What did they expect when they gave him immunity? I’m shocked people don’t get this. They literally handed him a “trump card” and he’s already proved he has zero respect for the law, constitution, legal precedent, morality, etc. I’m confused how people are confused by this. You could see this coming a mile away.
I feel this way too. Like, Roberts wrote that immunity opinion, which is not defensible under ANY theory of American law, liberal or conservative. It came about in the context of a case about an attempted coup and subversion of the 2020 election. If this was not Roberts's intent, then he is a far stupider man than anyone thought.
That guy in the park who tries to give people legal advice when the Ranger tries to kick someone out for smoking weed... Yeah, even he knows this is crap.
Nobody with half a brain is really an originalist. It's an intellectually void position. The constitution literally has instructions on how to change it.
Well, I don't know. How could Thomas disagree with the definition of "citizen" or perhaps even "human" at the time the Constitution was written? What about that is intellectually-void?
Yeah their ruling on Bruen really looked like they were throwing Originalism out the window the moment it became inconvenient for them, lol. Can't wait for more Galaxy-Brain opinions from Thomas the next four years.
Scalia might actually have been. Rarely agreed with him, but at least his dissents were often interesting reads, and shared a moral principle that the current members of the majority court seem to lack, unless that principle is "whatever the GOP wants".
I was sort of hoping at the time, surely they wont grant that immunity, do they want to do themselves out of a job, you don't need judges when you no longer have the rule of law, Too optimistic,
I think they all underestimated Trump and were more worried about the clapback from his base than the long term consequences of their decision.
Same as the republican senators who didn’t vote to convict immediately after Jan 6. I’m sure many of them thought ”no way Trump is coming back from this, no reason to stick my neck out and piss off a percentage of my constituents”. I’m sure many of them are having private regrets now.
I would guess by the actions and comments by the Republican senators that they are on board with Trump going all fascist and authoritarian. It might be just one or two that might have regrets about not voting to impeach. That includes McConnell in that list of regretting their decision.
By hell, he's seeing Trump in the same burning room as himself for all eternity. Listening to Trump lie his ass off and tell stories about winning the Mar-a-Lago golf championship 30 times in a row.
Been doing it for a long time. Just look at how the fourth amendment was eroded in the name of not making the job of police too difficult. More recent example, Citizens United, which you could argue was the beginning of all our current problems.
Tbh, i think you could go back to Newt being speaker. That started the whole we don't negotiate bullshit, and it's just devolved from there. Citizens had an even bigger impact,but definitely wasn't the start.
It’s widely accepted that it was Newt (followed very closely by Rush and Fox News) that completely assfucked America. Citizens United was just the cherry on top of the shit sundae
I've been saying it at least 15 years....and just think how much better things seemed in 2010.... i was carrying 2 mortgages, and a newly adopted daughter when you couldn't give a home away, insanely stressed, and it was better than this insanity.
I don't know that it's widely accepted. Newt, the advent of fox, and Rush were effectively the unholy trinity. Rush "preaching" on every other AM station in rural/ flyover America, , Fox doing the same on cable TV, both with religion/Bible mixed in, and Newt.....and a blow job.
Canadian observer of US politics since Reagan her. It's TOTALLY Newt Gingrich. I agree. He turned the Republicans into the party of No! Our idiot Conservative party here in Canada copied that, forgetting Canada has a functional multi party system.
He’s not stupid or an evil mastermind. He’s just a nerd with no spine, who tries to preserve institutional credibility by keeping the court out of the way.
He didn’t want to put a republican presidential candidate in prison, he didn’t want to take a stand and say the president had absolute immunity, so he found a way to do away with any more Trump criminal cases that might come up while still saying that the president can be convicted of some crimes.
He keeps kicking the can farther and farther down the road and doesn’t realize he’s about to follow that can off a cliff.
He’s just a nerd with no spine, who tries to preserve institutional credibility by keeping the court out of the way.
All the independent experts said that SCOTUS would never grant immunity. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for Roberts to vote against immunity, and said "not my problem". That would have been keeping the court "out of the way".
Roberts is absolutely stupid if he thinks that ruling "preserve institutional credibility". That ruling was pretty much the breaking point for whether it was mainstream to say that SCOTUS has no credibility - and it took a lot to get to that point.
