Well, I guess we had a good run.

[Scooter]

[Econoline]

“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation.
And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.”

— Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell - Sat. February 13, 2021

[Jarlaxle]

So come January, if Trump has been elected but we have a Democratic Speaker of the House, all Biden needs to do is order some FBI or Secret Service agents to carry out a hit on Trump and his Vice-President Elect, giving everyone involved a pardon. Speaker becomes President on January 20, and Biden can't be prosecuted for it.

Problem solved?

Oh, and for good measure, those agents also firebomb the houses of the six SCOTUS justices who issued this travesty of a ruling, and Biden appoints their successors (all under 35 and redder than a rose).

You should be in a secure mental health facility.

[BoSoxGal]

So come January, if Trump has been elected but we have a Democratic Speaker of the House, all Biden needs to do is order some FBI or Secret Service agents to carry out a hit on Trump and his Vice-President Elect, giving everyone involved a pardon. Speaker becomes President on January 20, and Biden can't be prosecuted for it.

Problem solved?

Oh, and for good measure, those agents also firebomb the houses of the six SCOTUS justices who issued this travesty of a ruling, and Biden appoints their successors (all under 35 and redder than a rose).

You should be in a secure mental health facility.

IMG_1928.jpeg (39.51 KiB) Viewed 3046 times

[Jarlaxle]

IMG_1928.jpeg

Yes, because I'm the one posting murder fantasies...wait, no. Scooter has been a vile piece of filth for years, but this is extreme even for someone as unhinged as that kook. This isn't flaming, this isn't even wishing death on someone, this is calling for assassination of the President and most of the Supreme Court.

I'm seriously considering whether I should report this to the FBI and Secret Service.

[Bicycle Bill]

IMG_1928.jpeg

Yes, because I'm the one posting murder fantasies...wait, no. Scooter has been a vile piece of filth for years, but this is extreme even for someone as unhinged as that kook. This isn't flaming, this isn't even wishing death on someone, this is calling for assassination of the President and most of the Supreme Court.

I'm seriously considering whether I should report this to the FBI and Secret Service.

Then you might as well report me too, because I feel the same way.

And this, by the way, is even further proof that there is no such thing as the 'deep-state' that right-wing whack-jobs have been touting.   Seriously, if there were such a thing as Mr. Phelps and the Impossible MIssions Force, or a sub-rosa version of Seal Team Six, don't you think they'd have been deployed against Dark-side Donny already?

-"BB"-

[Scooter]

I'm seriously considering whether I should report this to the FBI and Secret Service.

Go right ahead. Not sure what they would be investigating me for, since the SCOTUS has just ruled that if the President does it, it isn't a crime.

[Jarlaxle]

OK, that's another lie from you.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Point of order. No, the SCOTUS has not ruled that it's not a crime. They have ruled that if the President did it as an official Presidenty act, then he can't be charged with the crime.

[Sue U]

Point of order. No, the SCOTUS has not ruled that it's not a crime. They have ruled that if the President did it as an official Presidenty act, then he can't be charged with the crime.

Distinction lacks any practical difference.

[Joe Guy]

Google told me that the constitution requires a President to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Although it's not very detailed, a president's duties are outlined in Sections 2 and 3.

It seems to me that the SCOTUS ruling hasn't actually given the office of president more power than it had. It has forced the courts to clarify acts undertaken by the president outside of his/her duties if they're going to charge a crime. Obviously, the biggest immediate problem caused by this decision is that if Trump is elected, he has the power to stop all the current court actions against him. So the real problem is Trump, not the SCOTUS. They could have made it easier to prosecute him but they didn't make it impossible.

I'm trying to look at the situation from a neutral position.

Am I wrong?

[Sue U]

Am I wrong?

