolved...
27
As the chief law enforcement officer, Trump must enforce the Constitution and all the other laws enacted under it. If his actions obstruct the Constitution, he is obstructing justice by obstructing the supreme law of the land. It is up to Congress and the Supreme Court to decide whether he is doing this or not, and to Congress to remove him from office if he is.
If Congress does not act, those who have taken an oath to defend and protect the Constitution may have to put their heads together and do something; this would include our military and also state governments.
4
Let's face it, NOTHING applies to Donald Trump.
Everyday he breaks and abuses political traditions that are centuries old. The fact that so many of these actions are not illegal is simply because they were considered so inviolate by previous holders of the office that making them into laws seemed unnecessary. Until now.
My feeling now is that Mueller is going to nail Trump to the wall. And, a lot of other "best people" as well.
It will probably go down this way: Mueller's report goes to Rosenstein > Rosenstein sends the report to Congress > Congress impeaches Trump (which means no more pardons for anyone, including himself) > Trump gets indicted > Trump goes to trial > Trump goes to jail.
I thought the Republicans in the Senate might let Trump walk, until I found out that McConnell has gone on record saying that if Trump were to fire Sessions in order to try get to Rosenstein and Mueller, that he and the rest of the Republican Senators would not confirm another A.G.
And that really floored me. I didn't think Mitch had it in him. But, apparently, he does. And, I think that development is an extremely bad omen for Mr. Trump prospects moving forward.
Maybe Mitch thought, "Well, we got our tax bill. And, Pence would be a lot easier to deal with. So, why not?"
After all, "there's no honor among thieves".
8
I hope you are right. I question your faith in McConnell. McConnell is more thrilled that he has been successfully "packing" all the courts, no matter if judges are qualified or neutral, only that they pledge to conform to the most ghastly and rigid right-wing "principles" of the likes of McConnell, Pence, Pruitt, et al.
I long to see Pruitt in orange,behind bars. Trump thinks Pruitt's doing a great job. If that isn't organized crime endorsing organized crime and public corruption, what is.
George Washington whose portrait hangs over Trump’s head in the photo set the tone and tenor of the American presidency. He understood that his authority came from Congress, and he was careful not to exceed the bounds of his legal authority. Washington returned his commission to Congress when he could have seized power because of his popularity and power over the army.
Trump stands in stark contrast to the humble and trustworthy father of our nation. Trump is tyrannical in nature, his actions in flagrant violation of his Constitutional oath. He has seized power relentlessly, and has broken all bounds of societal norms and proprieties.
Washington was the people’s president. Trump is the Kremlin’s.
22
All those loyal voters supporting Trump’s backlash on democracy kindles no echo on fairness or that a constitution is the basis for government.
When Americans abandoned the UK, the Southern Plantations (Republicans?) blackmailed the newly formed Constitution to permit slavery. A hundred years later 500000+ Americans were slaughtered fighting for fairness, but the South Republicans retaliated with unfairness (Jim Crow).
Forward to the 21st century the plundering of the Constitution by the Republicans continues. Undemocratic maneuvers of gerrymandering and calling corporations human by Republicans so that the wealthy have a powerful say on fairness, that fair is fair, as long as it is to the advantage of the wealthy. Obama understood fairness but the Republicans made sure he could not exercise any policies that would lead to an overall fairness. Trump happily endorses Republican ideas that socialism is not fair to the 1%. and his ideas on democracy are now a guide to other countries on how to turn democracy into a tyranny. The US is now a very poor example to the world on how democracy works.
20
Mitch McConnell laid down the Law. The Republican Party must do whatever it takes to appoint Supreme Court justices and federal judges. Whatever it takes! As James clapper said Mitch McConnell and company would do nothing to alert the public about trump and Russian before the election. Why would they? They needed and asked for help.
Vladimir Putin could set next to Trump for the next 1000 days and every GOP member of Congress would say finally we have made America great again. All it takes is the appointment of judges. And why not, the Republican Party with divine wisdom supersede the Constitution.
6
This is not going to end well. Slavish devotion to a leader, any leader, is a recipe for disaster. I think the USA is in way deeper do do than most Americans realize. From this side of the border it is plain as day and I just hope you can get through this. There is a sinister quality about this that is very unsettling.
40
Ian, I agree with you completely, but I am replying to you to apologize to you and to ask that you please convey at least one American's apology to all of Canada for this horrific episode in America. He is not your President, but he is not the President most Americans wanted, or want, either. He embarrasses, shames, frightens and angers us. I cannot explain how this happened but I hope that soon we will wake up with our friends and loved ones standing by the bedside saying, "there's no place like home, there's no place like home" and we will all agree on what that means and it will not be this villain's disturbed fantasy of world domination. It will be our home, America,again.
1
The United States fought the Revolutionary War to rid itself of an absolute monarch, which is what Trump now claims himself to be. The framers of the Constitution would not agree, and if Trump tries to "pardon" himself, or for that matter his family or friends, I expect that even this Supreme Court will step in and slap him down.
7
If the magnificent George Washington refused to be a king, on what planet would the likes of the foul and low Donald Trump ever imagine that he would be a "ruler."
On at least one of his Howard Stern obscene interviews he spoke lewdly of "Princess Diana." He must imagine Ivanka in those terms, from his public comments. He must play with the notion that he can be king, Ivanka can be Queen and he will get to "date" princesses. Creepy, weird, sick little TV game show host and hotel desk clerk.
1
This is a Supreme Court that paved the way for full-blown fascist rule when they passed "Citizens United." I do not expect any semblance of justice from a Supreme Court loaded with rabidly anti-democratic extremists. They will go with party-line fascism. They have already demonstrated the all-powerful precedent.
This is coming down to:
1. Trump cannot obstruct justice because Trump IS Justice
2. Trump cannot tell a lie because Trump IS Truth.
And a large portion of the country is marching merrily along....
This isn't the America I learned about in civics classes and its not the America I thought I lived in and loved.
Yet none of this is really a surprise. Donald Trump's tendencies and flaws were not hidden. And we the people elected him anyway and have handed him and his party unilateral control of the branches of government. Maybe we're the problem?
13
Who’s “we”??? WE voted for Hillary. WE were angry at our friends who claimed that Hillary was too “neoliberal” (the leftists) or too “crooked” (the rightists). WE were sick when he “won” because WE knew this would happen. WE marched against him. WE try to reach across the aisle to raise awareness. WE are working hard and organizing against the Republicans.
How much more proof do we need that Trump isn't the cause, but the effect, of a Republican Party that has devolved into little more than an authoritarian cult? Removing Trump is a little like weeding the garden: pulling the weeds is a never ending task unless you attack the issue at the root cause.
In this case, it is a group of people, all Republicans, who just do not think that the rule of law applies to them. It is: do as I say, not as I do. They want a dictatorship because they have become tired of having to deal with others (Democrats; but also people of other social and political backgrounds) as their equals. The sad part is that they have no idea what is like to live in a dictatorship.
You see the same attitude going back to Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the Bush "Crusades" in Iraq and Afghanistan; all centered around lies, and a willingness to use power to promote authoritarianism.
Sad to say, but it is time to end the Republican Party as we know it, and as it is presently constructed. California should be a preview of coming attractions, at least while the Republican Party goes through a political form of bankruptcy restructuring.
15
The NYT reports that 87% of Republicans support Trump. Really? That is just not credible. Perhaps one poll gave that result, but it is beyond belief that so many Republicans think that way. Does anyone believe that more than 25% (max) of these folks support Trump? The press needs to dig deeper. Let's have a meta-poll that clarifies the sentiments of Republicans across the spectrum of geography, age, education, and culture.
Just yesterday, I spoke with a self-identified Conservative Republican who voted for Trump only because he did not want to vote for Clinton. He took a selfie in the polling booth with a clothespin on his nose. He hates Trump, but he hated Clinton even more. He has no regrets, per se, but he is very unhappy with the man in the White House. He is able to rationalize his vote, but he is clearly conflicted and not happy about it.
Let's wean ourselves from what is ostensibly "fake news" and delve a little deeper. Let's quit the self-flagelation and focus on everybody, not just the "statistically significant" sample of a small number of voters. Most important, let's listen to the endless warnings of the pundits about losing our democracy and take it seriously.
9
The inconsistency will not faze them because the press will not call them out clearly and loudly. The headline should be "Republicans Flip-Flop on Obstruction" and the first sentence should capture the inconsistency. The papers have a bad habit of putting facts that contradict political claims too far down in articles. The press releases are not news. The lies are.
10
Democrats, and , unfortunately, the press have no answer to the acceptance by 40 per cent of voters of the daily outrages of Donald Trump.
When we accept the fact that this 40 per percent could care less of our contempt demands that we face up to the reality that Trump has mastered us in managing the public discourse. He's know for years that there is no such thing as negative publicity, which he brushes aside with denials and counter charges.
Trump has dominated us. And until we employ measures to speak out against him in the same terms he has mastered, we may as well resign out outrage to a cocktail and resignation.
We can begin with a well known phrase:
Lock him up! Lock him up! And keep repeating it until it translates into a movement that is as resolute as against HRC.
In the meantime, all we do is counterpoint the army of zombies who love that their leader can shoot someone in daylight on Fifth Avenue and love him for it.