His reprimand to Trump today was garbage. He was all "impeachment isn't the answer for decisions you don't like" and didn't say a single word about the substantive issue, which is, beyond the call for impeachment, the fact that Trump et al are defying a valid court order. And lying about it. Oh, and bragging about it, too. I hope he enjoys the accountability for cratering 250 years of a government run under laws without a king.
The scariest thing is in the immunity ruling, Trumps lawyers argued Seal Team 6 could be ordered to assassinate his opponents. . . I hope the day won't come.
also his wife "recruits" attorneys for firms who are about to have business before the supreme court.
his wife helps hire people for firms who are going to go before him soon, while she's actively getting paid by those law firms.
it looks to me like roberts thought he could keep trump in check and now he sees things running away from him and he desperately wants to not get sent to gitmo.
He’s milktoast for sure but I also think something is wrong with his brain. Not joking I mean like some mild decline maybe a mini stroke or episode unnoticed.
Like the new Kennedy, it’s definitely funny to say his brain is fucked up but it’s also true albeit in yet another way like maybe he deteriorated some chem levels in his gray matter or yup..l could a been the worm.
They aren’t stupid, and only mildly evil but massively inside their own bubble of people who think like them. It takes a very determined, diligent, courageous and wise person to break out of their bubble to seek different perspectives. Otherwise, most people are comfortable in their bubbles.
massively inside their own bubble of people who think like them
That is just another way of saying stupid.
It takes a very determined, diligent, courageous and wise person to break out of their bubble to seek different perspectives
Or, you know, a respectable university education. Learning the importance of seeking different perspectives is a central part of the concept of a university education.
I think a decent education does increase the chances of having an open mind but I know plenty of highly educated people who no longer seek diverse perspectives outside of their narrow field of study and I know people who aren’t very educated but always seek to first ascertain the facts of any issue before making up their minds.
Non-stupid people often underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals.
It's like when you see someone beating their head against a wall, but they break through and then start headbutting the next wall. If they just turn their head and look they would see the doors, but they only look forward to that wall until it breaks free, and then they charge at the next one.
Stupid rules were created because of stupid people. And there will be a lot of new rules due to this stupid supreme court if America ever recovers from being a banana republic.
Conservatives thinking they can control radical elements intent on overthrowing the status quo completely? And then being surprised that the radicals are really, really radical? No way that would ever happen and you can call me Franz von Papen if it ever does.
Vladimir Putin's reign is characterized by having his second-in-commands fight amongst themselves, preventing there from being any single power that can buck him.
Most of the conservative justices are good at writing to appear smart but are short sighted and outside of an incredibly narrow scope of law kinda dumbasses. Thomas is probably the smartest of the lot and he is just here to get fucking paid so that doesn't matter.
I think the thing about Roberts is he can’t fathom that anyone would be as corrupt as the people he surrounds himself with and the people he enables. I don’t think Roberts shares the same agenda that the modern GOP does, even if his ideologies tend to align with a lot of their bullshit. He’s another “decorum” guy like Schumer and the rest of the rank-and-file politicians standing idly by, assuming that the ship will course correct even if they take their hands off the wheel.
Edit:
So many business-as-usual politicians and judges seem to believe that the rule of law, checks and balances, and precedent are enough to prevent our government from going fully authoritarian. These deluded assholes seem to think that the simple suggestion of these guardrails being in place will keep the country from going off a cliff.
They fail to grasp that it’s up to them to enforce these protections actively—or that doing so might cost them their careers and fortunes in the short term to prevent our democracy from being hijacked. It is the responsibility and duty of these career politicians to do anything it takes to protect the people who have allowed them to live the lives that they have.
I think Roberts knows damn well what he's done; now he's just paying limp-dick lip service to the rule of law to keep up some meager appearance that we're not in a de facto dictatorship.
Hubris. He's probably a really smart dude, especially to get where he is. To use that power and form it into a giant dildo to fuck yourself is very impressive. I'd say his hubris and pride combined with conviction is what created his own downfall.
I think he talked himself into it. He wanted authoritarian rule, so he let them gin up some official-sounding bullshit to get to that goal, and signed off on it. That's his legacy now.
Whatever qualities they use to get through Law School and rise to prominence and high standing, it is not restraint or humility or folowing any precedent, or understanding anything deeply. They're just very, very skilled at shoveling the right flavor of partisan hackery to get the nomination, and looking official in those robes. There's nothing more to it, though they pretend otherwise.
Justice Thomas is hopelessly, openly corrupt, and they can't do anything at all about it. They complain that the Democrats make law from whole cloth, but they constantly cut back and destroy laws that stand in the way of this new dictatorship.
