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] 5 points 55 minutes ago

Lemmy user [email protected]’s special report in response:

No shit.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 hours ago

Biden still has 4 days to official act this mother fucker.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 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] 11 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 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] 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

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

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

It really does. It's a banger anyway just based on how it sounds, and ON TOP OF THAT I want to shout every word from the rooftops. I damn near can't stop playing it.

Thanks for saying something, I feel a little spammy when I link it sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 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 7 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 90 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 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] 29 points 15 hours ago (13 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.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 12 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 157 points 22 hours ago (5 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 57 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 25 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

short(-ish) term

That's optimistic.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 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] 5 points 8 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.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 22 hours ago

I hate this timeline.

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