President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

As I've been saying ...

 

I suppose that will apply in 3-7 years.

 

Seriously awful. Did he think adding "slightly" in front of it made it okay?

 

Outing: freqposter writes for the LA Times

 

I think Bergdahl's sentence was always likely to be less than satisfactory to many on the right. The prosecution only asked for 14 years, as opposed to life which was available, and that the 5 years of torture he endured at the hands of the Taliban be taken into account.

Trump ensured that the sentence would be light by speaking out, for the reasons outlined in the article @doctorquant linked and later summarized succinctly.

The military justice system does function differently from the civilian justice system and the president - as commander in chief - obviously has a greater potential influence on that system, which is why the president should refrain from commenting on cases in a way that could create serious legal problems.

Yet, even in the civilian justice system, presidential comment on what punishment a defendant should receive before the case is heard creates its own serious hurdles to giving the defendant a fair trial, as protected by the sixth amendment.

 

Let's hope a third president doesn't shit the bed on this Bergdahl clusterfuck.

 

Had forgotten all about him. Remember him being a big deal in the anti-Bush midterms in 2006 but figured he was swept up the the red wave of every election since.

BTW, Russia Today reported on the Oct. 14 neo-Nazi rally in Ukraine (only 10,000-20,000 or so marched, no big deal). Not a peep from NYT, WaPo, CNN, Fox News, etc. NYT must be busy working on some 10,000-word feature on tribal rivalries in Chad.

 

The judge had very wide discretion. Trump does not have sense enough to keep his mouth shut about cases in front of a court, or which have not yet, like the New York truck terrorist. He's a defense attorney's wet dream.

Bergdahl spent five years in the hands of the Taliban, being tortured and living in a cage made of twisted rebar. He already had mental problems *before* his capture. He came home to find the President was calling for his execution.

I personally think he merited some prison time here, if only so that the rest of the armed services could see it, but I really don't have a problem with the ruling. I do feel terribly for his comrades who risked their lives and were wounded, in some cases grievously, trying to get him back.

 

Has there been a press sec. that didn't seem like a chunky soccer parent?

 

I hope we're not calling this chunky (but with this place, you never know):

 

I don’t see the need to insult chunky soccer moms like that.

 

Ouch. Nice analysis.
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