2021-01-02 Trump on a call with Georgia election officials asked them "All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state."
Not an official act on any planet in this solar system, how is this not a loss for Trump?
The court decides which acts are official. They will declare whatever they want official. "He was doing it in his capacity as president to protect the election. He knew he won, so the votes must just be missing."
Problem is that with this, proving that it fell under one power basically means all other laws, even ones that specifically were meant to restrict that power, are meaningless. What he did could be 100% illegal, but he can't be prosecuted for it, so he can't be removed from office or punished after he leaves office.
If he was making that call as the official president of the United States, speaking in an official capacity, then it doesn't matter if the order he gives is illegal if it was within his power to order the Governor of a state to do anything at all. If it's not in his power for him to give an order to the Governor, then he just has to say it was an official suggestion as the president of the US. There's no restriction that says a president can't suggest that the Governor of a state does something to benefit the president. Doesn't matter that the thing he asked for was illegal because it can't be questioned in court at all to determine its legality.
Now it depends on if the Governor were to actually do it. And if as president Trump decides to order the assassination of that Governor once he refused, that would not be prosecutable. The assassin would be the only one who could be punished for the illegal act.
Immunity from prosecution doesn't mean the thing you're doing isn't legal, it means that no one has the right to punish you for that act. It's still unethical to break the law, but there is no enforceable consequence.
"Chief Justice Roberts determines that “official conduct,” which garners presumptive immunity under the Court’s framework, may not be used as evidence of other crimes when prosecuting former presidents."
My understanding, a president having an "official" meeting with his staff regarding commiting a crime that falls outside of his normal presidential duties is no longer admissible as evidence for the criminal act.
"My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel,"
This was the moment for the the United States where we all start "ride a camel" again. "The American Republic" Apex is over.
I tell people as often as I can, especially my trans and bipoc friends; now is the time. Get a couple guns (a long one and a short one) and learn how to use them. Learn some basic first aid, you really just need to know how to stabilize someone. Start networking with like-minded people in your communities. The police will not protect us, they’ve proven they’ll happily club senior citizens to the ground and shoot any protesters in the face with rubber bullets while escorting a rightwing murderer to safety.
Iran was a secular, liberal state until almost 1980 when they (mostly legitimately) elected an Islamist theocracy; it could happen here
Pretty much everything the president does while in office is official. So the more important question is what is within the president's powers.
The problem with immunity rather than changing the law is that all he has to do is prove that in some circumstance he has that power and that he believes that circumstance existed at the time and he used that authority to do it.
For example, he has the power to order the military to assassinate, so the specifics of whether it was legal to assassinate a certain person can't be questioned in court, only whether he has the power to issue that type of order. Because once it's established that it is within his power and he states that he used his authority as president to issue the order, he is immune to any further prosecution. Also, it doesn't matter if he ordered the CIA to do it and they don't have that legal authority to act inside the US. In that case the president is breaking the law, he just can't be prosecuted for it, only the CIA agents involved could be. It's not presidential authority that is being violated in that case so it's off the table for prosecution regardless of how illegal it is.
The petition accuses Yoon of corruption, stoking the risk of war with North Korea and exposing South Koreans to health risks by not stopping Japan from releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Yoon has been unpopular since taking office in 2022, with his latest approval ratings hovering around the 25 percent mark since April.
Take some responsibility for how shitty the Democrats are. They're not entitled to people's votes they have to earn them. If my options are shit salad and shit sandwich I'm not worried about carbs.
You do realize that if the USA goes to shit, the rest of the world will also go? Not because the USA went to shit, but because the shit-in-chief will be bound and determined to bring said shit to the rest of the world and cram it down y'all's throats while shaking hands with Putin and Kim? He already talked about withdrawing from NATO and telling Putin he has carte blanche to just roll over Europe, and don't be surprised if a few lobbyists in the military-industrial complex convince him that taking a second look at colonization of the Global South for their minerals might just be a good idea while he's at it.
sounds like the American far-right is united behind their preferred candidate, I wonder why Democrats aren't trying similarly to court the left with a good candidate?
aren't you tired of bouncing between right and far right?
