Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 19

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People worried, in the wake of the Senate refusing to take action against Trump in the impeachment trial, would Trump become even more outrageous? Thinking he can get away with almost anything? Looks like the answer is yes.

From the Guardian:
The president falsely claimed he was “the chief law enforcement officer” of the US. Earlier today he commuted the sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who has served seven years in prison on corruption charges after being caught on tape trying to sell a US Senate seat. Link
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Trump's comments about deciding to pardon Blagojevich sound somewhat insane. :(
After months of speculation, Trump announced his decision as he prepared to board Air Force One Tuesday. “Yes, we commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich," Trump said. "He served eight years in jail, a long time. He seems like a very nice person - don’t know him.” Trump cited Blagojevich's family as part of the reason for his decision.

"[His daughters are] getting into high school and they rarely get to see their father outside of an orange uniform," Trump said. "I saw that and I did commute the sentence so he’ll be able to go back home with his family after serving eight years in jail.” NBC Chicago
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Skeptic Ginger said:
Two possibilities IM unqualified O:

Either he's sulking and thinks this is getting even with someone.

Or, he's throwing out a bunch of shiny squirrels because no one is paying enough attention to him with all the Democratic polls and debates.

Or maybe a bit of both.
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I think it's simpler than that: now he knows he can do whatever he wants. Read some of the background on these pardons, some have been discussed for more than a year now. He's wanted to pardon a lot of these people for a long time, but was probably being told not to do it by those "adults in the room" we keep hearing about, who probably told him it was a bad idea that would cost him some support.

But now, he's beaten the rap on a serious impeachment charge, and that proves to him that the only people who could stop him won't stop him. So now he will ignore the nay-sayers, and just do whatever he wants, as soon as he gets it into his head to do it.

Expect more of this sort of thing.
 
Assume for the sake of argument that sometime after he is nominated, Trump drops out of the race, for whatever reason: He's made America great again and wants to go back to making money, something new comes out about his Russia connections, he keels over at a rally foaming at the mouth, whatever. Could the Repubs win with Pence? Suppose they put up somebody else? Nikki Haley? Mitt Romney? Tim Scott? Larry Hogan? It looks right now like any Democrat could beat Trump. Could any Democrat beat any Republican?
 
Unless Trump is put into total isolation, no GOP candidate would survive his Twitter support.
 
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Nice the president can pardon his crooked mates who also love to abuse power and steal from the American people. Nice that he doesn’t discriminate between crooks on either side of the political divide. The political divide is just for plebs.
 
His motivation is probably a mix of reasons, not the least of which is famous people don’t belong in jail.
 
newyorkguy said:
People worried, in the wake of the Senate refusing to take action against Trump in the impeachment trial, would Trump become even more outrageous? Thinking he can get away with almost anything? Looks like the answer is yes.

From the Guardian:


Trump's comments about deciding to pardon Blagojevich sound somewhat insane. :(
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I don't know if I agree with the pardon but how is pardoning someone (questionable pardons is something all president do) looking like he thinks he can get away with anything.
His comments didn't sound insane at all to me. He says
"I met him a couple of times, he was on for a short time on 'The Apprentice' years ago, seemed like a very nice person, don't know him, but he served eight years in jail, there's a long time to go," Trump said Tuesday. "He'll be able to go home to his family after serving eight years in jail, that was a tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence in my opinion."
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He served 8 years (assuming that is true) that is a long time and in his opinion it was a powerful ridiculous statement. 14 years seems like a long sentence to me too. I understand they want to make an example.
 
eeyore1954 said:
I don't know if I agree with the pardon but how is pardoning someone (questionable pardons is something all president do) looking like he thinks he can get away with anything.
His comments didn't sound insane at all to me. He says

He served 8 years (assuming that is true) that is a long time and in his opinion it was a powerful ridiculous statement. 14 years seems like a long sentence to me too. I understand they want to make an example.
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Given the amount of people serving long sentences in the US for non-violent crimes, do you think it's a coincidence that the pardon is for someone Trump has had personal dealings with in the past? Can you agree that Trump pardoning people he knows looks bad, no matter how indifferent you are towards how just the sentence was?
 
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The king's point is that the nobility, although of a lesser degree than himself, is also divinely ordained and thus the law should treat them with respect to their positions.
 
TragicMonkey said:
The king's point is that the nobility, although of a lesser degree than himself, is also divinely ordained and thus the law should treat them with respect to their positions.
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My point exactly. That is certainly what this whole mess looks like. I would like to know if our resident conservatives are comfortable with that?
 
uke2se said:
Given the amount of people serving long sentences in the US for non-violent crimes, do you think it's a coincidence that the pardon is for someone Trump has had personal dealings with in the past? Can you agree that Trump pardoning people he knows looks bad, no matter how indifferent you are towards how just the sentence was?
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I agree it looks bad and there are plenty of others in jail who are serving excessive sentences for a non violent crimes. I just don’t see it as thinking he can do anything.
 
eeyore1954 said:
I agree it looks bad and there are plenty of others in jail who are serving excessive sentences for a non violent crimes. I just don’t see it as thinking he can do anything.
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I would agree with that. It's one data point towards the conclusion that he can do anything. Combined with him getting off scott free for various crimes related to cheating in the coming election, I would say that overall, the conclusion that Trump can do anything and get away with it is not without merit.
 
I'd think he'd be giving a lot of thought to pardoning and/or commuting the sentence for Michael Cohen. The guy is slated to get out next year anyway, and I can't see him not writing a tell-all book unless he gets something for not doing it.
 
TragicMonkey said:
The king's point is that the nobility, although of a lesser degree than himself, is also divinely ordained and thus the law should treat them with respect to their positions.
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Indeed. Tyrion might be a dwarf but he's still a Lannister dammit. Tywin might treat him with zero respect but whoa be anyone lesser who dares to do so.
 
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