8
People need to educate themselves on how to deal with one of the most difficult categories of mental illness, one that clinicians recognize as being extremely difficult to treat and to handle, and it is clearly the diagnosis for Trump: borderline personality disorder (these categories have silly titles that can often seem to diminish the severity of the disorder; it is a very serious disorder.) Much of what the media and citizens in general do in reaction to Trump is the opposite of the best ways of dealing with this mental illness. If the media will educate themselves and then the public and everybody deals with Trump appropriate to his disorder, it will go a long way to ridding ourselves and our country of this horrific scourge.
1
You remind us that last time a president enjoyed such a high level of own-party support was just following 9/11. Oh, yes, that little event that W made zero effort to prevent despite repeated warnings (and whose perpetrator walked free for the entirety of W's two terms in office). Clearly this is the kind of "leadership" Republicans admire.
11
Above the law? Tell that to all the unarmed victims shot dead by trigger happy cops who get away with it supposedly only because they feared for their lives. So maybe Trump’s afraid of what Mueller might reduce the office of the President to. Just another bureaucrat for him to push around without having to answer to anyone. There are lots of ways to protect the Constitution, whether we like them or not. I’ll call Trump a patriot today.
4
I kind of feel sorry for Republican leadership, their party has been hijacked and there is nothing they can do. Their voters want Trump in, and they're loving this.
The checks and balances can't do anything because the country wants the current order. Even if we throw out Trump, the damage is irreversible, it'll take a generation for American politics to normalize, if it ever does. All great nations have fallen from leadership like Trump's.
9
As I read this piece, I sit on my porch, watch the sun set in the West, and feel greater despair than ever for our nation.
21
i certainly think the law applies to the POTUS position. If anything the POTUS and family should hold themselves to a higher standard.
7
The only standard the Trump syndicate knows is their version of the "gold standard" and it benefits only them. Loathsome.
The legal arguments are sound: the president can do whatever he pleases until Congress says “no” via impeachment, conviction and removal from office. Barring that, how else can anything be done?
The answer is in our nation's Declaration of Independence: Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
We may be reaching the point where the evils are NOT sufferable any longer.
6
If "he is the law" and above all the laws the we are now in a monarchy, with a king. The Democratic Republic is in all reality, over from here on, if Congress does not use their equal power to end this. The GOP leadership needs badly to be heard as an equal branch. Now.
3
The oligarchs must know that something big and bad is coming. This includes not just Trump and company, but all these corporations who are moving assets around like hockey pucks on ice. They're feathering their nests and trying to abscond with everything we have left, including our Constitutional rights.
11
It seems Trump goes on increasingly wild rants everytime bad news is about to break.
True to form we find out today Paul Manafort is being accused of witness tampering.
11
This is what happens when people don't vote.
Every person who didn't vote for Hillary voted for Trump, in effect if not in intention. Every voter who voted for a 3rd party candidate, or simply stayed home, was a vote Trump didn't have to worry about.
Congratulations, folks, you got the president you voted for.
15
The DNC is responsible for anointing Hillary as the candidate. How many Presidential elections does one need to lose, how many polls declaring you one of the most disliked people in the country on par with the intense dislike for Donald Trump!, how many shenanigans must you employ to skew the process before you realize that you are not the candidate that Democrats want? The DNC wanted you (and your money), and you got a lot of votes because Trump was and is heinous beyond imagination, but any excellent, less tainted Democratic candidate should have beaten this poser, this pretender to the throne, easily. Again, she did not. Quite a large number of Americans voted for the kind of candidate whom the Democrats should have nominated, Bernie Sanders, and even if not Bernie, there were plenty of great Democrats who could have gotten rid of this monster during the campaign. I will always wonder why Hillary has tolerated Bill's undermining her, or sabotaging her, in two different campaigns, yet she blames Bernie and Comey. In Chris Matthews' 20 years of interviews with Trump, Trump said many times of Bill Clinton, "I love the guy...." "I really like him." Birds of a feather. Hillary and Bill and Don, none of them are what America needs. We're stuck for the time being and we are hoping and praying for release from this misery soon.
Donald Trump isn't above the law any more than his inauguration day crowd was the biggest in history.
11
If he can’t be indicted (still an open question, but one I doubt Mueller will test), and congress won’t impeach him (they have shown a complete unwillingness to stand up to him), then he is essentially correct. Laws are only important if they are enforced. And so far, nobody has done any enforcing with trump.
2
Jess, you're being premature. The first test will be when Mueller subpoenas Trump. Or perhaps the first test will be when the Democrats take the House and subpoena his tax returns.
There are enough reasons to be pessimistic for real without throwing in the towel before the fight has even begun. First order of business for me is getting at least one lever of power back in the hands of the one major party that so far has not shown itself to be treasonous.
Donald trump claims to be above the law. The republican party does nothing to challenge or rein him in, they are beneath contempt.
13
When trump it became clear that Godwin's law has passed its sell-by date, so I'll say it. trump is following the Hitler playbook. Just like Hitler, he is cleverly relying on two constituencies, which together fall short of a majority voters; they would be insufficient in themselves except for a divided and flat-footed opposition.
The first constituency consists of true believers, who can be relied on to follow him to the gates of Hell. They are inoculated against any any feelings of disloyalty, even when he tells them that up is down and night is day.
The second comprises those who, while distrusting him, go along with him as long as he delivers what they want, basically a society in which the super-wealthy are free to help themselves to an ever increasing share of the national wealth.
Americans today have - or should have - the benefit of learning from Germany's experience, and also of having historically more robust institutions than did Germany. But I'm beginning to doubt if this guarantees anything. trump has a long history of corrupting everything he touches.
25
"Some, including members of Congress who voted to impeach Bill Clinton for obstructing justice, will insist that presidential obstruction of justice is a contradiction in terms."
Just to be clear, no one, not even loony Rudy, is saying Congress cannot impeach a president if he shot Comey on Fifth Avenue or if he obstructed justice.
Congress could impeach him for pardoning himself since impeachment involves political crimes.
There are enough MSM false equivalencies flying around today, especially after Bill Clinton's Craig Melvin interview today, so let's not add to them.
I just taught my ninth graders about the (eventual) spirit of the Magna Carta, its implications and the value and power of the rule of law. (I also think of those instances where small minorities of invested community members warn of the potential consequences for violating the core tenants of a place and the outcome of listening or not. )
In this land, it may not soon matter.
I also have a two year old and the parenting mantra is, "where do we want to be in six months?" Are we curtailing or promoting the right behaviors? Will they manifest into something more difficult to manage?
Combining these two important roles in my life means that the future is bleak for the rule of law in the US. It was a good run.
8
Trump's immorality beyond belief has exposed serious flaws in our Constitution and laws with the ambiguity in limits to the presidential power.
We must amend the Constitution and introduce laws to make undoubtedly clear that NO ONE is above the law and that nepotism is illegal.
We must do so to protect and strengthen our democracy - not just from Trump, but also from future immoral presidents who try to rule our nation with authoritarianism.
32
It defies belief that we are listening to transparent sedition and daylight madness from a President of the United States. And why does not every high official in our government demand his resignation every day until it happens?
Few Americans could have imagined that we might come to a point at which massive peaceful civil disobedience was our only recourse for saving our system of government. It no longer seems impossible, if our leaders cannot or will not wake up.
53
It’s not that Republicans don’t care. It’s that it’s becoming increasing difficult to separate legitimate points worthy of debate from the vicious and intense demonization of Trump that is offered with every berserker utterance on the man by the unchained, potted liberati. We tend to lump it all together and ignore it equally, just to save time.
But, now that Michelle has taken the trouble to ask the question, of course the law applies to Donald Trump. What isn’t going to be tolerated is the attempt by the left to reverse the result of a lawful election, and its policy outcomes.
I’m convinced that Trump issued that tweet about his authority to pardon himself (not, as claimed, that he is “above the law”) knowing that it would cause volcanic and knee-jerk outrage by liberals. After all, we all must die sooner or later, and if he can advance matters through the agency of induced myocardial infarction, then he’s done a good turn by reducing the world’s abundant supply of superfluous political types generally and #NeverTrumpers specifically.
And it’s such a bootless issue. If Mueller had anything on Trump, he wouldn’t still be trying to blackmail Manafort to turn on his former employer. There will be no reason that causes Trump to seriously considering pardoning himself.
As to the “law” the pardon power is a plenipotentiary power of the president, unchecked in any way by any other authority. That IS the law. However, if he were to pardon himself in the teeth of credible evidence from Mueller that he had committed “high crimes and misdemeanors”, then he probably would be impeached, convicted and removed from office … even by Republicans.
Personally, I don’t believe that Donald Trump sees that as an acceptable way to end HIS presidency. Among other things, it would precipitate a new Dark Ages with the investiture of Mike Pence.
3
I guess trump's 'victim' routine works just dandy on you, as you once again complain of the "vicious and intense demonization of trump."
Yes, the "potted liberation" (such a tired phrase now utterly devoid of any meaning but cheap spite) have the gall to repeat every "berserker utterance" that trump and his sycophants make and have the nerve to claim that he actually said it! (Often making their case by rolling tape of trump et al saying it). The nerve!
