Does the United States have the will to charge, try, and if necessary jail DJT

[dutch508]

Star Member Stinky The Clown (63,895 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216315908

Does the United States have the will to charge, try, and if necessary jail a former President?

This post is about that question ONLY.

This is not a Garland is too slow, post.

This is a Dem vs GQP post.

This is not a Biden post.

This post is about the the title question only.

Star Member Demsrule86 (56,747 posts)

5. One has to ask the question should we? Will this mean that every outgoing president will be prosecuted? And can we get any jury to find him guilty? A Trump is found not guilty will be much more dangerous. Right now, I believe every president will likely be impeached at some point. Trump is old and slippery is it worth it? I don't know.

The other answer is of course he should be prosecuted...no man-not even a president is above the law. Win or lose, we must follow the law...have the guts to do the right thing full stop. And I honestly don't know what we should do or what our leaders will decide to do.

And I will say, I think the Georgia phone call would be the way to prosecute him if it happens because there is little question that he demanded the election be overturned. The other memo stuff, may not give prosecutors enough for a prosecution. But will a jury convict him...will there be a Trumper on that jury or will the jurists be too afraid?

Star Member ificandream (594 posts)

24. He was already acquitted twice in the impeachment trials.

We see what damage that has caused already. I think we have to keep going in the investigations. I agree it needs to be an open-and-shut case and we may indeed already have one. But we may need a no doubter. And the evidence, as in "The X Files," is out there. We just have to dig it out.

Star Member CrispyQ (31,232 posts)

25. I think you mean "every DEM president will likely be impeached at some point."

Unless you're implying the GOP is only going to elect criminals from here on out, which wouldn't surprise me.

But seriously, I think if they win the House, they will impeach Biden more times than Trump, regardless of what happens in the Senate, just so the GOP can chortle how Biden is the most impeached president ever. They are that immature. Plus their base will eat it up.

Totally agree about the GA phone call. And there will probably almost certainly be a trumper on any jury, IMO.

Star Member PufPuf23 (7,523 posts)

50. "Will this mean that every outgoing president will be prosecuted?" is a pant load.

Unfortunately, it may be impossible to find jury that will convict.

Agree with others in that State level may have more promise.

When does Trump become an enemy combatant?

This is rhetorical today.

Then I think GWB et al should have been and still should be handed to the ICC and tried for war crimes.

Conclude I am not realistic.

Hindsight will reveal.

Star Member hamsterjill (13,080 posts)

58. We should if that President commits treason.

How many others can you name who have committed treason?

We cannot let him off just because he bore the title of “President”; otherwise, our whole judicial system is meaningless. No one should be above the law.

jmowreader (46,507 posts)

10. Yes. We do.

We know that if the Great American Experiment is going to survive, we have to lock up the man who tried to destroy it.

You may remember that on October 12, 1960, Soviet General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev (strangely enough, that’s on auto fill on an iPad) threw a hissy fit at the UN and vowed the Soviets would bury the West. We never foresaw an American president would help them do that…until a bunch of idiots who couldn’t see through Trump’s veneer of glamour voted the bastard to the presidency. Now we’re left with having to clean up the foot-thick trail of shit he left behind him, and locking his entire family up - well, except for his latest communist wife, who needs to be stripped of her ill-gotten citizenship and given back to whatever they’re calling Russian intelligence these days - is an important part of that.

Star Member Gidney N Cloyd (18,250 posts)

11. Charge and try maybe, if the evidence is really solid and overwhelming.

My money would still be on Trump fleeing the country prior to conviction and jail, though. And I think a lot of people on both sides of the aisle would go "whew!"

Star Member msfiddlestix (3,746 posts)

16. Good question, I don't believe we have what it takes to take the necessary action against a criminal

psychopath of a former President.

Even though "Individual One" is a class unto itself in our own history, there are quite a number of other events just in the past number of decades that never, ever should have been allowed to be given a pass.

Bill Barr should never have been in position to practice law after those sweeping Iran Contra pardons, the Supreme Court should never ever have been given a pass on deciding on the 2000 Presidential Elections, Nixon should have faced crimes and not be given a pardon preempting criminal prosecution. Illegal Invasion of Iraq with the WMD lies as a pretext to invasion should have been prosecuted, emphasis on directly prosecuting Condi Rice, Dick Cheney et al.

