Print this post.
By DAVE LINDORFF
But don’t forget: Trump has one unassailable power as president — the power to pardon — and I predict he will wield it.
The US Constitution gives a president the almost absolute power to pardon, including to pardon someone before he or she has been convicted of a crime or even indicted. As President Gerald Ford proved, such pardon power can even be used to pardon someone — in his case the disgraced and resigned ex-President Richard Nixon — before he had even been charged with a crime.
The only limitation on that presidential pardon power is that it cannot be used if the president is impeached, or to interfere with the impeachment process.
What this means is that as long as there has not been an impeachment of the president, or at least the launching of impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives, there is no constraint on President Trump’s use of his pardon power. He can, according to many legal experts, even pardon himself, though in that case he could still be impeached and removed from office, just not prosecuted for any crimes (impeachment is not a criminal proceeding, but is simply a process for removing a person from office).
I believe it is likely therefore, that Trump, for whom appearances, tradition, propriety, and the good of the country are all meaningless notions, will use his pardon power to block investigations into, and block indictments of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and his top advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and anyone else who gets caught up in the investigation into crimes committed by him and his administration, his transition team and his campaign.
While such actions — even more shocking than Nixon’s abrupt firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal — would likely stun the public and would, by most Americans, be viewed an admission of Trump’s guilt, it would effectively eliminate any chance for Mueller to prosecute or even to investigate anyone in the Trump administration. People who are pardoned cannot be pressured by fear of indictment and a promise of immunity into turning state’s evidence.
Trump would no doubt present his pardons as being an appropriate action to kill an investigation that he is already characterizing as a “witch hunt’ based upon lies and “fake news” — a view shared by most of his ardent backers around the country.
How such a bold stroke would play out at that point is hard to say. Establishment Democrats would likely be encouraged by Trump pardons to push harder for his impeachment, but this approach could work to their own detriment. We’ve already seen in the last election how disenchanted much of white, working-class America is with the Congressional Democrats and their focus on inside-the-beltway fighting as well as their lack of interest in the daily struggles of ordinary people, white and non-white. This sentiment will be all the stronger because most of Americans really aren’t really concerned about Russia as any kind of threat these days.
At the same time, Republicans, who have shown a shameless lack of concern with ethics, morals and basic decency in supporting Trump no matter how obscene, selfish, brutish or narcissistic he behaves, could lose support, particularly among independent voters and erstwhile Democrats, if they were to go along with Trump’s use of pardons to protect his own ass.
It is really a no-win situation for both parties, which benefits Trump, who doesn’t really seem to care much about his place in history.
^1000The corporate plutocracy that controls our lives depends on lies & distractions.
What is "plutocracy" you say? It's simply the ultra rich, the billionaires. The very very few.
Actually no more than 0.00001% of us, but VERY rich, and lording over everyone.
Some people call them the "oligarchy." And that's fine. Its the same thing.
Think about it. A puny segment of humanity rules the whole human race.
To their advantage.
They cause poverty and inequality everywhere they rule. They trigger constant wars.
Their selfish, greed-based and sociopathic system makes some people obscenely rich.
Just 8 men—8 guys who could fit in a Volkswagen—own as much $$ as HALF of humanity.
That's 8 filthy rich guys having more money and property than almost 4 billion human beings.
Wow. Six of those guys are American.
Obviously they think the system we all live under—capitalism—is hunk·y-do·ry.
Why shouldn't they? It's a crazy, rigged game, a lottery for a few winners and many losers.
But they defend it tooth and claw. And they want to keep it going forever. At ANY cost.
That means endless wars (including nuclear). Mass impoverishment. Great insecurity for most.
Getting worse and worse as time goes by. It's a system that has murdered the planet.
That is currently pushing humanity to a nuclear war behind a barrage of filthy lies.
How can we allow a system that breeds such horrors, such inequality to exist?
We MUST break this evil power over us, this power that is NOT democracy and never was.
But how dow we go about it? They seem formidable (and they are).
In the US alone they are shielded by the world's biggest police and military.
But they have a weakness.
As Caitlin Johnstone has noted, they need to control our minds—at all times.
By doing that, they need little police and military to keep us in line.
They simply put the prison inside our heads. Inject us with a false reality.
Propaganda around the clock.
Meanwhile, the most vital truths go begging.
Like, who created al Qaeda and ISIS? Who supports them to the tune of billions?
Who caused the refugee crisis in Europe? What REALLY happened in Ukraine?
Who downed MH17? Is Russia really an aggressive power bent on world conquest?
Why are we trying to pick a fight with China? It goes on and on. Vital issues.
And no answers of any value, no answers we can trust. Only lies.
The reason is they can't allow the truth to emerge about anything of real importance.
Ball game scores? Of course. Football scores? No problem. Weather reports? Why not?
You can rely on the corporate media to give you THAT kind of non-political information.
Gossip about celebrities? Same thing. No problem. You can have it—stuff yourself.
But, again, anything that really matters? Forget it.
So the answer to our tactical problem is also simple.
The best way to take down the oligarchy is by aggressively attacking its propaganda engine.
That means you MUST break your addiction to the mainstream media.
Media owned by the 1%.
Block the liars and whores working at CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS, BBC, CNN, Fox, etc.
I'm talking here chiefly about what passes for "news programs".
Even if a great deal of "entertainment" is also loaded with insidious propaganda.
Like that great show making the Homeland security folks look great, "24".
Or that other show on CBS making the US government look like a force of good.
I'm talking about the ridiculous "Madam Secretary". Of course, liberals love the show.
They are suckers for empty symbols, gender, identity politics over substance.
So say NO to CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, PBS and the rest of the alphabet soup of big media.
Just patronize and support citizens' media, like The Greanville Post.
Or 21st Century Wire. Or wsws.org. You'll be finally on firm ground.
You'll see reality the way it is, not the Orwellian concoctions served by the media whores.
On that basis, regain your freedom of action. Liberate your mind at last.
SO: bottom line. Increase public distrust of the mainstream media. Help dismantle it.
Question it. Block it. Ridicule it (it's easy). Expose it for the fraud it is.
And do what you can to smash it.
How such a bold stroke would play out at that point is hard to say. Establishment Democrats would likely be encouraged by Trump pardons to push harder for his impeachment, but this approach could work to their own detriment. We’ve already seen in the last election how disenchanted much of white, working-class America is with the Congressional Democrats and their focus on inside-the-beltway fighting as well as their lack of interest in the daily struggles of ordinary people, white and non-white. This sentiment will be all the stronger because most of Americans really aren’t really concerned about Russia as any kind of threat these days.
