George H.W. Bush was able to tank Michael Dukakis’s 1988 Presidential campaign by arguing that he was soft on crime because he vetoed a bill that would have denied temporary furloughs to prisoners with first-degree murder convictions. They waved murderer Willie Horton’s face at us, warned us a President Dukakis would coddle more murderers, robbers, and rapists, and the electorate responded predictably.
32 years later, a big chunk of that electorate that would have rejected Dukakis for Bush now watches Donald Trump defend a teenage murderer who seems to think that he, like Trump, can shoot someone dead in the middle of the street and not get in trouble, goes soft on crime and declares murder patriotism:
They called him a patriot. They called him a hero. They thanked him for defending the city.
Alan Endries was among them. When asked what spurred him to make the 40-mile drive from Milwaukee for President Donald Trump’s visit to Kenosha on Tuesday, he said he felt empathy for Rittenhouse. “I just feel bad for that 17-year-old.”
“He’s a hero. He stuck up for the population, for property owners,” Endries said. “He didn’t come up here just to shoot people. He came up here to defend himself” [Natasha, Korecki and Christopher Delgado, “With a Hand from Trump, the Right Makes Rittenhouse a Cause Célèbre,” Politico, 2020.09.01].
If the 17-year-old Kenosha shooter had wanted to defend himself, he wouldn’t have driven from his home in Illinois to the Kenosha protests and looked for trouble. He’d have stayed home. Instead he picked up his rifle and his ammo, an act that signals an intent to shoot people.
But now, out of arguments for their unhinged leader, right-wing America advocates extra-legal violence to protect its hideous agenda. They cheer for reckless White House that doesn’t take seriously the threat of domestic terrorism, because they now are adopting terrorism. The angry white subset of the electorate that found Dukakis’s veto disqualifying find Trump’s refusal to condemn crime inspiring.
Donald Trump is weak on crime. There have been 215 criminal indictments against members of his administration or associated individuals. The law and order candidate? He will be indicted once he leaves office. He is the criminal-in-chief.
Trump does have some unique attributes – his behavior gives run of the mill criminals a bad name.
The young killer first examined his first kill, up close like you would on your first deer kill. He studied the dead man for a brief time and then left the scene to report that he in fact, did just shoot and killed. Perhaps to his mother was the call made, the trial will bring that out. But the fact, on video, remains that he ambushed and killed his first victim and then went to make sure of his kill. That ain’t self defense, that is remediated murder.
Judging the distance on his second kill from the video, I would estimate 45 to 60 feet, certainly not a threatening distance from an unarmed man. Lock him up and maw too.
Premeditated murder. I had to p
Mr. Pay, trump is not weak on crime, he pardons it as if it doesn’t exist. That’s what you do when you’re a crime boss like trump.
Mr. Pay, trump is not weak on crime, he pardons it as if it doesn’t exist. That’s what you do when you’re a crime boss like trump.
When people carry guns, shooting others will be THE solution to problems. Carried guns are not spur of the moment discoveries; they are instruments of a thought out plan to deal with eventualities.
Under Wisconsin law, an individual illegally bearing arms cannot plead “self-defense” to a murder charge. Rittenhouse was carrying as a minor – illegal in Wisconsin.
It’s sad but not surprising that so many armchair attorneys don’t know this pretty basic detail.
I don’t think he can scream self defense if he instigated the confrontation, either. Wonder whether he passed hunter safety course and was licensed to hunt in either or both states.
Lest we forget, trump intervened with navy seal that was charged in September 2018 with ten offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice over accusations that he had stabbed to death an injured, sedated 17-year-old ISIS prisoner, photographing himself holding the head of the corpse by the hair and sending the photo to friends. Other offenses included sniper killing of Iraqi civilians.
Trumps intervention got him acquitted of charges.
A black eye for any service member who honorably served in the military.
@steve_vladeck
A powerful
@washingtonpost
op-ed from one of Bowe Bergdahl’s military prosecutors, in reaction to last Thursday’s 3-2 decision by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces rejecting Bergdahl’s claim that unlawful command influence prejudiced his trial:
“I led the prosecution against Bowe Bergdahl. Trump made my job much harder.”
From nearly the moment that Bergdahl was released as part of a prisoner swap in 2014, the case became politicized. Critics of President Barack Obama attacked his decision to trade five high-ranking members of the Taliban for someone they labeled as a deserter, or worse, a traitor. And the misinformation campaign did not end there.
WaPo Opinion by Justin Oshana
August 31, 2020 at 12:24 p.m. MDT
Don’t give Trump any ideas with the comparison. He’d love to get a tank, or tanks, involved.
Damned Donny has no position on crime. His only position on anything is whatever serves his immediate needs and wants.