Trump's Promise to Pardon Jan. 6 Rioters Is Worse Than Watergate

[babylonsister]

Yes, I know, r/w Matt Lewis, but when you're right, you're right.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-promise-to-pardon-jan-6-rioters-is-worse-than-watergate?ref=home

Opinion
Trump’s Promise to Pardon Jan. 6 Rioters Is Worse Than Watergate
NIXON WAS AN AMATEUR
By the time Nixon resigned, Republicans were ashamed and appalled by Watergate. That’s not today’s GOP.
Matt Lewis
Senior Columnist
Updated Feb. 01, 2022 5:12AM ET / Published Feb. 01, 2022 5:04AM ET

snip//

Watergate hastened some wide-ranging “good government” ethics reforms. But arguably more importantly, it chastened a generation of political staffers and operatives. This is not to say that there won’t always be very many skeevy, bad actors plumbing the depths of D.C. politics, but post-Watergate you always knew that if you crossed the line, there would be a price to pay. You might be humiliated. You might be fired. You might even do time.

Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election failed because enough people close to the levers of power—advisors, staffers, bureaucrats, etc.—thought better of it. This is partly because (a) some were law-abiding patriots who value the Constitution, and (b) some feared there would be ramifications for breaking the law.

Nixon didn’t have some of the advantages Trump has enjoyed, such as a major cable news outlet dedicated to supporting him and an army of disinformation propagandists on the internet. Worse still for Tricky Dick, the GOP of 1974 still had the capacity for shame, as well as the courage and will to hold powerful people accountable.

If Trump and his accomplices go scot-free, future staffers and bureaucrats may well reason that “just following orders” is the path of least resistance. If Trump were president again, and he follows through on his pardon pledge, what would be the disincentive for any of his supporters considering political violence?

snip//

That’s why justice needs to be served for the crimes committed. Someone needs to go to jail. Someone has to pay.

[gab13by13]

1. Someone has to open up investigations first

and not leave everything up to the states and the select committee.

[dalton99a]

2. The current GOP is a criminal enterprise hell bent on subverting democracy

[dwayneb]

3. Maybe - but perfectly predictable

Trump will double down until he is put into his grave. This statement should not surprise anyone at all.

Reality is that our Justice system is slow and ineffective and always has been. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. An advantage because when justice is served, we can be confident of the guilt of the accused, with zero doubt. A disadvantage in a situation where the accused are a clear and present danger to our society, like here with Trump and his criminal associates.

For example look at the efforts to quash the Mafia in America. Those investigations and the prosecutions that followed drug on for decades. And the Mafia lawyers like Roy Cohn took full advantage of the fact that out justice system was slow and unwieldy, Trump learned those lessons very, very well.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Not only Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

TFG is also promising criminal immunity to any and all future rioters.

[tanyev]

5. Republican enthusiasm for fascism is the only reason Trump is such a threat.

They could have shut him down at any time. They should have laughed him off the stage in the 2016 primary. But they have enthusiastically supported him every step of the way. Trump may be the current poster child of authoritarianism in the U.S., but it took a large production team to create the movement.