November 5, 2023
"It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly. It’s hardly something we should aspire to."
Said conlawprof Saikrishna Prakash, quoted in "Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second termAdvisers have also discussed deploying the military to quell potential unrest on Inauguration Day. Critics have called the ideas under consideration dangerous and unconstitutional" (WaPo).
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86 comments:
sounds like, the World we are living in.. Goose? meet Gander
Biden is not a plant
Biden is a potted plant
Trump is a banana republic
Biden is a plantain plantation
Much more nutritious
Tit for tat.
Democrats started the game.
It never ends well.
"Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term"
Helloooo... two impeachments, political prisoners currently being held without trial and parents viewed as domestic terrorists for caring about their kids, just for starters. Revenge? It's happening right now. If leftists end up in the crosshairs one day, it'll be because of the precedents they've set with their own actions.
This "conlawprof" tolerates a high sauce differential between geese and ganders. The Dems deeply fail to understand the acronym FAFO.
What do they call it when people in office start going after opponents that have won election by lying to get wire taps for their communications, and co-opt law enforcement agencies to start an investigation based upon a campaign funded dossier?
I wonder if anyone asked the conlaw professor that question.
Ah the old turn the other cheek, sucker, ploy.
Shoe, meet other foot.
I agree with this. That said, it's a bit rich coming from the Washington Post.
Too late
LOL. Yeah, its A-0k for Biden's Stalinst DoJ to try to destroy Trump on bogus made-up charges. (Note: that's its still not clear what exactly Trump did on J6 that was criminal or how his handling of unclassified documents was worse or even different from other ex-Presidents)
But if Trump want's to "clean Up the DOJ" or the federal beauracray to get rid of people who think they are part of the "Resistance" to any R Presdient, now THAT's Unconstitutional and Banana Republic.
The NYT/MSM always use the same rhetorical trick. Everything the Left or the Democrats do is normal and proper. Its anyone who reacts and opposes them that is the problem. Those they call insurrectionists, extremists, and authoritarians. It doesn't matter the D's are doing the same thing, or even worse, because that's A-OK and normal.
Ken Starr - a crazy biased Rightwing lawyer who tried to destroy Clinton
Smith - A noble crime fighter trying to bring an outlaw ex POTUS to justice.
Antifa - they don't exist but if they did, they are noble "mostly peaceful" protesters against fascism and injustice.
Trump J6 protestors - violent insurrectionists who tried to destroy our democracy and steal an election.
I would add that Trump has a history of NOT going after his erstwhile opponents, regardless of his initial bluster. Besides, good luck to him getting any department to do his bidding to the detriment of the permanent state.
Is "erstwhile" another variation of "garner"? A word that is trying too hard and achieving nothing.
If Trump wins in 2024, we will see riots like we've never seen before; that I can tell you.
Hardly a risk if Trump wins since the bulk of the career government functionaries are Democrat party loyalists.
"It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly."
That's sarcasm, right?
Oh, if WaPoo says so.....
to be proper banana republic need to have slippery peel in politics
The lack of self-awareness is dumbfounding.
Seriously?
Hold the presses, republicans 'now' are the Banana Republic. The mind is a terrible thing in dumbocrat bodies.
The Demofacists desperately want a cease fire.
Professional politicians used to understand that the consequence of setting bad precedents was that they would become the basis for how the opposition would treat them once they were back in power. For a long time, this served as an effective deterrent to crossing the opposition party's red lines, but no longer. There's always been "revenge-taking" in politics. What's changed is that are now many more occasions for doing so and that it seems increasingly dangerous to let your adversaries' transgressive behavior go unchallenged. Turns out that endless fantasizing about Trump in an orange jump suit and eventually even trying to make that happen has its costs.
The Reign of Terror, run for you lives!
Hate to tell you this Saikrishna, the horse already left the barn.
These people have no self awareness.
It is always amazing how democrats criticize other for future actions of something they are LITERALLY doing right now.
It is pretty easy when you have the media in your camp, comrade.
"It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly. It’s hardly something we should aspire to."
But in the U.S. you can come into office and have the government go after its opponents, i.e., you, the elected leader. We don't have to aspire to it because it's already been done. We're way beyond banana republic here.
I mean, are people really this obtuse?
Besides trying to lock up Trump, Biden is going to get Kennedy killed by refusing SS protection for him. No decent person would deny a candidate with two assassinated relatives and active, documented threats the coverage.
She doesn't seem very self-reflective.
If Trump somehow manages to win, he’s got to go after the NY AG, Merrick Garland, the Fulton County DA, and Jack Smith.
He might consider letting the Bidens walk but he’s got to make examples of the Errand Boys.
And go after their families as well.
The next group of Errand Boys will say no when they mserstsmd they and their families will be ruined.
They are dangerous. It’s a shame they may be necessary. Thanks Democrats!
