Let us not forget in the 14th Amendment ........"or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof." Not admonishing their actions yet rather applauding and calling them patriots I love you, and with pronouncements he would pardon them would seem to me is giving aid and comfort.
Not to forget the wisdom that every villain is the hero of their own story. That doesn't mean they're not still a villain.
Why should Trump have his intent so considered when murderers rarely get to say they genuinely thought they were doing the world a favour by slaying their victim and have that claim be treated seriously. The only instance where the latter is given real consideration is when said murderer is pleading insanity.
If Trump uses intent to justify heinous actions, despite little credible evidence for and much against, is he then basically admitting a delusional mindset or even an insane one? I mean... he probably could do that and not have it particularly hurt his numbers since about half of America's likely voters are right there with him.
death, very soon hopefully
I have no issue per se with the concept of "originalism/textualism" , that's ok in and of itself.
It's perfectly fine to hold the view that says - "The words mean this , if you want them to mean something different then change the words"
BUT - If that's the position then the process to change the words has to be straight-forward , functional and democratic.
In Ireland , if we want to change the constitution, someone makes a suggestion, it gets reviewed and if considered viable it's put to a vote by the people and a simple majority makes the change.
If we don't like it we can change it back just as easily so "Irish Constitutional originalism" wouldn't be a problem at all.
The problem is that the process to change the US Constitution is so incredibly complex ,convoluted and politically tainted that a determined minority of a minority of the population can block any changes, making large swathes of the US Constitution utterly unfit for modern use.
If lawyers representing Trump are going to argue for a narrow scope of what the text in question means, they're probably going to be looking for supporting historical documents to back that up like letters and minutes of debates and so on. If they're going to argue an originalist position, they're going to need to establish what was originally meant when the text was written.
In all the cases so far, Trump has singularly failed to put forward any credible evidence of any of his positions.
He spouts whatever rubbish he thinks will work to get him off the hook, it is magnified by the media and by his supporters to a level where one could be forgiven to actually think it is credible, but when faced with actual legal process the entire facade disappears.
No position Trump has in terms of his legal position should be given any credibility until he can actually demonstrate it in a court.
Poor trump is All Shook Up with people with Suspicious Minds trying to get him into a Jailhouse Rock.
It's all about delaying things long enough for him to become President again. It's the only hope he has of squashing all or most of the cases against him.
America is a country where you'll have a tough time applying for menial jobs with a criminal conviction and your voting rights are stripped, but you can still run for president.
So, I don't even think that a conviction would even hurt Trump that much. He'll probably never see the inside of a jail cell, number one, or if he did he'd probably get a whole wing to himself, and he could still run for president. He'd be the far-right Nelson Mandela. The problem is that America is has become so polarised that not even a full sweep on possible convictions against him will be seen as an innate disqualifier, but rather as an attempt by 'the deep state' to silence him. Once it gets to that point, you cannot rely on process to save things since a massive amount of Americans will not abide by it.
There's no way he'd be running again if the threat of prison time wasn't hanging over him. He (probably correctly) believes that the Presidency can be used as a nice shield against his indictments. It's why it's so important for at least one of these cases to go to trial before the election. Having him take office again and the cases against him disappear would be catastrophic for the rule of law.
I think you're underestimating how much he enjoys the ego massaging that running for, and being president results in.
even if he lost and got convicted he'd tease running in 2028 just to keep sending out fundraising emails
Possibly, but considering he's lost in every election since 2016 you'd think he'd have gotten tired of losing by now. Apparently not.
Project Veritas lied about voter fraud, I hope you're sitting down for this
Trump's opponent, Nancy Pelosi, lost the Nevada Primary to 'none of these candidates'
To be fair , the Nevada GOP have played silly buggers there big time.
The "Primary" doesn't carry any delegate votes only the Caucus vote tomorrow does - only Trump is on the Caucus vote , Haley( or anyone else) wasn't allowed.
So the vote today served absolutely no purpose and no matter what happened Haley couldn't win any delegates.