And of course, the authority to pardon oneself is not a claim that one is "above the law" -- it just means that one can forgive oneself for any infraction of the law and suffer no consequences — and extend that forgiveness to anyone that one chooses without needing to provide any justification. See the difference? So unfair to interpret the practical meaning of trump's words! So unfair!
And since Richard Luettgen is "convinced" of his own interpretation, then that's the end of it.
And if Mueller actually had anything, I suppose he would be indicting people for their misdeeds, following a well-established pattern of working up the food chain. But since he's doing that, I guess that means he doesn't "have" anything.
Of course 5-year olds are separated from their parents because they "broke the law" [even when their parents were legally seeking asylum], but that's different. The law is harsher on 5-year old criminals than it is on trump.
And you think Pence is safe?...
Desperate times call for desperate sophistry.
10
@Luettgen: Trump is demonizing himself. And you have no idea what Mueller's got on him. Neither does Trump. He's so frustrated by Mueller's silence and the dearth of leaks from the investigation that he's foaming at the mouth. Mueller is a master of self-control, the opposite of the infantile, tantrum-throwing Trump. The final Mueller report will be a detailed, methodically laid-out account of egregious wrongdoing, and Trump won't be able to effectively counter it. His constant, inarticulate protestations of innocence and his threats to tank the investigation and pardon himself are making it more and more clear that he is guilty.
7
No matter how outrageous the statements, how contra to the constitution, the silence is deafening and terrifying. Are there no patriots in Congress willing to speak out and defend our country?
55
What's troubling is the fact that the president and his attorneys are making wild claims and no one seems to be standing up to them. Where are the people who care about this country?
I believe that no one is above the law. No one can flaunt the law and get away with it. Maybe the president acted that way when he ran his own business but he isn't running a business now.
Given his increasingly wild statements about his own authority, it is extremely important for everyone to register and vote in November. Elecy a Democratic Congress which will stand up to our illegitimate, unfit, and unstable president.
42
The ball is firmly in the court of the GOP in Congress and of the Americans who have supported Trump. The line is drawn. Your ideology or the Constitution. Can’t be both.
35
That’s a dangerous challenge. I make 5-2 that the R’s prefer ideology over the Constitution.
19
Two remarkable things happened today. The first? Donald Trump tweeted that he has the absolute right to pardon himself. The second? There was no public outcry by the Republican leadership.
The failure of those who could possibly avert a Constitutional crisis, Congressional Republicans, is staggering. They no longer care that they are supposed to be representing the entire nation. They understand that they only answer to Trump voters, who in turn, don't care what Trump does at all, up to and including shooting James Comey in the Oval Office. Congressional Republicans have every tool they need to begin impeachment proceedings against this "president", and yet they remain silent. They've clearly signalled they will not act, even after Mr. Mueller completes his investigation. So they do nothing as a dictator consolidates his power.
This isn't some dystopian novel. This isn't some fictional account of a totalitarian regime. This is our country. Here. Right now.
We have no guarantees that five members of this Supreme Court will disagree with Trump's interpretation of his Constitutional powers. As an attorney, I can imagine a scenario in which the Court agrees with Trump, based on the breadth of the executive pardon powers. They may state that they cannot "write" law that isn't there, and that it is Congress's responsibility to make any amendments limiting his power. And so his coup will be complete. Trump will not go quietly. He will go at a time solely of his choosing.
112
You've nailed it. We are rapidly approaching a crisis not encountered since the Civil War.
4
Did you mean "two unremarkable things"?
I am afraid for our nation. This may sound like hyperbole, but I am beginning to think that the socio-political divisions in our land may be so great that we are headed for a second civil war. This presidency could very well tear apart the United States.
66
It would be good to know what, exactly, DJ Trump is trying to accomplish.
Well, except that his "goals" can change over the course of one of his rambling pronouncements.
8
Scott, Very well said. And most likely prescient.
Thank you for speaking out.
10
There are a number of 'open questions' about executive authority. But all that means is they have not been tested in court.
Trump's lawyers would have you believe that if a court hasn't specifically declared a particular act illegal, then it's automatically permissible.
Nixon made that argument in US vs. Nixon over executive privilege and the Watergate tapes. The court ruled unanimously that while the president had considerable legal authority, he was not above the law.
And we do know that a sitting president can be sued in civil court. Given that, it's not a great leap for an executive to also be indicted, as long as he is afforded full due process rights and would not be required to reveal national security information in his defense.
16
This would have to be decided by the Supreme Court. The same body that just ruled today that it's okay to refuse service to anyone if you think their life or beliefs violate your own personally held, Christian rules.
To say that the president cannot obstruct justice because that would be obstructing himself is to claim that the president is justice. But the president is a mere servant of justice; it's the law that is justice.
Anyway, even if the president is justice, he can still obstruct justice. To claim one cannot act against oneself is absurd on its face.
53
trump, with the aid of the GOP, is going to prove that justice is servant to trump and the GOP.
4
It has now become painfully clear that the Republicans believe in absolutely nothing but sheer power. They have no principles, no beliefs, no morality beyond the simple of idea of staying in power for as long as possible with as few impediments as possible.
November couldn't possibly be more important.
245
"Republicans believe in absolutely nothing but sheer power" and MONEY, you forgot that one.
1
WHEN Trump is found guilty of the slew of crimes he has committed it really doesn’t matter if he can or cannot pardon himself . Pence will pardon him immediately upon taking office . MAGA
19
Trump wants to pardon himself in advance of being found guilty, to head off the investigation. His intent is to cover up his wrongdoing and obstruct justice. He won't get away with it, but he's dumb enough to think he will.
1
If, as Trump's attorneys assert, the president can shut down an investigation, let alone murder someone, then what is the big deal with a private citizen and candidate's spouse (Bill Clinton) meeting with the attorney general about his wife's case?
32
I'm not quite sure which is the more reprehensible.
Trump?
Republican politicians?
Trump's base voters?
They are all complicit in the undermining of the basis of our nation's rule of law.
They are all the same person as the good Germans of the 1930s.
At some point, historians will not be kind to them.
88
The suggestion of Trump shooting a federal prosecutor is such a horrible thing to say on its own, but even more so when you consider how many people in his base would see that as an invitation upon which to act.
156
Carla, Excellent point. I was thinking about such a scenario today. Clearly Trump's voters take their lead from him and his cronies.
Thank you for speaking out.
47
Yes, I thought that was an incredibly chilling comment from Rudy Guiliani. He has certainly proven himself - again - to be more mobster than lawyer. How was he EVER part of the U.S. Attorneys office in NY? He seems utterly without principle, morality or even solid knowledge of the law, only of how to use and manipulate it for his criminal client.
The attorney who doggedly and smartly prosecuted the truly horrific Rod Blagojevich was Patrick Fitzgerald and he is the attorney that corrupt Blagojevich family members blame for Blago's incarceration. What mob mentalities we have all over the place being treated with the same kind of "dignity" as Fitzgerald earned, even in the land of entrenched corruption, Illinois, and Trump wants to pardon Blago. Birds of a feather. Blago and wife Patty would fit right in with Trump and Gang. I hope their gatherings happen IN prison.
11
Please don't tell Trump about the Lettres de Cachet
which were letters signed by the king of France, countersigned by one of his ministers, and closed with the royal seal, or cachet. They contained orders directly from the king, often to enforce arbitrary actions and judgments that could not be appealed. It was often used to send a person to prison without trial. If he comes to know it, he would certainly claim such powers and his claim would be duly supported by the Republicans.
Never in my wildest dream I thought that such a demagogue could be the president of United States, not at this age.
69
If we're cringing at the thought of the king of France's abhorrent practices, as well we should, then can we also pause for a moment and consider the French mode of punishment?
1
I am cringing at the thought (these days nothing is too-far-fetched) of King Donald signing the Lettre de Cachet. I don't know about other parts of the country but here in the NYC area the Donald has always been a joke. He could not win even for a dog catcher post.
Guillotine as the French way of execution began during the Revolution in 1789. It was designed by a French physician with the help of a German Engineer as a more humane and quick way of execution than what existed before (e.g. the breaking wheel) during the ' ancien régime'.
Perhaps John Adams' constitutional principle needs updating to "A government of laws not of men, except for President Trump"
13
Nixon was not above the law, nor was Bill Clinton. The courts have spoken. Donald Trump may be a wannabe autocrat, but he, too, will soon find out that that he's not above the law. We are, to paraphrase Churchill, entering the beginning of the end where a President whose own lawyers know he will lie desperately try to prevent his from having to confront the truth and make no pretense nor argument for his innocence. But, the time is coming soon where for the first time in his life Donald Trump will come to his "moment of truth." And he seems to know it's coming as he's working to "rig" the mid-terms to keep the Senate in Republican hands to stave off conviction of impeachment. Whether the "hush money" to red coal states with Democratic Senators will work remains to be seen, but you can be sure, as with Nixon, there will be more "dirty tricks" up his sleeve.
40
While I wish you were correct, times have changed.
That a reprehensible person like DJ Trump could occupy the office of President of the United States is proof of that.
And I don't hold out much hope for the 2018 mid-term elections. I won't be surprised if the Trump "base" are fired up by his tweets and his suggesting that he might be impeached. That might get them to vote in even greater numbers.
11
I would humbly suggest that legislators put their legal house in order.
