Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

We still have time to mess this up!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Late Night Horrorshow: Republicans (Once Again) Thirsting for A Dictatorship

Late Night Horrorshow: Republicans (Once Again) Thirsting for A Dictatorship

by | 70 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

… Trump’s comments, made during a White House Cabinet meeting Wednesday, malign the justice system for a lack of toughness. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the head of the so-called ‘laughing stock’ justice system, was in the room for this comment — sitting across from Trump.

The President also said he would consider sending the attacker to the controversial prison at Guantanamo Bay.

“We also have to come up with punishment that’s far quicker and far greater than the punishment these animals are getting right now,” Trump told reporters. “They’ll go through court for years. And at the end, they’ll be — who knows what happens.”

He added: “We need quick justice and we need strong justice — much quicker and much stronger than we have right now. Because what we have right now is a joke and it’s a laughing stock. And no wonder so much of this stuff takes place.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, defending the President, claimed during her Wednesday briefing with reporters that Trump said “the process has people calling us a joke and calling us a laughing stock” — which is not what Trump said.

Trump’s call to get tougher on terrorism fall in line with the same rhetoric he used during the campaign trail, where he called the Geneva Convention — a 1949 agreement that dictates international rules on torture and humanitarian treatment of prisoners — a problem that the United States had to move past…

Legal scholars are divided on whether Trump could actually send people to Guantanamo, with most acknowledging that such an action would set up an unprecedented constitutional showdown…

The good news is, this seems to have been preempted (for now):

But not before a couple of prior offenders jumped in front of the cameras…



.

The Guantanamo Bay kangaroo court system is, not coincidentally, deeply embroiled with its own problems.

And Liddle Lord Krankypants is not about to give up on his “strongman” dreams…

So, under Trump Rules, do we get to bust Jared, DJT Jr, and Ivanka once we finish throwing him out?

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Andrew Desiderio ✔ @ desiderioDC
    McCain: “There’s no miranda rights for someone who kills Americans.”

    Dylan Roofe got miranda rights. And a Whopper. And a conviction.

  5. 5.

    satby

    He’s gotten away with defrauding people for years even when he’s been dragged to court himself, so if course he thinks it’s a joke. He’s sitting in the White House now because nothing has ever held him accountable.

  8. 8.

    randy khan

    Well, I certainly agree that sometimes prosecutors and the courts take too long. But enough about the Russia investigation.

    (Actually, I don’t think that, but the fruit was hanging soooooo low it was hard not to reach for it.)

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Lindsey Graham‏Verified account LindseyGrahamSC
    Speaking with FoxNews in just a few minutes about why the terror suspect in the NYC attack should be held as an enemy combatant.

    because your greatest fear is a primary challenger who doesn’t respect the unwritten beltway rule that nobody ever bring up your personal life, or lack thereof?

  13. 13.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    I kind of wonder why they’re only telling us this stuff about Putin now and not last year when it would have done some goddamned good.

    Yes, I’m still pissed at them for slanting their coverage last year. Gosh, thanks for telling us that you opened the barn door and let the horses out a year ago, guys!

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    Also, here’s what the former Chief Prosecutor at GITMO has to say about this stupidity:

    And the current Chief Defense Counsel at GITMO:

    Link to full transcript of remarks:
    https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Baker-Speech.pdf

  16. 16.

    Major Major Major Major

    I just finished taking a friend’s advice and redoing a major, albeit in the background, part of my novel’s plot. (On-page impact probably 10 pages.) But I feel awful, like I’m taking advantage of people when I get help like this, and that it makes me not original either.

    I think this stems from my last close collaborator pretending I’d done nothing the whole time even though I’d done most of the legwork, but I’ll give him that the big ideas were mostly his. The last time I saw him I mentioned I was working a lot on a book and the undercurrent of his response was (playing to the crowd) “oh yeah, I wonder who’s really writing it”.

    So, that guy’s mean and has left me insecure, the end.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: Exactly. You could not get me to watch Frontline any more. I remember that. Fuck ’em.

    PBS should stick to Ken Burns and nature programs. What’s up with otters? And volcanoes?

