Trump exploring options to pardon his family and himself.

[Perkunas]

No, how about something more AMERICAN like HEINZ or FRENCHZ (lol holy shit rofl)

A la the obama mustard "debacle" I think you're hinting at. ;p

Commie Atheist Muslim Satanist OBAMA!

[Cosmic Janitor]

Man this US show called "The Trump Presidency" is worse than harem anime. I hope it finally gets somewhere because all the teasing and unresolved plot strings start to cause me to lose interest. Not to mention all the plot holes.

[Poopymonster]

Man this US show called "The Trump Presidency" is worse than harem anime. I hope it finally gets somewhere because all the teasing and unresolved plot strings start to cause me to lose interest. Not to mention all the plot holes.

Sadly unless they improve the plot greatly or retcon this whole season, it'll probably be cancelled.

[Deleted]

I wish I could say that Trump no longer surprises me, but this is unbelievably disturbing.

What's wrong with him seeking clarification as to what his legal options are?

Sounds like something a smart businessman would do - know all your options.

[Wyrt]

What's wrong with him seeking clarification as to what his legal options are?

Sounds like something a smart businessman would do - consider all options.

Why does he need to consider it as an option if he's innocent?

[Skroe]

What's wrong with him seeking clarification as to what his legal options are?

Sounds like something a smart businessman would do - consider all options.

Nothing.

But let's be clear. It won't work.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/19/...investigation/

Trump knows the noose is tightening.

[Mormolyce]

The president being allowed to pardon himself is insane. How did the law get passed that way? What morons thought that was a good idea?

Technically the only crime a President can't pardon is impeachment. I believe it was always controversial even among the Founders.

But many of the US's systems of checks and balances appear to be based on the assumption of a rational actor. Any President who used a Presidential pardon on his close family would be committing career suicide. Trump cares not a whit for that.

If this catastrophe has illustrated anything, it's how incredibly weak the checks on executive power are, and how desperately in need of reform the US political system is to combat corruption.

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Man this US show called "The Trump Presidency" is worse than harem anime. I hope it finally gets somewhere because all the teasing and unresolved plot strings start to cause me to lose interest. Not to mention all the plot holes.

It's politics, it moves at about the speed as George R. R. Martin publishes books.

[Skroe]

Technically the only crime a President can't pardon is impeachment. I believe it was always controversial even among the Founders.

But many of the US's systems of checks and balances appear to be based on the assumption of a rational actor. Any President who used a Presidential pardon on his close family would be committing career suicide. Trump cares not a whit for that.

If this catastrophe has illustrated anything, it's how incredibly weak the checks on executive power are, and how desperately in need of reform the US political system is to combat corruption.

I've been thinking about this on and off this week.

After Trump, I can think of half a dozen constitutional ammendments we need to modernize our checks and balances.

Three in particular I think are relevant here.
- It's insane to me that the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Attorney General are all political positions attached to the Executive branch, rather than non-political positions attached to Judicial Branch. The execution of the nation's law enforcement should not be political in nature.

-The power of the President to remove subordinates and cover-up wrongdoing is far too kingly and needs substantial reform. For example, if the President elects to fire the FBI director, it should only be valid upon a majority vote in the Senate confirming it. Something like that.

-The entire White House national security apparatus (namely the National Security Council) and the National Security Adviser, along with all these other powerful, unelected and not-voted-on-by-the-senate White House advisors ALL need to go away. When the NSC had a staff of 20 people, it made sense. WHen it has a staff of 400 people, and not subject to a confirmation of vote, it became too powerful.

[Felya]

What's wrong with him seeking clarification as to what his legal options are?

Sounds like something a smart businessman would do - know all your options.

There is nothing wrong with it, other than admitting that these fake news stories, do contain an option that is real enough to seek the information.

[Flarelaine]

After Trump, I can think of half a dozen constitutional ammendments we need to modernize our checks and balances.

May as well look into regulation surrounding the election procedures.

[Felya]

May as well look into regulation surrounding the election procedures.

They need to switch everything to absentee ballots. Nothing else needs to change. The solution to our election problem, is people voting. Just about everything else I see in bitching about voting is just partisan crap. Even with gerrymandering, even if one side does it more, it's always going to be a partisan issue.