The very fact that this can be argued is absurd.
Some countries provide "immunity" to its parliamentarians and the mechanism to remove it when necessary in order to prosecute.
Prime Ministers and Presidents of sundry countries have been prosecuted and jailed when found guilty.
Revise the law.
18
Whenever I think of Emperor Catastrophe, I despair. But then, I think of his age and declining appearance in photos. Please, have more cake. AND ice cream. AND fast food. Multiple times daily. After all, you're RICH. You can do anything you want to do. No one can tell you no. Right ???
30
Spot on commentary. I would change but one word. Where you state "..he can make his base discard their values out of loyalty to him." I would replace "discard" with "reveal."
46
Under these legal theories, not only could Obama called off the Email investigation, he could have ordered the IRS to delay and investigate the granting 503C status to conservative groups. Wait, I seem to remember Repubicans screaming incessantly about the illegality of that even though it wasn't true.
19
Was Giuliani's scenario in which Trump shot Comey without consequences supposed to make what Trump actually did look comparatively reasonable? It never should.
A sitting president asked the FBI Director to pledge loyalty and to drop an investigation whose conclusions Trump already knew. Trump fired the man, changed the official story for why he did so, then told Russians the truth behind closed doors. Months of character assassinations, threats and lies followed. Other members of the Justice Department know they have swords over their heads, up to the Attorney General who sinned by recusing himself. Trump has said the law is beneath him.
Trump (in)famously remarked that he could shoot someone and not lose support. He has since perverted accountability to the point that outlandish hypotheticals don't sound far from reality.
14
Why on earth would you assume that we are used to Trump's assault on morals, ethics, constitutional order, rationality, and truth to name but a few. It is vital that we do not become used to it. How despicable to batter the very foundations of the nation to protect oneself. But narcissism is as narcissism does. I doubt he has any sense that he is acting abnormally.
22
Trump envies his friend Putin. He loves the way Putin manages the press. Unfriendly reporters are locked up or worse.Trump congratulates Putin on his election victory. After a controlled election.Trump wants to control American institutions as Putin does in Russia. Loyal American Republicans must stand up for their country.Before it is TOO LATE !
23
True. However, are there any "loyal American Republicans"? Elected R's have proven to have blinders on concerning law, morals and integrity -- they don't care as long as they have power (and all the dark money connected to said power). And citizen R's are binging on their drug of choice: fox faux news.
I seriously fear for our democracy...
"Trump has proved, again and again, that he can make his base discard their values out of loyalty to him. "
That assumes they had actual values in the past. It seems the GOP has engaged in disingenuous, bad faith, intellectually bankrupt debate since the Regan admin.
As you point out, we can hope a Dem sweep in November or the SCOTUS could provide a check on Trump's power, but that assumes he allows the November elections, and the SCOTUS is real game of 'Russian' roulette. Think Gorsuch.
We are in deep deep trouble with this man.
We can take heart; 'The Thousand Year Reich' only lasted about 12 years.
25
"We’re 500 days into this waking nightmare of a presidency, and Trump has now claimed the powers of an autocrat. "
There are some people who like this. It's much less messy than having a president or a Congress that works for us. They tell us who the enemy is and we, theoretically at least, listen and believe. Of course once the full extent of Trump's and the GOP's traitorous and harmful actions are revealed or take full effect people will be angry. When the price of gas increases to the point where a full tank costs $100 a few Americans might wonder why some regulations about mileage were rolled back. When that nifty foreign cheese or nice imported silk tie costs three times what it used to customers should remember that they voted for Trump's America First slogan.
Trump is a man on a mission. Too bad it's not one that will benefit 99% of us. However, I'd bet almost anything that the 1% are quite content with Trump and his tantrums because they serve to distract us from what is really going on: the steady erosion of American ideals to serve the apostles of the Koch Brothers and the rest of the rich Republican crowd.
50
Now we know why Trump admires and envies Vladimir Putin so much. Putin CAN (and does, by proxy) have his political opponents murdered in broad daylight. Putin will never face a subpoena because Putin is an absolute dictator with a rubber-stamp legislature and judicial system (both of them Potemkin villages).
And Trump apparently believes that if he bloviates, bullies and tweets hard enough, he can become an American Putin.
And he will - unless we stop him.
51
The quaint notion that the President cannot obstruct justice simply because, it seems, he IS justice reeks to high heaven at first sniff. It basically holds that the Constitution and the nation's laws apply to every American but one. Simply because he is president, apparently Trump can do whatever he pleases or what pleases him.
Neither pesky laws nor judicial procedure matter to the current lessee of the White House. It's up to Congress to break the lease for just cause.
17
So it would appear that impeachment is the only alternative? Fat chance of that happening as Republicans in the congress will stick with Trump no matter what. Our democracy is in deep trouble.
26
Obama wrote,"The Audacity of Hope".
Trump is writing, the audacity of despair.
When will this nightmare end? Will the insanity of this presidency trigger dictatorship around the world?
What can we do about it?
What about characterizing Trump as a robot, that keeps repeating dictatorial statements, like: "you're fired, build my wall, lock her up, etc, etc".
8
I’ll never get used to it! My stomach churns whenever I see an article about his outrageous behavior. I long for the calmness of a president who doesn’t eat chaos for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’m terrified this nightmare won’t stop.
The scariest part is the incredible support he has from his hijacked Republican Party. I can’t believe that so many people support this man. It baffles me. He has obviously obstructed Justice and might plan to pardon himself. It sounds dirty - pardoning himself.
Someone pinch me when it’s over.
30
A good number of monarchs thought they were above the law. They were wrong.
In England King John was forced to grant the Magna Carta and King James II was forced into exile. In France, King Louis XVIII was deposed, as were King Louis Phillipe and Emperor Louis Napoleon.
The end was a good deal more final for King Charles I of England, King Louis XVI of France, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
Ever since Nixon we have been living in an "Imperial Presidency" (with the exception of the Carter years). It is time for a restoration of the balance of power, and this must start with the midterms. Removal of Trump by impeachment is not possible as long as the GOP remains members of the cult, but a Democratic House could well block him by refusing to appropriate funds for his various projects (even if this means a two year long government shutdown). And then there will be the accounting in 2020.
30
Almost every day Trump or one of his minions says or does something outrageous and they get a pass. Pruitt is a walking symbol of corruption and he gets a pass. Daily I think that surely somebody besides me thinks Trump and his cronies have gone beyond the pale, yet nothing happens. Now Giuliani says Trump can commit murder and still not be indicted. How far are they willing to let Trump go? Will the time come when he does murder someone and Congress still sits wringing their hands?
153
Every morning I wake up thinking: Am I the only one who is so outraged and disgusted that we have a "president" who is getting away with such blatant acts of autocratic hubris, and, is there no one who can stop this madness? And I also wake up each morning thinking that this has all been a horrible nightmare, and that nothing of this sort could possibly happen in a country where responsible adults (too few, at that) can vote.
So no, don't ever feel alone in your very correct belief that Trump has gone way beyond the pale. This just feels like one is alone, because he is getting away with it. It will undoubtedly come down to our votes to stop this insanity.
5
I'm sure in addition to wringing their hands, they'd offer thoughts and prayers to the murder victim's family.
5
To Linda: The appalling thing is the republicans aren’t wringing their hands. They are clapping and drunk with power. Sick.
9
What the Trump experience reveals is that huge sections of the population want to be ruled by a dictator. Paradoxically, that section is comprised almost entirely of Republicans. These are the people that scream the loudest about freedom and personal liberty when there is a Democrat in the White House and go absolutely berserk if that Democrat is black.
But if the president is installing white rule, that is interpreted as liberty by them. Liberty is putting the whites in charge.
They are not therefore libertarians, or freedom loving small government supporters. Trump is the opposite. He is big government in action.
Trump is interfering in the economy in unprecedented ways. He is picking winers and losers. He is issuing executive orders like french fries pour onto his plate. But yet they cheer him on because the stated goal of the dictator is white power.
That's what this is all about. Laws are to be trounced in the path to white power. Trump is not above the law because the law was written by liberals who made a place in it for nonwhites and for women.
So no, the law does not apply to Trump as far as his supporters are concerned. Trump appeals to a higher law, the law of white dominance. Just ask one of his evangelical preachers. It's all divine.
445
Mr. Rozenblit,
Very well said. Thank you for continuing to speak out.
47
Interestingly, when you speak of who is undemocratic in their leanings, you mention Republicans but not what was offered here a week or so ago concerning centrists. Evidently, research shows that the people most likely to support authoritarian rule over democracy is not the left or right, it is the center. They prefer stability. The extremes (even when they aren't really all that "extreme") makes them uncomfortable because something might change. So, yes, we can blame the truly poor people of coal country for Trump, but we can also blame the "born to be mild" guy next door. Blame the establishment Democrats, too, because no change is just fine with them. They are not leading the charge to anywhere.
If we want this nightmare to end, it will be a do-it-yourself job.
10
Hard to argue with any of this, alas.
