12-10-2020, 04:00 AM
(12-09-2020, 02:38 PM)David Horn Wrote:(12-09-2020, 11:39 AM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: The attorney general of New York via CNN explored a series of pardons, including Trump stepping aside temporarily or permanently for Pence to pardon him. It is compatible with what I guessed at some time ago.
He then gives reasons why Trump may not pardon himself or have Pence do it. What he also missed was an intent to maintain control of the Republicans, to link to a TV network, to remain a relevant force. A pardon has been basically is an omission of guilt. If he gets one, he winds up linked to Nixon and discredited among those not rabid red.
Interesting options anyway, and still leaving civil and state charges a possibility.
I doubt Trump can do anything that would alienate his most loyal followers. He's right: he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.
Scary, isn't it? That is a personality cult.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.