Democrats complaining about Republicans doing things made necessary by Democratic actions. Remind you of something? Something happening in the middle east?
Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'.
Too late.
“…critics say dangerous and unconstitutional…”
Too late. These critics all dance the Poot. Fuck ‘em.
Aren't these the same dopes who think Trump should have used the military to brutalize the scary buffalo hat guy and the rest of the Jan 6 rioters?
The hypocrisy is real.
Given the rioting and arson that took place on Inauguration Day 2017 and the Democrats’ marked propensity for very violent (but “mostly peaceful”) rioting since BLM and the Floyd demonstrations, they would be remiss not to plan for any eventuality.
As far as resembling “a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly,” I assume Saikrishna Prakash doesn’t read the newspapers or watch cable news. This would be a good spot for a cheap shot at female conlawprofs if I was the type of guy who’d take cheap shots. But of course I’m not.
Where does all this lead??
Eventually, we will remember the definition of a "well-regulated militia"!!
I guess it's possible to lead a normal life and still be that irony deficient, but I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it for myself. Maybe her lack of irony is itself a kind of ironic comment, like the Gays for Hamas movement.
""It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly. It’s hardly something we should aspire to.""
Isn't this what is happening now? Democrats coming into office and start going after their opponents willy-nilly? Just look at the TDS in the Democrat side.
"It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly. It’s hardly something we should aspire to."
Boy, that would be terrible, wouldn't it?
(Commenting before reading the thread...)
Payback is a motherf*cker. The Democrats started this crap, and can hardly cry foul if it is turned back against them.
Also, I'd like to see done to the Democrats and the Deep State what Israel is doing to Hamas. Figuratively speaking, of course.
That's sarcasm, right?
Just trying to give the Babylon Bee some competition is all. I know I should be more serious about all this, but still, I find almost every rational coming out of the left highly amusing. Especially that they somehow believe in it.
The hypocrisy is real.
Oddly, it’s likely that hypocrisy is not the issue. The issue ….and it’s the central issue…is that the lefties are so certain of their moral superiority and righteousness that their actions have been simply proper and upright responses to manifest evil whereas paybacks are willy-nilly revenge-seeking against critics.
It’s only hypocrisy if you understand that you have behaved execrably.
- Krumhorn
She is saying she and her allies will demand a "ceasefire" and argue every future event's need for "proportionality" as they file claims for "war crimes" on the "righteous population".
It's how all terrorsts behave once the tables are turned.
"Blogger traditionalguy said...
The Demofacists desperately want a cease fire."
+1
It's like the lefties are in competition for the title of Stupidest Motherfucker on Earth, but unfortunately this doesn't even make the top ten. It's kinda like the Darwin Awards except you don't have to die to win.
Hmmmm. Well being as diplomatic as you and your sycophants deserve. Fuck you three ways from Sunday. Step one, build a wall, one hundred feet long, brick or concrete. Line up all of you fascist twats three deep. Then send every fucking one of you to the hell you've earned. Three deep to reduce ammunition costs. When finished, move to the state and local level. Harsh ? Violent ? Yep, and you and your airwasting shithead co-conspirators have earned every bit of it and more. Then pardon every protester from January 6. Fuck you with a rusty barbed pipe, fuck you very much. You finally will get to enjoy the consequences of your treason. Have a nice day.
If you disapprove of revenge, don't do the thing(s) that people want to get revenge for.
I believe in the Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have others do unto you - but if the other person/people don't honor this too, I am all for payback. Not willy-nilly though. Intentional and commensurate.
"It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly. It’s hardly something we should aspire to."
Too late. Ask the 1,000 political prisoners in DC jails, and while you're at it, ask Trump how it feels.
You may be right, David b. I fully expect to see the fascist blackshirts (ante fascists, blm and various successors) out in force. Probably starting in June 24.
Whose fault will that rioting be? Some will say "Things got a little out of hand. It's just this war and that lying son of a bitch, Johnson! You know I'd never hurt you Jenny"
Oops, wrong movie.
Anyway, they will try to blame pedjt. I doubt you will. You'll pin the blame where it goes. On the rioters. As will I.
So after inauguration what should he do about it? Absolutely nothing other than denouncing it.
It is a local and state law enforcement issue. Govern rs vs an call out the national guard. But unless the governor asks, I see no role for the president.
Other than protecting federal property and employees.
I think the fascists will try to goad him into authoritarian acts. I suspect that as in 20 he will not be drawn in.
John Henry
I would exclude DC from my comments above since they are a federal enclave. There might be a rookie for the president to play, especially to protect all the federal property.
But I think it is more congress' responsibility, isn't it?
John Henry
It isn't like the DOJ will arrest themselves. The role model here is Stalin, who knew how to deal with the secret police: appoint new directors and have them execute the old. The Soviet Union wasn't a banana republic, it was the glorious wave of the future.
