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Trump Dictatorship and All Things Politics

Sardines said:
My initial reaction was sort of "**** it who cares?" but it was not the right thing to do. I could see a new American tradition where on their way out an administration does a prophylactic series of pardons for their close allies, family and friends to prevent the incoming administration from going after them.
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I think that the practice itself is necessary - there are simply cases where the rest of the justice system gets it wrong, or the executive wants to make a change (like when Biden pardoned anyone convicted solely of small federal marijuana crimes). It has ALWAYS been vulnerable to abuse, tho, and it has only been societal/political norms that has kept that abuse as low as it has been. From what I can see, there have only been 3 (now 4) president who have pardoned their relatives - Trump pardoned his son-in-law's father, Clinton pardoned his brother for old crimes, and Lincoln pardoned his sister-in-law, who was married to a Confederate General, as part of the Amnesty and Reconstruction.

And PLENTY of presidents have pardoned their friends on their way out. Maybe Carter didn't, but he's about the only one I can think of. Oh, and Nixon, of course.

But I think it's reasonable for Biden to believe there is a distinct possibility Trump and the MAGA crowd would continue to attack Hunter for no damn good reason. Also, frankly, there's not a lot of point in trying to do the right thing with Trump and his cronies coming in to destroy everything. I guess I'd say he was wrong to do it, but did it for the right reasons.
 
gandalfe said:
I think that the practice itself is necessary - there are simply cases where the rest of the justice system gets it wrong, or the executive wants to make a change (like when Biden pardoned anyone convicted solely of small federal marijuana crimes). It has ALWAYS been vulnerable to abuse, tho, and it has only been societal/political norms that has kept that abuse as low as it has been. From what I can see, there have only been 3 (now 4) president who have pardoned their relatives - Trump pardoned his son-in-law's father, Clinton pardoned his brother for old crimes, and Lincoln pardoned his sister-in-law, who was married to a Confederate General, as part of the Amnesty and Reconstruction.

And PLENTY of presidents have pardoned their friends on their way out. Maybe Carter didn't, but he's about the only one I can think of. Oh, and Nixon, of course.

But I think it's reasonable for Biden to believe there is a distinct possibility Trump and the MAGA crowd would continue to attack Hunter for no damn good reason. Also, frankly, there's not a lot of point in trying to do the right thing with Trump and his cronies coming in to destroy everything. I guess I'd say he was wrong to do it, but did it for the right reasons.
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Carter is probably the only president in 70 years that isn't a criminal.
 
Rubashov said:
Carter is probably the only president in 70 years that isn't a criminal.
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Well, let's look.

Truman (1945-1953)
Eisenhower (1953-1961)
Kennedy (1961-1963)
Johnson (1963-1969)
Nixon (1969-1974)
Ford (1974-1977)
Carter (1977-1981)
Reagan (1981-1989)
Bush (1989-1993)
Clinton (1993-2001)
Bush (2001-2009)
Obama (2009-2017)
Trump (2017-2021)
Biden (2021-2025 (probably))

Carter, maybe not Ford, Eisenhower, and Truman. I feel like Carter, maybe Ford and Obama, possible Eisenhower, were all good PEOPLE, regardless of their criminal acts. (It's entirely possible to be a good person and commit illegal acts, just as it's possible to be horrible but completely legal.)
 
gandalfe said:
Well, let's look.

Truman (1945-1953) War Criminal
Eisenhower (1953-1961) Started the process that lead to the bag of pigs
Kennedy (1961-1963) Bay of Pigs/Started Vietnam
Johnson (1963-1969) Vietnam
Nixon (1969-1974) Nixon
Ford (1974-1977) Pardoned Nixon
Carter (1977-1981) Gets a pass
Reagan (1981-1989) Iran contra
Bush (1989-1993) Iran contra gulf war
Clinton (1993-2001) Shady real estate deals
Bush (2001-2009) Invasion of Iraq WMD
Obama (2009-2017) Drone killings likely in breach of international law
Trump (2017-2021) Trump
Biden (2021-2025 (probably)) Pardon of his son and drone killings of the Obama administration

Carter, maybe not Ford, Eisenhower, and Truman. I feel like Carter, maybe Ford and Obama, possible Eisenhower, were all good PEOPLE, regardless of their criminal acts. (It's entirely possible to be a good person and commit illegal acts, just as it's possible to be horrible but completely legal.)
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Eisenhower, Carter and maybe Ford is you forgive the pardon of Nixon.
 
