this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2025
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politics

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Summary

Special Counsel Jack Smith's report concluded that Donald Trump avoided prosecution for January 6-related charges due to his reelection.

The DOJ determined that prosecuting a sitting president violated constitutional protections, despite evidence strong enough to secure a conviction.

Smith noted that Trump's return to office directly halted legal action and criticized existing DOJ policies and judicial interpretations, which shielded presidents from accountability.

The report underscores how voters, by reinstating Trump, indirectly prevented his criminal prosecution for actions threatening democratic institutions.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

In the US, if you have money and power, you can get away with anything. Land of the free (If you're rich).

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Since finding this 17 year old song linked somewhere on the fediverse awhile back I continue to be amazed how it just gets right to the root of nearly every problem we have. Start to finish, if you are angry at the current state of things (and not a maga), pretty good chance this song nails it for you.

Welcome to the United Snakes

Land of the thief home of the slave

The grand imperial guard where the dollar is sacred and power is God

(and it turned me into a bit of a Brother Ali fan)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

Thank you for sharing this song. It really hits hard right now

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

It's bad enough libs blame voters for their crappy genocidal candidates...

But now voters are responsible for the completely disgusting punishment system?

What will they blame voters for next?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Voters literally are to blame. Even if you're of the opinion that voters that stayed home bear no responsibility, those who voted for Trump absolutely do. No democratic system can protect itself from its own voters.

[–] zenitsu 4 points 1 hour ago

Those who couldn't be bothered to vote against him are also very much to blame.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 hour ago

Next they'll blame voters for the rise in suicide bombings of CEOs

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

For the report it links to WaPo which is behind a paywall (and shit). I get annoyed by articles that don't link the full thing that they are discussing.

If you want to read the full report then here is an article that links to it.

Alternatively: direct link to report

[–] [email protected] -4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Democrats and blaming voters name a better combination.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

In a democracy, voters are responsible for who gets elected.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] zenitsu 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Wherever people get the candidate they voted for.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Wrong. His LIES, Russia, China, Iran, nutcases and the corrupt Republican party save him.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

And about 10mil white/hispanic men who stayed home despite voting for a democrat in the last election.

[–] [email protected] 84 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

The fact that they didn't secure a conviction for four years tells you all you need to know. Complete sham. Guilty as sin, but they wouldn't put him in jail.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 12 hours ago (12 children)

To be fair, that was not jack smith's fault. He did his job exactly as well as he was allowed. Blame the system, but in this instance, do not blame the man.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 hour ago

It's his fault for devoting his life to a disgusting system of punishment for the poor.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

God stfu. Him getting elected means nothing. He was getting away with everything either way

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

True, if anything he somehow would have dragged everything out until he was bed-ridden at which point he would have gotten house arrest which is laughable considering the size of his mansions.

[–] candyman337 150 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

This is insane, it shouldn't matter, he did the crimes. I hate this country

[–] [email protected] 51 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

We don't elect presidents anymore. We elect short(-ish) term kings

[–] [email protected] 22 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

short(-ish) term

That's optimistic.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Fat fuck will be dead inside of 4 years.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

~~That’s missing the point.~~ He’s an authoritarian and will destroy everything with what time he has left.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Your point is orthogonal to the comment to which I replied. Not that I disagree.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

You’re right.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (5 children)

I think there is some deeply cynical logic, or a horrifying game of chicken, being played by Democratic leaders here.

Let's say Jack Smith is given the go-ahead to investigate and prosecute Trump as fast as he possibly could (while building a bullet-proof case for conviction). With all the legal resources (not to mention Republican-friendly judges) available for Trump to leverage, it's safe to say that Smith certainly would not have been able to complete a full trial and secure a conviction before the 2024 election. But perhaps one could have been under-way.

A Trump trial for election interference in the middle of 2024 would have been a galvanizing force for his base, and likely cause his popularity among like-minded folks to surge and likely help his polling numbers. After all, conservatives love their persecution complexes and already live in a hazy fantasy world where their guy can do no wrong. So this doesn't help Democrats.

If Trump were to be acquitted, this would obviously be credibility kryptonite for Democrats, so that's a bad outcome. And if Trump were to be convicted, I believe there is genuine concern among top Democrats that all the armed crazies (including those in the police, government positions and military) might do a real insurrection this time as opposed to the world's shittiest flash mob.

So what's a cynical Democratic operator to do? Have Smith slow-walk the investigation and take his time to make it immaculate. Have the election without using litigation to get in Trump's way and hope that people don't make a shitty choice. If they do, they'll get what they paid for: another four years of ridiculous chaos. These would represent setbacks and lost ground for Democratic causes, but their patrons will figure out how to make it profitable in the meantime and be there to fund a comeback when the American people become exhausted by the bullshit. Let him burn himself out in the spotlight, further expose himself as a corrupt fool, letting his support curdle naturally rather than fighting him and his supporters at their strongest.

This scenario presumes several deeply horrifying and risky ideas:

  1. No one who matters will get hurt in the next four years. Are you rich? Are you a middle-class cis-het-white person? Do you not live in Palestine, Ukraine or Taiwan? You'll ride this out. The poor and the queers have nowhere else to turn, so they'll eat shit and be right back on the Democrat's side next time around (unless they have money, of course).

  2. Trump and his cronies will be too inept to dismantle American democracy before the next election.

I'm no card player, but this all seems like a terrible gamble to me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

Or, do the right thing and prosecute him, even if it's bad for them politically.

Now it's terrible for them politically and terrible for the country and the world.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

The first half here doesn't really track because Trump's numbers didn't really change. He had a similar amount of voters as usual, and the Democrats came up short. I don't think there could have been a substantial boost for him, his people are solid regardless of whatever he says or goes through.

The second half, yeah that makes sense, but now we see happens when Democrats "play by the rules" or try to play it safe... They lose. It's less about trump and more that they didn't capture voters. We needed Kamala to distance herself from Biden but she wanted to be "nice". People are struggling, no one feels the economy is great, they left progressives behind, and here we are now. Even if progressives are only 10-20% of the party, you NEED them to win

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 19 hours ago

I hate this timeline.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

And by “voters” he means democratic city polling place bomb threats, Elon Musk & Starlink, and a 2 year Merrick Garland delay.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 hour ago

The fact Biden didn't reinstate Sally Yates is all I need to know to hate the guy forever.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 19 hours ago (13 children)

...and yet there won't be thousands of people protesting his inauguration or anything the fuck else.

The people in this country have been broken, and now they're just gonna lay over and take it.

We're a long way from February 15th, 2003.

Face it, American citizens, we're fucking cooked.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

An effective protest requires a call to action. What would the call to action for his inauguration protest be?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

A protest without a backing of a threat of violence if demands are not met is just a fitness walk.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 17 hours ago (2 children)
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