Sunday, June 3, 2018

Trump: Above and Beyond the Law

by Pa Rock 
Citizen Journalist

There were two stories in the news the past week which would seem to argue that the presidency of the United States is a position well beyond the reach of the law, an argument that might make the job especially appealing to a person whose business practices have historically been less than above-board.

Wouldn't life be great if we could do no wrong, regardless of the greed or wickedness of our intent?  Well, perhaps not to all of us, but certainly there would be a few who would relish the idea of the law always bending to suit them - or at least one big orange narcissist who had spent a lifetime believing that he was True North in a world of misguided losers.

The government released the monthly "jobs figures" earlier this week, a statement to the nation on the fluctuating unemployment rate.  The President of the United States has traditionally been briefed on this piece of economic data the evening before it is released to the public, but then keeps that information to himself until the announcement is officially made the next morning.  An unscrupulous President could, if he leaked the numbers early, impact the markets or assist his cronies in making a quick profit off of the information.

Donald Trump has been critical of this particular report in the past and whined that the information was compiled in such a way as to not give an accurate picture of the real jobs situation.  This week, however, the jobs numbers were particularly good, and Trump chose to tweet his pleasure regarding the report before it was officially released.  Under other circumstances, and with another leaker, this would have been regarded as a crime - the leaking or sharing of classified material.  However, Trump has always argued that since the President has the power to declassify anything, and he can never be guilty of leaking.  He simply "declassified" the material early.

And it can go well beyond jobs numbers.  By that logic, Trump could give top secret information on U.S. nuclear capabilities to Putin or some other Russian prostitute and be guilty of nothing because the material was declassified the moment it passed his pouty lips.

Another case arguing that the President is above the law surfaced yesterday when the New York Times revealed the text of a twenty-page letter that Trump's lawyers had sent to the Mueller investigative team in January.   That letter posited that the President could not obstruct justice because he is the head of the executive branch and essentially over all investigations within that branch - including the one that Robert Mueller is conducting.  The President cannot obstruct justice because he is justice.  If he does anything to change the course of justice, he is simply just rearranging the deck chairs on his yacht.  And the entire boat belongs to him anyway.

The President of the United States cannot be guilty of releasing classified material because if he reveals it, it is no longer classified - and - he cannot obstruct justice because justice serves at his pleasure anyway.

What a sweet job that is - especially for someone who has always held the law in contempt.   Donald Trump sees the presidency as one big, beautiful get-out-jail-free card.  He has always known he was above the law, and now he is.

And now, one of Trump's lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, is even saying that Trump probably has the power to pardon himself!

The voters own this catastrophic, moldering pile of self-righteousness, and now the voters must - MUST - fix it!

3 comments:

Xobekim said...

Alas, in the end we always discover that America is a nation of laws with checks and balances to preserve us from tyranny. Mr. Trump was elected President, even setting the dubious aspects of the election aside. He is not above the law. This ill founded line of legal reasoning did not work for Richard Nixon. It will not work for Mr. Trump.

Voters know he filled the swamp with his corporate cronies. They know the tax cuts were a huge giveaway to the wealthy which created massive deficits. They know this trade war is an economic error of behemoth dimensions. They know racism is morally wrong and runs contrary to the values this nation is built upon. They know they invested in Social Security and that this program is not an entitlement. Young voters particularly appear focused to vote for gun sense candidates over gun nut candidates. The influx of American citizens from Puerto Rico to the State of Florida in particular erode the Republican base in the Sunshine State.

There are no guarantees in politics; short of voter suppression, collusion with foreign powers, and the influx of illegal campaign contributions masked as legitimate laundered cash. Voters are keenly aware of the facts.

Change is coming.

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