Sardines said:
My initial reaction was sort of "**** it who cares?" but it was not the right thing to do. I could see a new American tradition where on their way out an administration does a prophylactic series of pardons for their close allies, family and friends to prevent the incoming administration from going after them.
Click to expand...

Between trying to stay in office and now this Biden will be forever remembered as damaging to our country. I bet The Rapist pardons his sons at some point. The Trump clan is about to go off the rails.
 
str8line said:
Between trying to stay in office and now this Biden will be forever remembered as damaging to our country. I bet The Rapist pardons his sons at some point. The Trump clan is about to go off the rails.
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He has already done this and more, pardoning known criminals in the middle of trials and afterward. But we aren't allowed to talk about that, only what the democrats do is actually bad, what Trump is doing is for the good of the country, or some such ********. After all, billionaires and millionaires need to be protected and coddled. It's the 'Murrican Way.
 
They skirt one of the main issues with healthcare expenses, which is the fact that we do very little to regulate the for-profit healthcare industry which allows them to charge whatever they want and reap insane profits off loads of personal bankruptcies. Healthcare needs to be treated as a utility, and there is no place for profit in healthcare on this scale. So many other countries have figured it out except us, where we worship the mega-rich like quai-religious figures. We've almost broken our healthcare system beyond repair.

www.cbsnews.com

UnitedHealthcare CEO death reveals wider outrage over healthcare system, insurance

The public's deep frustration with the health insurance industry is coming to the surface online after the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
 
Rubashov said:
Eisenhower, Carter and maybe Ford is you forgive the pardon of Nixon.
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I think the pardon of Nixon was misguided, but that's looking back on it 50 years later. I can definitely see why he would say "We need to just put this behind us" but I think it would have been better for the country as a whole to get closure on it.

Don't forget, btw, that Reagan's team actively negotiated with the Iranian hostage takers to not release them before the election. Which is emphatically illegal.

www.pbs.org

Expert analyzes new account of GOP deal that used Iran hostage crisis for gain

The Iran hostage crisis consumed the last year of the Carter presidency, contributing to a perception of weakness. Saturday, a new allegation surfaced that Ronald Reagan's campaign worked to prevent the U.S. hostages from being freed before Election Day. Gary Sick, who was the Iran expert on...
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org
 
Interesting article. I haven't completely thought it through yet. And, yes, Politico does lean left, I am completely aware of that.


Donald Trump Is the End of the Modern Era​

The post-WWII world order of American dominance is over. Donald Trump proves it.

In February 1941, Henry Luce, the influential publisher of Time and Life magazines, penned an article heralding the “American Century,” a post-war era in which the United States would apply its newfound standing as the “dominant power in the world” to spread “free economic enterprise” and “the abundant life” around the globe. Luce envisioned the United States as “the principal guarantor of the freedom of the seas” and “the dynamic leader of world trade,” and saw in this future “possibilities of such enormous human progress as to stagger the imagination.”

The next several decades would prove Luce right, as the United States emerged from World War II as one of two global superpowers and, arguably, the world’s preeminent cultural and economic force. Luce, who was a Republican, intended his broadside to serve as a template for conservative internationalism — in effect, a powerful response to the party’s isolationist, America First wing. But this concept — of America as a friendly goliath, the “Good Samaritan of the entire world,” promoting democracy, capitalism, trade and international order — guided the thinking of most policymakers and politicians across the political spectrum for the better part of a century.


Until now.


Donald Trump’s second presidential victory represents a sharp break, and perhaps a permanent one, with the American Century framework. It’s a framework that rested on four key pillars:

A rules-based economic order that afforded the U.S. free access to vast international markets.

