Discussion
Pam Bondi ousted as attorney general, source says
Simulacra: I support this. We should prosecute these people and Bondi's excuse that the economy would collapse was so ridiculous as to be insulting. If crimes were committed the perpetrators must be prosecuted no matter who they are.
cosmicgadget: The timing coincides with her office getting embarrassed in front of the Supreme Court, with Trump in artendance.P2025 had a plan but it was always going to struggle against the president's personality issues.
CodeWriter23: Also with Swallwell becoming aware the FBI had him under investigation. And he and Bondi are buds.
helterskelter: Let's hope she doesn't get a pardon before he leaves office.
cosmicgadget: I wouldn't hold out any hope that her replacement will be any different on this particular point.
Simulacra: Alas I am trying to be optimistic but you may be closer to reality.
cosmicgadget: MTG claims Trump said exposing the client list would hurt his friends. Elon said Trump is implicated in them and we all know he was extremely Epstein-adjacent. Trump also cares about the impact of the market indexes on his ego so he'd probably want to avoid a major shakeup.Any of these reasons or the unmentioned ones is enough to be pretty confident Trump will nominate someone who will want to make the files go away quietly.
Finnucane: They might be, but that’s not really a reason to let bad people stay in jobs they shouldn’t have. Otherwise e might as well give up any pretense of accountability and just let them do whatever they want.
cosmicgadget: And I didn't say she should remain.I'm not sure about the "bad people" characterization though. Certainly she is a terrible person but if you are interested in having the least terrible AG you need to worry about her replacement. If by "bad people" you mean people who betrayed the electorate, I think she's been an extremely faithful advocate of the MAGA agenda.Considering the president is unable to acknowledge anything that could be regarded as unflattering, I think it's safe to say we voted away the pretense of accountability.
happytoexplain: Trump's abuse of the presidential pardon is so hideous, I wouldn't be surprised if this power granted by the original US Constitution is amended in response to his unprecedented lack of respect for it. However, I also wouldn't be surprised if nobody in power ever possesses the strength of character or simple morality to do so.
MattPalmer1086: I think quite a lot of MAGA wanted the complete release of the Epstein files, so maybe not extremely faithful to the electorate...
josefritzishere: If there are still history books in the future... what will they think of all this?
mykowebhn: That the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling may have been the single worst thing to happen to the US.
legitster: ???People bring this up regularly, but I don't think it's that relevant. Studies regularly show that campaign contributions actually have very low influence on elections.Trump notably had much smaller campaign budgets than his opponents in both winning elections, not even including the massive amounts of brazen fraud he used to pay himself with the money.Fundamentally, it's presidential democracy that is flawed. We have a very powerful high office, and if enough people want to willing vote in a corrupt president, there's really not many checks against the damage that they can do.
alecbz: > if enough people want to willing vote in a corrupt presidentWhy do people do this though? Maybe it's inevitable, but I think there was a lot of pent up frustration with the government that led a lot of people to just say "fuck it". Not really excusing it (especially for his second term), but I feel like we're reaping years and years of a dysfunctional and ineffectual congress. Not that that's an especially easy problem to solve either.I think this also explains a lot of the frustration with SCOTUS. In-theory, SCOTUS is supposed to just interpret and flesh out the policies decided on by congress. In practice, congress doesn't really do anything, and people started depending on SCOTUS's ability and willingness to make far-reaching and impactful decisions. Now a more conservative SCOTUS isn't doing that.
ricksunny: I would imagine that’s SOP at this point.
quickthrowman: Trying to argue the 14th amendment doesn’t read as plainly as it does was a no-win situation. The government would have to argue it does not have jurisdiction (subject to the jurisdiction thereof) over illegal immigrants which would seemingly (IANAL) mean they’re immune to prosecution for any crime.You could probably find a hair splitting argument that the child must be born in an actual ‘State’, but aside from that, jus soli citizenship is pretty clearly part of the constitution.That being said, Pam Bondi was very bad at her job.
swivelmaster: Yes, it's possible to win with less money than your opponent, but why would anyone want to take that risk?The problem with money in politics is not that money guarantees a win, but that the presence of large donations distorts the entire incentive structure of campaigning and governing: Courting big donations means spending time with big donors (who expect access in exchange for their money) and when it comes time to govern, studies have shown that campaign contributions and lobbying are dramatically more influential to what gets proposed and passed than the preferences of the general public.Focusing on the problems with presidential campaigns re: money in politics is missing the forest for the trees: All politicians have limited time to spend between campaigning and governing, and if they're constantly raising money the governing gets delegated to lobbyists.(This is why people are always so shocked when politicians who don't accept corporate PAC contributions have drastically different priorities than those who do. Of course they do! They don't have to spend all their time hanging out with corporate lobbyists!)
