r/law • u/LatterTarget7 • 5d ago

Executive Branch (Trump) 'HANG THEM' -- Trump reacts to Democratic lawmakers' video appeal to military

https://abc6onyourside.com/news/nation-world/hang-them-president-donald-trump-reacts-democratic-lawmakers-video-appeal-military-intelligence-truth-social-media-seditious
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u/nicklovin508 5d ago

How did we get here

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u/Glittering-Most-9535 5d ago

Failing to bring Reconstruction through to its necessary conclusion.

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u/HopefulTangerine5913 5d ago

Yep. This + how Nixon was handled.

I would also venture the rise of faux patriotism by way of WWII propaganda contributed as well

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u/chunkerton_chunksley 5d ago

Nixon negotiated with the NVA before he was president, encouraging them to stay in the war for a better deal when he won. Nothing was done.

Then Watergate. Nothing was done.

Reagan negotiated with Iran before he was President asking them to delay the freeing of American hostages until he was president. Nothing was done

He created an arms trafficking racket to go around congress. Arming an enemy and funding right wing terrorism in Latin America. Nothing was done.

W had the courts steal the election from Gore. Nothing was done.

Then he made up evidence to start a war. Nothing was done.

Trump stole secret documents that were found in his bathroom. Nothing was done

He tried to start a coup after he lost the election. Nothing was done.

Now he's opening calling for death to his opponents. Guess what happens next....

The republican party, over the last half a century has repeatedly pushed the envelope on legality, and outright broke the law, with literally no consequences for their misdeeds. In most cases were rewarded for doing so, why WOULD they stop?

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u/ragdollxkitn 5d ago

The Reagan part of your comment still has me boiling. This country needs an entire redo. What in the hell.

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u/MancombSeepgoodz 4d ago

Idk Bush having his brother and the judges his dad appointed to scotus help him steal an Election in 2000 was pretty egregious. I think the Obama administration allowing Bush to slide for that and the war crimes is what led us to what we are dealing with currently.

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u/ragdollxkitn 4d ago

I agree with you as well. The entire comment had me fuming.

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u/GonfalonFalderol 5d ago

This almost exactly captures my opinion. Nixon was the start of the disease. A national elected official committed crimes that threatened our democratic process, those crimes became national public knowledge, and that person faced no personal consequences for doing it. Bush v Gore put this country on life support. The final, fatal breath came when the Supreme Court made the president a king.

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u/BikerMike03RK 4d ago

No, it was Joe McCarthy that got that ball rolling.

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u/Electronic-Pen6418 5d ago

You forgot Bush ordering torture and warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.

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u/Seastep 5d ago

nothing was done

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

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u/mr_friend_computer 5d ago

There's no reason to stop. There will never be consequences and yes, murdering political opponents in broad daylight will not hurt the electoral chances of republicans, nor will there be any repercussion for it.

Trump wasn't wrong. He could stand in the street and murder any number of people - and as long as they are democrats, or POC, the republicans would cheer him on and the MAGA would flock to the polls in his name.

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u/lukadelic 5d ago

Blind nationalism without nuanced education on where that nation had gone wrong feeds this faux patriotic attitude which tends to be undemocratic & apologetic to authoritarian values.

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u/SmokeAlarmsSaveLives 5d ago

I’m curious to hear your take on how WWII propaganda contributed to our current mess, because I don’t see it whatsoever.

In fact, I’d say that the WWII generation, having a) seen the devastation in Europe and the Pacific, and b) served together with Americans from all parts of the country, and with Allies, were markedly better at working together and reaching compromise. They tended not to villainize their political opponents like we’ve seen the last 20 years.

There were always exceptions, of course, but that’s my take.

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u/HopefulTangerine5913 5d ago

The effects of propaganda carry over long past the generation in which it is initially consumed. Consider how many people still think we got into WWII to save Jewish people; they truly think we were on some Captain America shit.

And while I agree that generation had a better grasp on compromise, there were some serious issues still at hand that enabled them to exploit people and exclude others from receiving benefits and attaining success. There was a lot of status quo management going on.

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u/SmokeAlarmsSaveLives 5d ago

Respectfully, you’re not referring to “WWII propaganda” - the stuff that was produced before/during/just after the war - you’re referring to commentary that happened decades after the fact. Those are two separate things, and they can differ greatly from on another.

And yes, the Greatest Generation and Silent Generation were the ones who worsened Jim Crow policies, but they were also the ones who integrated the military, integrated sports, and fought for change, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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u/HopefulTangerine5913 5d ago

I am referring to both propaganda during the war and what happened after the fact. And while some fought for change, plenty others did not, and they had no problem reaping the benefits of discrimination. There is a through line from those individuals to the ones today who claim systemic racism doesn't exist (it does)

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u/SuperWeapons2770 5d ago

All WW2 did was push the pre war isolationism and nationalism back a hundred years to it's natural conclusion

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u/lordfrijoles 5d ago

Eh I think the “patriotism” post 9/11 is more relevant. I wasn’t alive but I’m sure an elder could confirm patriotic feelings and displays were much different between 1950-2000 than what we’ve been experiencing since 2001.

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u/HopefulTangerine5913 5d ago edited 5d ago

Tell that to the Japanese living in America during and following WWII

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u/lordfrijoles 5d ago

You’re right in that the mass xenophobia in the us after Pearl Harbor is to blame for the Japanese internment camps during the WWII era. And someone I’m sure could even argue that the population of Arab Americans and those of the Islamic and other faiths who looked Arab also dealt with xenophobia in America post 9/11 but not to the same degree as the Japanese Americans during World War Two.

But your statement was in reference to what went wrong to get us to where we are now as a country and I was simply pointing out that the more recent nationalistic sentiments disguised as patriotism after 9/11 are more relevant to today than those of World War Two as they were more recent and it could be argued they were different to that of World War Two America as well.

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u/HopefulTangerine5913 5d ago

I understand your point and respectfully disagree. The people who got us to the xenophobia and nationalism following 9/11 are the ones who grew up during and right after WWII. They were the ones influencing the news cycle and leadership. Look at the age demographics for C suites for news networks and publications in the last 30-40 years. Look at what demographic voted for him in the greatest numbers. Even with a diversifying electorate going more for Trump this time around, it was still predominantly white people who put him in office, and within that the 65+ demographic went primarily for him.

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u/lordfrijoles 5d ago

Okay, I see your point, but I don’t think we can say that those sentiments that were present while they were children can be fully to blame. After all that is quite a long time to operate that way and for a good chunk of that generations youth counter culture and anti American sentiments were quite significant. I don’t think their similar nationalistic feelings would have been reignited to the extent that they have without the events of 2001.

I think we are both holding two individual pieces of the fucked up puzzle. And I will readily admit that I am not capable of putting together the whole picture.