Richard Painter: How people like Trump justify breaking the law

[Nevilledog]

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MSNBC
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Opinion | @RWPUSA: Fmr. President Trump’s defenders would have us believe that it’s the law, not his actions, that are wrong. - @MSNBCDaily

Opinion | How people like Trump justify breaking the law
For over a century, nihilistic legal commentators have reenforced the view that laws are purely political, and therefore, optional.
msnbc.com
2:46 PM · Jul 1, 2021

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/trump-organization-indictments-allen-weisselberg-small-important-step-n1272896?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

One need only recall Al Capone’s tax fraud conviction to recognize that many tax cheats historically flout other laws, too.

As of Wednesday, we've added another character to the books with news that the Manhattan district attorney officially filed criminal tax charges against the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. (Weisselberg plans to plead not guilty to the charges, his attorney said.)

It is no surprise that the corporate defendant in the New York criminal case is owned by former President Donald Trump. This is the same Trump who repeatedly called the Russia investigation a “witch hunt” and verbally abused special prosecutor Robert Mueller and his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

This is the same Trump who showed contempt for elections in November 2020 when he asked the Georgia secretary of state to “find 11,780 votes,” and when that didn’t work met with top advisers to consider declaring martial law to redo the election — and finally incited an insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

*snip*

[empedocles]

1. Law has its evasions. However, law works, from traffic signals to major fraud.

How well did trump fare in court in 2020?

[Haggard Celine]

2. Everybody is doing it.

I can hear him saying it.

[malaise]

3. Gangsters and mobsters

Lock them up!

[Thomas Hurt]

4. The extremist right thinks taxes are theft and cheating on their taxes is a virtue and makes...

them clever.

[SoCalDavidS]

5. Because They ALWAYS Get Away With It?

No consequences, so why bother obeying the law?

[Solly Mack]

6. ...

___________ defenders would have us believe that it’s the law, not his actions, that are wrong

For over a century, nihilistic legal commentators have reenforced the view that laws are purely political, and therefore, optional.

No comment.

[Mr. Ected]

7. "People like Trump"

= People with enough money to gum up the system.

[gratuitous]

9. And yet they'll chant "Lock her up" for hours on end

For a woman doing something that isn't against the law.

[Walleye]

10. Unscrupulous valuation. That term sums up everything in his life.