The latest federal case against Donald Trump is putting a spotlight on the role of false and baseless claims in his presidency. The indictment alleges that the former president and his co-conspirators used lies for the criminal purpose of overturning the 2020 election. For some scholars of history, its forensic look at how speech underpinned an alleged conspiracy to illegally retain power helps to situate Trump into larger historical patterns.

  • AFK BRB Chocolate
    10•1 year ago

    On NPR this morning, they were talking about efforts by Trump and aligned Republicans to give the president more power to direct federal agencies - that agencies in the administration should be beholden to the president himself, not the office or something broader.

    They were interviewing a former Trump administration official (I forget what he was). The interviewer asked if that would mean Trump, if elected, could direct the DOJ to drop the investigation against himself. The guy said yes, he should be able to, but wouldn’t do it because it wouldn’t be the right thing. The interviewer said, “So you’re saying that he could, but we could trust him not to.” The guy say yes.

    Meanwhile most of us know the main reason Trump is even running is to try and stay out of jail.

    • @[email protected]English
      3•1 year ago

      So the argument trump and his ilk use, that Biden is using the DOJ (hint; he isn’t) to persecute trump would be a valid action as he is the president and is allowed to, is moot? Or is only 1 specific potential president allowed to use this logic?

      • AFK BRB Chocolate
        1•1 year ago

        Yeah, that’s a great point that I wished the interviewer had asked. Something like “If what you want was in place today, wouldn’t the accusation that the DOJ is only going after Trump because Biden wants them to be considered fair or appropriate use?”