SPECULATION: I think Rosenstein will okay the indictment of Trump

[Stinky The Clown]

I think it will percolate through the DOJ and, when the crimes that could be charged are weighed, the national well-being will outweigh the **custom** of refraining from indicting our miscreant presidents.

Bear in mind: there is no law or regulation preventing charging a president with crimes.

Nixon was an "unindicted coconspirator" which seems more a term of art than fact - even as it is both. Nixon's crimes, while clearly worthy of prison time, did not threaten the very foundation of our country. It was easy enough, and absolutely correct, to end things when he resigned.

St. Ronald should have been at least impeached if not charged criminally. He got off scott free and was cannonised a Republican saint. A compliant congress allowed that to happen.

Clinton was impeached for a really bullshit reason because the Republicans could and wanted to. All it cost us was a year of nothing happening policy-wise.

Then there was Bush. The Democrats failed to impeach.

None of these four presidents' transgressions rise to the level of Trump's.

Today we have a bonafide criminal in office. He is doing what criminals do and has assembled a crew of henchmen doing the same. Personal enrichment. Ignoring national decorum and norms. Obstruction of justice. But the BIG ISSUE is his being a Russian asset and allowing the last presidential election to be manipulated to an outcome desired by a national adversary. Shorthand for all of this includes words like treason.

[wryter2000]

1. I hope they keep pissing him off

Keep it up, Tribblehead

[hlthe2b]

2. Well, I certainly think he seems emboldened now...

Will be interesting I guess (if we survive it)

[triron]

3. Certainly looking more likely.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

4. I hope you are right!

[Atticus]

5. Stink, sometimes you're not only right, you're so damned eloquent it makes

me reluctant to post a response which will surely be judged inadequate by comparison!

[RandomAccess]

6. If not actually push for it

[July]

7. In general, I agree with you.

But, I don't agree that it was "absolutely correct" that Nixon's crimes should have been ignored once he resigned. The only thing I've ever really held against Ford is that, in the end, he put party over county. The knowledge that EVEN the president of the United States could be prosecuted, convicted, and jailed for his crimes might have prevented some of the subsequent presidents' mulligans.

And we know that if the Republicans had been able to send Clinton to jail for much less than Nixon, Reagan, and Bush, Jr. did (and should we leave HRW Bush out?), they would have happily sent him to prison. The value to their brand alone would have been worth it to them.

And let's not forget that Cheney and Rumsfeld and Kissinger lived to see another day in power and/or glory because we as a nation can't handle indicting those in high places.

Heck, we're still fighting amongst ourselves about whether the Confederacy was glorious or treasonous. We're not going anywhere till we can entertain the notion that some crimes (unprovoked war, secession, conspiracy with a hostile power, or take your pick) MUST be addressed, not swept under the rug.

Other countries have at least tried to do that, despite the heavy costs for all citizens.

[rockfordfile]

8. Both Bush and trump are terrible people.

Absolutely Bush should have been impeached because he's a war criminal.