  19. 19.

    Omnes Omnibus

    It was a crime committed on US soil. It belongs in Art. III courts.* The military tribunals were developed to try to get around “shortcuts” and “jurisdictional questions” regarding people nabbed overseas and then tortured. They shouldn’t exist at all. This guy belongs in a regular court.

    * If it belongs in federal court at all…

  22. 22.

    debbie

    @Mnemosyne:

    Everyone slanted their coverage, not just Frontline. You can’t, and you shouldn’t, just stop reading everything. Be skeptical, but don’t wall yourself off. What exactly will your purity achieve?

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    Orangemandias just wants to punish, Punish, PUNISH!!! O the lessons he learned way back when from Fred Trump…

  24. 24.

    Felony Govt (formerly Old Broad in California)

    The fact that Trump is no longer a reality show host is completely lost on him.

  25. 25.

    FlyingToaster

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    * If he belongs in federal court at all…

    Since the entirety of the crime happened in a 20-block stretch of Manhattan, I fail to see the Federal jurisdiction…

    (I feel the same way about Johar Tsarnaev, FWIW; he should be in Walpole, not Florence.)

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: I figured NY state and Manhattan would have fought to try him for murder and vehicular assault first. I think the acting US Attorney, who was Bharara’s deputy may have jumped on this in this way to preempt the GITMO crap.

  30. 30.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: Nothing wrong with them. But you don’t like them because they’re white and the other shakes aren’t. You like them because they taste good.

  34. 34.

    different-church-lady

    It’s becoming quite clear that major portions of the U.S. Government are dealing the fact that the POTUS is insane by simply ignoring him and going about their business as best they can.

  39. 39.

    SFAW

    I hesitate to ask, but: any recent word on efgoldman? I have not been here much lately, and am hoping he’s on the mend, but I don’t know the extent of whatever hospitalized him.

  40. 40.

    Gin & Tonic

    McCain: “There’s no miranda rights for someone who kills Americans.”

    Someone with better Twitter skillz than me, please find the Tweet where McCain said this about Dylann Roof.

    Oh, there isn’t one? Why not?

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I just finished taking a friend’s advice and redoing a major, albeit in the background, part of my novel’s plot. (On-page impact probably 10 pages.) But I feel awful, like I’m taking advantage of people when I get help like this, and that it makes me not original either.

    Yeah, you’re letting that past asshole get inside your head and mess with you. Evict him. Normal people have critique groups and beta readers and take advice from them, and it has nothing to do with not being “original.”

    Besides, originality is highly, highly overrated. Most people don’t actually want something totally original, because they have no idea how to interact with it. Shakespeare’s stories were not original, only the way he told them.

    And with that, I need to go write at least a few words for NaNoWriMo. Good night.

  45. 45.

    Kraux Pas

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Chocolate or go home.

    I always blend fresh bananas in my chocolate shakes. There are so mnay good flavors though. I want to try every flavor at the ice cream shop as a shake. Coffee oreo makes an amazing shake.

  46. 46.

    Matt McIrvin

    How many Americans has Trump killed in Puerto Rico just by being a dumbass? Oops, we don’t know, they’ve started cremating the dead without counting. More than enough to go to Gitmo without a phone call if that’s the standard.

  47. 47.

    Kraux Pas

    <@Matt McIrvin:

    How many Americans has Trump killed in Puerto Rico just by being a dumbass? Oops, we don’t know, they’ve started cremating the dead without counting. More than enough to go to Gitmo without a phone call if that’s the standard.

    We’d need to compare Trump against the paint swatches at Home Depot before determining whether he’s eligible for GTMO.

    ETA: And if, on this basis, we determine he’s eligible; there may be a court case over whether real Americans have Spanish as their primary language.

  48. 48.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Mnemosyne:

    Normal people have critique groups and beta readers and take advice from them, and it has nothing to do with not being “original.”

    Yeah, I do too, for some reason it upsets me when it’s to do with larger plot pieces. Probably, again, because of the specific situation with said asshole.

