This is a serious question. Perhaps some of you philosophers, lawyers, or anyone else smarter than I can answer it.

[AverageOldGuy]

I served 28 years in the Army. Because of wounds from Vietnam, I could no longer keep up in the infantry, so, I transferred to the military intelligence branch where I wound up in intell positions requiring very high special, limited dissemination security clearances.

Trump stole classified documents. If I had even mistakenly carried one of those out with me, I would still be in Leavenworth. He will never be charged, never face a jury.

Trump fomented a coup against the United States. If I so much had breathed a disloyal word, I would be under a jail somewhere. He will never face a jury.

He cheated on his taxes, bank loans, and real estate deals for years. I dutifully and still do pay all my taxes, pay my loans, pay my mortgage, and the like.

So the question is: Why should I obey a single law? Speed limits? No parking? Pay taxes? Don't rob a convenience store? Stop paying my mortgage? How about I publish a memoir revealing every secret I ever knew -- after all, some of the info I have deals with still active intelligence matters? Someone explain it to me. Wife and I are living on pensions and social security. WTF was it worth?

[Ocelot II]

1. That's a question that's been pondered for centuries.

There used to be a principle that "the King can do no wrong," with the result that most of the time kings got away with just about everything unless they pissed off a family member who wanted their job. A glaring exception was the execution of Charles I by Parliament, but England had to have a civil war to get to that (and I'm not convinced he deserved it). Anyhow, we were supposed to have rejected and got past such notions at the formation of the Republic. The new idea was that only people of good character would become leaders, and because they were of good character (and those of bad character would be controlled or weeded out by the operation of the Constitutional system). Unfortunately the Founding Fathers, men of the Enlightenment who believed in reason and science, didn't anticipate that their novel, experimental system had enough holes in it to let scoundrels slip through and take charge, or that the population itself could end up so debased as to cheer on the scoundrels and allow them to become the medieval kings who could do no wrong.

Why, indeed, should anyone obey the law when the "king" can get away with anything? Because we're not the king and he is, I guess. Just like it was in the Middle Ages.

Sucks, doesn't it?

[SWBTATTReg]

5. I too, have questions as he managed to get away w/ literally everything, even being convicted 34 or so times (felonies)

and still is out on bond or whatever he is. He should not have been allowed to run. His win should be disallowed.

At least he's old enough and probably unhealthy too being that his favorite meal is fast food. Maybe he'll drop from disease or something similar. He's a good candidate for such.

But knowing our luck so far, and Garland failing in every way to nail him/convict him even run him through a trial, any trial is a disgusting tribute to Garland. He'll go down in history as failing the Country, and instead, he nailed hundreds and hundreds of the small fry, whom tRUMP will pardon, so he wasted all of that effort of him to nail the wrong people. At least, some states did get some of these people, so tRUMP can't pardon them.

[erronis]

12. The Diktator Of Day One can probably take care of those pesky state charges

That argument for "states rights" came mainly from the 'conservative' group that used to be the (r)epuglicon party.

I'll bet that now that they have cemented their grasp on all the branches of the federal government, they'll make sure that any states laws can be easily disposed of - especially if they are from the blues.

[rubbersole]

34. And the SC says "Yes!"...

[HarryM]

105. It's all about the Golden Rule

The one with the gold, makes the rules.

[Dem4life1234]

126. It's taking so long

How has his diet not kicked in yet?

[recovering_democrat]

40. "Why" is totally simple.

POWER is allowed among elected officials holding a perception they must be "right" because we elected them. Each CAN be charges with a violation of each and every LAW in the United States Government. They are mostly "excused" usually explained that they don't agree it was really violated. Truly disgusting lies all over the place.

[Gaugamela]

2. I've often thought that if there were justice

in the world we wouldn't need courts and lawyers.

[usonian]

3. Laws are for schmucks. Laws keep the schmucks in check.

Money buys laws and lawyers.
Money is ..... GOD!



And the rich are the priests.

[rubbersole]

35. Father Elon.

And I don't mean his kids that hate him.

[rampartd]

75. "in god we trust"

[paparush]

99. Under His Eye

Blessed be the fruit

May the Lord open

[Farmer-Rick]

100. The love and worship of Mammon

is capitalism. And it has destroyed our democracy.

[usonian]

103. You might enjoy

THE
 ENCHANTMENTS 
OF MAMMON

How Capitalism Became
the Religion of Modernity

Eugene McCarraher

THE BELKNAP PRESS OF
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England  ·  2019

[Farmer-Rick]

115. I'll look it up

Thanks for the recommendation

[LudwigPastorius]

4. "You have a republic, if you can keep it."

Benjamin Franklin was making the point that the Constitution is neither a self-actuating nor a self-correcting document.

