Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Finding a Silver Lining
Because we know the Department of Justice was in the tank for Ms. Clinton from the beginning and there never was going to be an indictment, a lot of us were hoping that Trump would un-grease the palms of the relevant DOJ leadership and get a normal, fair investigation of the matter going which, based on the evidence I've seen and my ability to read a statute properly for the mens rea requirement, would indeed lead to an indictment.
But hulking over that possible scenario was the specter of a Presidential pardon from soon to be just Mr. Obama. Of course, since Hillary said she was innocent, what would she need a pardon for?
So yesterday Trump poured cold water on the idea, and said that he would not appoint a special prosecutor, the Clintons are good people (they're not) and Hillary had suffered enough. Well, she has suffered but mostly from having to live with herself. The poker tell of his statement about not prosecuting Hillary (something Trump often said he would do on the campaign trail) was that he was not going to do anything to investigate her further.
A lot of people are sorely disappointed for two things--Trump reneging on a campaign promise (just the start, boys and girls) and not seeing justice done so that the horrible stench that the laws in America are only for the little people now is not going away.
But I could imagine the following: It's a head fake. Obama sees no need now for a pardon. Trump indeed does nothing further to effect a proper investigation and under the circumstances, a proper prosecution. Jeff Sessions removes the political spanner wrench from the intermeshing wheels of justice and we once again become a nation where no one is above the law and justice is once again for all of us.
I can dream, can't I?
Of course making the head fake work to stop a pardon would depend entirely on not saying anything more about the subject, making the above his last and only words on the subject. So Trump, of course, keeps talking and points out that he won't stop Sessions from doing his job. Does anyone know Trump's IQ, grades, SATs? I'm suddenly curious about his testing results.
But hulking over that possible scenario was the specter of a Presidential pardon from soon to be just Mr. Obama. Of course, since Hillary said she was innocent, what would she need a pardon for?
So yesterday Trump poured cold water on the idea, and said that he would not appoint a special prosecutor, the Clintons are good people (they're not) and Hillary had suffered enough. Well, she has suffered but mostly from having to live with herself. The poker tell of his statement about not prosecuting Hillary (something Trump often said he would do on the campaign trail) was that he was not going to do anything to investigate her further.
A lot of people are sorely disappointed for two things--Trump reneging on a campaign promise (just the start, boys and girls) and not seeing justice done so that the horrible stench that the laws in America are only for the little people now is not going away.
But I could imagine the following: It's a head fake. Obama sees no need now for a pardon. Trump indeed does nothing further to effect a proper investigation and under the circumstances, a proper prosecution. Jeff Sessions removes the political spanner wrench from the intermeshing wheels of justice and we once again become a nation where no one is above the law and justice is once again for all of us.
I can dream, can't I?
Of course making the head fake work to stop a pardon would depend entirely on not saying anything more about the subject, making the above his last and only words on the subject. So Trump, of course, keeps talking and points out that he won't stop Sessions from doing his job. Does anyone know Trump's IQ, grades, SATs? I'm suddenly curious about his testing results.
Labels: Head Fake
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:22 AM 