A guarantee of safety and security for its allies, backed up by American military might.

An increasingly liberal immigration system that strengthened America’s economy and complemented military and trade partnerships with the rest of the non-Communist world.

And finally, in Luce’s words, a “picture of an America” that valued — and exported to the rest of the world — “its technical and artistic skills. Engineers, scientists, doctors … developers of airlines, builders of roads, teachers, educators.”
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I hope working class slobs supposedly “concerned” over egg prices are paying attention! Our populist blue collar working class overlords are proposing cuts to veterans and health care while proposing funneling public funds into the hands of billionaires like Trump and Musk. Which is so odd because I’ve been told many times on this website that Republicans are the representatives of the poor downtrodden working class slobs.


www.nytimes.com

Vivek Ramaswamy Returns to Push His Plans to Slash the Government

The wealthy entrepreneur, tapped by Donald Trump to co-lead an outside effort focused on “efficiency,” campaigned on an assertion that the president has the power to fire 75 percent of the federal work force.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

LOL. Trump lied? What a shock. I hope unions enjoy the next four years of this treatment. They voted for this.
triblive.com

'Gut punch': Trump upsets local union leaders by opposing U.S. Steel-Nippon deal

On Monday night, President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his opposition to the proposed $14.9 billion sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel Co., vowing to block the deal when he takes office. Some steelworkers in Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley who support the deal — and Trump — weren’t happy. “I am
triblive.com triblive.com

Cuts to entitlements, repealing the ACA (republicans love the ACA but hate Obamacare), privatizing PBS (good bye big bird), and tax cuts for billionaires? Sounds like the exact same platform republicans have been rejected for for years and years. But I guess when you maximize race issues, blue collar workers forget about those cuts that’ll end up hurting them the most.

I hope blue collar slobs get everything they voted for. They need to feel what they voted for. I hope Dems don’t bail our republicans when it comes to funding the government this year. Let Republicans send us into default. Plunge the country into a recession. Let them make gigantic cuts. Repeal the ACA and force millions to go without insurance. Nothing sobers people up than to feel the actual consequences of their actions.
 
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Trump gets elected and the Asaad regime falls. Coincidence?

Yes. Yes it is a coincidence, but that doesn't mean Trump can't take credit, except that he's probably disappointed to see a dictator fall.
 
gandalfe said:
I think the pardon of Nixon was misguided, but that's looking back on it 50 years later. I can definitely see why he would say "We need to just put this behind us" but I think it would have been better for the country as a whole to get closure on it.

Don't forget, btw, that Reagan's team actively negotiated with the Iranian hostage takers to not release them before the election. Which is emphatically illegal.

www.pbs.org

Expert analyzes new account of GOP deal that used Iran hostage crisis for gain

The Iran hostage crisis consumed the last year of the Carter presidency, contributing to a perception of weakness. Saturday, a new allegation surfaced that Ronald Reagan's campaign worked to prevent the U.S. hostages from being freed before Election Day. Gary Sick, who was the Iran expert on...
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org
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Well you have to remember it was a time when you couldn't look weak in front of the Russians... (oh how that has changed...)

Reagan gets a ****ing soft ride in the media, history will hopefully give him the savaging he deserves. I still remember our first family holiday to the US in 1990, I had never seen such poverty (I had also come from one of the poorest parts of Melbourne) it was he first time I saw a slum it was like something you'd see in a movie. We couldn't believe it.
 
Rubashov said:
Well you have to remember it was a time when you couldn't look weak in front of the Russians... (oh how that has changed...)

Reagan gets a ****ing soft ride in the media, history will hopefully give him the savaging he deserves. I still remember our first family holiday to the US in 1990, I had never seen such poverty (I had also come from one of the poorest parts of Melbourne) it was he first time I saw a slum it was like something you'd see in a movie. We couldn't believe it.
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Reagan ruined everything.
 
Sardines said:
Reagan ruined everything.
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It was actually Nixon before 72 people like Reagan were seen as the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party, (much like Thatcher in the UK) Nixon brought them into the fold (I have no idea why) and in doing so started the movement to the right.
 
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