6
A lot of ground covered here. First on Guiliani, he's gone from prosecuting the mafia to being the mouthpiece for a ruling crime family now in government. Why has Congress gone along? First, he's signed all their bills--he's the guy that has enabled them to deliver to all those who have bought them off. It's hard for them not to have known about his criminal background the day after he announced he was running. They also now know the Russians played a major role in his election. Let's see: they and Cambridge Analytica (and the Republican party by way of extension) had 87 million facebook accounts to target through meta data techniques (what the NSA and the CCP do routinely). If MI, PA, and WI are 1/8 the population, that would be 11 million to target in those states, even at random. How many fb ads did the Russians buy there, i.e. how did they parse the data, (and ditto the Republicans, we know the Russians used deliberate falsehoods--how about the Republicans)? There needs to be a full investigation here with subpeonas, as fb has not been forthcoming on what they knew and when. There has also been no investigation on the bribes AT&T, Novartis, and other entities including foreign paid to Trump. Cohen was Trump's lawyer; he was not a lobbyist, domestic or foreign.
Congress doesn't act because they had prior knowledge of Trump's criminality. Some were previously in law enforcement, and i suspect, a few of them may even be lawyers, i.e. once Officers of the Court.
33
"Rudolph Giuliani, drove home the claim of sweeping presidential authority, telling Huff.Post that Trump couldn’t be subpoenaed or indicted while in office even if he’d shot the former F.B.I. director James Comey."
Amazing! is it true? I cannot believe that. A president could not be prosecuted for murder? James Comey was lucky, Trump did not have a gun when they met privately. The foundation of America is that no person is above the law. A president can under extreme circumstances be indicted, Guiliani does not believe that killing the FBI director does not come under the "extreme circumstances? This is insane, we are not living in Russia under Vladimir Putin.
92
It's mostly talk aimed at dumbing us all down and weakening our defenses against his outrages.... and it's one of the few things Trump and his Toadies are good at.
1
@Padman No, you're not living in Russia under Vladimir Putin, but you are living in a state where the Russian president is holding the business loans of your president. This will all end badly in a Roman Civil War kind of way, as Trump will never allow himself to be exposed to criminal charges, ever, anywhere.
By extension, we are, indeed, living in Vladimir Putin's Russia!
The Constitution has its flaws and one of them is
that Congress can aid and abet the President if it so wishes.
Are we going to be treated to the spectacle of a Federal
Process Server or New York State, trying to enter the
White House or dash toward Trump after he exits from
his limousine/helicopter or plane and serve him while
the Secret Service tackles the Server ? Or even more
bizzare that Federal Marshalls will attempt to bring
Trump before a Federal Judge while the Secret Service
block their way ?
What if the Supreme Court over-rules Trump and
Congress refuses to impeach ?
Trump is doing nothing he did not do regarding
Constitutional Law that he did not do via Business Law -
look for any loop-hole and delay, appeal, delay and appeal
until the other side gives up.
It is up to Congress...
49
Republicans are showing their true selves, and their true values. It is something I want no part of, and believe trump and the people supporting him have done harm to the country that may not be able to be corrected.
Trump has lowered our standing in the world, as other countries are taking the lead on the important issues of today.
73
The reprehensible example of POTUS shooting the Director of the FBI in the Oval Office, is exactly the right metaphor for the legal lunacy advanced by Sekulow and Dowd, then parroted by the Rolling Trumpster Fire's "TV lawyer" Giuliani.
They conveniently ignore that the last King of this country was rejected in 1776, and none of our Founding Fathers ever envisioned the President as an all-powerful executive.
They'll never live this down, and the Complicit Banana Republican crowd who enabled His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness should have this dishonor engraved on their headstones someday.
307
40% already support direct rule from the White House, 10% can be found with enough false flag stories and voter suppression.
I don't think there are enough good people left in America to stop Trump.
Only a small violent minority wanted to over throw the king; a small violent minority will ensure Trump's success.(King George was a good and faithful husband as well.)
8
Paul, I share your concern, but I think you're underestimating the energy and determination of those who oppose this president. Don't despair over the endless stories about the Trump supporters. They can make us feel like defeat is inevitable - but in reality, the news just wants to be sure they have a horse race to cover. The resistance continues, and I believe it is stronger than we are being led to believe.
"It’s hard to know whether they represent a bold power grab, or a panicked response to an investigation that is closing in."
If its a bold power play, its a spectacularly bad one and could turn the GOP into a third party. Trump has an 87% approval rating among Republicans but they are only 26% of voters. Independents disapprove of Trump by 2 to 1 (66%) and are 43% of voters and the Democrats disapprove of Trump 10 to 1 and are 29% of voters.
Bad time for a power play.
I am going with "panicked response" since evidence mounts weekly of a determined effort dictated by Trump himself to mislead the public and investigators about collusion and obstruction. His tweets and statements by Giuliani clearly show the "panicked" part. Its been a while since a President's top legal advisor hit the media circuit with claim that the President could could shoot the FBI Director and he would not be guilty. Trump brand management is clearly going downhill or he is trying to appeal to criminals, certainly a possibility.
The big picture is even clearer. Trump and his campaign intended to trade Russian sanctions relief, a huge prize for Putin and a recessionary Russia, for help getting him elected.
Flynn alone can make the sanction relief connection for Mueller and he has already agreed to testify. Manafort doesn't appear to be necessary to the Mueller case but the indictments provide useful for discovery. Michael Cohen is a bonus, thanks to Stormy.
And that's why Trump is desperate.
130
You know how when you read a book or watch a movie about autocrats and the resistance fighters who oppose them you always think "I'd be one of the good guys fighting the autocrat, for sure." Well now is the time to test that theory in real life. Are we, as Americans, going to support and fight for the rule of law and for our Constitution, or not? If Republican office holders and voters continue to turn their backs on our institutions in favor of either a cult of personality or the exercise of raw partisan power, it will be up to the rest of us to right the course. This is a deadly serious business, and we had all better start accepting that fact and acting accordingly.
504
It is time to stop focusing on Trump, and start questioning every republican office holder and candidate. Do they accept that Trump can shoot someone and not be accountable? If it is shown that Donald Trump has committed a crime, what will they do about it? We cannot let republicans get away with saying, "Well, I don't support him on this or that, but I support my president." Republicans are enabling him, and each of them must be held responsible.
654
To all candidates opposing GOP candidates- ask questions. Is the President above the law? Do we want nihilists in charge of the EPA and Education Dept? Do we want government of the rich, for the rich and by the rich? Do we want to continue runaway military spending while neglecting infrastructure? Give them the rope and let them hang themselves.
17
EdBx writes, "It is time to stop focusing on Trump, and start questioning every republican office holder and candidate."
And you can believe what they say in reply because...? Here's a simpler solution...vote out all republicans. In case that wasn't clear enough, how about VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS. They are all complicit. Their supporters are Trumpkins. They will do what the Trumpkins want. Seriously...it's not that hard.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS.
21
A lot of them are jumping off their yacht already, rats abandoning a sinking ship, because they will not allow themselves to be accountable for their actions.
Before 2017, the Conservatives would respond with a definite yes. Today, Conservatives respond with a definite no.
16
The conservatives' interpretation of the constitution is largely situational; in other words, it all depends on whether it's a republican or a democrat in office. Funny, but the conservatives all scream about the secular 'blight' of relativism, but in fact they are relativism's most loyal practitioners.
115
Trump's "legal" arguments make no sense at all from a point of logic or consistency. If the President is above the law as they say then so much for any of Trump's claim and those pushed by Fox News that Obama's presidency was illegal or imperial. But that subtle argument will be lost on Trump and his 37% or the 84% or Republicans who approve of his term in office so far. With each passing day it become more clear that Republicans simply want power. The Constitution to them is a quaint as the Geneva Accords were to the last Republican president. It is all rather horrifying and where it will end is anyone's guess, but the foundation has been laid for an American dictatorship. It used to seem like hyperbole to refer to Vichy Republicans but not so anymore.
195
So the briefing today said Trump is "not above the law", but he claims he can cancel investigations, pardon himself, not be charged with a crime, and not be forced to testify or give an interview to investigators.
I guess the law can arrest him and hold him without charges until they are forced to release him? Maybe this is the Trump era version of a "catch and release" policy?
On the off chance that this is also off the table, I seem to have exhausted all the things the law does to defendants and witnesses without finding any that Trump thinks apply to him. If this is not a claim of being above the law, I am not sure what would be.
31
If we cannot a ignore a subpoena and the president can, then he is above the law.
If we cannot demand to suppress evidence in a court case against us, and the president can, then he is above the law.
If we cannot fire a prosecuting attorney while the president can, then he is above the law.
If we cannot see, in advance, questions a prosecuting attorney would ask us while the president can, then he is above the law.
If we cannot dismiss a court case against us while the president can, then he is above the law.
If we cannot pardon ourselves if we are found guilty in a court of law, while the president can, then he is above the law.
Anyone who claims he could commit murder in the United States of America and not be held responsible is not above the law. He is undeserving of the law.
714
But, what if he IS above the law? Yikes! For some reason, that question doesn't seem to have an easy answer. Sekulow and Dodd aren't ignorant. We all hope they're wrong, but we have to listen to them, and prepare accordingly. Opinion piece writers and other political dilettantes can call it audacious and desperate, but I want to hear someone with authority call it wrong.
39
@Tom
Bravo Sir. Your plea does not fall on deaf ears and is the most succinct of all posts, that boils down the law to its essence.