Oh. After 91 bullshit counts against Trump she’s worried about the next administration. What an asshole. How about counseling the corrupt fucker in charge NOW not to act like a banana republic dictator? Ever think of that?
Hahaha! Shorter Prakash:
"I hope I wasn't out of line with all that going after opponents willy-nilly thing", in their best Maxwell Smart voice.
Pick a lamppost, asshole.
oh brer rabbit, please dont throw me in the tar pit
Have we ever before in our history seen an incumbent President and his allies instigate multiple criminal and civil actions against that President's presumptive opponent in the forthcoming election? And seen prosecution-friendly judges imposing gag orders to impair the opponent from responding to the incumbent's attacks?
We really are getting into "banana republic" territory.
In 1864, Lincoln's principal opponent was a General he had fired, but Lincoln didn't court martial McLellan.
It would be very helpful if the US had a free press right now. Or am I missing something?
The best people have pointed to investigatory and prosecutorial discretions as the explanations for all that's happened to Trump (before and after his 2016 election, and since Biden's inauguration), the J6 defendants, Trump aides, etc.
But I'm sure that if Trump is re-elected, courts will find all kinds of limits on the discretion exercised by the AG, the US district attorneys, DOJ, FBI, etc. after Trump's inauguration - inclyding the stuff that started before, in which case courts will find those investigations and prosecutions must continue.
traditionalguy said...
The Demofacists desperately want a cease fire.
thread winner!!!!!
Trump and allies are not Democrats. This is WaPo projection.
We expect Trump to take out the trash at DOJ/FBI. That does not include appointing more Gestapo.
That is not to say there are no Democrats deserving prosecution. Take QuidProJoe, for example.
This is bullshit. I don't want revenge. I'm as MAGA as you can get. I want America to prosper so my kids are ok after I'm gone. I want America to stop fighting and financing stupid wars.
I want peace. A good economy. Less crime. Border controlled for the benefit of all.
Most I want is to see the liberal universities and education establishment get their comeuppance. I'm not worried about Europe. They've had their heads up their asses for at least 250 years. Western Europe just destroyed themselves. So have America's metropolitan cities.
I want to fill my car with 87 octane gasoline for the rest of my life.
Listened to a recent Jordan Peterson podcast with the author of behave. Tit for tat works. And it is the only way to prevent sociopathy from dominating a culture or organization. It encourages the END of the back and forth of betrayals.
Not responding to the betrayals is how we (the us) are where we are. I'll leave it to others to speculate on applications to foreign policies is other countries.
"It would resemble a banana republic if people came into office and started going after their opponents willy-nilly. It’s hardly something we should aspire to."
I thought we were already a banana republic. We have political prisoners in solitary confinement. Fraudulent national elections. Corrupt cowardly courts. Climate Change boogeymen waiting for us around every corner. Green hair. Child mutilation. Naked bike parades.
Whatever America decides to do, we do it the BEST. We're the biggest and best banana republic that ever existed. Aspire to???
The author sounds concerned about the 2024 election.
Stanford. Yale. Washington Post. What could go wrong?
"I guess irony can be pretty ironic sometimes." - Buck Murdock
If Trump is elected and takes power, foreign policy will be an irrelevant byproduct lost in the swirl of the decomposition of American domestic governance. American politics will be all about domestic policy and the creation of a new rule of law based on Republican party efforts to consolidate a minority-based, more authoritarian governance through highly gerrymandered politics. Trump, Xi, and Putin will all be on the same wavelength — the maintenance of personal political power. Policy that does not support power aggrandizement is not policy at all in this world view.
It will be about power, not policy.
This has been going on for years.
From 2017 - IRS apologises for targeting conservative charities
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/27/560308997/irs-apologizes-for-aggressive-scrutiny-of-conservative-groups
Its just gotten even more blatant with Trump on the scene. Bodgy state level prosecutions, fake impeachments, unlawful congressional enquiries, selective prosecution of offences etc etc etc.
Eventually even the GOP will push back.
Again. When's Thermidor?
The Mommy! he hit me back! complaint. Next Democrats will declare "No hit backs" after indicting all Repubs. Academics are now children. Next Democrats will be in "Don't make me hit you!" mode like abusive spouses. "Put some ice on it", Bill Clinton.
Is it a Banana Republic if you charge your political opponent with made up crimes that no one has been charged with before?
“If Trump is elected and takes power, foreign policy will be an irrelevant byproduct lost in the swirl of the decomposition of American domestic governance. American politics will be all about domestic policy and the creation of a new rule of law based on Republican Party efforts to consolidate a minority-based, more authoritarian governance through highly gerrymandered politics. Trump, Xi, and Putin will all be on the same wavelength — the maintenance of personal political power. Policy that does not support power aggrandizement is not policy at all in this world view.