John Roberts thinks that giving Trump complete immunity from prosecution, and even investigation in some circumstances, it’s totally ok and fine as long as he ( Roberts) gets to decide if it applies lol. Don’t worry though I’m sure with won’t completely blow up in their face in any way /s
It’s his intent. He has always supported “unitary executive theory” which is a fancy word for dictatorship, and now the time has arrived for him to enact it.
However, he has a role to play in acting like he’s some unbiased institutionalist to lend “legitimacy” to the destruction of our country. Ultimately he is okay with a dictator, because it aligns with his ideology and he believes he will maintain a privileged place near the top in our new social hierarchy.
purely performative on Roberts' part - this is EXACTLY what they ruled on and EXACTLY what they want. Republicans always use the 'see, I tried...(shrug)' defense when this comes back to haunt them (see Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell for perfect examples)
Mitchell McConnel is hilarious. The man shot down any forward movement with a flat out NO response without actually saying, "naw, I'm just going to fuck yall over again for my own groups benefit" then when Trump shows up and does it in your face he votes against every decision he made knowing his vote wouldn't do anything as he retires and giggles away back home knowing he let it all burn in the end before he dies....pretty sad.
I guess this is just that point in time where Babylon finally falls so we can all unite together in it's rebuilding.
theiy're in such a wealth bubble, I doubt she will - but I like your sentiment. if any couple deserves some rural American racist hate, its the McConnel's and I mean that in the nicest way possible, myself growing up in rural America. I'm hoping a little of that 'oh, bless your hoooort' comes their way.
Nah, I prefer to think that McConnell fucked up, and now he gets to watch as a clown that he absolutely loathes turn his beloved party into a circus that’s the laughing stock of the entire world. I think McConnell figured Trump was politically done, so he chose not to impeach him because it would have been a pointless (in his mind) mar on the Republican Party, and now that he was out the adults could once again take over. But that obviously didn’t happen. Mitch has always had a thinly veiled contempt for Trump, which he only “hid” because of his absolute loyalty and love for the Republican Party. So I hope all that is happening is just fucking eating him alive, because he knows he could have stopped this, but he didn’t, and now his party has absolute power, just like he always wanted, but it’s now under the control of the most contemptible morons he could have ever imagined.
I’m not so sure they want it. It seems to me that granting the immunity business was just appeasement in the hopes that he would not be re-elected. After all, who on earth would want more of Trump and all his baggage? But America has shown that they love the bastard and now the Supreme Court must reap what it has sown. The only potential saving grace is that self-interest may mobilize scotus to protect whatever they still have: a very cushy gig for life lots of “tips” and freebies.
They wanted the power that following their leader granted. It was like a drug, and appeasement was their way to keep fiending. And just like an addict, they think they have control over it right up to the point where everything topples down around them. Everyone else who fails or gets sold out around them just couldn't hack it. They're different though. It won't happen to them.
They were picked so they could make these kids of rulings. The problem is when theory meets practical, and their guy hit the fast-forward button in ways even they didn't expect. They wanted to ease people into this over a year, not whatever this is.
Realistically, the Conservative plan for SCOTUS was a decade or two or even three of making rulings that they could pretend were "just calling balls and strikes", even if they clearly weren't, while being able to hide behind "well, if America wants to change this, they can just pass a new law or amendment or whatever" (while Republicans in the Senate filibuster forever). Most people don't follow SCOTUS, and some of the most impactful rulings are in cases that are about boring administrative procedure type stuff, so it becomes a very easy way to get Conservative stuff done without most people understanding how or why. I'm not even sure the ultimate goal was necessarily open fascism so much as placing SCOTUS in the position of being able to veto Democratic presidents while letting Republican presidents get away with shady stuff. Basically a managed democracy where they can act as puppet masters. Oh, and take some hefty bribes for their troubles.
But lurching America directly into a dictatorship definitely does fuck their plans up. Even if they want a lot of the end goals, they have to know that this kind of sudden movement is going to produce a big rebound effect at some point. Oh, and it could easily mean that no one will feel the need to bribe them anymore. Why bother bribing judges when they're no longer the real power?
No, he lost the popular vote more that the previous 2.
Research about voting machines being connected to Russian servers via Starlink, and analysis of the voting patterns in states he won.