Excellent post.
57
There are more people who do not agree with the premise posed by tRUMP and his band of merry men regarding the law. I am convinced that tRUMP is selling his influence in order to pay his debt -- he is, after all, the "debt king." So we shall see.
17
"It’s hard to imagine what we’ll have gotten used to by the time it’s all over."
The coordinated attack of Trump and his enablers on our democracy goes beyond defendingTrump's own dictatorial behavior.
Trump routinely diverts attention from, and normalizes, his own guilt, with an assault of lies that everyone does it, and that others are worse
I get over a dozen unhinged emails a day such as (excerpts from 2 of today's):
"“We must put Obama, Hillary and their cabal behind bars or all will be lost!""
""Obama is secretly organizing a coup to overthrow President Trump unless the Tea Party steps in and strikes first at the heart of the Obama Resistance."...
INDICT OBAMA NOW! Obama must be busted for illegal wire taps, sedition and treason.... Obama and his minions have run rough-shad over the constitution ...
ObamaGate is being exposed as the worst election interference and constitution-destroying attack in the history of America. We are coming to the bottom of this now and its not going to be pretty.”"
Those who have noticed my (save us! get out and vote for Democrats, only Democrats) comments (Lynn, New York) know that the unhinged email list must have a very large budget to sweep me up, and, remember, I get over a dozen of these a day.
I suspect Trump's buddy Newsmax's Ruddy for these unhinged lies and attacks, but don't know. In any case, it is well funded and coordinated with Trump's destructive messaging.
46
I believe I recall learning something when I was a wee lass in grade school and high school about "checks and balances." I would think nearly every school kid knows this phrase - the meaning of which would seemingly undermine Trump and legal mouthpiece's theory. And yet this cornerstone of American democracy does seem to be vulnerable under Trump - due to his unwavering support from the GOP and that 40% of Americans who voted for him and pledge their allegiance to him. And why wouldn't Trump think he's above the law? Born the rich child of a rich and powerful man he has spent his life flouting rules and regulations with impunity. He has spent a decadent lifetime breaking rules, breaking promises, committing white collar crimes without any consequence. Thus the "privilege" so many are always pointing out - next to no women or people of color could have lived a life without consequences like Trump. So when he says he is above the law - he means it - he's most surely broken it many times - and there has never ever been a consequence.
173
Dana: He did have to cough up $25 million as a result of the Trump "University" lawsuit. Trump claims to be the greatest deal maker on the planet, but he hasn't won every lawsuit.
5
With the gutting of our education system I’ll bet that you are incorrect about kids knowing or understanding the system of checks and balances. Both parties are complicit in this but the republicans work very hard to ensure the dumbing down continues
7
Did he actually pay the $25 billion for the Trump U settlement, or is he still stalling?
The president’s actions, they wrote, “by virtue of his position as the chief law enforcement officer, could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself.”
Trump to America: I AM the law.
37
Is this how it happens? Is what we’re witnessing the beginning of the end, like it was for other countries that thought fascism and totalitarian rule could never take over and sweep the law under the rug? We may think it could never happen here, but frankly I thought electing a narcissistic moron to the presidency could never happen here.
Giuliani looks at the moron like a puppy looks at his master, eager for a pat on the head and a liver snap. He apologizes for the president, and comes up with weird scenarios that might potentially validate hypothetical power grabs and incomprehensible escapes from justice.
Republicans lay low. They don’t appear to be motivated to opine about whether the president could flagrantly break the law and avoid justice, even for murder. Does the slimeball-in-chief really think that he can get away with committing any crime?
Maybe he’s justified in doing so. He bragged about groping unwilling crotches. He called for violence on the campaign trail. He lies whenever he opens his mouth. And he’s still in power, and getting bolder every day.
The few Republicans who have maintained the pretense of honor are retiring, getting out while the getting is good and possibly hunkering down until the dust clears.
We’ve been through 500 weird, unpleasant and astoundingly disturbing days. We thought we’d seen everything. But it’s possible that we haven’t seen anything yet. This game of porcelain thrones may have only just begun.
841
Yeah we haven't seen even close to the worst of it. What if he decides to not accept the next election results and encourages violence? It's clearly not beneath him.
120
I've been asking myself that same question since 2015: Is this how it happens?
27
Scott,
I have been saying the exact thing for over a year. Not only what you stated, but I think he will refuse to leave office. He will have fix and arranged rallies in Dixie and claim they ask him to stay in office indefinitely. He will force martial law upon us. There will be no more elections, and as you said, will call on his 40% blind white herd worshipers to take arms and guard "his" White House for us, the enemies.
No doubt in my mind, he will ignite the second civil war.
The Nightmare is not Trump; the Nightmare is that so many people continue to support Trump.
1006
Actually, BOTH of those are the horror.
86
I’ll go one step further. The nightmare is the American people. The Russians have shown us how easy it is to divide and conquer.
24
The Nightmare is also the resolute idea amongst those that oppose Trump that we are not complicit in making this monster happen.
Nothing is going to change without citizens - all of us - giving something up.
7
I never want to hear Trump loyalists claim they are "strict constructionists" or that they are guided by the Founders' intentions.
I know our Founders intentions were motivated by both the desire and need to keep the republic safe from tyranny.
Mr. Trump's intentions appear to demolish the cherished proposition of American republicanism.
What would Washington say?
239
According to them the founders don't matter anymore. Trump is the best president ever, better than Washington. Who needs a Constitution when you have flags to wave and anthems to sing? Markets are democracy. As long as markets are free, everyone is free. One dollar one vote. Back to the future.
12th century theocracy ruled by corporate overlords, here we come.
And yet are all for they did will be at the top of the pyramid, instead of building it.
Suckers.
1
We know the man has a short attention span, but does he not remember his oath of office? It's not that long . . .
41
But it seems like several years since he took it.
11
Perhaps he read it phonetically, without comprehension.
1
"The president’s actions, they wrote, “by virtue of his position as the chief law enforcement officer, could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself.”"
This quote from the memo made me laugh because it sounds like a bad joke, based on a verb I can't type describing something Trump is doing to the country that that he can't do to himself.
Kidding aside, nothing about the released memo is worthy of humor. In fact, if we even have to ask the question in Michelle's title, we're in far greater trouble than even I think.
As Donald Trump, his lawyers, and TV defenders become more brazen, it's obvious the key barometer of our country's health is how few on the right even question these arguments.
Today I heard the president is preemptively marking his territory because he's cornered, but that makes little sense. If he's shadow-boxing Mueller, he must be awfully frustrated, because the man he so maligns is, as usual, silent.
I have a funny feeling Trump fears silence more than noise, because noise can be answered, but silence?
I personally hope Mueller is fed up enough to do something really dramatic even if his subpoena ends up with SCOTUS.
After all, we might as well know, sooner rather than later, if we still have a country.
324
Though lowest in class I knew I
Was bound in the end to rise high
For nothing could mar
Not the highest bar
As long as t’was what I could buy.
I always would remain a debtor
The need to pay, Courts would unfetter,
Since payback was low,
My fortune would grow
And my daily outcomes grew better.
So now I’m the POTUS, how come?
The Founding Fathers were so dumb
Systems Electoral
Are highly immoral
And Putin’s boys' hacking did some.
I got it and won’t give it up
Like Emperors, Kaisers I sup,
It can’t be my breeding
i hardly do reading
I guess I’m just one lucky pup!
135
The simple answer that the law applies to everyone if the courts say so, and in particular if every agent of government acts in accordance with said rulings.
However, one of the co-equal branches of government ( the Congress which is completely controlled by republicans ) has decided to abscond from their responsibilities as a check on power. ( and in particular against the Presidency )
So, for now, there is a vacuum that has been created by republicans that the President is filling with talk of pardoning himself and such. He will continue to talk until checked.
When will that be you may ask ? The answer is soon.
121
It's official: The United States is now a dictatorship...like China, Egypt, Russia and Saudi Arabia.
258
Jay David
It is official, Mr. David needs to take a look at the Constitution.
Don’t forget North Korea.....
5
sarah,
If anyone needs to take a look at the Constitution, it's Donald Trump and his minions. It's supposed to be honored...not used for toilet paper while sitting on a golden "throne".
I'm moving to Mexico. Good luck everybody.
161
@Jake
Una cerveza por favor ? ( on me my friend )
4
I am already there--you will love it. So great to be out of the insanity!
8
Little do we know that Americans will want to get to Mexico before the wall is built and then feeling safe that the wall will separate themselves from the USA.
1
Alarm bells should be going off everywhere right now. This is not a joke. The president is claiming he's above the rule of law.
Don't assume congressional Republicans will do the right thing at the end of the day, either. That is a very unsafe assumption to make.
902
The only reason citizen Trump claims that as president he’s above the rule of law, is because he knows he broke the law (or laws). If citizen Trump in his role as president cannot break the law, it simply means citizen Trump cannot be president anymore because he broke the law, and he must, not should, be impeached. Let’s see what Mueller found out...
26
Since day one I've said, the craven Repubs will never put country before party and will doing anything to protect the bill-signer in chief.