Democratic republics are not merely founded upon the consent of the people, they are also absolutely dependent upon the active and informed involvement of the people for their continued good health.

Apparently, enough people simply don't care to be informed about the person for whom they cast their vote. They would rather be entertained by the buffoonery of a numbskull in the White House, than sanely governed by a competent, caring individual.

[yellow dahlia]

70. Well said. n/t

[SnoopDog]

6. Sir, to answer your questions...

No, you don't become a criminal. You will only hurt yourself and your wife.

It would be better to fight this fascism in any way you can. But lawlessness won't do the trick.

[Nigrum Cattus]

117. It worked for them !

[doc03]

7. At 18 years old 58 years ago I had to get a

security clearance to get a job at AT&T. When I was inducted in the Army I was given a list asking me if I had ever belonged to the Nazi party, Communist party or dozens of other militias.
Now we have convicted felon, rapist. traitor and insurectionist as president.

[Goonch]

8. 👇👇👇👁️👁️

[HarryM]

106. Stealing this graphic

[David Boyle]

9. Because you're a hero, and role model

That's enough reason to be good.

[KS Toronado]

10. At least you can go to sleep with a clear conscience

TSF can't.

[Jamesm9164]

13. He does not have a conscience.

[ShazzieB]

31. Correct.

He shows all the signs of antisocial personality disorder. That means no ethics, no morals, and no conscience.

[bdamomma]

44. Geez

great minds...... I was thinking the same thing.

[dchill]

88. THAT'S clear.

[erronis]

17. tsf is sufficientlly tranqued to not give a shit. Assuming he ever had a conscience!

Appreciate your continued attempts at injecting some 'levity' into our daily porridge, KS.

[allegorical oracle]

32. Huh? He sleeps like a diapered baby. He's been criming for so long, it's all he knows. nt

[Tweedy]

11. Because we do the right thing

because we are grown ups and following just laws is the right thing to do.

Remember when you were little and you asked this sort of question? You don’t jump off a bridge simply because your friends are doing it and you don’t become a thug even if a thug was elected to head our government.

Finally, if we all tear down the law, there will be nothing to stand between any of us and the devil (apocryphal Thomas Moore).

The law is a gift of our ancestors that we must defend because our very lives do depend upon it.

Conversely, an order of any executive that is unconstitutional should never be obeyed.

[TheKentuckian]

84. What stands between us and the devil now? Slave patrol? Get real.

[Tweedy]

119. I am real

What better gift could we give our country’s enemies foreign and domestic than becoming a nation of law breakers?

Mr. Trump may long for the purge all he wants. He will not get it unless we play along.

[TheKentuckian]

120. What protection? As to your question, the appropriate people being lawless is more than sufficient

that is exactly what they needed and the goings on in steerage are of little to no consequence.

Putin, Khomeini, and Jinping don't give a flying fuck what we are doing on a micro level and neither does Chump other than as seen through the lens of personal grievances.

This is because the very spirit has already been broken, the marrow sucked out of the bones, and perverted into injustice.

The letter is oppression when the spirit has departed.

Nullify until it dies. Law without justice is a lie.

[Tweedy]

121. Disagree

There is injustice everyday
There was injustice yesterday. There is injustice today. There will be injustice tomorrow. Yet, despite this, justice still exists and Americans are not a nation of lawbreakers.

If we decide to become rabble, we will pay the price. We will give our returning reality tv president all of the excuse he needs to throw us away and keep the key. We will destroy our neighborhoods our own selves in truly spectacular fashion.

Such destruction would be an act of malice we would commit against ourselves. We would cut off our own noises to spite an angry, pathetic fellow and achieve nothing.

Now, should you come up with some “good trouble” by which we may bend the arc of history back toward justice do tell me.

[TheKentuckian]

123. You are certainly entitled to your opinion but it seems wildly inconsistent

My point of view is that there is no justice when there is no equality under the law and you as the ardent defender of the letter of the law is saying that injustice abounds on a daily basis which confirms that the spirit has departed and the letter is a rotting corpse.

I'll get spiritual with you on this and am sorry if you are a non believer but God has written the only law that matter in our hearts and that must be our compass.

The mess that man has on offer is little more than suggestions to evade the uncaring hammer and/or a roadmap on how to get over.

[Tweedy]

125. Disagree strongly

The law that humans have developed over the centuries is robust, vigorous and quite effective at providing at least a modicum of justice almost all of the time. It is not a fragile edifice.
We have Justices who are tearing that ancient edifice down with both hands to impose their own religious and corporatist agenda.

Where for art thou common carrier doctrine? You have been gone so long here few recall you ever existed. John Roberts killed the “honest services” doctrine and hardly anybody even whimpered. We cannot have any stinking federal common law, because ….. we need to make it simpler to defraud out of state citizens?