mykowebhn: Can you include references for the studies you mention?> Trump notably had much smaller campaign budgets than his opponents in both winning electionsI'm not sure where you're getting this information.> Fundamentally, it's presidential democracy that is flawed.No disagreement
stonogo: Citizens United affected far more than campaign contributions. Non-campaign political spending (aka "outside spending") has increased nearly eightfold and shows no signs of slowing down.
legitster: This doesn't really speak to Citizens United though. The nature of Dark Money is that no one knows where it comes from, so politicians cozying up to their donors is not actually the particular concern here.(Also, there has been the opposite trend, which is that more money than ever comes from private donations from billionaires and other wealth.)
salawat: I don't think we should change it. I think we as a nation need to understand the person we put in that office has that power, and choose accordingly. It's there for a reason. Sometimes, it's perfectly acceptable for the President to say "fuck this shit" for the good of the Nation. With that power though, comes the responsibility to wield it with respect. This country put the man abusing it in power. No one had second bloody thoughts. No one listened. No one looked ahead. Changing the system won't fix that. Only changing ourselves will. Now you have an undeniable example of the destructive potential of a truly, unrepentantly, criminally inclined President. Consider yourselves lucky if we actually have a peaceful transition of power out of this Administration. Then don't fuck up again. The stakes of statecraft are high. It's about damn time we started acting like it.
fhdkweig: > I think we as a nation need to understand the person we put in that office has that power, and choose accordingly.That's like taking the safety off a gun to remind people to be responsible. That doesn't work, and irresponsible people's decisions can negatively affect everyone (including other countries). We need all the safteys were can get.
fhdkweig: If she broke any state laws anywhere, that won't help her. Presidential pardons don't affect state crimes, and state pardons don't affect federal crimes. It is the closest thing to a check and balance on the power.
threatofrain: It's not like state laws couldn't pertain to Pam Bondi, but the dominant framing around her is going to be federal officer exercising her powers, rightly or wrongly, over a federal office and while under the direction of the president.
Jamesbeam: Most likely the truth. History-wise, it’s business as usual.A few people thinking they are better than the rest meet the same fate everyone in the history of humanity met if they step on enough toes.The people enabled Hitler to do Hitler things. The people enabled Trump to do Trump things.It was all laid out in plain sight what Hitler wanted before he got the power from the people to do so. He was largely supported by the people who enjoyed living their lives right next to the concentration camps.It was all laid out in plain sight what Trump wanted before he got the power from the people to do so. He was largely supported by the people who enjoyed living their lives right next to the deportation camps.This just feels important, special, and new to us because it’s the first time for most people dealing with an insane man in power, as our lifespan as humans is rather short.There are always three options for any citizen that goes through these kinds of historic repeats.You can resist. You will most likely die doing so without accomplishing your goals as there is no more secrecy even offline with everything leaving a digital footprint and 24/7 surveillance with AI support. They will end your bloodline in retaliation, so resisting means being okay with having everyone murdered by the group of people who want to profit, likely working in a government position.You can profit. Swim along and use the opportunity to gain generational wealth by supporting the goals of the insane man in power, or using the opportunities the cruelty he creates allows.Dozens of families got rich selling the gold from the teeth of Jews who were murdered. There is a value chain in the deportation industry Trump is building. You really think people get deported with all their belongings and ICE agents not cashing in robbing people blank and then still deporting them?Or you can decide to look the other way. You know exactly what happens, but neither want to risk your life and that of the people you love by resisting, nor do you want to profit from the cruelty value chain.Either way, just like every German in 1933 and beyond that was of voting age, every us citizen is part of one of the three groups, and if you’re not resisting or profiting, you are no less responsible for what happens to your neighbours and fellow citizens than the people who profit from it.So the only universal truth is, humans are evil, miserable creatures that do evil and miserable things. You decide for yourself where your place is in all this and then deal with the consequences of your actions.Nobody is coming to save you. There is no "right" decision. You only have one life and the freedom to decide what to do with it.Everyone has to figure this out for himself. That’s the downside of having free will.
readthenotes1: Right? Hunter Biden et al. estaba horrible precedent. Plus auto pen. FFS this cannot be what the founders envisioned
hackerbeat: "Pam Bondi? Hardly knew her, never met her. Terrible person."
shevy-java: This means the Epstein connection must be much deeper than we already knew. We kind of need a global movement here that investigates all of those party-goers. Invading another country also serves as an ideal distraction.
murph-almighty: I think the UK has been handling their end shockingly well, fwiw
AnimalMuppet: Arresting Andrew does kind of indicate that they're taking it seriously...
AnimalMuppet: > That being said, Pam Bondi was very bad at her job.Perhaps so. (In fact, I suspect so.) But having a boss that keeps putting you in impossible situations is not conducive to good performance reviews. She got fired for failing to deliver on Trump's fantasies of how the legal system ought to treat him. A different AG isn't going to do too much better, because too many of Trump's positions are legally insane.