Of course I am. But given the choice between creeping fascism and immediate fascism, which realistically is the only choice this election, I'll choose the one that still has options, however few, for at least a few more years, if only so other people have a chance to get out while they can or make preparations.
I said nothing about entitlement, only pointed out the facts. You can both sides it all you want, but the last 10 days has exposed how absolutely ridiculous that position is. Although it's long since been obvious.
isn't it fun how American politics is all about the action or inaction of 80+ year old fossils? people society at large ignores when they're family or neighbors but they're running the whole fucking thing
I'm sure he could have done more than he did. Ultimately, they didn't think Trump would win and didn't fight back hard enough because they were worried about the backlash that might cause on the upcoming election.
Now, Republicans have shown that they won't allow votes in the last year, but only if the dems have the presidency. It also set the precedent that they can even do that in the first place.
I guarantee you someone who needs replacing further out than a year will now be denied in the future for some other bullshit reason.
Edit: here's my worst outcome guess. For all future terms where the dems hold the presidency, but not the senate, all future SC nomination votes will be denied since congress and the presidency is conflicted and we can't have a vote while it's in conflict.
And there are still people who think voting for a third party is a good idea.
Well it is. Because far to many people are simply voting for the lesser of evils, because our options have been terrible for decades. And the longer we keep perpetuation this broken system, the worse it's going to get.
Lets say Biden wins... this exact same shit show is coming about in 4 years again. And when that orange clown was in office, people were already trying to set up a Trump dynasty... that for some fucking reason that family should just be in power. This pattern cannot continue. We need to get out of "lets go with what will hopefully do the least damage" and start voting in people that are actually going to represent the people. Sure maybe POTUS might not be the best place to start with that, but it needs to start somewhere.
And if not the Trump family, it's going to be some other bozo like Elon (somehow) or Bezos because our political system has become that much of a joke.
The rich keep getting away with shit, nothing happens. Corrupting in our government, nothing happens. Corruption in our police, nothing happens. Rights are being taken away from people, nothing happens. In some areas of the country, public schools are now displaying the 10 commandments for some reason. Oh and public taxes are going to help fund private schools. And school shootings.... and nothing happens. Our national debt is out of control. And the state on how veterans are taken care of is pathetic. I'm sick and tired of incompetent and inept leadership. So yeah, maybe a 3rd party might be a good idea. Or we can keep this shit show up until it's too late, which is the most likely outcome.
Even in the outside chance that the third party wins, we still immediately revert to a two party system. It solves nothing as the nature of our voting system is to turn into a two-party system. It's a vanity vote, that's it.
This pattern cannot continue.
And voting third party in the presidential election does not stop it from continuing. At best it just switches what "two parties" we are voting for. If you want to stop this from continuing, you work locally to get how we get local candidates elected (like STAR or ranked) and then you work up from there. But you don't want to. You want to just do the simple thing of casting a vote and believing you've "done your part" which is why it's a vanity vote.
The presidential vote is a strategic one that you use understanding the rules of the game you are actually playing, not the one you (and I) wish you were playing.
He can be charged for private acts, but as long as he used official communication to discuss it with others that can't be used as evidence. Then the stacked courts get to decide what is official and private, so private is effectively immune as well.
right, but they also said any exercise of constitutional authority is an official act, so good luck getting anything declared a private act by the courts.
Don't worry, they effectively ruled it's okay as a hobby as well by gutting the Chevron defense last week to kneecap the EPA and every major federal agency.
Would it be illegal for Biden to invalidate every ruling this Court has made, including the Presidential immunity one? Or would that lead to a paradox?
The ruling on presidential immunity today was pretty paradoxical, he has criminal immunity to breaking the law if he argues it's "to take care that laws be faithfully executed." Absolute immunity even since that's right in article 2, so why not?
When this first dropped, all the news media had kind of cautious titles. It wasn't until after their legal reporters actually read it that they started getting the point.
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