Once there was a doctrine against usury. Truly there was. Clean hands must be had still to claim equity, but unclean hands abuse the system to slow everything down to a crawl. The made up, brand new “doctrines” of originalism and “major questions” are silly, rotten and not law at all but rather inventions to impose religion beliefs and a deregulatory fetish on the majority of us.

This all predates Jack Smith dismissing charges against Mr. Trump. Some of it predates today by centuries.

This country spent many years devoting our federal law to the facilitation of slavery. Who can find much justice in that? The Old Testament surely can.

The civil war was not the end because the struggle for justice in this country is almost as mighty as the struggle for representative democracy. Some times have more justice and some have less.

Justice varies by state and by date.

Religion is a terrible substitute for the law unless folks want to burn heretics again. Which religion wins, I wonder? Our ancestors were right to remove that argument from the public square.

[TheKentuckian]

128. I never mentioned religion but I appreciate all the supporting evidence forr my position.

[Tweedy]

130. You mentioned God's law

and I asked which one would that be

If we had made perfection the enemy of all of human ingenuity, we would still be living in caves. That is if we were living at all, of course.

[Kid Berwyn]

14. On this day in 1963 is when it all changed.

“Consequently, a whole new form of government is going to take over the country, and I won’t live to see you another time.” — Jack Ruby

Ruby, the assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald, made the observation during a personal appeal to Justice Earl Warren, requesting federal incarceration in Washington DC. Ruby felt his life was in danger in Texas. Warren denied the appeal. A short time later, Ruby contracted cancer died in prison.

Ruby had interacted with the Mafia and a bunch of their comrades in arms in the US Government running arms to Cuba — apparently first for Castro and later for those opposing Castro. He evidently knew the friends of Gen. Walker and a bunch of the right wingers in Dallas. It likely was part of his job as an impresario of adult entertainment and other similar rackets.

We’re visiting relatives in New York and I toured the West Point Museum. So, I have been thinking a lot about the war in Vietnam lately and our veterans and fallen. Lots of tears, too, thinking about members of my family who served there and in all of America’s wars since the Revolution.

As stated by good DUers above: You are a hero. You answered the country when it called — even as we’ve learned since, the call was based on a lie. And you’ve been a model citizen and patriot in every sense that are good.

Why and how Trumpnd his ilk have gotten ahead: Dixie, the NAZIs and America’s extreme right. They’re parts of the conspiracy behind the assassination in Dallas.

[Karadeniz]

15. Be proud of yourself for keeping high moral and ethical standards when it

seems like everyone else has lost theirs. Virtue is its own reward.

[Skittles]

16. Trump could not pass even the most basic background check

I cannot for the life of me understand how such a corrupt man can be PRESIDENT, it makes zero sense

[erronis]

19. Unless the whole game is rigged.

The powerful have the money and the ability and the desire.

Hard to expect any different outcomes.

Sometimes someone like FDR comes along and gives us hope and a future. We can't expect saviors like that too often.

[Skittles]

21. well it is definitely rigged for RICH WHITE MEN

try to imagine a woman or POC behaving like Trump, how far they would get

oh hell TRY TO IMAGINE ANY DEMOCRAT BEHAVING LIKE TRUMP

[bdamomma]

47. President

Biden came close to that ideology. He has always been for us. For the Middle Class.

[KPN]

65. Maybe not close, but the closest. Hard to accept that

just when we had a President who truly seemed openly concerned about the vast and growing income inequality, when it started looking like there was indeed a real change that would continue to move us back in the other direction — shrinking as opposed to growing income inequality — the bad guys win and immediately show an obvious intent to take a strangle hold.

[KPN]

61. Sure seems that way doesn't it.

Sigh …. 😔

[returnee]

66. The game is most certainly rigged.

From the mass migration of Europeans to America, to the oppression of indigenous people and African slaves, to men of no property, to women, to the poor, and now, frankly to most of us by the billionaires, corporate power, politicians, and the media. Quite an evolution of oppression and repression.

We live in the age of out-of-control media, and TSFConvict is the first president of this particular manifestation of the times. He is essentially a reality show president, an entertainment president. And the media-brainwashed go for him like they went for the Kardashians, the Real Housewives, Bachelor and Bachelorette, etc, but most importantly the Apprentice. Money rigs the media and the media rigs minds.

Now the legal system is playing its part, granting favors to the rich and powerful, as usual, but now apparently to TSFConvict and his henchmen in particular. Using arbitrary DOJ “protocols” and the myriad of legal loopholes in the system as a whole to delay justice indefinitely and apparently permanently.