We tend to rationalize holding elections is a democratic way of holding criminals to account, therefore we sweep it all under the rug and "move forward".

And with each egregious offense by political officials, the next is always worse than the last. Of course, no chrystal ball revealed a raving psycho/sociopath could possibly be allowed to enter the foray of presidential campaigns. But, it happened.

And because we don't know how, or don't have the will to address this matter legally, we are doomed to repeat the same mistake.


Next time, though it will be so much worse. Just when we thought it could never possibly be worse.

That's how I see things. Hanging on to a thread of hope that I'm wrong.

I want desperately to be wrong.

Star Member CrispyQ (31,232 posts)

31. Republicans have not been held accountable my entire adult life. Nixon, Reagan, W.

While I try to remain hopeful, it's hard to imagine our side showing a boldness they haven't had since the 60s.

That said, the progress we have made as a country only came about because We the People demanded it from our democratic leaders. Look how Biden himself has evolved on issues because We the People demanded that change in our leaders. Hopefully, the hearings will generate that kind of groundswell demand in accountability. I personally think they should have started the week after Jan 6, but let's just hope they don't continue to delay until it's "Kornacki time" as DUer gab13by13 puts it.

FelineOverlord (1,905 posts)

39. I want him in prison. I want his whole family in prison.

But I at least want his whole criminal "empire" destroyed.

I want Trump Organization to go down.

Completely. Irrevocably.

And he must be stopped from ever holding office again.

No matter what.

 

Star Member PufPuf23 (7,523 posts)

47. If the USA does not successfully prosecute Trump, the USA will

fracture like the USSR and probably not that long in the future.

Scary out there now. And the divisions are everywhere. And the other side shows little willingness to work together or be sane.

The Democrats still tries to appease the GOP but the GOP is **** you all the time.

I struggle every day to be optimistic.

Pisses me off the pettiness that occurs at DU.

We are in a fight for survival.

 

[DefiantSix]

Star Member Stinky The Clown (63,895 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216315908

Does the United States have the will to charge, try, and if necessary jail a former President?

Probably. What they lack however, is a CRIME to charge him with. Try as hard as you like; you will not find any subsection of the US Code that criminalizes "I hate Twump!!!1111elebenty

 

[SVPete]

With a little effort, Stinker could become MasterNematode 2.0. He just needs to turn the venom up to 13.

[DLR Pyro]

Does the United States have the will to charge, try, and if necessary jail a former President?

are mean tweets enough to charge, try and jail a former President?

[Delmar]

Put the evidence in the car!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QLOGyZhUPI

[67 Rover]

Star Member hamsterjill (13,080 posts)

58. We should if that President commits treason.

How many others can you name who have committed treason?

We cannot let him off just because he bore the title of “President”; otherwise, our whole judicial system is meaningless. No one should be above the law.

Hold that thought until after the Nov elections and then get back to me. 

[SVPete]

Star Member hamsterjill (13,080 posts)

58. We should if that President commits treason.

* NordStream 2 pipeline for Russia;

* Botched Afghanistan withdrawal and abandoning thousands of Afghans who aided us to Talkiban killers;

* Negotiating a renewal of OhBummer!'s nuclear enablement of Iran.

Pick your "treasonous" act, Prog-T#$%!

[67 Rover]

* NordStream 2 pipeline for Russia;

* Botched Afghanistan withdrawal and abandoning thousands of Afghans who aided us to Talkiban killers;

* Negotiating a renewal of OhBummer!'s nuclear enablement of Iran.

Pick your "treasonous" act, Prog-T#$%!

According to a Senate report 9000 Americans were abandoned as well.

"As many as 9,000 American citizens were left in Afghanistan when the U.S. military withdrew from the country Aug. 31, according to a report released Thursday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."

[SVPete]

According to a Senate report 9000 Americans were abandoned as well.

"As many as 9,000 American citizens were left in Afghanistan when the U.S. military withdrew from the country Aug. 31, according to a report released Thursday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee."

Unfortunately, it's a minority report, https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2022/02/03/left-behind-senator-risch-releases-blistering-minority-report-on-bidens-botched-afghanistan-withdrawal-n446064 , which means it's unlikely to have consequences for LIEden or Foggy Bottom. And by 2024 it'l be memory-holed by time and the MSM, and probably by more outrages.