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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Former President Trump’s legal team suggested Tuesday that even a president directing SEAL Team Six to kill a political opponent would be an action barred from prosecution given a former executive’s broad immunity to criminal prosecution.
The hypothetical was presented to Trump attorney John Sauer who answered with a “qualified yes” that a former president would be immune from prosecution on that matter or even on selling pardons.
That’s exactly the fucking point, you chode! The president should be weighing that consequence.
Reminds me of this:
My suggestion was quite simple: Put that needed code number [to launch a nuclear weapon] in a little capsule, and then implant that capsule right next to the heart of a volunteer. The volunteer would carry with him a big, heavy butcher knife as he accompanied the President. If ever the President wanted to fire nuclear weapons, the only way he could do so would be for him first, with his own hands, to kill one human being. The President says, “George, I’m sorry but tens of millions must die.” He has to look at someone and realize what death is—what an innocent death is. Blood on the White House carpet. It’s reality brought home.
When I suggested this to friends in the Pentagon they said, “My God, that’s terrible. Having to kill someone would distort the President’s judgment. He might never push the button.”
— Roger Fisher, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1981
They literally don’t know the difference between presidents and kings
To be fair, the supreme court has made the same argument when granting themselves absolute immunity. But it was just as stupid then (and still theoretically only applies when executing their job).
“We could never do anything if we had to worry about lawsuits all the time” yes, that’s how life works for everyone who makes decisions.
I saw that line, buried at the end of the article, and shouted at the screen, “Yeah, you fuckin’ should!” I want to live in the world where the president is terrified of the consequences of his or her actions.
I want to live in a world where every cop, lawyer and CEO also lives with that same fear.
I like this. It shows how dumb Republicans are.
They think criminals are logical people who weigh the consequences carefully and then decide to crime or not to crime.
I agree this is the point of a lot of our crime and punishment policy, but science has known for about fifty years that it isn’t true.
I don’t know, that’s a pretty subtle point, man. You think the average person can understand that? I mean, obviously even the former president can’t, and some call him the greatest president almost as much as he calls it himself.