Garland failed the American people. All the time and energy going after the low level perpetrators, ignoring the planners of the Capitol coup, will be for naught, a complete waste of time energy and money once TSFConvict gets his grubby paws on the DOJ. Garland, the so called institutionalist, protected the man, not the institution. He missed a golden opportunity to be the patriot who cleared some major bugs out of the system of justice in America, and taken a giant step in the furtherance of democracy. He is but one in a long list of quislings and outright traitors that let the country fall so much further from its promise to the point of frank autocracy and fascism.

[patphil]

18. There's an old acronym: RHIP

Rank Has It's Priviledge.
In Politics, and with the rich, it's even more evident than in the military.
The lower and middle classes will always be handed the shit end of the stick by those who enjoy a lifestyle far above ours.
And yet, time and time again we are willing to put these jackasses into positions of power where they can show us how much privilege they have, and how very little they care about us.
We just did it again.
Unfortunately, the following is our song, again and again.

[erronis]

23. Thanks for the memories. I doubt I'll stay around for another repeat of this cycle.

Lived through the anti-war protests in the 60s, the devastation of the reagan, w eras, and now repeats of trump disasters.

[patphil]

24. You and I both. It was a hard time. I'm not ready to do it again.

[KPN]

67. Makes me very sad. It's been a long slog.

Here we are 50+ years later ….

[Hope22]

20. Why do so many military personnel follow T?

It is beyond me how they do not see the disparity that you point out. My family that are military and retired military have yet to see the light. I am the black sheep dirt of the group and have stopped trying with them.

[bdamomma]

48. Question

would they take arms against the American people????

[Hope22]

59. My family members....?

2 out of the 5 maybe. With another possibility. I haven’t talked to them since 2020 so I can’t say. All of them are T lovers, one was a mercenary after enlistment in Iraq. I think there is only one normal among them. In private He told me fifteen years ago that I might have been right about the war. I don’t get their blind allegiance to this monster. It’s a tough situation.

Ps….Just so you understand they think THEY are the American People…I am the traitor for wanting peace and people to have food and a place to live, and for not having served.

[erronis]

69. that has got to be so hard. I can't imagine being part of a family with those views.

Of all my relatives, only a distant cousin was RW. Back about 10 years ago it was sort of fun to banter with him. But he died and I don't have anyone to ask the question: "Why?"

[Hope22]

79. I'm sorry to hear about your cousin. It's hard not to get the answer to the question. 💗🙏🏼

The kids are my father’s second family. He’s gone now and we are all older so when this maga thing came about some of them were still in the service, some work for contractors and the spouses all seem to be all in for TSF. It’s sad and hard but …I just can’t be around it. It is a lose of connection, gatherings and support. We do what we have to do! They will never change until they lose their healthcare or something of equal value.

[qazplm135]

101. Because a large chunk

are Southern White conservatives.

[Hope22]

111. And west mid western...they seem to have a racist bend that can't be overlooked.

My Magas were bred and raised in CO!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

22. Everything trended south after 2000

I recall the introspection following the 2000 SCOTUS decision and that we'd become a "cheating culture".

"A public policy expert reveals how decades of deregulation and increasing inequality have fostered a culture of cheating across America.

There have always been people who cut corners, but in The Cheating Culture, David Callahan demonstrates how cheating on every level—from the highly publicized corporate scandals to Little League fraud—has risen dramatically in recent decades. He then asks the simple yet provocative questions: Why all the cheating? Why now?

Callahan pins the blame on today’s dog-eat-dog economic climate. An unfettered market and unprecedented economic inequality have corroded our values and threaten the level playing field so central to American democracy itself. Through revealing interviews and extensive data analysis, Callahan takes readers on a revealing tour of cheating in America and offers a powerful argument for why it matters."

https://www.amazon.com/Cheating-Culture-Americans-Doing-Wrong/dp/0156030055#

[allegorical oracle]

25. Too bad that George, Tom, Ben and the guys didn't insert a bit about convicted felons

being ineligible to run for POTUS in the Constitution. They covered minimum age, citizenship, the Electoral College and slaves being counted as 2/3 of a person. Guess they were either too trusting or they never met con artists on a par with the Trumps.

[yellow dahlia]

71. Their worst nightmare.

[BlueTsunami2018]

26. Because you actually will be held responsible.

You’re not him. You’re not “rich” and famous. You don’t have an army of legal people to thwart the system.

[kimbutgar]

27. I am so ashamed of our country and my fellow citizens to support such an evil deranged lying cheating traitorous

Man.

RIP America 1776-2025

[Cherokee100]

28. So true

You are absolutely correct. Maybe 'benedict donald', was right. I guess, all of us veterans, are suckers and losers. That's for spelling it out, so well.

[bdamomma]

49. To me

you are not "suckers and losers". Damn that POS for even saying that. He's just a shell of nothing.

[JT45242]

29. Are you are a billionaire, or perceived to be a billionaire?

If yes, you need not obey the laws.

If no, you must obey the laws.

