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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe reckoning
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Orrex
(66,583 posts)And Republicans will stymie every attempt to correct or undo every single one of Trump's misdeeds.
We're in for a long couple of decades.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)And who did this last time.
We need to primary them so they can't do it again.
And that should be as much a priority as winning elections.
Because if you don't do it, the wins will be hollow.
llmart
(17,290 posts)and probably short lived.
RetiredParatrooper
(40 posts)Start there.
pat_k
(12,663 posts)All the looking forward not back is how we got here.
No more weak, mealy mouthed bullshit about "making sure it doesn't happen again," while guaranteeing that it does by refusing to hold perpetrators accountable.
Over, and over, and over the same names crop up in every criminal administration for a reason.
Never again.
It it up to citizen lobbyists to demand prosecutions. We the people must hold the criminals accountable for their crimes.
This is a moral imperative
Trueblue Texan
(4,137 posts)Just Jerome
(416 posts)the snake or cancer or infection or metaphor of your choice MUST be eviscerated. Thats where those forward lookers are pathetically short-sighted. Sadly, donors checks have a lot to do with that.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)"Co-optation means taking something (an idea, person, or movement) and absorbing it into your own group or system, often to neutralize its threat, gain control, or use it for your own purposes, sometimes by offering inclusion or rewards, while another meaning is adding a new member to a committee by existing members' vote. It's a tactic to assimilate opposition, adopt popular concepts, or fill roles without open selection, shifting the original meaning or power. "
Lochloosa
(16,658 posts)No, you cut it out, bombard it with powerful killing drugs and radiation.
What we face is a cancer that must be eradicated. Period.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)sop
(17,261 posts)I'll be happy if Miller, Hegseth, Noem, Bondi and a couple more accomplices are prosecuted.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)Pull it up by the roots.
If not, it will grow back.
It always has.
Scrivener7
(58,095 posts)JT45242
(3,809 posts)Hawley, cruz, etc
pat_k
(12,663 posts)...multiple administrations.
The "rank and file" must be held accountable too.
Immoral assholes like Alex Acosta and his like who have been obstructing justice and violating the constitution for decades.
And for the crimes against the nation that may not fit a specific charge, a truth and societal justice process to make the harms to this nation public and pass laws that bar the perpetrators of those harms from public service.
Martin Eden
(15,301 posts)Not revenge, retribution, abuse of power, or done to satisfy the justifiable rage we all feel.
Undertaken as solemn sworn duty, not only to hold criminals accountable for their crimes, but to ensure nothing like this happens again.
And YES -- this is also necessary for HEALING. Horrible wounds must be cleansed and closed to prevent further infection.
llmart
(17,290 posts)There are too many judges who have his back including the very top of our judicial system. They have appointments for life. If you're going to start at the top, it has to be with the courts, especially the Supreme Court. Unless some of them retire and/or die off while a Dem is President, the majority of them will not be supportive of our agendas.
Martin Eden
(15,301 posts)But I maintain it should all be done based on Constitutional law for just cause, and not motivated by retribution.
Supreme Court justices can be impeached, but it may require more than disagreeable rulings.
llmart
(17,290 posts)I'd start with Clarence. I'm sure there's plenty there that's more than just unethical.
Martin Eden
(15,301 posts)And he's not the only one, I bet.
LuvLoogie
(8,465 posts)It runs through the veins of 10s of millions.
And this regime feeds and feeds off of this.
Scrivener7
(58,095 posts)Dr. T
(493 posts)They accused liberal Democrats of creating one when nothing could be further from the truth. Then, they proceeded to rid the government of anyone and anything that did not swear allegiance to the Orange Influenza. They've created their own cancerous deep state that must be eradicated.
Bluetus
(2,157 posts)There is too much big money paying people to make sure the people never are represented again.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)Watch and see.
Joinfortmill
(19,878 posts)PatSeg
(51,930 posts)Last edited Wed Dec 17, 2025, 08:30 PM - Edit history (1)
at the beginning of his first term that we need to look forward and not dwell on the past (the many crimes of the Bush administration).
So many of us were upset and it appears we were right. If there is no accountability, the offenders just come back and do the same things again and again, while encouraging newcomers to do the same. Some people never learn it appears.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)catchnrelease
(2,124 posts)during Bush's last year, people posted that there wouldn't be another republican president elected for many decades because he was so bad. But nothing was done to hold him and his cronies accountable for their crimes and here we are. Always looking forward. For the good of the country. Etc etc. BS!!
I can just hear the excuses that will be coming--'there are too many laws that are being broken to prosecute them all. It will be chaos. The country will be in turmoil, we need to get back to 'normal' governing. We don't want to alienate all of the r voters. The courts will be tied up for years.........'
Good. Make a special commission or whatever you'd call it. Prosecute all of them with televised trials! Do it all by the book but spare no one involved.
Do I think it will ever happen? No. Sadly no.
PatSeg
(51,930 posts)prosecuting members of the Bush administration. Politically it would look very vindictive and petty. It certainly could be construed as divisive, but shit, look at what we have now. We are more divisive than ever. Not to mention, so many of us voted out republicans because of the crimes committed.
I don't think anyone expected (I know I didn't), that it would all just be swept under the rug. I agree that petty, frivolous prosecutions are inappropriate, as we're witnessing today, but no accountability at all is just an invitation to do it all again. So many of these people are repeat offenders and given the chance, they come back for more. Then of course, there are the copycat lawbreakers who will feel it is safe to push the boundaries because nothing ever happens.
