In my last post I posed a question: what’s next in the story of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. I provided three potential answers.
The greater problem I see is that each of those scenarios leaves some substantial faction of Americans angry. If Trump is indicted (and presumably convicted), his supporters will be angry. If he is not indicted, his opponents will be angry. And if the search if found to have had procedural and/or legal flaws which prevent Mr. Trump from being prosecuted on that basis, both will be angry.
I just don’t see any outcome in which some substantial faction isn’t more angry than they are now as foreseeable.
Assume, arguendo, that Trump is guilty of everything accused. There is no way it ends without all of the groups being angry. The cult members will never believe it anyway and there is no way they jail a former POTUS. We have laws and rules but a lot of what we do relies upon people working within regular norms of behavior. Trump doesnt do that so there is a steady stream of conflict and near illegal or actually illegal behavior but no one wants to prosecute an acting or former POTUS.
If innocent, meaning they whole thing was politically contrived? He wins the next election. His cult should be happy. Realistically, there wont be charges. If there are it would ultimately end up at SCOTUS and no matter what Trump did they will form a finding to let him off.
Just slightly OT, and you sort of broached this, but should we really want a former president to decide what documents he takes and does not take? They should all be searched, screened or whatever. The truly personal stuff, like POTUS emails dealing with family issues or an interview with some writer should clearly be theirs but if there is any conflict the papers should stay with the archives. The POTUS is our employee and they belong to us.
Steve
but should we really want a former president to decide what documents he takes and does not take? They should all be searched, screened or whatever.
Controversial discussions have ensued regarding how many docs Obama took with him, how many of them were classified, and whether or not the national archivists embarked on scrutinizing Obama’s troves of docs with the zeal and oversight they are demanding of Trump. Obama even sued over disputes with the national archivist, but nevertheless was able to carry on with digitizing his papers with no fuss, raids, or oversight. Bush and Clinton also went head-to-head with archivists in sorting out what they legally could take with them. However, Trump, even though cooperating with ongoing discussions over these docs, gets raided with armed FBI agents using “insurrection-like†tactics.
In the meantime, it’s becoming clearer that the “sensitive†papers the FBI took (stole) from Mar-a-lago were the crossfire-hurricane, spygate docs that Trump earlier declassified, agreeing to a certain amount of redacting, but otherwise were to be released for public consumption. The press, though, somehow thinks it’s an illegal act for Trump to exonerate himself, by freeing up evidence underlying the false claims made in the Russia investigation.. As stated earlier, many of the FBI agents involved in the raid were also involved in the now-foiled attempt to indict Trump in the Russia collusion scheme. It all seems, more and more, like a twisted case of FBI CYA, accompanied by an embittered DOJ, and a WH going after a potential presidential rival.
Jan: Controversial discussions have ensued . . .
Discussions.
Jan: it’s becoming clearer that the “sensitive†papers the FBI took (stole) from Mar-a-lago were the crossfire-hurricane, spygate docs
We asked for evidence of this previously. Or is it just “discussions”?
Speculate all you want, I believe the truth will come out! From there the future of our democracy will be determined.
There’s a few more scenarios.
1) Indicted but not convicted (multiple mistrials, or found not guilty).
2) Indicted but multiple trips to the supreme court on questions of law; by the time they are resolved, Trump has won the Presidency and pardons himself.
Not much difference for communal discord.
“Controversial discussions have ensued”
What controversy? The National Archives told us what they did with them.
Steve