Members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have warned America for three years to take former President Donald Trump at his word.
Now, as Trump is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination, his criminal trials face delays that could stall them past Election Day, and his rhetoric grows increasingly authoritarian, some of those lawmakers find themselves following their own advice.
In mid-March, Trump said on social media that the committee members should be jailed. In December he vowed to be a dictator on “day one.” In August, he said he would “have no choice” but to lock up his political opponents.
“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”
Lofgren added that she doesn’t yet have a plan in place to thwart potential retribution by Trump. But Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has long been a burr in Trump’s side, said he’s having “real-time conversations” with his staff about how to make sure he stays safe if Trump follows through on his threats.
“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff said. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”
Then why have they not arrested (and hopefully executed) Trump and most of his toadies yet? Seems like they're not that serious.
B-but then we're just as bad as them
How is arresting a fascist bad you ask? Uhhhhhh
Remember the Lulags?
This is why
Executed?
America has executed tens or hundreds of thousands of black and brown people all over the world, without trial, for much lesser acts of alleged terrorism than publicly threatening to kidnap US legislators.
Yes. And that doesn't justify us killing their politicians. It does justify sending them to the ICC.
Why should American or Western laws or morality apply to a crime that occured overseas? If Pakistani or Iraqi law allows for the death penalty for mass murder, who is anyone to say that they're not entitled to try and execute an American politician in accordance with their laws?
In fact, who are "we" even in this situation?
The United Nations is to say. See the Declaration of Human Rights. Its a wonderful document.
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
That's not how jurisdiction or extradition works. Invoking the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to block the death penalty from being applied to the politicians of a State Member that allows and applies the death penalty domestically is also a hilarious thought, even if the UN had any way to intercede to stop the death penalty from being carried out (it does not).
Is this a bit?
Either Trump is an existential threat that requires the strongest possible response, or he's just another corrupt asshole in a country dominated by others like him.
And before you go "but America doesn't do that sort of thing!", I'd encourage you to look up Fred Hampton.
I'm familiar with COINTELPRO and more recent black sites used by CPD.
My point is that we shouldn't sink to their level. We can neutralize the threat of a wanna-be dictator man child without murder. The man is sick and he deserves to be treated for his illness.
Sure, imprison, convert or kill. Those are the three ways to neutralize someone and they should at least try one.
The sentence in prison should be as long as is needed to rehabilitate them.
Prison isn't a place to "convert" or "torture" or "punish" someone. Its s place for them to get care and education until they are safe to return to society without being a risk to themselves or others.
There is no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do.
The purpose of a system is what it does.
There are countries where prisons are used to torture and there are countries where prisons are used as rehabilitation centers. Both exist.
My point is that we should build the later, not the former.
There is no prison on Earth that does not punish people. Even the most humane institutions struggle to treat inmates as anything other than subhuman, because no matter how lofty the goals of a prison system it's still a prison. And the purpose of prisons is very clear.
My point is we should abolish prison.
I very much do not give a shit whether Trump is rehabilitated or not, he's an existential danger to many groups of people, if somebody decides to put a bullet in his head I'm not gonna cry over it.
Not in the US it’s not…
The US is the most violent and one of the most classist societies in the world. Slavery is still legal in US prisons.
Its hardly a benchmark.
Those three methods are taken from the FBI suppressing Black revolutionary thought. I'm this model, prisons are absolutely places to torture, punish and convert people.
Doesn't treason carry the death penalty? If they seriously think he's going to become a dictator and end democracy, he should be killed. The US government has had 0 problem doing it to leaders of other countries who did far less; why should Trump get special treatment? Just because he's a rich white guy? Hell, they've even set precedent under Obama that it's legal to drone strike US citizens on foreign soil for being terrorists. Get him next time he leaves the country.
Can we instead join the ranks of most countries and not do capital punishment?
Just disqualify him from becoming a public servant, and lock the man in a nice prison with access to educational programs and other social services. He needs a good history teacher and therapist.
Also, yes, stop all funding to the military and send the generals and their henchmen to the ICC to see if they should receive the same treatment.
Absolute lib shit lmao. The man is 77 years old and has never faced consequences for his actions in his entire life. That's who he is. He's not going to suddenly reverse his entire personality because you made him talk with a therapist for a couple hours.
Like I understand the desire for rehabilitation, but some people are just fucked.
At any rate he deserves it for his war crimes alone.
A couple hours? He's very sick. I think he would need to see a therapist and study history every day for at least 20 years...
Yes, he should be put in a reeducation camp. But we don't have one of those, do we?
Look, it'd be great to abolish the death penalty, the army, and the current version of the government in favor of something more equitable and humane. But that's not the world we live in. Last year cops killed over 1000 people. In the america of today, under the laws that exist today, why should Trump not be killed?
I dont hear an argument for why we can't lock them all up in a nice facility with access to educational programs and other social services to help them be rehabilitated.
Trump and most police need a lot of therapy and a proper education about US and world history.
Empty all of the prisons of folks charged with victimless "crimes" and you have plenty of space for white collar criminals and 99% of the police officers
hey, i can tell you're a good faith user and that's really great, we need more of those. thank you for that.
nobody is saying that what you're arguing for isn't a good thing, most people on hexbear would agree. their point is we can't just have that for rich assholes like trump, we should have that for everyone, and that's what should be happening. but the Democrats aren't going to do that. so to deal with him, at least for now, treat him like they do everyone who's jailed in america
Are they? They seem like a bit
None of what you advocate can happen without revolution, and as a certain philosopher and activist said, “a revolution is not a dinner party.” It will be violent, and many people will die.
You can either have that, or you can have the Democrats/Republicans pretending to be the party of civility while they commit genocide. No ruling class in history has ever given up power peacefully.
India? Canada?
Are you suggesting that a state built on ongoing genocide and imperialism like Canada, or a backward, semi-colonial, semi-feudal country like India, are models that anyone in their right mind should follow?
Most white collar crime is just stuff like embezzlement and causes less harm than normal crime.
Aren't most people convicted in the US charged with "victimless crimes"?
Sorry, but white collar criminals embezzling from pension funds and doing mortgage lending fraud causes immense harm. Possessing a specific species of flowers doesnt do harm.
No, most people imprisoned in the US are charged with victim-having violent crime (as of 2020). The order goes violent crimes(650k), property crime(150k), drug crimes(130k, and public order crimes(100k). This data is going off state prisoners so it will bias towards long sentences, but not by a factor of six.
Looking at incidents (not arrests or convictions) reported by police over the past decade, you see violent crime decrease but property crime increase. For the past decade there have been 30m property crime incidents, 6m drug crime incidents and 4m violent crime incidents.