You steal a car, you go to jail.

If you steal billions (looking at you Goldman Sachs, Milken, Walton family etc), you are too big to fail and have no consequences.

[Locutusofborg]

30. There has never been a time in recorded history

When the ruling class didn't have benefits and privileges that were not available to those who were not in the ruling class.

[TheKentuckian]

85. Be a serf if you wish but I am a citizen.

Citizens are not ruled but rather governed with consent.

If we are to be ruled then the whole framework is a lie and should be seen and treated as such.

People just bend their knees even with their words like it is in their blood.

[Beachnutt]

33. If there is a law you don't like

just Trump it.

[The Wizard]

36. Fair

is a four letter word starting with F.
The fish rots from the head down. Dark clouds on the horizon.

[Ping Tung]

37. You should get promoted to president. Then you can do whatever you please and

give yourself a pardon if convicted. Even if you need to pay someone off you'll be a celebrity and make a fortune.

[Evolve Dammit]

38. That resonates with me. I hear you loud and clear. WE are being overlooked is my opinion. Did everything right and now

are expected to suffer beyond what we ever expected and/or contemplated. And the Trumpers just don't get it, until it affects them too. It's really concerning and I fear for our decades of doing the "right thing" as you articulated.

[Aussie105]

39. But isn't this why people strive to become rich, powerful, influential?

You can do what you like, get away with anything.

Justice isn't blind.

[Mr. Evil]

41. I'm right with you!

Someone, somewhere, somehow needs to explain why he always gets a free pass. I really have to know what the fuck is so god damn special about TSF.

[bdamomma]

54. Well, our

European friends are saying WTF is wrong with Americans (but that was a minority of voters).

I hope we can regain their trust.

[allegorical oracle]

96. IMO, he had plans to pull this "soft coup" even before he first came down the tacky

escalator. Longtime dirty tricksters like Stone and Manafort were joined by The Heritage Foundation, Bannon, Fox News, Limbaugh and other right-wing radio jocks and social media to build a solid foundation. They knew TSF would be one of the only potential candidates crooked enough to happily overthrow 250 years of tradition.

Decent people couldn't imagine such evil could prevail among voters, but it did. Voters had been thoroughly brainwashed through eight years of Tea Party propaganda, TSF's first term, an insurrection, and its lies about the 2020 election. Biden's win was sullied by constant cries of illegitimate.

We need to rest, take deep breaths, and get involved at local levels. Take heart that more than 50 percent of the voters did not vote for corruption in 2024. It might help if we stop beating ourselves up about it and focus on plans to resist.

[Butterflylady]

42. AverageOldGuy.......very simple answer....

To your question......you are a decent human being. Very simple.

[TheKentuckian]

43. There is no real reason other than to avoid the hammer.

Go to jury duty, lie, and nullify every time unless you want to drop the hammer on a regressive.

Without equality under the law, there is no justice so be a gremlin in the gears at every opportunity and bring this farce down because it binds us rather than protects us.

[FakeNoose]

45. AverageOldGuy, I think you know the answer to this already

I totally get your disgust at how Chump is getting away with his crimes and not even trying to hide them.

But it didn't start with him, and it didn't start in the 21st century. It has been going on for as long as there have been societies that allow privilege for the wealthy/lucky/blessed few, and rules with harsh punishments for all the rest of us.

The thing about Chump is that he loves to slap us in the face with his own privilege, and our lack of it. In previous centuries, in previous cultures, the ruling class tried their best to keep their privilege a secret. They had to in order to avoid angry revolts from the lower classes. Think of the French Revolution in 1789 - that's what I'm talking about. If Chump had been around then, he would have been the first one to go under the guillotine.

[Stargazer99]

94. Maybe we need another French Revolution

[Blue Owl]

46. Apparently tRump is special.... So fucking special....

[k55f5r]

107. And I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo, what am I doing here?

[Mblaze]

50. It does seem that the worth of a well-lived life

must come from those who live those lives and those who know that worth. Decency, honor, honestly, service to America and abiding by the law doesn't seem to hold much worth in these days of MAGA.

[Uncle Joe]

51. Because you're better than *rump and you have an example to set even if it's against the dark power of injustice,

no matter the source.

Remain true to yourself, fight the good fight, and stay grounded with your own moral code.

Thanks for the thread AverageOldGuy

[surfered]

52. He got a different Supreme Court opinion than the rest of us would have gotten.

[modrepub]

53. What Is True Purpose of "Law"

Is it to provide a "fair" system to settle our disputes? Or is a construct put in place to protect a small privilaged group of folks from the rest of society? If you can figure this conundrum out, then you'll be closer to the truth IMHO.

Personally, I'm of the opinion that we've allowed our politicians to accumulate too much power over our lives. Having faith in a politician, political party (or anyone other than yourself) to "take care" of all your problems is surrendering your personal sovereignty.

