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I keep hearing arguments like this, and I'd love to be reassured by them, but they come after watching Trump receive 34 felony convictions with no actual punishment for those convictions, after which he was elected President of the United States of America. It also comes after watching a 4 year long failure to attach (or even try to attach) any consequences to him for Jan 06.
So, you'll forgive me if I'll wait until I hear about bank accounts being drained and that it has any measurable impact on the rate of progress at https://www.project2025.observer/ before I lull myself back into to believing Trump is in any way not untouchable.
There are a lot of things the system can do to stop something like this. So far it's not doing very many of them.
Yeah, well, blame the courts for sentencing him to "Never mind, we cool bro."
That gets tricky. The core argument would be that Trump's speech before the attack is firmly within his 1A rights (and it almost certainly is, 1A speech rights are extremely broad and anything short of a direct call to immediate lawless action is usually protected) and that his not doing anything to stop it once it started is him doing a shit job, but not technically illegal (but hypothetically impeachable, if both houses would agree to it which was never going to happen).
You'd have to have proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he planned for J6 to happen the way it did in a fashion that is definitely not attached to his duties as president in any even vaguely reasonable way to have anything to hang on him at all without an impeachment. Something like hard evidence of him coordinating specifically the attack on the capitol (as opposed to the rally or march to the capitol steps) with the people entering the capitol or their leadership and not merely an otherwise legal protest/rally. Which is a high bar to reach.
I don't mean this to sound argumentative, but every time I make a statement like you replied to I feel like no one gets what I'm saying.
I understand there are reasons things take awhile. I understand our justice system is supposed to be set up that the state needs to make a solid case.
I also understand that Trump has managed to fall through every loophole in every layer of our justice system so far, and avoided any consequences that would cause him actual financial hardship, any sort of punishment whatsoever for his 34 felonies, and any kind of consequences for Jan 06.
So, NOW, when he's at the height of his power, I take no comfort from how our justice system can or should or might work. I will take comfort when I see it actually doing something to meaningfully impede Donald Trump and Elon Musk, which so far I have not seen.
He also received an $83 million judgment, which he already paid. And a $400 million fine, which he will pay.
Also, keep in mind that Trump cannot act alone. Even if he could shrug off a million dollar fine, his employees cannot. And judges will target his employees, until nobody is willing to break the law for him.
And when they do, I'll applaud for them as loudly as anyone else.
Until then, as they say, it's vaporware.
There is no need for judges to target anyone yet, because the Trump admin hasn't been found in contempt.
Do you not comprehend that I no longer feel any sense of hope from what our justice system could or might do in the future, since it has utterly failed to impede him in any substantive way to date? I'm not saying you are wrong, I'm saying it is meaningless given what has happened to him so far (no substantive impact) until something different happens (substantive impact).
Because so far, he seems to be gaming things really well, and I see no reason to think that will change.
I (and all of us) waited for what our justice system could do for four years. And it did nothing that mattered. I say again:
So, you’ll forgive me if I’ll wait until I hear about bank accounts being drained and that it has any measurable impact on the rate of progress at https://www.project2025.observer/ before I lull myself back into to believing Trump is in any way not untouchable.
Trump has lost several court cases already, and many are just getting started. For example, today Cathy Harris was reinstated to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
If you expect the judicial system to broadly restore the status quo under Biden, then you're probably going to be disappointed. Any victories will be on a case-by-case basis. That's literally how the judicial system operates.
I feel we define consequences differently.
I expected the judicial system to have him in prison, or have made a credible attempt at such, before his cultists could re-elect him. That's why nothing about what it might do in the future has meaning to me. When it does something that matters, that will be fantastic. I hope I'm alive to see it.
Right now we're coming up on 5 years of fluff and Trump pulling change out of his couch cushions then replenishing it with NFTs, gold shoes, and other grift.
So all these assurances ring hollow if I'm to take them as any indication that he won't be able to continue raw dogging the US and the world until he gets sick of it or until arteriosclerosis finally does us all a favor.
Nobody promised Trump would end up in prison. There was a very good chance that a cultist on his jury would have refused to convict. Or he might have been found guilty only on lesser charges and ended up paying a fine. Juries are unpredictable and often disappointing, from OJ Simpson to Kyle Rittenhouse.
It sounds like you expected the judicial system to do what voters failed to do. But the judicial system can't stop Trump from being elected president. That was our responsibility as voters. Don't blame judges when they can't clean up our mess.
I don't think Trump is going to lose any sleep over his employees getting millions of dollars in fines or jail time. He can just preemptively pardon them no questions asked if he could be bothered to remember they exist. Also nearly 50% of voting aged adults actually support Trump ignoring the courts so I don't think there's much anyone can do.
Trump can't pardon employees who are found in contempt of court. Trump might not lose sleep, but the employees will. Most employees, even Trump supporters, won't take an assignment that will lead to losing their life savings.