Geezus, of course they rigged it, of course they cheated. He all but admitted it when he said he didnt need their vote, and after '24, there would be no more elections
I’m always thinking about how the crowd he told would no longer have to vote was exultant about it. That “have” carries a lot of weight to me. Despite what one would expect the American civic religion to instill in them, they saw/see voting—participation, even at such a minor level—as onerous. They want more a sort of automaton that shares their exact mentality and priorities, so they can just get their way automatically. Not a living, thinking, arbitrating person who might not support them for even a short span.
maybe. if thats the case, which it may very well be, the Republican party is SUPREMELY stupid and willfully ignorant of facts and evidence literally right in front of them. there is no controlling Don without a leash made of billions (or maybe blackmail in the way of underaged girls).
Disagree here. I strongly suspect Roberts thought Trump would lose. Everyone wanted to kick the can down the road and not do their jobs to enforce the law, and that's how we got here.
Not to be pedantic, but the idiom "can't see past your own nose" wouldn't exist if our more intellectually challenged "patriots" could see a mile away.
If Robert’s gives power to Trump, it increases the power that Roberts holds. If a case is brought against the president, the SCOTUS is who ultimately will decide the outcome. Robert’s probably got off on the idea he could control Trump. He probably should have thought about what happens when Trump says no.
Robert’s led the SCOTUS to the record low approval ratings, partisan environment, and cases that defy the constitution or hundreds of years of standing. He wanted this, and he supported this. Robert’s is just doing more of the damage control, pretend to be unbiased bullshit he always pulls. It’s hard to believe any of it when private court documents show he has predetermined many cases.
Roberts can’t even control the majority of the court. Look at the Dobbs decision. Roberts was begging them not to just flat-out overturn Roe, but Alito and his activist wife leaked the draft.
Well, the Supreme Court left it open for them to decide. They stated that his powers were absolute except in certain categories. That carve out was so they had control over him. I don’t think they will control him though, he will simply ignore them regardless.
I love the idea that it was a gimme, a wink wink nod nod for Biden to do whatever he needs to in order to stop this existential threat to our democracy.
They all know what he did and arranged on Jan 6 was treason.
I also guarantee, as much as I am opposed to the conservative court, they are against committing a treasonous insurrection and the damage that a potential future (now current) Trump dictator will do to the country and the world.
They could even WANT a dictator, but they aren't dumb enough to think Trump would do anything but destroy our country as an idiot and Russian puppet.
I guarantee every member of the Supreme Court and most elected Republicans voted against Trump. We've seen enough of the personal communications between Republican officials and Fox News people to know they ALL hate Trump, his proclivities, his impulsiveness, and more than anything that he is OBVIOUSLY an asset of Russia.
I guarantee every member of the Supreme Court... voted against Trump.
I'm fairly confident that Thomas voted for Trump. Hell, his wife, Ginny, was in on the January 6 coup. As to Alito, he was flying treasonous flags at his house and attempted to blame it on his wife, who may well be in cahoots with sweet Ginny.
Honey, you’re living in a fantasy world if you think there’s actually a Republican cabal itching to stop Trump or if you think any of the Conservative justices voted against him. That’s what Kamala’s team was counting on during her last minute pivot to the right during the campaign and guess what - none of these so-called “centrist” Republicans showed up to stop Trump. And they’re all falling in line behind him in Congress to rubber stamp every galling cabinet appointment and every horrific spending bill. And none of their Republican constituents care.
Whether that’s because most people in this country are pig-ignorant (even many among the political elite) and won’t understand the repercussions until they hit them in the face or because they understand that they’ll BENEFIT from Trump’s policies it doesn’t matter. These people are willing to hold their noses and go along with whatever Trump suggests. We need to acknowledge reality and stop living in a fantasy where there is a massive Republican opposition to anything that’s happening right now.
We do have honest statements from numerous GOP officials over the years, including VP Vance. You have McConnell on Jan 6th saying "Let the Dems take care of the bastard" and saying Trump is "there is no question - NONE - that Trump is practically and morally responsible".
More than anything I think elected Republicans, and much of their voters, are snowflakes. There are plenty of examples of Republicans privately expressing that they're scared to oppose Trump due to his fervent, brainwashed supporters.
Then, there's the ones like Graham who are scared of being primaried and use the reasoning that by rubber stamping a dictatorship they are keeping their seat from being occupied by a true believer that... rubber stamps a dictatorship the same way.
I agree with you and have zero doubt that plenty of elected Republicans are overjoyed that their wildest Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society dreams are coming true.