I think part of Trump's attraction to the "powerless" is his insistence that only he understands their "problems" and he's the only one who can "fix" them. This will inevitably become a blame game once Trump demonstrates how much of a buffoon he and his inner circle are. It's those liberal city dwellers and Democratic elitists' fault that prices are going up, unemployment has exploded and you still don't have that $30/hr sit on your ass job I promised you.

[dlk]

55. Accountability and consequences for rich, white men are few and far between

For the rest of us, it's a different matter altogether.

[NewLarry]

56. The answer to your question

"WTF was it worth?" is simple.

You still have your honor.

[TNNurse]

57. I believe that most of us

will obey laws that protect others and their rights. That is just who we are.

[elocs]

58. Life is not fair. Never was, never will be. n/t

[Hope22]

60. I join you in feeling stupid when I stop at a stop sign!

Super ridiculous when I pay my taxes. I Follow the speed limit to keep others safe. Post TSF I feel like I live in a lawless world. That being said, I carry on doing the right thing because that is the kind of world that I desire to live in. I’m not gonna let that f#@$&$ steal my shine. I don’t know what the future will bring and I really hope all of us stay safe from harm. Peace and love to you and yours.

[Rebl2]

63. We are better

people and believe in laws and following the law.

[Hope22]

89. We had a slumber party in 8th grade.

The Tv was on and in those days the national anthem came on right before the channel shut down. One of my friends jumped out of her sleeping bag and stood with her hand over her heart!! We all looked at her like ‘what???’. Now SHE was better than ALL of us!😁💗

[Rebl2]

62. Simple

You are not rich. It’s the poor and middle class that pay to keep things going.

[tmars505]

64. the birth lottery

You didn't win. The trumpster did

[BurnDoubt]

68. "Give Us Barabas!"

Why do "populists" NEVER get it right???????

[yellow dahlia]

72. Some good comments and observations,

...but doesn't make it any easier. Aargh.

[CentralBlueTexan]

73. AverageOldGuy

As an average old woman. The next 2 to 4 years are going to be difficult to endure🤕

[Meowmee]

74. I don't have an answer

Except you are good and that psycho is a pos. If you want to avoid jail you have to keep doing what you’re doing no matter what you think. You helped others etc. that is a gift. Sometimes people do things which are considered wrong, but which are for the greater good ultimately.

The whole system has failed. nobody wants justice more than I do, believe me, it really kills me inside to see this happening after what was done to my father.

[Deep State Witch]

76. Exactly This

I was an intelligence professional for 35 years. Retired in December 2020. If I had walked out of the building with my classified resume - let alone any documents - I would be in jail. I feel sorry for my colleagues who are still there and have to take mandatory training on handling and retention of classified materials.

[moondust]

77. When you left the intel job

did you undergo a debriefing? I think most if not all those with a clearance have to sit through one of those on their way out. IIRC it includes being asked if you are in possession of any classified materials and being warned what the punishments may include if caught with any after leaving.

I've wondered for years if TSF underwent a debriefing on his way out in 2021 and if not--why not? He obviously didn't or didn't take it seriously if he did.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

78. Why? Because, unlike iDJT & his cronies,

there's a good chance you will be prosecuted, and convicted, and sentenced.

Unfortunately, infuriatingly justice is not blind. If it even exists at all.

[WheelWalker]

80. See for example Emmanuel Kant's Generalization Principle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categorical_imperative#:~:text=Kant%20concludes%20that%20a%20moral,between%20perfect%20and%20imperfect%20duties.

[republianmushroom]

81. One would have to ask Merrick the Meek, why.

But, don't expect an answer. Except way to damn political for me.

[Joinfortmill]

82. It's mind boggling. I don't think our government

is prepared to inprison a former President. And so we find ourselves in very dangerous political waters.

[slightlv]

83. What you write is what I've been saying for years now...

there absolutely is at least two tiers of justice -- one for the rich, white, xtian male and one for the rest of us. The first's wheel grind exceedingly show; the latter races through the process.

Like you, I'm a veteran and have been feeling like that all that is for naught now. I think of my Dad, how proudly he served in WWII, the stories he came back home with... and the pain. And I remember how proud he was when I announced I had just enlisted in the Air Force. I'm so glad he's no longer here to witness what has become of the country he fought so hard for. Me... I feel like a sucker. All the gains I fought for in my generation for us, for women in general, are all being thrown out the window once again. Like you, I'm too old to go through another go-round to get them back. And we all know, what is lost is so hard to regain. It can be ripped away in a moment, but take generations to get back once again.

