I kinda feel like now that the Supreme Court has declared it legal for a president to straight-up murder people they don't like, it's probably even more important to not elect people who seem extremely inclined to murder people they don't like
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that if he thought he would get away with it (and, let's be clear, he now has a really great reason to think he would), only one of the current candidates would be tickled pink to drop a bomb on the house of any person he feels even mildly threatened by
That's right. But a lot of recent presidents have ordered hits, including Obama, altho unlike DT it wasn't abt internal politics.
What's new is SCOTUS saying it's all OK, "Good on'ya!"
Like Trump himself, they are unwinding all restraints.
Soooo... How I read this is now is the time for Biden to strike Trump. Might not be what Scotus intended, but it'd save a lot of problems (amd lives) down the line
It’s how Trumps good buddy Putin solves issues. Don’t like a political candidate, put them in jail and slowly kill them.
As president, it’s an official act!
Fortunately, as a former military officer, I lose zero sleep over such ideas because even if the President were insane enough to say them, no one would carry them out. Sotomayor's hyperbolic comment was deeply insulting to all of us.
People have pointed to times like My Lai that illegal orders WERE obeyed (true) so, clarification: She's describing a bad-novel scenario where the President could simply order SEAL team 6 to murder any American he pointed to and they would just do it. No, they would not.
Show me to one story of an LEO who who refused beating citizens? Firing rubber bullets at people's residence? Covering their badges to escape consequences? It's been years... I don't know of one. I'm sorry but from Mike Flynn to Crenshaw to J.D. Vance, military service doesn't guarantee Jack.
Of all the LEOs who in the summer of 2020 beat on everyone from the elderly to the press covering the news of the day, to all the Federal officers who cleared out protestors from the front of the WH because Trump wanted a photo op... How many have publicly come out regretting their actions?
There’s even precedent for the cops dropping bombs in urban settings. I can’t imagine an executive ordering it and having immunity for the order is going to discourage them.
I certainly see a lot more fascist symbolism and rhetoric in cop culture than in military culture. But there are still a lot more Mike Flynn's out there then I'm comfortable with.
Or the occupant of the office pointing to, i.e., Stephen Miller and saying, "hey, you, Nosferatu-looking motherfucker, whatever your name is, get this done" so they 'deputize' some of their neo-Nazi friends as 'official agents' and then it's off to the race war.
agreed. and I can't fathom the level of willful ignorance at play.
There is a REASON not to let a child 'play with a knife'; Scotus just put a knife... sorry, A BOMB- on the kitchen table-and told us all not to be ninnys.
"Stop it; its not like trump is 'chucky'!"
🤢
What is an unlawful order now? I ask as a former infantryman (enlisted, E-4). I'm curious how the military clarifies its definitions of unlawful orders, now that there is no such thing for the President. Does he give an order, an officer refuses and they're field demoted until someone complies?
I mean, Kent State happened, and that was without the current latitude afforded the CIC. Maybe to you it's insulting, but I served alongside some soldiers that would probably have followed the order, especially if the officer corps wavered and hadn't been clear long, long before the order was given.
I'd like to see the entire slate of general officers come out strongly that the military cannot and will not violate their principles, regardless of who the CIC is, or what the Supreme Court has said.
They need to draw a line in the sand, like yesterday.
The court didn't legalize the president ordering civilian killings. They made him immune from prosecuting them.
If he tells a soldier to kill Donald Duck, it's still an illegal order. They'd be bound not to follow it. (But he can pardon them if they do)
Your maintenance of this belief, in the face of Nagasaki, My Lai, Kent State, the MOVE bombing, Abu Ghraib, and on and on, is why—moreso than those events themselves—I DO lose sleep.
But I have held unsupported beliefs myself; please don’t be embarrassed!
Instead, please join us insomniacs.
I work with a ton of vets who all sit around and fantasize about killing "leftists" every shift. Are you saying these dudes didn't feel this way while they were on active duty? I don't really trust the military to refuse an order like that and definitely don't trust cops.
Trump's followers supported an overthrow of a legitimate election, an invasion of Congress & the murder of police officers so... I kinda wish Trump had just shot some hedge funder on 5th Ave. it would've done less harm.
