Thursday, July 04, 2024

King Donald

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court declared that the American President -- and they were writing about Donald Trump -- is King. Jennifer Rubin writes:

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. held: “We conclude that under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power requires that a former president have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office.” He continued: “At least with respect to the President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. As for his remaining official actions, he is also entitled to immunity. At the current stage of proceedings in this case, however, we need not and do not decide whether that immunity must be absolute, or instead whether a presumptive immunity is sufficient.”

They are preparing the way for King Donald:

The notion that any illegal action could be draped in the cloak of “official conduct” should alarm all Americans. As the dissent points out, if as commander in chief Trump were to order Seal Team 6 to assassinate political opponents, what is to stop him? Given that the next president could be an already convicted felon, the prospect of an imperial president with a get-out-of-jail card should be terrifying. And to make matters worse, the court may not inquire into the president’s motive to determine if he was acting in an official capacity.

That's the key: the president's motives can't be questioned. What kind of court excludes motive in the commission of a crime? Two of the six justices have connections to the insurrection Trump staged. The last time he ran, he had no platform. This time he has a nine-hundred-page tome, declaring what he will do. His intention is to declare himself king.

Clearly, the highest court in the land is on Trump's side. Only American voters can save themselves.

Image: Salon.com


17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, this ruling applies to President Joe Biden as well. So here's his opportunity to get rid of Trump, right?

GDN

Owen Gray said...

What is important, GDN, is how they get rid of Trump. They must defeat him at the ballot box.

Anonymous said...

Call it what it is; Communism! If this is not advocating class war leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and where a leader is voted in for life, I do not know what is. If this does not turn every Americans colon, what will .. question mark. Anyong

Owen Gray said...

It should turn their colons, Anyong. Unfortunately, lots of Americans celebrate it.

zoombats said...

It seems to me that the least Biden could do would declare it illegal, as of now, for a felon to occupy the office. Surely if a felon from Canada cannot even enter the States it is easy to bar a felon from occupying the office of President. Assassinating him might be an interesting evocation of the new powers of immunity.

Owen Gray said...

And, yes, Anyong, there are Trumps here. They're springing up all over the world.

Owen Gray said...

Unfortunately, to make it stick, that rule would have to make it through Congress, zoombats. That won't happen.

John W said...

The Supreme Court is now controlled by the Republican Party. Any action by Biden would quickly be overturned.

Owen Gray said...

That's true -- unless Biden firmly controls both houses, John. That's not very likely.

Northern PoV said...

"They must defeat him at the ballot box."

Why?
The MAGA folks didn't accept the last one.
Why would they accept this one (unless it was a 50 state/70% landslide*).

*On that note, if Harris or any other vigorous DEM were to take over and run on

* legal cannabis
* expand the SC to 15
* birth control and abortion rights
* peace not war

a landslide could happen.

Otherwise, its 'Hail King Donald' time (and locally Little-Prince-PP?)




Owen Gray said...

Primary voters chose Biden, PoV. It would be a mistake to ignore them.

Northern PoV said...

In the 2020 primaries, Biden was 5th until he won a meaningless-victory* in South Carolina.

*South Carolina is reliably Rethuglican in Presidential elections.
(In 1976, Southerner Jimmy Carter squeaked into a win there.)

The DEM elite then convinced everyone to drop out, shun Sanders, and pick Biden.

Biden picked a weak running mate (who did badly in her primary attempt) and was almost as terrible as Hillary. He almost lost to the orange bloat.

The primaries meant even less than in 2020 and four years later, Biden is wet toast.

Northern PoV said...

Meanwhile in the UK ...

Labour presented nothing major in their platform and achieved just 36% of the vote.
It explains why there seems to be no mandate from the British people.

And Starmer’s milquetoast gov’t will mean that the right wing (Con 24% + Farage 14%) will soon have the upper-hand again, once Farage’s folks have (as they did in Canada) captured the coveted ‘Conservative’ brand.

Jeremy Corbyn did better than Starmer. In 2017, by percent and in both 2017 and 2019, by absolute number of votes. This year, Independent Jeremy Corbyn trounced Labour in Islington North.

Owen Gray said...

Biden won the popular vote by seven million votes, PoV. The problem is the anachronism called the Electoral College -- which Biden won by the number of votes Trump did four years before.

Owen Gray said...

People everywhere seem to be in a "throw the bums out" mood, PoV.

Anonymous said...

Breaking...
After watching the French left unite, and then cooperate in 218 seats with Macron's centrists in the second round ....
LePen is 3rd!

I dread the next time I hear Libs or NDP proudly say they will have a candidate in every riding.
NPoV

Owen Gray said...

There's a way to do politics, PoV. And there's a way not to do it.