In a way, that nearly sums up the entire election picture this year. You'd just want everyone to go away, think about what they've done, and come back with better options.
Oh we would definitely continue. Not just for the fundraising grift (which I suspect he’ll become increasingly dependent on over time), but also because this is his whole “bit” now.
He used to be an 80’s property magnate…but then that went to hell when the harsh light of reality showed the world how thick he was.
He used to be a reality TV character that gleaned some renewed fame for himself, but those days well and truly over thanks to his current “bit”.
Which is: Hard done by Ex-President / Rightful President who was cheated / Presidential hopeful. The second he gives up on running (or worse: endorses someone else) it’s all over. He’ll be an old has-been with maybe the most unhinged of the MAGA loons sticking with him.
Once it’s no longer possible for him to be their President / Dictator/ King, I suspect many of the MAGA crowd will move on. He’s only useful to them if he can present a possibility where their brand of stupid can be stapled across the face of the US. If Trump can’t do that anymore it over for him.
@Rawr
Disagree. I would agree, though, if there were another individual as caustic as Trump, but there isn't. There are a few tribute acts floating around, but their similarities are either partial or just a vestige, a personality that they don. Yeah, the Trump base would dearly want him to president, but his great value is as an agitator and disrupter. The base will not move on from unless their is a major cultural change among them or they find someone who is just as odious and charismatic as he is. They've already shown strong loyalty to him through a failed reelection bid and a midterm where his endorsements got beaten. That loyalty is not based on pragmatism, but primal feeling.
Was he even that? A magnate I mean? Cos my understanding is he inherited his portfolio from daddy simply earned wealth without ever "earning" it, his actual ventures often complete failures.
I thought this WP analysis was quite interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gCYNaQQ3Bw
It backed up the fact that Trump's numbers in both Iowa and New Hampshire were quite low, considering he's basically running as an incumbent (being a former President). He's not attracting "on the fence" Republicans or Independents - obviously a fair portion of people that voted for Haley will just row in behind whoever the nominee is. However, not all of them will, which would likely be his undoing in a general election.
It's just amusing to me that the GOP are intent on choosing a candidate that probably can't win (Trump) over a candidate that probably would win in a general election (Haley). It makes no sense at all. They're happier having Trump as their leader than they are actually winning.
And all because Citizen Trump demanded it...
I guess by that I meant the public persona he tried to project, which eventually went to hell when he showed people how stupid he was with money.
Maybe someone could propose a motion in the House allocating military and financial aid to Russia?
And they might give a subvention to the Russian electoral committee while they are at it.
It would be less hypocritical than just blocking Ukraine's lifeline.
Ah yes then true: Trump did indeed cultivate a successful mirage of wealth; the 90s and his Hollywood cameo days to The Apprentice. Maybe if Trump stopped there, and didn't get obsessed about Obama's birth certificate he'd now be ... ... well whatever passes for "happy" in Donald Trump's rotting brain, enjoying his septuagenarian years without problem.
It's completely mad on their part. Biden is a very weak candidate. So they are going to nominate the man who has lost to him in the past and will very likely lose again. They are throwing away a very winnable election. They could have had the first woman president, Asian American president or both. Instead a re-run of 2020.
They could have had the first woman president, Asian American president or both.
I don't think any Republicans would consider that a win!
Some would, they seemed to be silenced by those who want a rematch of 2020.
Think quite a few Republicans have just written off 2024 at this stage. Around nine months to go, so who knows what will happen?
I mean, he could very well still win due to the weakness of Biden as a candidate. But they'd have a much better chance with Haley than with a 4 times indicted and twice impeached former President who'll likely have at least one criminal conviction against his name by November, not to mention the fact that he's already a court-certified sex pest.
I think Biden's approval rating is a bit unfair on him. He's actually accomplished a lot domestically in his first term. It's a shame he's not ten years younger.
And to think, if the Republican Senators voted to convict trump in the second impeachment, they would be gifted a somewhat viable candidate against a single-term Biden in Haley.
Well well well, how the turntables...
