Trump: President has "complete power to pardon"

[Doimper]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/343265-trump-everyone-agrees-the-president-has-complete-power-to-pardon

Guess we're going to see the question of whether or not a President can self-pardon dragged in front of a court soon.

[Santander]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Only crime "so far". Jesus, what is wrong with him?

[Devout Centrist]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Only crime "so far". Jesus, what is wrong with him?

Dementia

[Chief Justice Keef]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Only crime "so far". Jesus, what is wrong with him?

"I could totally pardon myself if I needed to, but of course I DON'T need to because I didn't do anything wrong."

Haha.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Also, when the president does it, it's not illegal.

[JA]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Only crime "so far". Jesus, what is wrong with him?

At least he's warning us that more revelations are yet to come. I suppose when the pressure reaches a critical point for him, he'll decide to plunge our nation into a constitutional crisis to save his own saggy, gelatinous ass.

[Person Man]

He's a goddamn cartoon.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

This is fing hilarious. He's literally telegraphing his escape plan.

[Technocracy Timmy]

He's just letting the American people know that he's the one who does the firing and not the other way around.

[TheSaint250]

He's just letting the American people know that he's the one who does the firing and not the other way around.

"You're pardoned."

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

It may actually be a crime for Trump to pardon people if he's doing so to help cover up a crime, conspiracy, etc.

https://politicalwire.com/2017/07/21/trump-pardons-crime/

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Only crime "so far". Jesus, what is wrong with him?

At least he's warning us that more revelations are yet to come. I suppose when the pressure reaches a critical point for him, he'll decide to plunge our nation into a constitutional crisis to save his own saggy, gelatinous ass.

Don't be so pessimistic. Before he does that, he might decide to try starting a war that will kill millions as a distraction. (If Trump isn't wishing for a major terrorist attack, it's only because of his limited imagination.)

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I had mostly stopped worrying about Trump the wanna-be dictator because of his gross incompetence and failures as an executive. But this shows clearly that he wants to consider himself above the law. It's only a little short of actually claiming he is completely above the law.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Yeah, this presidency is much further along to being wrecked than I had imagined. I didn't expect this stuff to happen until 2019.

However, pause to consider one thing. This is my (new) theory on why he's doing this.

Trump might be acting very logical in this scenario. He might have considered that with what he knows and what he knows that other people might know, his best calling card is to maintain the radical base cultists and to force them into a cult mentality. This way, he can retain 35% of the nation and avoid impeachment.

The other side of that coin is that he assumes that with what he knows, reaching the broadly popular mandate that Bill Clinton did to avoid impeachment is no longer a calling card he can count on. He might simply assume that he can't just office the power of the presidency and do the day to day job and count on people supporting him being President when future revelations come out.

In other words, Trump is trying to trap Congressional Republicans to avoid removing him by retaining that core and calling it all "Fake News!" in a bid to immunize himself from impeachment or removal. When people say "nothingburger!" or stuff like that, Trump is trying to make it more painful for Republicans to remove him when the dam finally breaks, in a bid to stay president.

This means that the worst case scenario is probably true. Normally, a President would try to convince people that he's doing such a good job that he shouldn't be removed. Clinton and Reagan did this during the heights of their scandal. And it worked very well because people gave them a pass and understood their scandals in context (Reagan was trying to save hostages, Clinton was getting oral sex in the White House; both were terrible but still). For Trump to be utilizing his strategy and it matching his Cohnian instincts like this, it means that Trump assumes that whatever is coming out is so bad that it's just best to hunker down and do a base strategy.

Or to put it in short terms Trump knew or worse was coordinating the hacks on Hillary, Podesta, and the fake news spamming on FB targeted at swing states. So he is trying to get his moronic cultist who only watch Fox to stay with his side so the reps fear getting primaried so they won't impeach him.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Yeah, this presidency is much further along to being wrecked than I had imagined. I didn't expect this stuff to happen until 2019.

However, pause to consider one thing. This is my (new) theory on why he's doing this.

Trump might be acting very logical in this scenario. He might have considered that with what he knows and what he knows that other people might know, his best calling card is to maintain the radical base cultists and to force them into a cult mentality. This way, he can retain 35% of the nation and avoid impeachment.