I feel like committing some crime, and then screaming "If trump can do it, so can I!"... but I know that's never going to happen. For one thing, I don't know how to crime like trump and his minions. Nor can I knowingly hurt another person, even if it profits me. I look at trump, and I can still look in my mirror and see a better person than him staring back at me.

I have not sold my soul for t or capitalism yet, and I doubt seriously it's ever going to happen. Let him call me sucker and loser all he wants. At least I wear my grey hair proudly!

[H2O Man]

86. Because you are you.

You are not the felon, or one of his cult. They do not define us. We are entering an era where we must have the courage of our convictions and values.

[SunSeeker]

87. Simple: Money. The rules do not apply to the rich.

Us little guys we must comply with the rules because we don't have the money to buy the connections and lawyers who will excuse us from the rules.

[Randomthought]

90. Because

You are honorable.
That's it you are better.

[B.See]

91. Didn't read all the replies, so this has probably been said, but

Yours is a VERY good question, and one that I'm thinking many very young people are also wondering. For which I have two answers:

1. Because WE wouldn't be able to get away with the shit he and his cronies do. And

2. We're BETTER than scum like that, anyway.

[AKwannabe]

92. Glad to be rec 200

Fuck tRump. And all the minions
Fuck them ALL!

Anyway. How do we get there from here?
Just askin

[electric_blue68]

93. Imho, because you have a self-regulating sense of honor, and ethics. Ty

[Orrex]

95. I've had cheerleaders mock me for asking much the same question

Just wait. Garland will sort this out. We just need to give him more time.

More time.

More time.

[Progressive dog]

97. Trump gets away withn it

and you don't. You would be prosecuted but Trump won't because SCOTUS decided to make him a king.

[Ohioboy]

98. You should do these things because you want to be a good person and a patriot

It used to be we could teach our children to be like our leaders. As children we learned about "Honest Abe" never cheating anyone, and George Washington as a boy not being able to tell a lie when he chopped down the cherry tree. They may have just been stories, but they conveyed honesty and virtue.

Nowadays I wouldn't want my child to ever be like you know who.

[RoHok123]

102. 22snakes

Yeah it was worth it, do not become like them the world will always need good people.

[kentuck]

104. It is a habit....

Those that have always obeyed the laws will continue to obey the laws. Those that have scoffed at the laws will continue to be scofflaws. They will just have more freedom to do so.

[duncang]

108. You probably don't have the money for lawyers.

This isn’t just a tfg deal. We have seen big companies get away with stuff like that for a long time. Most of the time the company gets fined, but the board and ceos who did it get away no problem. We have gotten to the point of thinking that it’s normal.

[wryter2000]

109. You're lucky to have pensions

With mine and SS, I can live comfortably if I'm careful about spending. If something catastrophic happens, I have some investments, again because my employer gave me a loan to buy a house. Without those things, I might have to work until I died at my desk.

Imagine if you had to live on SS.

[CommonHumanity]

110. VERY simple answer

Because you're probably not rich enough to buy or delay your way out of paying the consequences plus you probably are not an amoral, ruthless power-hungry mafioso.

[Pototan]

112. Just get 80 million morons to vote for you for President

make sure you carry the swing states, and the laws won't apply to you.

[Joe Nation]

113. If you would like to have the same privileges

Try being rich. Serving your country, obeying the law, and having actual morals is just for suckers and losers. Next time, try being filthy rich instead.
Welcome to America.

[snot]

114. Sadly, corruption DOES trickle down,

unlike wealth.

I derive meaning in life from trying to make things better, so I choose both to refrain from following corrupt leaders' example and also to work to try to reform the systems that allowed them to ascend... but in our current, unfettered-capitalist system, it's tough, since it rewards the ability to accumulate money and power rather than other virtues.

[Metaphorical]

116. Why Psychopaths Win (and Eventually Fall)

In psychology there is no real distinction between psychopaths and sociopaths - they are seen as the same thing, so I'll use the term psychopath to describe Trump.

Psychopaths have no real sense of compassion, justice,or fair play. No empathy. They don't believe that rules apply to them, and will inevitably go out of their way to put themselves into positions where there are no checks on their power. They cheat, they intimidate, they blackmail, they coerce, they gaslight. They hog the spotlight. They own loyalty to nobody, but expect everyone to be loyal to them, and they are vindictive when they do not receive their due. Nothing is ever their fault, but they will always claim success even if they had little to nothing to do with the task at hand.

Psychopaths succeed primarily by being tenacious and never accepting "No" for an answer. 2020 was likely a hard lesson for Trump, and he did everything he could to stack the deck so it wouldn't happen again. This is what makes psychopaths so dangerous - unless you physically constrain them, they WILL come back for revenge. The malevolent narcissist is perhaps the worst of these, because they need constant attention, they are completely self-focused, and will act out when they don't get what they feel is their due. They also recognize that they won't ever be respected, so they are perfectly happy to be feared. This is one reason that so many of them end up being dictators.