It will be about power, not policy.“
You know, Trump was in power for 4 years and none of those things happened, your list sounds like a chat gpt essay. But I do like the “ swirl of the decomposition of American domestic justiceđŸ¥²”. Like, right down the commode.
Rich said:
"If Trump is elected and takes power, foreign policy will be an irrelevant byproduct lost in the swirl of the decomposition of American domestic governance. American politics will be all about domestic policy and the creation of a new rule of law based on Republican party efforts to consolidate a minority-based, more authoritarian governance through highly gerrymandered politics. Trump, Xi, and Putin will all be on the same wavelength — the maintenance of personal political power. Policy that does not support power aggrandizement is not policy at all in this world view.
It will be about power, not policy."
So... Pray tell, what was it when the Democrats did what they did to Trump after his 2016 victory? Was that OK? Was that anything but a raw attempt to overturn the results of an election?
Or, have you forgotten what happened, what with all the lies told by all the Democrats? I don't recall a single one of them on the national level coming out and saying "Hey, this is wrong... Trump won the election; that should stand..."
Instead, it was all faked intel reports and other things, attempted entrapment of his chosen advisers like Flynn, and on and on.
You really expect there to be no pushback? That this should be "Business as usual..."?
Frankly, the more I see of what they've done and are still trying to do to Trump, the more uneasy I get: What the hell justifies this in their minds? Are they that petty, or do they have that much to hide? Why do they do these things, to keep an outsider at bay?
You ought to think about that, carefully: People out in the countryside are watching, thinking, and likely to do some very unexpected things. Trump's election was a shot across the bow of the oligarchy, the national uniparty that keeps on doing these things that the rest of us don't want them to do. If that keeps on happening, you're going to see a point come where the fevered ravings about January sixth will look like quaint old-fashioned concerns of the disconnected, because real violence by real professionals will have shown what a put-up job that was. You want revolution? Keep right on doing the things you're doing, uniparty thugs.
There's a relatively vast reserve of restraint and patience in a lot of America. That reserve is getting emptied, just like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was, and by the same set of idiots. Don't expect either to be refilled any time soon, and do not expect that people will just forget about all the BS they've been witness to these last nine years.
"... if people came into office and started going after their opponents..."
Hell, they don't wait to come into office. They frickn' RUN on it.
I will believe this when, and if, the one-way helicopter rides start. Actually, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if it did.
Wikipedia has a lengthy description of a banana republic:
In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Guatemala and Honduras under economic exploitation by U.S. corporations, such as the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita). Typically, a banana republic has a society of extremely stratified social classes, usually a large impoverished working class and a ruling class plutocracy, composed of the business, political, and military elites. The ruling class controls the primary sector of the economy by way of the exploitation of labor; thus, the term banana republic is a pejorative descriptor for a servile oligarchy that abets and supports, for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation.
A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, whereby the country is operated as a private commercial enterprise for the exclusive profit of the ruling class. Such exploitation is enabled by collusion between the state and favored economic monopolies, in which the profit, derived from the private exploitation of public lands, is private property, while the debts incurred thereby are the financial responsibility of the public treasury. Such an imbalanced economy remains limited by the uneven economic development of town and country and usually reduces the national currency into devalued banknotes (paper money), rendering the country ineligible for international development credit.
The US has been many of those things over the years, including Biden's reign. But nothing Trump did or might do fits the description.
I think the term does not mean what she thinks it means.
Is this a bit? Because it sounds like a bit.
I find it interesting how 'Rich' can predict what Trump's going to do if elected in 2024 ... yet didn't do any of those things his first four years in office.
are we missing her real intent telling Democrats better not lose elections evver?
The reason it has gotten out of hand is because Republicans NEVER make the Dems play the rules Dems use. The problem is conservative judges wont break the law and violate the Constitution.
The Other problem, half of elected Republicans are Democrats. That half don't want to govern, they only want a place at the game to collect the grift. Republicans are lazy and are fine reading from their script and letting the Dems run everything.
Thats why Trump has to go. In four short years, he proved to the world, govt can get things done. and putting America first is so radical, all of DC lost their mind when Trump actually Governed that way.
Trumps 2cnd term will be epic. More mean tweets, less war, more GDP, less taxes, more prosperity. More Abrahm Accord, less Iran.
Again. When's Thermidor?
Must somebody get shot in the mouth first?
Trump won't do anything to his opponents if elected. Remember Crooked Hillary? Lock her up!
The United States of America is in a "Banana Republic" condition currently which begs the question "so how much more unaware and clueless can this author be and still be cited as some kind of expert on law and politics?" Go figure?
lonejustice said...
"Trump won't do anything to his opponents if elected. Remember Crooked Hillary? Lock her up!"
What was Trump undergoing from the time he was elected until he left office?
Anne, where's your PROJECTION tag? Because this is really that on steroids.
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