The other side of that coin is that he assumes that with what he knows, reaching the broadly popular mandate that Bill Clinton did to avoid impeachment is no longer a calling card he can count on. He might simply assume that he can't just office the power of the presidency and do the day to day job and count on people supporting him being President when future revelations come out.

In other words, Trump is trying to trap Congressional Republicans to avoid removing him by retaining that core and calling it all "Fake News!" in a bid to immunize himself from impeachment or removal. When people say "nothingburger!" or stuff like that, Trump is trying to make it more painful for Republicans to remove him when the dam finally breaks, in a bid to stay president.

This means that the worst case scenario is probably true. Normally, a President would try to convince people that he's doing such a good job that he shouldn't be removed. Clinton and Reagan did this during the heights of their scandal. And it worked very well because people gave them a pass and understood their scandals in context (Reagan was trying to save hostages, Clinton was getting oral sex in the White House; both were terrible but still). For Trump to be utilizing his strategy and it matching his Cohnian instincts like this, it means that Trump assumes that whatever is coming out is so bad that it's just best to hunker down and do a base strategy.

This is a very well thought out and reasoned analysis. But I think you are giving Trump far to much credit for advance planning and political strategy. Sure, when it comes to manipulating idiots, Trump has great reflexes. In the contest for alpha-monkey, he can fling more and bigger feces faster than any of the other monkeys. But planning? Strategy? Tactics? Nah.

This is Trump we're talking about. A man who thought 2006 was a great time to start a mortgage company. A man who thought firing the FBI director investigating him was a great idea. I could go on and on, but you get the point: this is a man who would find it a challenge to out-think a sponge.

I do agree that Trump knows even worse truths about him and his associates are going to reach the public. He remembers that he's done a lot of things people aren't going to like. (I truly doubt he's honestly capable of understanding what the idea of law really means.) Things that they're going to use to tear him down from the top of the tree where all the really yummy fruit is, using this 'law' thing. (Which I'm sure he thinks is nothing but a bludegeon the elites use to hit each other with.) But he's cunning, he's clever, he's the President. He's doubtless feeling very, very clever for figuring out that he can use the powers of his office to make himself immune to that pesky 'law' stuff. The technicalities and realities NEVER matter to someone like Trump. It's his idea, so it must be right, and no one is allowed to tell him differently.

If/when he is impeached or convicted, when the door closes behind him and there's no one left to con, when he can finally no longer weasel his way out of the consequences of his actions the way he has managed his entire life - I expect a near-immediate and total breakdown. (And god help us if he's still in office when that happens. Trump is clearly the sort of man who, like some ancient potentate, would see the whole world burn around him as he falls.)

[Badger]

Yeah, this presidency is much further along to being wrecked than I had imagined. I didn't expect this stuff to happen until 2019.

However, pause to consider one thing. This is my (new) theory on why he's doing this.

Trump might be acting very logical in this scenario. He might have considered that with what he knows and what he knows that other people might know, his best calling card is to maintain the radical base cultists and to force them into a cult mentality. This way, he can retain 35% of the nation and avoid impeachment.

The other side of that coin is that he assumes that with what he knows, reaching the broadly popular mandate that Bill Clinton did to avoid impeachment is no longer a calling card he can count on. He might simply assume that he can't just office the power of the presidency and do the day to day job and count on people supporting him being President when future revelations come out.

In other words, Trump is trying to trap Congressional Republicans to avoid removing him by retaining that core and calling it all "Fake News!" in a bid to immunize himself from impeachment or removal. When people say "nothingburger!" or stuff like that, Trump is trying to make it more painful for Republicans to remove him when the dam finally breaks, in a bid to stay president.

This means that the worst case scenario is probably true. Normally, a President would try to convince people that he's doing such a good job that he shouldn't be removed. Clinton and Reagan did this during the heights of their scandal. And it worked very well because people gave them a pass and understood their scandals in context (Reagan was trying to save hostages, Clinton was getting oral sex in the White House; both were terrible but still). For Trump to be utilizing his strategy and it matching his Cohnian instincts like this, it means that Trump assumes that whatever is coming out is so bad that it's just best to hunker down and do a base strategy.

This sort of trump being a four dimensional chess player Theory went out before the election. Every scrap and iota of evidence empirically shows he is a lunatic with zero impulse control, poor decision-making skills, and not an ounce of empathy for anyone outside of him and his immediate circle family and friends.

Come on TD, you're better than that