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mnemosyne: I remember once writing an essay for some tech website and getting a full editing pass on it, and the requested changes were so many that I started to worry that it wasn’t even my article any more. But then I made nearly all of the changes, and by God, the thing was clearly still mine but it was so much stronger. A good editor can do that.

  54. 54.

    Tehanu

    So, under Trump Rules, do we get to bust Jared, DJT Jr, and Ivanka once we finish throwing him out?

    Oh yes please, please, please….

  55. 55.

    Cheryl Rofer

    He’s tweeting again. Responses are along the lines of good show, give the defense material to show tainting etc.

    –>NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Cheryl Rofer: There are rules that he can’t touch and professionals who will do their jobs. I really hate that people assume like Trump does that civil servants will do whatever illegal shit he tweets.

  58. 58.

    Aleta

    Sometimes it seems like when he’s guilty he can’t help talking about it by projecting. ‘The election is rigged’ he started saying before the vote … And now “They’ll go through court for years. And at the end, they’ll be — who knows what happens.”

  61. 61.

    e.a. foster

    so its reasonable to conclude Trump is wants a way to circumvent the American judicial system by establishing one where “enemies of the state” or perhaps enemies of Trump can be tried and jailed. gee I think they did something like that in turkey and Eygpt and North Korea is good at that sort of thing along with Communist China.

    ah, yes, trump can’t even read the American Constitution. He ought to be arrested for stupid while in the Oval office.

  62. 62.

    Aleta

    @Major Major Major Major: Not quite the end. That guy was also wrong.

    Could it be he was insecure, and trying to deny giving credit for how much of the work was yours?

    Artists use ideas they got from someone else all the time. It’s the work part that differentiates. Anyone who can’t share credit or acknowledge similar work by others is lacking either honesty or awareness of how form arises simultaneously in more than one place.

  63. 63.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Aleta: Thanks for saying that, I know all these things, but logic isn’t so great at shutting up negative self-talk, especially not compared to somebody else saying it :)

    This guy is arrogant and kind of a dick in most situations. He wasn’t always, but he is now. He does not wear success well.

  64. 64.

    Duane

    After reading about COS Kelly’s civil war remarks, an “honorable” administration would have shown him the way out. Sanders, too. With this presidency, people just shake their head, shrug their shoulders, and say, “yeah, I know.”

  65. 65.

    sm*t cl*de

    @different-church-lady:

    It’s becoming quite clear that major portions of the U.S. Government are dealing the fact that the POTUS is insane by simply ignoring him and going about their business as best they can.

    Imagine the ridiculosity of a situation where foreign gubblements are regularly reassured that Trump does not speak for the Trump administration.

  66. 66.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    This public comment will be used to show how the driver cannot get a fair trial

    That happened in 1970, when Nixon weighed in on Manson’s guilt and came close to causing a mistrial.
    http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1970/8/4/nixon-calls-manson-guilty-attorneys-move/

    “President Nixon may have freed Charles Manson-not by an act of executive clemency, but by one of errant stupidity.”

    …and the Obama precedent from 2013:
    https://www.stripes.com/judge-obama-sex-assault-comments-unlawful-command-influence-1.225974

    Presidential opinionating causes “not guilty” verdicts. This is not rocket science.

  67. 67.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    The sense of the responses is that he is undermining the case for the prosecution by adding prejudice.

    Which is exactly what he wants, right? Tweet a self-fulfilling prophecy about our justice system being “a laughing stock” (whenever Trump says somebody is laughing at us, watch out). Then actually mess things up so that it produces some perverse result, and he has evidence he’s right–one more step on the road to eliminating it entirely and just shooting everyone in the head.

  68. 68.

    Jim Parish

    Legal scholars are divided on whether Trump could actually send people to Guantanamo, with most acknowledging that such an action would set up an unprecedented constitutional showdown…

    “Unprecedented”? How about Ex parte Milligan?

  70. 70.

    Nora

    Our justice system is a “joke” because it doesn’t follow Trump’s whims, nasty as they are.

    I still believe no one should be allowed to run for President, let alone take office, unless he or she passes a basic citizenship test. That would have eliminated Trump at the outset. The man has no knowledge whatsoever of our system of government.

Comments are closed.