32
This is all a very silly knee-jerk reaction. the media seems to revel in it and make a financial killing. Goldberg makes a rich living out of the inflammatory. Trumpy has a knack for distracting everyone. We should keep our eyes on the 2018 elections and then look to evict him with the 2020 elections. Given the nature of the crimes, treason, money laundering, etc., his post presidency is most likely to be the perfect comeuppance.
In the meantime, chill and vote the Republican bums out!
22
"It’s hard to imagine what we’ll have gotten used to by the time it’s all over."
This statement is key to surviving the trump catastrophe, and defeating trump completely.
We must always keep the ideal of American decency and justice at the forefront, never normalize trump, and always use the language that's called for in this dire emergency: this is indeed a despicable presidency, and it must be crushed to redeem the U.S.A.
564
We should be writing letters to the editors of the NYT to demand that they stop normalizing him in their coverage. This paper continues to enable Trump's outrages in their desire to maintain "access."
15
Unfortunately, America is beyond redemption as long as we have an imperial presidency. McConnell established the first precedent for appointment of Supreme Court justices. Unless the President's party controls the Senate, he/she will not be able to appoint a SCOTUS justice. Trump has continued the irreparable destruction of US alliances in the world by alienating our allies by making unilateral, destructive decisions without consulting them, as evidenced by his cancellation of the North Korean summit without forewarning South Korea, whose leader had just visited the White House. America no longer can be trusted.
37
The media is facilitating the Trump agenda by giving such prominent and repeated coverage to his every silly tweet, almost giving them certain validity, and has to own some blame. Responsible media should stop serving as a channel for Trump to propagate his senseless rants and attacks.
Oh, for the days of a president who lied about having an affair, apologized to the nation...and was impeached. Now we have a 'president' who lies about everything, apologizes about nothing, and is untouchable.
Whether he is personally held accountable to US law isn't a priority to me. Whether he stays within the parameters of our checks and balances, in which he leads 1/3 of our system of government-- not 2/3, or 3/3 as he seems to crave-- is our pants-on-fire issue of the day. How that plays out will determine the fate of the nation, far more than just our irrelevant, mean little Oval Office occupant.
153
I do not think Americans share a set of values any more.
Republicans are embracing lies, bullies, bigotry, and corruption.
If we can not agree on basic decency, and can not agree to hold our leadership responsible for damaging and potentially criminal behavior, we have lost what holds us together as a nation.
What happens next ? Will we continue to break apart as a nation, or will people awaken to the damage that is being done ?
525
As long as foreign diplomats pay the trump family business to stay at Mar a Lago or the Trump Washington DC hotel, and give the president emoluments.
13
S B, The time for awakening should have started the day that man came down that escalator, when it all seemed like a cruel joke. The initial push-back from the Republicans died out once they saw how fired-up Trump's base was, and now this is where we are.
The world woke up to this Autocrat early as we watched him torch your institutions unchecked by the party he now owns. And, where are the Democrats, their voices are intermittent and all but silent it seems. God, I hope they have a master plan they are working on.
As a Canadian, I wake up every day hoping this nightmare of a government of yours is unraveling, but instead it is the threads of your nation fraying and being pulled apart. Aside from it being exhausting, it is truly terrifying to watch. Just know the world is on to him and is pulling for every outraged American standing for decency and justice.
November is critical, voting imperative, but if the balance of power shifts, be prepared for Trump to call foul, and when he does, god knows what will happen.
53
We will continue to break apart just as Putin planned. He just didn't think it would be so easy.
28
This is insane. To even discuss the legality of the claims made of the President being 'above the law' with the right to pardon anyone, including himself, stop any investigation, including investigations into possible crimes committed by the President, is ridiculous. I have no doubt that if there is any kernel of validity to the legal arguments of the President's team, it is only because no Congress, from the First Continental Congress to this pathetic, excuse for independent representatives voting their conscience, never envisioned any President daring to make such an outrageous claim. Give it more media coverage because there is a chance that this attitude will finally weaken the support from his base. Let them wonder what guilt is the President holding that he should go so far out on a limb to make such outrageous claims. As he claimed a rigged election because he expected to lose, he now claims a rigged investigation, a rigged Justice Department and FBI because he expects to be indicted. If you respect the rule of law, and understand our President to hold a most honored position as the most responsible elected servant of the people: then remove the spineless Republican politicians that weigh their every word on Fox News in terms of what will secure their re-election.
167
"Give it more media coverage because there is a chance that this attitude will finally weaken the support from his base." ~vonricksoord
His base doesn't read the NYT, and only watches Fox. I can't without wanting to vomit so I don't know how they're covering it, but it's my guess they're on his side; and he probably came up with the idea in the first place from Hannity.
So, don't count on this putting a dent in his base.
6
You left out the assertion by Giuliani that he could shoot his enemies and then pardon himself; a gang leader's dream come true.
5
As horrible as this is, I'm glad Michelle Goldberg is not trying to sugar-coat it. This is what I feared would happen from the time Trump ran, and why I felt that people who seriously pretended that they just simply could not bring themselves to vote for HRC, out of whatever misguided nonsense they were buying into, were dooming us all. No one should kid themselves, unless something truly dramatic happens this is really the end of American democracy, and America as we have known it. As Michelle Goldberg devastatingly writes "Trump’s power grab could be checked by a Democratic victory in the midterms, or, should Mueller pursue a subpoena against Trump, by the Supreme Court. But justice is very far from guaranteed. We’re 500 days into this waking nightmare of a presidency, and Trump has now claimed the powers of an autocrat." Yes. this is the nightmare that we can never wake from. It is real. It is what a large percentage of Americans chose. They freely chose despotism, and threw away over 215 years of precious democracy as if it was nothing but trash.
284
Some of those who threw away democracy I know personally. They arrived from Russia just 20 years ago and look down on every African-American they ever met.
21
Bill Clinton lied under oath, clearing the way for Trump to lie constantly.
The Clintons took money from Trump and other billionaires to deliver Republican policy, again and again.
I would still not vote for Clinton.
It is better for everyone to see Trump's (actual) Deep State out in the open than to have the Clintons delivering policy for them, while Democrats cheer.
The centrists are still voting for Trump's nominations and legislation, raising his popularity, and giving then wins.
Subtle traitors are no less dangerous than rude ones.
Centrist Democrats compromise and make excuses while Republicans grow ever more extrene.
As soon as you start nominating Democrats that actually oppose the Republican Party and their gutting of the Constitution,, I will start voting for Democrats again.
3
McGloin, according to you: "It is better for everyone to see Trump's (actual) Deep State out in the open than to have the Clintons delivering policy for them, while Democrats cheer." If HRC was president 5,000 people in Puerto Rico would still be alive. Trump's "Deep State" lie is that only 64 died in Hurricane Maria. Knowing it's a lie changes nothing. Those Americans are still dead. If HRC was president we would still be part of the Paris Accords. NASA's Carbon Monitoring System, indispensable for verifying carbon emissions are being reduced and the destruction of the planet from global warming averted, would still exist. (Trump killed it.) Trump is killing all climate protection. Under HRC, the EPA would be protecting our water and air. Scott Pruitt is killing the EPA; it's now a tool of corporate polluters. Trump is gutting the Endangered Species Act (ESA). ICE is ripping children from their mother's arms. Trump's tax bill, which every Democrat you despise opposed, was the biggest payout to billionaire Oligarchs in history, and we paid for it. It exploded the debt and will consume everything, including Social Security and Medicare. 50 percent of all women over 65 are fully dependent on Social Security and Medicare to survive. As they begin to die of hunger and disease, tell them you decided it was worth it, that you wouldn't change a thing, and that their deaths are a small price to pay to purge society and make it so pure you'll even consider voting for a Democrat again.
16
The very assertion that he is above the law should be grounds for impeachment. How can one seriously believe he can thumb his nose at the law, and expect anyone else to follow it? That's a recipe for insurrection. And of course many of his supporters believe that they have the right to ignore laws they deem as "infringements" on their "god-given rights", so they will see no problem with Trump holding himself, like they do, above the law.
The bigger problem is that we have people in Congress who are ignoring their sworn duty to uphold the law and the Constitution. When one of the "checks" refuses to act in that capacity, there is no balance, and that's exactly what we have: an out of balance system of rule. But you could bet your most precious asset that if Trump were a Democrat, these same do-nothing Republicans would have launched impeachment proceedings on the first day of his presidency.
This is an existential threat to our system of democracy, and might well lead to civil unrest and perhaps war.
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"The very assertion that he is above the law should be grounds for impeachment."
1. He never asserted it.
2. He can assert anything he wants, right or wrong. Do Presidents give up their First Amendment rights? No.
He stated he could pardon himself. That IS assertion that he is above the law.
Since Citizens United, there are no longer any checks and balances, just checks.
30
Sadly, for too long, much of the country has dismissed the steady erosion of our ideals with the delusion that it "cannot happen here." Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, et al -- theses are "over there," "in the past," and "America is more enlightened than that." With most of the Greatest Generation now gone, we have few to bear witness to evils of men and fragility of democracy -- and that it CAN happen even here.
At best, there is the belief that our system will self-correct before going too far. So voters ignored the steady subversion of their democratic rights as the GOP manipulated its semi-permanent entrenchment.
Now, even if that nightmare in the Whitehouse implodes before the end of his term, we are faced with alternative that may be worse, with the ability the work the system to achieve the party's extremist, regressive and religion-friendly wish list.