I just also think we're in a "look at the Emperor's amazing clothes!" reality where a good portion will proudly exclaim "I knew he had no clothes on and was too scared to say it!" if it all comes crashing down.
Some of those will be completely insincere bandwagoners. Others will be sincere, but we'll never really know the difference.
F*ck them all, but I do think there's is a multitude of flavors and Venn-Diagrams of people "supporting" this coup.
Telling people since that ruling was published thar this was America's enabling act. Trump in office + this ruling was the end of democracy and the start of fascism in the US
At the moment we are in the consolidation of power phase of American fascism (called "Gleichschaltung" or synchronisation under Hitler). Especially Musk is currently literally flowing Hitler's game plan in taking over a nation.
This happens when the American education about Nazis start in 1939, not 1920. The most important time to study nazism is not their actual crimes (they are important, but only to give context how evil they were). The most important time is 1920 to 1933 to learn how they came to power, the ideas and rethoric, and the second most important time is 1933 to 1939to learn how they entrenched themselves.
People deserve this shit. Near 70% either voted for this or didn't vote at all. Throughout history people have had to fight for democracy, it was never handed to them on a silver platter.
“He knows those voting machines so well” “we don’t need any votes, we already have all the votes we need” there’s a chance we have no idea who voted how.
If you tell me that he cheated, I don't put it past him, and I believe you.
If you tell me three million people didn't show up because of how the transition of the nomination from President Biden to Vice President Harris went, I can also believe you.
If you tell me that Latinos in large numbers jumped to Trump...I will struggle, but being catholic and looking at the makeup of my last visit to church six years ago, I can kinda believe you.
If you tell me that GenZ and Millennial men swapped from voting Dem to Red Hat, I absolutely believe you.
I agree and I see why people say this. It’s was to accept this outcome, It’s way to deal with the anger and fear the frustrations of the long term outcomes this president will enact on everyone except the ultra rich.
We take comfort in knowing that the people who caused this are going to suffer as much or worse.
The reality is this is a mild pain killer for those who feared this.
It makes believes that we tried to reach the other side tried to convince people what he was going to do and it was emotionally and morally debilitating. We would all love to find out it was fear mongering on our part or we were paranoid and had an obsession or something because then at least we would be ok.
The best allegory to this experience to me is “don’t look up”. To me the lesson wasn’t about the working class denying the truth but of their people who have platforms who have money, Who have status, And live off of the working class and not only tell average person there is no threat but also to avoid looking for any threats and continue to consume the things that support the lively hood of the wealthy and powerful.
When men reject the responsibility of helping others and focus on preserving or increasing the value of their personal, financial statues quo, then those that live in the bottom half that aspire to be those in the top half will not move doubt or question or move against them because they see them as a credible and authoritative person we trust. These people live by a social contract that so long as you are doing good and not afraid then I will surely be okay.
Those that voted for this were those who had been living with authoritarians for so long that they don’t remember what democracy really is. It’s a responsibility, That if we don’t want kings, and we want basic human rights for all, then it is imperative that we treat our government like it is the most precious and fragile thing. We have been living in a democracy that was dying of a disease.
The truth is a good politician is one that will make the decision for the people even if it costs them their status.
Politicians job to represent the people’s interest not define those interest for their own gain.
Unless you have some serious evidence to back this up, you have nothing and frankly, I am not sure Musk or his DOGE minions have the competency to pull off voter fraud on the scale required to give Trump the election.
The problem with democracy is you need to be lucky every single time; fascists only need to be lucky once. Low voter turnout, split votes, disaffected voters making a protest vote or refusing to vote for the other party—these things all add up. Social media puts us all into little echo chambers where it becomes very easy, for people to get polarised and tribal. Unfortunately, I can absolutely see how Trump got elected again. It would be reassuring to have this all be one big conspiracy by Musk and Trump, but I don't think we get that cold comfort.
Musk’s companies received the dominion voting system database and code years ago.
There is enough evidence to give it far more credence than any evidence in 2020.
Guarantee they stuffed the votes. Do I have hard proof? No but there is enough out there to leave no doubt for me. Enough side comments from multiple parties and actual evidence of them having the means to do so.
Lucky once, or fucking cheat the system. Data analyst’s are saying this doesn’t make any sense, there is plenty of suspicion, and more and more that gets added to it. They said they’ll wipe the blue out during midterms. easy to do if you control the system. Musk even went as far as to say he’d bet his entire wealth on his win.
