What's up with Dershowitz? Is he a hardcore Trumpster?

[redstateblues]

For some reason I thought he was a reasonable law dog. He sounds like a Republican stooge.

[Zambero]

1. He of the OJ defense team

A master at fabricating reasonable doubt. Facts don't matter, and if something quacks it must be a chicken. A perfect apologist for the likes of Trump. I tune him out.

[still_one]

2. you know what would be great?

a little context, a link, specifics for instance

[redstateblues]

5. He is constantly on TV making legal excuses for Trump

[still_one]

7. ok. I thought there was something he did tonight or something. Thanks

[bettyellen]

11. His schtick lately is everything is executive privilege he can

Fire everyone and obstruct away and if you can't prove he was subverting justice well then tough shit.

I sometimes wonder if he's auditioning for a job w DT.

[Kentonio]

20. Maybe he wants AG when Sessions inevitably gets fired.

[still_one]

22. Dershowitz was always an arrogant ass. I wouldn't be surprised if he was part of the trump team.

You mention his schticks, another one of his schticks has always been his smugness and outward appearance that he is the purveyor of all knowledge.

He's not, and more times than not he talks out of his ass without merit.

I did a Google search on Dershowitz to see what he has been up to lately based on the OP. His big talking point now appears to be that "there is no obstruction of justice, and therefore no grounds of impeachment". First of all he is wrong regarding impeaching. Congress decides what constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors", not Dershowitz. For his view that there was no obstruction of justice, he is wrong, and there are many attorneys, and those in the legal profession who disagree with him.

He has always been opinionated, and most of the time irritating as hell. I think a lot of it is self-promotion, but a lot of it is also because he is an ass.

When the Hawaii Judge over-ruled trump's travel ban, he weighed in on that saying the judge was wrong. Really Alan? If you remember it wasn't just the Judge in Hawaii who ruled against trump's ban, but all the way up the line of judges including the Supreme Court.

Remember that Dershowitz also was on the OJ team arguing that OJ was innocent. I think that speaks volumes of why Mr.Dershowitz should not be at face value.

He most likely has a vested interest somewhere in promoting trump, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was on trump's payroll.

Fortunately, I don't get CNN, MSNBC, fox, or CNBC anymore in my house, so I am spared his television appearance bullshit.

[bettyellen]

24. Interesting! I did get to meet him briefly and observe him at a tony wedding!

My first glance was of him walking in with a much younger trpohy wife and a huge stack of his books. HA

[still_one]

25. LOL and people read playboy for the articles too..........

[bettyellen]

30. OMG COMEY CALLED HIM A LIAR FIRST THING

[still_one]

31. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[LenaBaby61]

12. He is constantly on TV making legal excuses for Trump.

THIS ^^^

[MFM008]

13. I've seen him

Make all sorts of arguments that nothing maggot has done is a problem.
Just this past weekend.
Fredricka Whitfield
I believe.

[Azathoth]

3. He's auditioning for Trump's defense team. Dude has been a relentless defender of Trump

since this whole thing started. He can spot a rich defendant a mile away.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. He is a hardcore Trumpian, no question

He's a fanatical Likkud guy, and Trump suits his fancy.

[dchill]

6. Or, all of the above.

[SJMULE]

8. Hardcore Likud is right and thinks he's smarter than everyone

I saw him on CNN a while back basically calling someone who dared to disagree with Bibi an anti-semite. He was unhinged and hysterical. F him. Tonite he was stating that 45 basically has no limit to his power to fire or stop investigations at will. He was making assumptions that other panelists were not about the facts.

[Me.]

40. That

Imho this is about his ties to Israel and his desire to have the embassy moved, so I believe he's kissing 45's A to further that effort.

[democratisphere]

9. Alan may be looking for business.

He basks in the glory of being in front of a camera lens.

[OnDoutside]

16. That or looking for relevancy.

[moonscape]

10. He has always been a mix of attorney, media wh..., entertainer. n/t

[BzaDem]

14. Dershowitz has been relentlessly defending Netanyahu's conduct in his own criminal investigation.

My guess is that he is more likely to see the very concept of a criminal investigation of a sitting president as a witch hunt (or at least likely to lead to future witch hunts).

He also generally abhors prosecutions for crimes like obstruction of justice, where the illegality of an action depends entirely on one's intent. In reality, criminal intent is a necessary element of nearly every crime, so I'm not sure why he is so fixated against process-related crimes (like obstruction of justice). He has radically outside-the-mainstream views on this subject, but he acts as if his view is a dispassionate analysis of the law (and is rarely called out on it).

[Cicada]

15. He tilts in favor of those accused

He is a DEFENSE lawyer so he tilts in favor of NOT GUILTY when someone is accused of a crime. Such people see all of us at risk from prosecutorial overreach so they defend the creeps as well as the saints.

