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Showing Original Post only (View all)Prison, for Trump, is out of the question. [View all]
It is difficult for me to see repeated DU threads and posts advocating for the imprisonment of Donald Trump. I am always tempted to chime in with Yes, but ... .
It's not that Trump doesn't deserve prison. For acts committed while he was President, I thought George W. Bush deserved imprisonment as well, but it is important to understand that no President of the United States has ever, ever, been imprisoned after his term in office, and it's not like all of our Presidents have been saints. No, some of our Presidents have deserved imprisonment. We just don't do it--never have, and I hope we never will. Why?
It's called THE PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER.
Remarks of the Hon. Dianne Feinstein upon the Inauguration of President Barack Obama
The world is watching today as our great democracy engages in this peaceful transition of power. Here, on the National Mall, where we remember the founders of our nation and those who fought to make it free, we gather to etch another line in the solid stone of history. The freedom of a people to choose its leaders is the root of liberty. In a world where political strife is too often settled with violence, we come here every four years to bestow the power of the presidency upon our democratically elected leader.
Those who doubt the supremacy of the ballot over the bullet can never diminish the power engendered by non-violent struggles for justice and equality like the one that made this day possible. No triumph tainted by brutality could ever match the sweet victory of this hour and of what it means to those who marched and died to make it a reality.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Remarks_at_the_inauguration_of_Barack_Obama
Those who doubt the supremacy of the ballot over the bullet can never diminish the power engendered by non-violent struggles for justice and equality like the one that made this day possible. No triumph tainted by brutality could ever match the sweet victory of this hour and of what it means to those who marched and died to make it a reality.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Remarks_at_the_inauguration_of_Barack_Obama
With the exception of the election of 1860, whenever power has switched hands from one party to another in the United States, it has done so peacefully, but it has done so with one, key caveat. Neither the outgoing President, nor key members of the outgoing party, can be criminally charged for acts committed while they were in power. That's it. That's our only rule, and that's the only reason, historically speaking, that the outgoing party has actually been willing to relinquish power following an electoral loss. If Trump knew that he was going to get prosecuted (and probably imprisoned) as soon as he left office, he would refuse to surrender the reigns of power. On the other hand, if he knew he was going to get a free pass if only he would agree to allow a new administration to control the government, he might actually go peacefully. So we all hope.
So please, drop your fantasies of prosecuting and imprisoning this horrible excuse for a man. It won't happen. It shouldn't happen. No matter how heinous his crimes, the continuity of the republic is more important, and the peaceful transition of power can only be achieved if we give Trump a free pass for everything that he has done in office (and before)--just so that he will go away when his time is up.
-Laelth
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I must continue to hope that he will. Threatening to imprison him doesn't help. n/t
Laelth
Mar 2020
#10
Peaceful transition of power is just another norm the Con is going to blow out of the water.
CrispyQ
Mar 2020
#8
Senators, Congressmen, Cabinet Members, Governors, Judges and others have been jailed
sop
Mar 2020
#14
There's a difference political "crimes," or abuse of power while in office, and actual felonies.
sop
Mar 2020
#53
Yes, he won't be likely held responsible for Federal Crimes while in office, But NY State CAN
hlthe2b
Mar 2020
#16
If Ehud Olmert can go to prison, so can this walking, talking hemorrhoid. There's
Guy Whitey Corngood
Mar 2020
#22
Didn't say you made excuses for his behavior. You're making excuses for some
Guy Whitey Corngood
Mar 2020
#59
It may be. But other countries have proven it can be done. And somehow
Guy Whitey Corngood
Mar 2020
#84
I would prefer that he and his family ended up like Mussolini and his gang of
smirkymonkey
Mar 2020
#24
While I don't disagree, I also think that a failure to prosecute a crime because of one's stature
Mr. Ected
Mar 2020
#44
People who think Trump will go to prison are delusional and out of touch with reality
dustyscamp
Mar 2020
#62