Back in 1995, I made the comment to my Republican family members that the GOP is devolving into evil -- and was dismissed with laughter. Now, on the precipice of authoritarianism, it is not so funny.
It is heartening to see that the left has finally found its fight. But, it will take a lot more than one midterm election to counter 40 years of democracy's subversion, pull us from the edge and return us to that more enlightened America.
In light of low-but-still-too-high-for comfort approval ratings, emboldening the power grab, I cannot help fear that we may be at the point of no return.
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I sympathize, RMS. I too was laughed at by republican family members for the same thing. Like Wiesel's Moshe the Beadle, I was dismissed by people who were not ignorant, but bizarrely self-deluded, and their continuing collective delusion is truly frightening. It seems to have no limits and no cure.
16
Given what we had been taught in school, it is downright astonishing that our stable, democratic system of government could so totally collapse within the space of a few short months. It's become obvious that the US government is run not by laws but by norms. Not a single outrageous thing that trump has said or done qualifies as a crime and there is no specific rule that says he cannot single-handedly turn this country upside down and shake it until he wrings all the profits out of it. That's because there are no specific rules that outlaw his actions. Previously, the presidency and congress were occupied by people who cared about America and its standing in the world. Today, it's all about who can profit most and we see the sad result. I fear fascism is not creeping. It has already arrived and taken root in our political system. We will all pay the price.
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You will know you are right when it's revealed that King Don I has an enemies list.
6
New laws were passed after Watergate and there needs to be another round this time too.
6
Reading this editorial after reading and listening to other opinions regarding the “whys” of the trump legal team, the common theme of overreach comes up but with different perspectives, yet all of them are headshaking variations on Michelle Goldberg’s opinion; headshaking in the sense of “what could trump as his legal team be thinking?”
That trump comes out and says he can pardon himself is ludicrous and itself a totally unconstitutional, not to mention farcical statement, coming back to basically sowing chaos to politicize the entire investigation. There’s an old saying: “if you can’t convince them, confuse them”.
What sickens me about the current state of affairs is the fact that this is a constitutional crisis and has been normalized into the realm of reality TV catering to reactive viewers. The coverage of this trump team cover-up circus doesn’t even seem to truly be about the constitution or rule of law at this point as much as it is watching sleazy lawyers and con-artists trying to obscure the rule of law going forward. And meanwhile, the “reality” of my constitutional right to vote in a fair election hangs in the balance.
I have never seen a more self-serving set of stewards of the US Constitution than trump, his lawyers, and the GOP in power in my life. Vote them out, but hope your vote still works to some degree next time around…
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Yes, Peter, the vote is our only power. Let's just hope that enough of us remain "qualified" to vote and have access to the ballot and have our ballots counted. Between ID requirements, hacking of registration systems, loss of polling times and places, and possible hacking of computer results, the power of the majority is suppressed.
7
I think all the speculation about what Meuller will or won't find, whether Trump will be be testifying, and whether this whole matter will ultimately land in the Supreme Court is just that, speculation. The one thing I do fear more than anything else is if Mueller presents a strong case for any offenses against Trump and the Supreme Court finds in Trump's favor based on political and not legal terms, there will be massive protests in the country. Republicans and the base will circle the wagons around Trump as they already have no matter what he has done. And I shudder to think what the result will be if the clash between these two groups occurs. Imagine for a second a protest confrontation between the groups with many armed counter protesters who feel emboldened by the Supreme Court. Especially with a president who would relish the show rather than try and stop it and heal the country. All you have to know is Trump admires ruthless dictators for a reason. And if no one has the willingness to prevent it, it will get very ugly very fast. For someone to try to jump in at the eleventh hour and be the hero, it will be far to late.
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Mueller will, hopefully, reserve publishing his conclusions until November 7th so that the mid-terms can proceed with regularity and the enablers will have been voted out of office.
3
If this happens, I'm getting out on the street with thousands of other folks. Better to go down protesting and letting the world see you then to hide away in silence. Let the enemies of democracy bring on Night & Fog. Let the world see. Sunlight is the best antiseptic.
How is it that none of Trump’s lawyers read this DOJ opinion that dates back to August 1974?
“Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the President cannot pardon himself.
If under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment the President declared that he was temporarily unable to perform the duties of the office, the Vice President would become Acting President and as such could pardon the President. Thereafter the President could either resign or resume the duties of his office.
Although as a general matter Congress cannot enact amnesty or pardoning legislation, because to do so would interfere with the pardoning power vested expressly in the President by the Constitution, it could be argued that a congressional pardon granted to the President would not interfere with the President’s pardoning power because that power does not extend to the President himself.”
August 5, 1974
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@Bill Seng: I didn't notice the Constitution saying the President has the "exclusive" power of pardon. You overreach.
The framers of our Constitution had successfully completed a long campaign of rebellion against a King when they set about bringing our Constitution to fruition. One bedrock principle of that endeavor was that we would not have another king. We do not, and the vast majority of Americans are not about to have a king; least of all Trump. For Trump and his legal counsel to assert otherwise is an outrage and an insult to the American people. No one is above the law in this country even though from time to time some narcissistic, self absorbed fool comes along and attempts to assert otherwise.
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"He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good." Dec of Independence
18
What we are looking now, is an autocrat making his moves so he may stay in power indefinetly. Alas! Even inherit it.
Who´ll be next?: Jared, Ivanka, Donald Jr.?
How is that possible in the land of Lincoln?
5
Trump was elected as a symptom of the failings of the Republican and especially the Democratic Party.
Far, far more troubling than anything Trump has done is the mishandling of the Clinton email investigation by the Obama DOJ and FBI. This is the subject of an DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report to be released next Monday, June 11.
Many legal scholars, including George Washington University constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley, have questioned the Obama DOJ and the FBI for failing to follow the basic elements of a criminal probe since there was ample evidence that a crime had allegedly been committed.
It will become clear that the Obama administration should have followed the law and assigned a special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton emails.
The fact that Bill Clinton met with Attorney General Lynch privately on a airplane tarmac while he was being investigated during the Clinton Foundation Probe and his wife was being investigated for the email probe just suggests that the Clintons and the Obama administration were attempting to suppress the rule of law.
The IG's investigation will demonstrate that the Obama administration should have assigned special prosecutor to investigate the Clinton emails. Had that been done, Sanders would have been chosen as candidate and we would have President Sanders instead of President Trump.
Ms. Goldberg needs to stop complaining about Trump and address Obama and The Clinton's actions that resulted in Trump's win.
22
The Justice Dept., through the James Comey-led FBI, in 2016 DID investigate Hillary Clinton's use of a private server for employment-related emails, and reported publicly that it had done so prior to 2016 election. President Obama, as far as we know, did nothing to hinder or obstruct that investigation. Mr. Comey reported the FBI's findings prior to the 2016 election. You may disagree with its conclusions and disposition of the matter.
Not until after the 2016 election did the FBI and Mr. Comey report the initiation of an investigation of Donald Trump and his campaign's connection and potential conspiracy with representatives of a foreign power, Russia, about the 2016 election. That investigation should have been reported prior to the election. Why not? There has not been a plausible explanation given.
Regardless of who thought so-and-so would have been elected—Comey has said repeatedly he believed HRC was going to be our next president, which affected his decision-making—either both investigations should have been reported or neither one. A mistake the Obama Justice Dept. made which resulted in Trump's victory was announcing the Clinton email investigation, but not the Trump possible conspiracy investigation.
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And on top of that, James Comey said that their investigation found nothing criminal but said Clinton was very careless in having that server.
That suggests to me that the emails had nothing what- so- ever to do with National Security but perhaps more with gossip and thoughts that she was sharing with whomever she was writing to.
Suppose that those e-mails had her saying negative things about her 'real' thoughts about President Obama, or Vice President Biden or his wife, or maybe some diplomats that could have caused great concern and embarrassment to her party and the persons she worked for.
It would have nothing to do with the country but I'm sure the GOP, which is why she got the server in the first place so they wouldn't be monitoring her very thoughts, would have a field day with it.
@Bruce Stern:
According to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's presumed forthcoming report this Monday, June 11, Clinton was not properly investigated by the FBI and the DOJ.
There are many questions, but chief among them according to legal scholars is why a grand jury was not convened to investigate the Clinton email scandal.
As President Trump said, "The buck stops here." Ultimately President Obama, himself a Harvard Law graduate who taught constitutional law at the prestigious University of Chicago Law school was responsible to ensure that his DOJ and FBI did the right job which would have been to appoint a special prosecutor and to convene a grand jury.
That is not my opinion, but that of legal experts and presumably be part of the IG report.
The House subpoenaed Clinton's over 30,000 emails and instead of turning them over to the FBI and the DOJ, Clinton hired Platte River Networks employee Paul Combetta to use special BleachBit software to wipe Clinton's servers clean. Clinton's phones were destroyed with a hammer.
Trump was elected in part because the American public is sick and tired of the subterfuge. Of the Democratic Party elites preventing a proper investigation of Clinton.
Ultimately, many Americans will not feel comfortable with this entire sordid affair until a grand jury is convened to get facts and testimony from key witnesses who are no longer employees of the DOJ, FBI and other agencies.