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By Editorial Board July 25 at 2:00 PM
WHEN PRESIDENT TRUMP attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a tweet Tuesday for not aggressively investigating Hillary Clinton, most attention focused, understandably, on the implications for Mr. Sessions. Yet even more alarming than the presidents assault on his own attorney general is Mr. Trumps return to the lock her up theme of his 2016 campaign. We need to recall, once again, what it means to live under the rule of law. Since his inauguration six months ago, so many comparisons have been made to banana republics that it is almost unfair to bananas. But there is a serious point to be made about the difference between the United States of America and a state ruled by personal whim.
In a rule-of-law state, governments awesome powers to police, prosecute and imprison are wielded impartially, with restraint and according to clearly defined rules. These rules apply equally to rich and poor, powerful and weak, ruling party and opposition. In such states, individuals advance on the basis of their talent and initiative, not whom they know. Companies invest where they think the returns will be highest, not to please those in power. The result is that, over time, rule-of-law states prosper. Banana republics do not.
No country ever has attained perfection in this regard, but the United States has been the envy of the world because certain norms have been accepted. After hard-fought elections, the losing side concedes and the winning side leaves the loser in peace to fight another day. Leaders are expected to speak truthfully to their citizens. They respect the essential nonpartisan nature of law enforcement and the military and of key civic organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America. They show respect too for the political opposition.
To list those basic expectations is to understand how low Mr. Trump is bringing his office. Just in the past few days, he urged Navy men and women to call Congress on behalf of his political goals and turned the National Scout Jamboree into an unseemly political rally, calling the nations politics a cesspool and a sewerand disparaging his predecessor and the media. Routinely he trades in untruths, even after they have been exposed and disproved. He has launched an unprecedented rhetorical assault on the independence of the Justice Department, the FBI and the special counsels office and now he is again threatening his defeated 2016 opponent.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-not-okay/2017/07/25/2dc65866-7148-11e7-8839-ec48ec4cae25_story.html
LonePirate
(13,425 posts)Guilded Lilly
(5,591 posts)hlthe2b
(102,292 posts)Of course we'd be stuck with Pence, but.... At least then, the ignorant followers can blame it on 'God's will"
TeamPooka
(24,229 posts)flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)I thought R's were the patriot party? Oh yeah, just in words.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)SergeStorms
(19,201 posts)He lies, insults, accuses, and demeans. When someone fights back he claims it's "unfair, sad, fake, ugly". Then he gets his army of attorneys to bury supposed enemies in mountains of litigation.
A coward of the first order.
I'm 2 years younger than him, 5 inches shorter, and in all likelihood 100 pounds lighter, but I'd step into an alley with him in a nanosecond. I'd be the only person walking out of that alley, guaranteed, and I've never been in a fight in my life.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)I don't think they're able to do it very well with the mushy "better deal" meme I heard,
We need someone who invigorates the party and has an inspirational message. One that resonates and that focuses on jobs, wages, the economy, the environment, and other things of widespread concern. Don't know about healthcare, unless the Dems can agree among themselves what they think is the way forward on that.
Do we have any new leaders on the horizon?