[LAS14]

17. Thanks! This is the first DU-worthy response in this thread.

It's good now and again to see someone engage in conversation instead of knee jerks.

[ck4829]

35. Does that include terror suspects?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticking_time_bomb_scenario

[Cicada]

43. Dershowitz probably tilts Not Guilty for terrorists

His support for laws permitting torture is based on his belief that we WILL torture them no matter what the laws are, so we should have laws providing judicial supervision to limit abuses.

[DeminPennswoods]

18. On one CNN appearance he was

saying the travel ban would be upheld by the courts. No other lawyers on CNN's panel agreed with him and said so.

I also think Dershowitz' right wing beliefs about Israel play a big part in his support for Trump.

[LAS14]

19. I'll be interested myself in seeing what happens with...

... the argument that things said outside the context of the specific act (or law) can be used to argue that the law is unconstitutional. Dershowitz is making that point regarding the travel ban. Does this make me a Republican?

[DefenseLawyer]

21. He's playing a role on tv

Some people get a taste for the limelight and become willing to say just about anything to stay in it.

[yellowcanine]

23. He is a defense lawyer and is angling for a spot on Team Trump when impeachment goes down.

That is my take.

[Orrex]

26. He has endorsed torture as a legitimate tool of national defense

Fuck him.

[Baitball Blogger]

27. I think he's auditioning for the role of his life.

He knows Trump is going to need legal defense. 'Nuff said.

[atreides1]

28. He went nuts!

After 9/11, he became a foaming at the mouth, rabid, anti-everything that didn't fit his new awakening!

[C_U_L8R]

29. He is totally a rightwing stooge...

But I found it fascinating that the RNC used him as a prop
in their talking points ....https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029174332

[HopeAgain]

32. Self-promoting egoists stick together... nt

[janterry]

33. I swear, he'd represent Hitler

if he had the chance. and.........I just googled that and found this (though I can't see the original source):

"Asked if he would defend Adolph Hitler,
>Harvard University law professor Alan
>Dershowitz said, 'Yes, I would defend him.
>And I would win.'" from TV Guide, Jan. 29 - Feb. 4, 2000 issue,
> page 26.


I believe it.

[dalton99a]

46. It was reported by the Yale Daily News

[janterry]

47. ty

thanks for finding it

[longship]

34. No, he's just a fucking babbling idiot.

That is all one needs to know.

[Saviolo]

36. This fellow apparently studied under Dershowitz

And he thinks that Alan is dead wrong in his defense of Trump.

He's got a twitter thread about it here:

Link to tweet

Some important notes:

(3) Note that had Trump *merely* fired Jim Comey and done *nothing else*, no attorney in America would be calling it Obstruction of Justice.

(4) A POTUS' status as Chief Executive *doesn't* immunize him from criminal law; it means in the *first* instance the remedy is impeachment.

(7) I think @AlanDersh perceives some broader nonlegal principle in play here and, as he sometimes does, he's lost the trees for the forest.

(8) @AlanDersh worries, as good attorneys do, that bad facts produce bad law. In this instance *no* bad law is needed to litigate bad facts.

[vi5]

37. If I remember correctly he's a post-9/11 authoritarian.....

He's one of the many who aft 9/11 suddenly decided all previously held liberal or civil liberty beliefs needed to be thrown out to fight Islamic terrorism.

So yes, he is a hardcore Trumpster/Republican but you are correct in that at one point I think he might have been a reasonable, if even heavy civil libertarian style moderate or even liberal.

[leftynyc]

38. Hardcore DEFENSE attorney

That's the only way he can look at a case.

[ecstatic]

39. An unhinged RWer who describes himself as a "liberal"

Prior to going senile, he was a big time constitutional lawyer who also taught at Harvard. Jeffrey Toobin, one of his former students, often appears alongside him on CNN and is forced to respectfully disagree with Dershowitz's nutty defenses of Trump. I hope Dershowitz joins Trump's defense team, I think it would speed up the impeachment process.

[ck4829]

41. Racist, tunnel vision having bigot - He is the template of a Republican stooge

His defense of torture coupled with his racist and bigoted smears on Black Lives Matter and Keith Ellison has shown that he is only worthy of disavowal by us.

[LovingA2andMI]

42. He Is A Stooge for Cheeto...

Been One. This is not a surprise to those who have watched CNN anytime over the past two years, plus.

[Demsrule86]

44. Yes he is.

[SJMULE]

45. Tribe just eviscerated Dersowitz

The President has the power and CAN direct the DOJ or FBI to not investigate " low level drug dealers" or some group of low level offenders, to not waste resources. He cannot however tell the DOJ or FBI to not investigate a specific individual for laws broken. That is abuse of power. That is obstruction of Justice