Dictators can be very effective for a time (if they don't let their own inherent laziness get in control) and they frequently take control by destroying existing institutions and oppositional strongholds. They use fear, coupled with the occasional strike, to keep forces in line and wary. They also usually try to suborn power structures such as the military, the intelligence network, and churches.

Dictators fall when they cannot marshal enough of a power base to stay in power. They lose their patrons, they fail to gain control of the military or the intelligence apparatus, they piss off the upper class, they anger the media. Dictators fall when people are no longer afraid of them.

Now, Trump is facing several potential obstacles to staying in power:

* He's a known quantity, and most of those same power structures have been strengthening their defenses against him. This will make it harder for him to be able to take control (he's lost the element of surprise), and there will be more resistance to his appointments.
* He has a razor thin control of the House, and not much better in the Senate - and the Senate in general is less likely to rubberstamp his appointments. He's actually in worse shape now than he was in 2016, and the GOP in particular is riven by partisan infighting.
* Moreover the election map for 2026 favors the Democrats far more than it does the GOP, and that's not factoring in the standard mid-term opposition.
* The blue states have QUICKLY mobilized, and will offer active resistance to anything that significantly gives him an advantage.
* He doesn't have a popular mandate. If he starts to make significant changes that affect people's lives or livelihood, he is going to bleed what little support he has.
* He has few allies that are not there because of fear. He's going to find it hard to get people to work for him, and the people he's already chosen for his cabinet are, for the most part, being awarded patronage, not because they are competent. Most of the people from his first cabinet won't return.
* He has his pet billionaire, Elon Musk, working for him, but Musk is working in a department (DOGE) which does not yet exist, that may find difficulty in getting funding if somehow it passes Congress (and I don't believe it will), and Musk has an ego that is nearly as massive as Trump's, and may actually have some difficulty in getting approved by Congress as the head of such a department. I also expect Trump and Musk to come to loggerheads sooner rather than later, and Musk may very well spill the beans as to how exactly Trump "won" the election if he feels he's being sidelined.
* I don't think that Trump actually has the base that people assume - there were a lot of people who were taken in by the media (or social media), and there will be many more who voted out someone who didn't improve the economy they felt should have been advantageous to them. Many of them will have their eyes opened in the next two years.
* JD Vance is waiting in the background. I'm not convinced that Trump's failings were all that feigned, he IS old, and there may be more than a few Republicans who feel that, having returned the GOP to power, Trump is no longer necessary. Also, golf courses and drones.

Note: I think that Vance is a snake, but he's not a narcissistic psychopath. He would not be a great president, but we've had worse, and this isn't even numbering Trump among that list.

[Metaphorical]

118. One more thought (to the OP)

You have integrity and a sense of honor. These are good things. Your actions have, and will continue to have, powerful ramifications for the world moving forward. There are many, many people out there who don't have either. They usually succeed in the short term because they cheat - they cut corners, they cheat others of credit (and often money), and they burn bridges. One can do that for only so long before people fight back.

Trump cheats. It's the only way he knows how to operate. Most of the people who know Trump do not like him, but they got pulled into the vortex where up was down and left was right, and many are already regretting it. I don't believe that Trump will be President for long. I believe that someone, as likely one of his disgruntled former followers as anyone, will succeed this time, if not those people who may have wanted to see the GOP back in power but think that Trump has become a liability. He has no friends left who wouldn't turn on him in a heartbeat (*cough* Musk *cough).

[mucholderthandirt]

122. Because you aren't Trump or one of the elite. Because you wouldn't be able to live with yourself.

Because the law is for us, not them.

I get you. I had a super high clearance, I went places the base commander couldn't go without an escort. And I never shared anything, never stole anything, never did wrong. I loved my country and I did everything I could to bring truth and honor to it.

Now we get a slap in the face, because we are suckers and losers. We didn't play the game to better our selves. We didn't lie, steal and break every law for our own benefit. We did the right things, despite many of us being so poor we barely ate, and lived in rat holes, wore worn-out clothes and shoes, didn't get dental and medical help like we should have, and on top of all that, were given shit educations. But we worked, we did what we could to make our lives better, to make things better for our kids, and for others.

See, our failing is that we weren't born with a silver spoon, didn't benefit from family money, didn't get to slide through college without effort. We forgot where the true bootstraps were, in family wealth and privilege we didn't earn ourselves (from family who lied, stole and cheated for all they have).

[malaise]

124. Great OP

Rec

[FullySupportDems]

127. What gets me is just how many people must have helped him

So many people must have helped him commit crimes. Tens or hundreds of people? People with clearances who took oaths. It breaks my brain.

[Fish700]

129. Everybody knows - Leonard Cohen / Sharon Robinson

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows