Donald Trump’s threat to imprison Hillary Clinton is a threat to democracy - Ezra Klein

[Bill USA]

http://www.vox.com/2016/10/9/13222302/donald-trump-jail-hillary-clinton-second-debate?utm_medium=social&utm_content=ezraklein&utm_source=facebook

There is no way to sugarcoat this: At Sunday night’s presidential debate, Donald Trump threatened to throw Hillary Clinton in jail if he wins the presidency. This — threatening to jail one’s political opponents — is how democratic norms die.

The exchange happened during a discussion of the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Trump began by decrying Clinton’s conduct — which, according to the FBI, was quite bad but not illegal. He then proposed appointing a special prosecutor to investigate her, and warned Clinton that, if he were president now, “you’d be in jail”:

TRUMP: I'll tell you what. I didn't think I'd say this, and I'm going to say it, and hate to say it: If I win, I'm going to instruct the attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there's never been so many lies, so much deception … A very expensive process, so we're going to get a special prosecutor because people have been, their lives have been destroyed for doing one-fifth of what you've done. And it's a disgrace, and honestly, you ought to be ashamed.

CLINTON: Let me just talk about emails, because everything he just said is absolutely false. But I'm not surprised … It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law of our country.

DT: Because you'd be in jail.

This is so far beyond normal that it’s hard to even know where to start.

In his last line — “you’d be in jail” — he is outright saying that he would imprison Hillary Clinton in office (if he could). This comes despite the fact that there is no evidence Clinton committed a crime in her handling of the email servers, despite lengthy investigations that found evidence of carelessness and dishonesty. That would be a politically motivated prosecution — retribution for daring to run against Trump and attack him during the campaign.

This is everything we feared about Donald Trump. His long history of trying to silence critics with lawsuits, his inability to let personal slights go, his pettiness: The nightmare scenario is that these would incline him to use the power of the presidency to forcibly silence his critics and opponents. That’s what is done by tin-pot dictators spanning the globe from North Korea to Zimbabwe. That’s what happens in countries where peaceful transitions of power are the exception, not the rule.
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[font size="3"]Watch: Trump is running for dictator, not president[/font]

[font size="3"] Thanks Ezra, I agree. It's far beyond the norm. That's why I said:

When the Donald said if he was president he would lock up Hillary, I wish Hillary had said:

"That's all we need, an insecure child-man as a dictator, tearing up our Constitution."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512498490#post14

I don't think people would see her responding to his bullshit, as inappropriate at all. I think most would applaud her for it.

[exboyfil]

1. He doubled up today

Not only Hillary but also her lawyers.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/12/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-podesta-emails/index.html

[Bill USA]

2. this is a real opportunity for her or surrogates to unload on him. This is clear dictator crazy talk

The Republican party has shown a frightening facility for the techniques of totalitarianism._ I long for the Good Ol' days, when ignorance wasn't considered a political position

[kristinshe]

3. Trump will Lose

Trump will lose these elections because of his narrow views and poor reputation among the public of America. He is much dangerous for the democracy of America, according to my views.