Quote (Black XistenZ @ Sep 3 2022 10:18pm)
It would be fine if everyone was held to the same standard, if the FBI had a track record of mercilessly hounding every single politician who breaks the law, no matter how big or small the crime. But as soon as a significant chunk of the population loses trust in the impartiality of federal law enforcement and the justice system and perceives them to be operating on a double standard, things quickly unravel.
It's like bogie said the other day, dunno if it was in this thread: a president letting his DoJ prosecute his the predecessor (and presumptive rival for power in the upcoming election) based on process crime alone (obstruction), without an indictment for an underlying substantive crime (e.g. the espionage act), would be an unprecedented escalation and extremely corrosive. Going down this path would lay the axe on the fabric of society as well as whatever trust in institutions is left.
And the funny thing is that it would do the GOP a favor - gets rid of Trump without the base turning on the party elites. I consider Trump to be a much more beatable opponent for Harris/Biden in 2024 than a DeSantis backed by a base on maximum tilt.
The majority of people losing trust in the impartiality of the system would be an unambiguously good thing. It has historically been used as a conservative arm of the government to oppress various groups, including maliciously prosecuting and spying on environmentalists and protestors.
This is not "federal law enforcement losing impartiality". This is the public recognizing the pre-existent lack of impartiality.
but let's be perfectly clear here. Trump is in the wrong here and should be prosecuted. He should go to jail over this. This is not an example of the justice system being used in an impartial manner to hunt conservatives. He was given over a year of leeway and only had threats of charges (has there even been charges brought up as a possibility by the DOJ yet?) come out AFTER he actively obstructed them and lied and then blabbed about it to the public. If anybody else had done this they would be facing far far far worse consequences. If you want to harp on how the justice system isn't impartial, this aint it chief. This is a clear example of them doing their job while giving Trump every opportunity for over a year and bending over backwards to accomodate him.
This post was edited by NetflixAdaptationWidow on Sep 3 2022 09:27pm