I do understand why Obama as the first black president had to be very careful, being the "angry black president" was the image his adversaries and right-wing media wanted to promote. That was kind of ridiculous of course, as Obama was one of the most disciplined, cautious presidents we've had.
Intractable
(1,553 posts)Two fantasies.
PatSeg
(51,930 posts)but I think at times he was a bit naive. This all might have worked at another time in our history, but not in this century. I think an older and more experienced Obama might have been more realistic.
I appreciate the optimism and lofty rhetoric during a campaign, but the White House is a far more pragmatic environment and the catchy slogans didn't get progressive legislation passed.
Intractable
(1,553 posts)> but I think at times he was a bit naive.
They worried about Obama's blackness. I worried about his "greenness."
At the time, of clean coal, I remember thinking that if he had mentioned that sh*t on the campaign trail, Hillary would have been president.
PatSeg
(51,930 posts)Eight years of Joe Biden could have easily been followed by eight years of Barack Obama who would have been a far more seasoned and experienced politician by then. They were a great team, but it would have been better in reverse in the beginning.
ecstatic
(35,001 posts)We were loud and vocal about wanting justice.
PatSeg
(51,930 posts)that many of us hoped there would be accountability, but yes, as exhausted as we were, quite a few felt it might be better to move on. I could see both sides at the time. Now I feel that there are some lines we cannot let out politicians cross if we want to protect and preserve our democracy.
Solomon
(12,630 posts)This shit started with the end of the Civil War when they didn't hang the traitors afterward. Instead, they actually let the losers write the history instead of executing them.
That's why the mf' ers are still with us today.
littlemissmartypants
(31,351 posts)Recommend as a way to start a mission statement.
This suggests that a huge attitude adjustment is necessary in order for anything of substance to be initiated much less gained.
We've got a long row to hoe.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)Can be a great motivator.
Because "if" we don't start fighting and stop with the strongly worded letters, we will fail.
littlemissmartypants
(31,351 posts)aggiesal
(10,513 posts)No, we want to prosecute those that broke laws and can be indicted by a grand jury with evidence so compelling that the grand jury can't make any other decision but to indict. Then juries of 12 that will see the evidence and convict them all.
Next we'll have to change the Pardon Laws that a President can't pardon anyone in his/her administrations, that enabled the breaking of those laws. Those convicted can still be pardoned, but not by the President whose administration they were working for.
That's what I'm hoping for.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)Last edited Wed Dec 17, 2025, 03:07 PM - Edit history (1)
I say we give them back every bit of what they dished out on their own plate.
Seems fair enough.
aggiesal
(10,513 posts)orangecrush
(28,046 posts)aggiesal
(10,513 posts)We need to go after those that violated the law, by using the law.
If we don't use the law, when (R)'s get back into power, they will do even worse.
We have to use the law and go after all the enablers.
Upthevibe
(9,975 posts)orangecrush
(28,046 posts)slightlv
(7,368 posts)with every scandal since the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Escape
(365 posts)THIS is the most important lesson we all must learn. Every person who committed a crime, in their involvement with Trump, must pay their debt to society--in full.
And THIS TIME, we don't start at the bottom and work our way up.
There must be no Merrick Garlands.
orangecrush
(28,046 posts)Alice B.
(686 posts)That would go a ways toward rebuilding.
Eloon and TSF and family, especially.
flashman13
(1,946 posts)administration, and in particular Merrick Garland, to arrest and prosecute Trump for inciting an insurrection and stealing secret government documents immediately in early 2021 clearly supports your contention that the monster will simply regroup and come back. Trump learned that he could get away with anything.
Martin68
(26,923 posts)an AI hallucination). We know that their only goal is to enrich themselves, imprison and/or deport all the people they hate (the list is endless), and punish their political opponents. The only way forward is to purge government of these maggots and put laws in place that will strengthen all the soft spots in our democracy that they have exploited. If they want "healing," let them confess their sins in the public square and heal themselves.
BurnDoubt
(1,362 posts)Bev54
(13,144 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(26,146 posts)BurnDoubt
(1,362 posts)Once the Malignancy has been removed and eradicated.
AND DANCE, DANCE. DANCE!!!!!
oldmanlynn
(769 posts)And I would like to add that they should definitely revoke the license of Fox News because they have created this divide by stalking this hatred that we have today and manipulating all of these uneducated people into believing things that are not true. This has been harmful to our country and we can establish that and we have the evidence of that and so we should be able to revoke Fox News license
RetiredParatrooper
(40 posts)Instead, the Dem leadership was feckless, which led to the ridiculous situation we are in. They need to wake the hell up and understand that the rules are different now.
At this time, I donate to candidates I like. Neither the Senatorial or Congressional re-election people will get anything from me unless and until I hear candidates saying things like the mem does.
MaineBlueBear
(405 posts)Id like to see a Democratic lawyer(s) in charge of the investigation. Jack Smith and Robert Muller are both Republicans. Just once put a dem in charge, please!
AverageOldGuy
(3,268 posts)That was the failure on Jan 6 - Capitol Police should have issued automatic weapons and stacked the bodies ten high all around the Capitol.
ecstatic
(35,001 posts)Truly a betrayal that I will never forgive or forget.
peppertree
(23,103 posts)In some cases, prosecuting the top brass from their former fascist regimes and some of the most brazen cases - but not the fascist judiciary figures, yes-men and such.
In many cases, what resulted is that within a generation or so, these same miscreants (or, more often, their children) would come back to either interfere with their hard-gain democracies...
or - like in Argentina - basically re-establish the same dictatorship but under a "democratic" guise (complete with show trials, etc.).