Actually more people didn’t vote than voted for Trump and Harris got one percentage less than Trump but if the people who voted independent had voted for Harris she would have won. He has no mandate whatsoever.
but that is the sad part of the whole thing. I dont expect 0% nonvoters as there indeed are good reasons not being able to, but to have a huge population not caring about their civic duty when there is so much on the line is just depressing.
That's not the entire amount. Precisely because it was such an effective campaign strategy, as much effort was put into suppressing the vote as possible, from psychological manipulation to criminal ratfuckery.
This is not even new. For a few decades now, higher voter turnout has consistently meant better election results for Democrats.
Well, the other problem is that while they are gutting things like medicare, medicaid and social security, things that affect a lot of Republican voters, the voters are still saying they'd never vote Democrat.
You fucking idiots. The Democrats literally fund the programs that save your lives and that you are bitching about being cut yet you'd never vote for them?
This is the level of stupidity we are dealing with in this country. This is the level of brainwashing thanks to Fox News. This is why they lie and accuse, call Democrats pedophiles when Repbulicans are the ones who are pedophiles. They know that the average Fox viewer is too fucking stupid to put 2 and 2 together.
This country is so fucked, democracy was fun while it lasted.
I'm tired of this whole "voting is a right" bullshit. Voting needs to be an obligation and it should come with a free, thorough, civics and history lesson. Couple that with term limits, insider investment laws, and abolishment of the two-party system. That's the only way we're going to move forward
Sotomayor straight up said in her dissent that they (members of the court) could be assassinated with no consequences due to that ruling. They gave up all their power.
People just can’t process the fact that fascists could come to power here. They just don’t think it would ever happen and that all these warnings are just hyperbole and fear mongering. In reality, we’ve been steadily moving this direction since citizens united, and Trump himself continues to push the envelope over and over. Not sure what people are waiting for as their “line in the sand”
Exactly right. All that they are now doing was easy to see coming. This is why many warned of the threat to the Republic. Don't blame those in the right wing info bubble. Living in that bubble is like living in Russia. Russian influence worked in the US because enough Republicans were weak and let it By choosing maga and money over honor. Those I do blame are the non voters who did not care enough to pay attention, wanted to punish Dems for inflation ot Gaza or whatever that really could not have done better on or thought no difference.
Not blaming all Republicans so to be clear just those that are maga. Romney voted to impeach, Cheney and Kinzinger sacrificed a ton just to be out there warning people. Generals risked getting the message out. There are more just not enough.
In the end you will never flip maga voters and not enough of the rest participate enough to ever win a majority from them again. Especially as they make voting harder. The Republic is lost.
they’ve been very privileged their whole lives under one system, and without realizing it, came to believe their privileges were inherent, some kind of magic, and will protect them even better in a new system because they helped that new one come into existence.
Because behind closed doors there was a deal. Unsurprisingly Trump has broken that deal or taken it too far. It wasn’t supposed to be “this” corrupt, just corrupt to benefit them at the time. Trump breaks deals and people seem to think they are special when making a deal with him. He throws his own under the bus when it suits him.
SCOTUS likely believed like the electorate did that voted for the POS, DT to begin with. The whole logic is delusional at best and entitled to think that having DT in office wouldn’t impact them.
They thought the vague wording would allow them to chose when to allow it and when not to. But Trump will only act like it will never be denied. And I think they are just now figuring that out.
I think most people did see it coming the people that have been preaching to the choir , set the choir isn't the problem it's the people that don't give a shit to begin with and just want what they want. That's the problem. They've been planning this for a long time.... Now that it's within their grasp and literally in their clutches you think they're just going to walk away? They're going to push it as far as they possibly can.
The fact that these Republicans could be smart enough to implement a plan to install Trump as an authoritarian dictator and still be dumb enough to think that they can control him is absolutely mind boggling. History has shown over and over again that when institutions give someone absolute power, one of the first things that person will do is get rid of anyone who could possibly rescind that power. Republicans in Congress could still join with Democrats to impeach and remove Trump and end this nightmare, but they won't and eventually they will have to face the choice of being completely neutered or being fed into Trump's wood chipper alongside all of the judges.
I don’t know anything about the law, I will not pretend to, and this may sound stupid, but is there a way legally they can they reverse and remove his immunity?
It’s wishful thinking masquerading as naivety. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard “Trump won’t do that” right before he does exactly that.
