• @[email protected]
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    714 hours ago

    You need to stop thinking laws are inviolable writ handed down from God. We’re all playing a game of shared make believe where the rules are only strong as the collective will to enforce them. That will doesn’t appear to be sufficient so he can likely do what he wants.

    • oleorun
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      133 hours ago

      This is the answer. Clear, concise, and correct,

  • JaggedRobotPubes
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    142 hours ago

    Trump and his party are nazis. Nazis suck because they bring the law of the jungle into civilization.

    The law of civilization is cooperation.

    The law of the jungle is, can I physically do it.

    Republicans basically exist to shout, burn their own house down (also yours), and celebrate. They’re going to burn the checks and balances.

    • Melkath
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      -112 hours ago

      Yet it was the Democrats who were attacking and berating undecideds (Democrats disenfranchised by the Biden/Harris administration) instead of listening to them and cooperating with them.

      It was you guys who advanced Harris to the general having horribly lost all of her past elections. It was you guys who ate up her horse shit with a spoon, refused to listen to reason, and drove us straight into that Trump wall (literally, she was championing the Trump Wall as one of her few confirmed platforms).

      You need to reevaluate who you call nazi. I get to call the purple fascist mob nazis, but its rich to me to hear a blue nazi calling a red nazi a nazi. I want the nazis to stop being nazis, not to project their naziism at each-other in a viscous never ending death loop, just increasing the ambient naziism.

      • Chozo
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        93 hours ago

        Somebody with better aim. I very much doubt we’ve seen the last attempt on his life. Groups on all sides are inching closer and closer to extremist acts lately, and don’t show any signs of slowing down. We’re in for chaos now.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 hours ago

          I very much doubt we’ve seen the last attempt on his life.

          And it’s just as likely to come from a disillusioned historically republican as from someone more to the left.

      • @Jackthelad
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        02 hours ago

        The American Constitution will stop him doing a lot of things people are scared of.

        • @dhork
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          2 hours ago

          The American Constitution says that Presidents can’t accept gifts from any foreign source, and that has been interpreted in the past as a general prohibition on Presidents operating in any capacity in any private enterprise. Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm in a blind trust.

          Not only was Donald Trump allowed to circumvent this during his first term, retaining ownership of his businesses and nominally putting his kids in charge while they pursued foreign deals, but today Trump is waist deep in Crypto, and owns a majority share of a publicly traded company whose ticker is his initials. Foreigners can (and likely do) shovel money into both. Do you think anyone will ask him to divest, like the Constitution requires him to?

          The Constitution is useless unless it is enforced. It relies on checks and balances between competing branches, and right now they are broken. The only checks on Presidential power are the military (whose oath is to yhe Constitution, not to any one President) and the individual states (who retain all powers not explicitly given to the Federal government).

  • Aatube
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    63 hours ago

    Yes. Constitutionally, the threat of impeachment is supposed to prevent that.

  • @[email protected]
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    12 hours ago

    I don’t think so.

    But if it’s like any other norm-breaking violation we’ve seen him make, he will do it anyway, there will be legal challenges, they will ultimately be fruitless, he will suffer no consequences, and everyone will go along with it.

  • @[email protected]
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    3 hours ago

    he doesn’t need to since he already has absolute legal immunity according to the Supreme Court.

    The president is now absolutely immune from all legal prosecution as long as it pertains to a “official duty”.

    The constitution is vague enough about official presidential duties that the official duties of the president can literally be anything.

    Trump, and future presidents, are functionally immune from any legal consequences for any actions they take.

    • Aatube
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      23 hours ago

      At least certain courts may interpret “official duty” differently…

  • @TootSweet
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    154 hours ago

    No president has tried it before. Whether he can get away with pardoning himself has yet to be seen. For him not to get away with it would require someone to bring some sort of court case challenging it. And to bring a case, they have to have “standing.” (That is to say, they have to have some credible justification why the self-pardoning action the president took wronged the petitioner in some way.) Which would probably require some legal argument that has never been made before.

    I’m guessing Trump probably could get away with it, but given that no president has tried this, we’ll just have to see for sure.

  • @[email protected]
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    22 hours ago

    Yes, because he can do anything he wants and just declare legal.

    There is no punishment for this supervillain. His cult makes sure of that.

  • @dhork
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    4 hours ago

    The Constitutional text is very broad:

    The President … shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

    So it looks rather absolute, for Fedral crimes. However, the real situation is complicated. This is just one clause in the Constitution, while the President is supposed to be bound by all of it. So, presumably, he can’t exercise his pardon power in a way that violates something else in the Constitution. If you go deeper into the Federalist papers, it’s quite clear that the Founders held that no man should be his own judge, and a self-pardon effectively does just that.

    Here is a good write-up, although I do note it was written before the Supreme Court put their thumb on the scale and said he could do whatever the hell he wanted, as long as he doesn’t get impeached for it:

    https://protectdemocracy.org/work/the-presidential-pardon-power-explained/

    I expect him to do it anyway. It will be challenged, but courts will reject it due to “lack of standing” and sidestep the messy business of having to tell the King he went too far.

  • @NocturnalMorning
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    2 hours ago

    Theoretically, probably not, practically, and in real life, most probably definitely yes.

  • @radix
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    94 hours ago

    For federal stuff, yes … probably, it’s never been tested, but the current SCOTUS won’t stop him.

    Not for state crimes. Like the 34 felony counts in NY. But enforcement of any sentence (probably financial) is unclear. Also unprecedented.

  • Nyciferi
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    54 hours ago

    Dude, the guy is going to pardon everything and anyone. He’s going to make the justice a complete joke.

    • snooggums
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      53 hours ago

      Just like he did in his first term.

      Well, he pardoned the people he liked that kissed his ass.

  • @[email protected]
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    64 hours ago

    When he controls the Supreme Court… yes. He can pardon anyone for anything.

    Prepare to see everyone involved in the most blatant act of open tyranny since the Civil War pardoned as soon as he takes office.

  • shoulderoforion
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    24 hours ago

    Don’t know, but we’re gonna find out. Exciting times. Oh, and get ready to pay 3x as much for your internet access, and to have all torrent sites nuked from orbit.