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: SCOTUS ruled that a president could be prosecuted for acts that were not "official acts" but then made virtually everything a president does -- especially when directing governmental agencies -- an official act that cannot be prosecuted or used as evidence in any later criminal or civil case. So, for example, Trump directing the Attorney General to launch a sham investigation of "massive voter fraud" as cover for substituting his own fraudulent electors is not a crime or evidence of a crime. Leaning on the Vice President to stop the formal counting of certified electoral votes so that fraudulent electors could be substituted is not a crime or evidence of a crime. Inciting a mob to attack Congress is not a crime or evidence of criminal intent. Withholding congressionally appropriated funds to blackmail a foreign aid recipient into smearing a political rival is not a crime or evidence of criminal intent. Threatening state officials to get them to overturn election results is not a crime or evidence of criminal intent. Literally anything done using the executive levers of governmental power is immunized from review and prosecution.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Point of order. No, the SCOTUS has not ruled that it's not a crime. They have ruled that if the President did it as an official Presidenty act, then he can't be charged with the crime.

Distinction lacks any practical difference.

Well spotted, ma'am!

[Joe Guy]

Am I wrong?

Short answer: Yes...........

Thank you for you response.

Does the SCOTUS ruling actually say (or mean), "Literally anything done using the executive levers of governmental power is immunized from review and prosecution."

Can those actions really not be charged and tested in courts? Couldn't a prosecutor make a case that any one or more of those acts aren't official acts but are actions outside of them for the purpose of achieving personal gain?

[MajGenl.Meade]

I think they already answered that Joe. Trump tried to suborn the system by engaging with his VP to reject his Constitutional duties to certify the Electoral College votes for his personal gain and to invalidate a legal election. Which is one of the charges raised against Trump.

And the Court has clearly said, "No. The President speaking to the VP is 100% official presidential business. Therefore, he cannot be brought to court to answer that charge". And then they added, "And good luck trying to prove that anything else he did was unofficial"

[Joe Guy]

And the Court has clearly said, "No. The President speaking to the VP is 100% official presidential business. Therefore, he cannot be brought to court to answer that charge". And then they added, "And good luck trying to prove that anything else he did was unofficial"

I guess our only hope is that enough voters realize how dangerous it would be to elect Trump and that he gets defeated in November. It's still difficult for me to understand how Trump became the leader of the republican party. It's as though a very contagious stupid virus was purposefully unleashed from a lab near Wu(shing)Han DC.

[ex-khobar Andy]

IMG_1928.jpeg

Yes, because I'm the one posting murder fantasies...wait, no. Scooter has been a vile piece of filth for years, but this is extreme even for someone as unhinged as that kook. This isn't flaming, this isn't even wishing death on someone, this is calling for assassination of the President and most of the Supreme Court.

I'm seriously considering whether I should report this to the FBI and Secret Service.

From Justice Sotomayor's dissent: "When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune."

Are you going to report Justice Sotomayor to the FBI and Secret Service, Jarl? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Jarlaxle]

IMG_1928.jpeg

Yes, because I'm the one posting murder fantasies...wait, no. Scooter has been a vile piece of filth for years, but this is extreme even for someone as unhinged as that kook. This isn't flaming, this isn't even wishing death on someone, this is calling for assassination of the President and most of the Supreme Court.

I'm seriously considering whether I should report this to the FBI and Secret Service.

From Justice Sotomayor's dissent: "When he uses his official powers in any way, under the majority’s reasoning, he now will be insulated from criminal prosecution. Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune."

Are you going to report Justice Sotomayor to the FBI and Secret Service, Jarl? Inquiring minds want to know.

No, I am just going to point and laugh at her insane hyperbole.

[Scooter]

[Sue U]

Point of order. No, the SCOTUS has not ruled that it's not a crime. They have ruled that if the President did it as an official Presidenty act, then he can't be charged with the crime.

Distinction lacks any practical difference.

Well spotted, ma'am!

Your point of order needs one of those emoji things that indicates either "very dry humor" or "shooting myself in the head now."

No, I am just going to point and laugh at her insane hyperbole.

What makes this "insane hyperbole"? Under the Court's broad grant of immunity, how exactly would you prosecute a criminal case for ordering Seal Team Six to assassinate a political rival or for organizing a military coup? "Commander-in-chief" is a core presidential function. How would you prosecute taking a bribe in exchange for a pardon? A president's motivation for any official act cannot be considered. What is insane is the Court's majority putting a president above the law.