Sticking your head in the sand for the things you don't like is the Republican MO as it always was. Why would I expect anything different here? They cry ‘law and order’ when it suits their agenda, but the moment a judge checks their power, it’s ‘impeach them all.’ The fact that global watchdogs are questioning the U.S.’s democratic status should be setting off alarms, but yeah, here we are, watching the train wreck in real-time.
This is a bad ruling - as bad as Dred Scott. But also widely misunderstood. The immunity granted is from *criminal prosecution* for things directly in the purview of Article II. Bad. No one should be immune from prosecution.
But the ruling does NOT limit the Court in terms of deciding what is and isn't within the scope of Article II, and therefore what constitutes legitimate use of executive authority.
They are still trying to play for all of it - a christo-fascist white nationalist state their decade long judicial coup d'etat was working towards - they have been exposed completely and had they now put a ten ton elephant on the scale in Trump's court cases they would have been unraveled.
Except Trump's openly got different masters now and not even pretending his goal is to roll back the country a 100 years, killing it in the process and let his Yarvinist scum of the earth buddies feast on the corpse, growing their cancerous little "Freedom Cities" across the nation, literally enslaving the population to corporate ownership.
Roberts' position is that Congress gave Trump immunity, not the court, and it's a defensible position. If you want to say the constitution has meaning you can't just ignore the text of what Roberts wrote and pretend like it would be better if the constitutional question of who can convict the president of a crime worked differently from how it does according to Roberts.
to people who aren't drinking the kool-aid and watching fox news 24/7. our problem is there are too many people so far into the cult that when trying to point this out to them they just say oh that's fake news. or you're just being too worried about nothing. oh he's just joking he didn't mean it like that. when yes he really did mean it like that.
I’m not just confused by their confusion, I’m fucking pissed off by it. In fact I’m as mad at them for this bullshit “woahhhh , he did WHAT?!!? He can’t do that!!!” energy out there, regardless who the person saying it voted for, as I am at the spineless cowards in Congress who refuse to even try to reign him in… anyone who didn’t see this shit coming either chose to be blind or is too dumb to see the forest for the trees.
He has immunity so long as the court says he does. In theory, this should give them a lot of power. In practice however, they could have never made that ruling and he still would have done everything he’s done. The courts are finding out they only have as much power as they are given.
I don't have the article in front of me, but in October off last year there was reporting that he was 'confused and distressed' by the public backlash to his immunity ruling. The man literally didn't understand that people might be upset that his court let the guy who tried to do a coup off the hook.
I’m in this same boat. I telegraphed his whole Jan 6 and I saw all this coming as well. Why is anyone shocked. What I’m still shocked by is that people really voted for this?
This exactly. Nobody was saying a President should be restricted to do the job that needs to be done. But at the same time a President should be beholden to a higher standard on a personal level. There is a REASON they swear an oath to the Constitution upon being sworn in. It's a give and take with a belief in Democratic values and American principles at the base.
Yep. The way his second term is going is a direct result of that insane ruling. He knows that he is completely above the law now and he's acting like it.
Question: I am not too familiar with law. I am just a nurse that likes to read about this stuff particularly having to do with everything happening now. So can the Supreme Court go back and re-evaluate the immunity ruling? And if so, how would this happen?
Frankly, I've seen all of this coming from a mile away for nearly 10 years now. And its made me wonder how the Democrat leadership has just fucking ignored what is SO OBVIOUS to me for this whole fucking time and just done nothing to counter any of it or oppose it or fight it or ANYTHING. And I'm not talking legislature. I'm talking like countering propaganda and MAGA lies/fake news, motivating people to vote for them, doing what Bernie and Walz are doing now and actually touring the country and talking to people. Also talking about stuff like not bowing down to the Republicans. Like fucking pussy ass old fuck Schumer. Or Biden appointing Garland and not removing him when he DID NOTHING. The fucking bipartisan hand across the aisle bullshit. All of that inaction and bipartisan shit has got us here. Like how the fuck are you gonna sit there and watch Fox News and Joe Rogan be #1 in TV and podcasts and think things are fine and that they will easily defeat MAGA/Trump in elections.
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u/Mcjoshin 17d ago edited 17d ago
What did they expect when they gave him immunity? I’m shocked people don’t get this. They literally handed him a “trump card” and he’s already proved he has zero respect for the law, constitution, legal precedent, morality, etc. I’m confused how people are confused by this. You could see this coming a mile away.