The goal should always be increasing the voter turn out. I personally favor compulsory voting... learn from advertisers... ding those who don't vote by increasing their federal taxes by 5%, but sell it as a 5% cut in taxes for those who vote.

[Perkunas]

What's wrong with him seeking clarification as to what his legal options are?

Sounds like something a smart businessman would do - know all your options.

Let me know when the orchestra starts playing that real somber number on the deck. I love that one.

[Wyrt]

They need to switch everything to absentee ballots. Nothing else needs to change. The solution to our election problem, is people voting. Just about everything else I see in bitching about voting is just partisan crap. Even with gerrymandering, even if one side does it more, it's always going to be a partisan issue.

The goal should always be increasing the voter turn out. I personally favor compulsory voting... learn from advertisers... ding those who don't vote by increasing their federal taxes by 5%, but sell it as a 5% cut in taxes for those who vote.

The amount of money pouring in to campaigns is a pretty big election issue and it should be non-partisan.

At the very least, the first step needs to be preventing donations from outside the district/state that someone is running for congress/senate in. They're to represent their constituents, not some PAC from halfway across the country.

[Flarelaine]

They need to switch everything to absentee ballots. Nothing else needs to change. The solution to our election problem, is people voting.

That is a good point, although I really had all that bitching about photo IDs in mind.

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The amount of money pouring in to campaigns is a pretty big election issue and it should be non-partisan.

At the very least, the first step needs to be preventing donations from outside the district/state that someone is running for congress/senate in. They're to represent their constituents, not some PAC from halfway across the country.

Meh. They'd find straw men to funnel the money.

[Skroe]

The amount of money pouring in to campaigns is a pretty big election issue and it should be non-partisan.

At the very least, the first step needs to be preventing donations from outside the district/state that someone is running for congress/senate in. They're to represent their constituents, not some PAC from halfway across the country.

France has it right. We should modify and adopt

-Cap on how much a campaign can raise (lets say $150 million for President, $3 million for Senate, $1.5 million for a house seat). Exceeding cap = disqualification.

-A ban on political advertising by special interests groups (or PAC spending counts to the $150 million cap)

-Cap on how many days elected officials can spend fundraising.

-Regulated rate setting for political advertising on TV and Cable so campaigns don't NEED to raid millions of dollars in the first place.

-Reduce the individual contribution cap to $200, indexed to inflation.

- A lifetime ban on lobbying of you're an elected official, you can never become a registered lobbyist.

[Wyrt]

Meh. They'd find straw men to funnel the money.

Would also like to see only donations under a certain amount and only from private citizens(no PACs, no corporations) with harsh penalties for violating the law.

The corruption has to end.

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France has it right. We should modify and adopt

-Cap on how much a campaign can raise (lets say $150 million for President, $3 million for Senate, $1.5 million for a house seat). Exceeding cap = disqualification.

-A ban on political advertising by special interests groups (or PAC spending counts to the $150 million cap)

-Cap on how many days elected officials can spend fundraising.

-Regulated rate setting for political advertising on TV and Cable so campaigns don't NEED to raid millions of dollars in the first place.

-Reduce the individual contribution cap to $200, indexed to inflation.

- A lifetime ban on lobbying of you're an elected official, you can never become a registered lobbyist.

These would be good rules to adopt. Would also reduce the insanity of elections.

[Edge-]

I enjoy that he's also reportedly having his own lawyers investigating Mueller and his people.

I swear he's speed running Nixon on this.

[Jtbrig7390]

I enjoy that he's also reportedly having his own lawyers investigating Mueller and his people.

I swear he's speed running Nixon on this.

It is something magical.

[Deleted]

Basically seems like an admission of guilt.

I think Trump is guilty of som wrongdoing. But its common that board of directors get "freedom of responsibility" after they quite. They do not want to be entangled in some judicial battel years later. Not that the shareholders do not give "freedom of responsibility" if they suspect wrongdoing.

[ati87]

- A lifetime ban on lobbying of you're an elected official, you can never become a registered lobbyist.

Problem with this part is that they just give the lobbyist another titel and call him a ''marketing executive'' or something. SO they kind of do everything a lobbyist does except they don't call that person a lobbyist.

Europe has lobbyist ofc but the influence isn't a fraction of what you see in the US. We recently got rid of roaming 0even thought the lobbying towards that was extreme from not just companies but also certain countries that profited the most.