I watched one of the discussions of the immunity decision. It said that the Supreme Court seemed to be approaching it as trying to keep the Department of Justice from going after Presidents, rather than whether a President would misuse having the immunity.
At the end, the comment was made that just because a President now will be protected if they do something, should they do it? That was the wrong question. The right question is will they do it?
Biden? He was the authority to right now get Trump out of the way. It wouldn’t have to be using SEAL Team Six, as the example is often given after it came up with Trump earlier this year. But he could make an official Presidential declaration that Trump is a threat to the national security of the country and have him placed in solitary confinement in a supermax prison. Will he do that?
Trump? For that, you have to look at his life.
- Born into a wealthy family and hasn’t known any hardship like being poor or starvation.
- Ran his businesses very much like mob-run businesses
- Had not been forced to deal with any consequences because he used money to make problems go away
- Does not allow anyone to tell him no
- Requires people to praise him, such as telling state Governors when they came to him asking for disaster relief funds, “Ask me nicely.”
- Rants if people don’t praise him enough.
- Starts off by telling the world how good the person he hired is and then tears them apart when they do something he doesn’t like.
- Throws temper tantrums.
- Gravitates towards authoritarian and other dictatorial leaders.
- The demonizing and dehumanizing of political rivals and groups he does not like, such as migrants.
- Has a narcissistic personality that is reinforced by the lack of people that say no and the abundance of yes men.
- Views himself as a savior. “Only I can save you.”; “I will be your retribution.”
- Says whatever makes him look good at that particular moment, even if it contradicts what he said before.
- Used being President as a way of avoiding debts and consequences that were about to come to pass.
- Has been facing the possibility of going to prison and views being President as the key to making them go away.
- Is showing more and more physical and verbal signs pointing towards dementia.
If you have a person like that, how likely is it they would misuse the immunity the Supreme Court bestowed on them? If they know that all they have to do is make sure an action is an official act of the office of the President and they are protected from any and all consequences, how likely would a person like that take advantage of that immunity?
Woodman brought up if Trump was Hitlerish, why weren’t countermeasures taken? The answer is people tried. There were people that thought they could be the voice of reason, to help steer him away from some really bad ideas.
Sometimes they succeeded if they could divert his attention to something else so he would forget about it, at least for a while. Others dumbed down briefings so there was a better chance Trump would pay attention and would be able to understand what was going on.
But many of them learned he couldn’t be controlled or prevented from doing what he wanted. When he would be briefed on the pandemic as it was going on, he listened to the people that told him things he wanted to hear and made him look good, rather than the people who were telling him reality and what he needed to do to protect the public.
There were many more yes men supporting him, praising him and telling him how great he is. It went beyond the typical viewpoint of “He’s our guy, we’re going to support him” to “We’re going to support him no matter what he does, no matter what he says and protect him no matter what”, along with excusing, condoning and encouraging the things he says and does. There have been several attempts to change laws just to protect him.
And that reinforces what happened throughout his life, where there were no consequences for what he did. The people excusing, condoning and encouraging him are the reason why we now have the phrase “alternative facts”, which used to be called fabrications or lies.
Back in 2015 and 2016, I would see the things that appeared to be blown out of proportion. The claims that Trump was The Next Hitler™. Back then, I thought it was the typical “he’s not our guy, so it’s our duty to say bad things about him”. I was willing to give him a chance to show people were wrong about him and said so in these forums.
Over the years, I learned to pay more attention. It’s been through Trump’s own words and actions that it hasn’t all been exaggerations and “say bad things because he’s not our guy”. There’s been more and more indications that they were warnings, warnings that people chose to deliberately disregard.
We’re just a few months away from learning if those warnings were correct. I think there’s a very strong possibility they are. Trump didn’t accept the results of the last election. He’s made enough statements to make it clear he won’t for this one. When you add what he’s said and done in the past to the guarantee of immunity if he becomes President again and how many people willingly excuse, condone and encourage him, the parallels with Germany of the 1920s and 1930s grow stronger.
Trump has several stories he likes to tell. One type of story is the unnamed people that come up to him and tell him how grateful they are for what he does and to show their admiration for him. Often, they are “big, strong men with tears in their eyes”.
Another story is called “The Woman and the Snake”, about a woman that rescues a beautiful snake shivering in the cold. After all the woman does for the snake, it still bites her. As she dies, she tells it, she doesn’t understand why. The snake replies, “You stupid woman. You knew I was a snake when you took me in.”
Trump has been warning us for years about his nature. Too many people have chosen not to care, not to heed the warnings, and instead excuse, condone and encourage what he does.
