Donald Trump’s threat to imprison Hillary Clinton is a threat to democracy

[napkinz]

by Zack Beauchamp
October 9, 2016

There is no way to sugarcoat this: At Sunday night’s presidential debate, Donald Trump threatened to throw Hillary Clinton in jail if he wins the presidency. This — threatening to jail one’s political opponents — is how democratic norms die.

The exchange happened during a discussion of the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s private email server. Trump began by decrying Clinton’s conduct — which, according to the FBI, was quite bad but not illegal. He then proposed appointing a special prosecutor to investigate her, and warned Clinton that, if he were president now, “you’d be in jail”:

TRUMP: I'll tell you what. I didn't think I'd say this, and I'm going to say it, and hate to say it: If I win, I'm going to instruct the attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there's never been so many lies, so much deception … A very expensive process, so we're going to get a special prosecutor because people have been, their lives have been destroyed for doing one-fifth of what you've done. And it's a disgrace, and honestly, you ought to be ashamed.

-snip-

In democracies, we respect people’s rights to disagree with each other. When one candidate wins a presidential election, the loser returns to private life or another government position. In some cases, former rivals become close friends. George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, who defeated Bush in the 1992 election, travel together and have spent decades jointly raising money to aid the victims of natural disasters.

They don’t get sent to jail, because we believe that political disagreement should be legal.

read more: http://www.vox.com/2016/10/9/13222302/donald-trump-jail-hillary-clinton-second-debate

[Wounded Bear]

1. K & R ......for visibility..nt

[napkinz]

4. thanks ... CNN is hitting Trump hard on his threat to prosecute and jail Hillary

MSNBC not so much

Trump's threat should trouble every American.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Just had a brief section on it....

it's pretty serious.

[napkinz]

6. CNN called it NIXONIAN

[Wounded Bear]

7. Yeah, he had an enemies list...

not necessarily to kill, but to pull dirty political tricks on.

Still, yeah, it's serious if they're talking about using the justice department to take revenge on opponents.

[Coyotl]

36. ... and they are still using it. Minorities that vote liberal at the tiop of the list.

Using laws to take revenge on people who don't vote their way is bad enough, stealing votes in predominately African-American communities is a despicable crime.

[Hortensis]

38. He would have to bypass the justice department to

imprison an innocent woman. The comparison isn't to Nixon, or even to Putin (who does have some constraints on his behavior) but to people like Turkey's Erdogan or Syria's Bashar al-Assad.

[napkinz]

39. Eric Holder tweeted ...

Eric Holder ✔ @EricHolder
So @realDonaldTrump will ORDER his AG to take certain actions-When Nixon tried that his AG courageously resigned. Trump is dangerous/unfit
9:41 PM - 9 Oct 2016

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/09/politics/eric-holder-nixon-trump-presidential-debate/

[Coyotl]

30. Trump judged incompetent on this point, but he doubles down.

Ezra Klein ‏@ezraklein20 minutes ago
Donald Trump took it Facebook to make sure his supporters know he’s dead serious about putting Clinton in jail

Donald Trump wants his supporters to know he’s dead serious about putting Hillary Clinton in jail
The Trump campaign wants the media to think “You would be in jail” is a joke. His supporters know it’s a promise.
Dara Lind @DLind [e-mail] Oct 10, 2016

On Sunday night, during the second presidential debate, Donald Trump told Hillary Clinton that if he were president, “you would be in jail.”

It was a horrifying moment. It was the most authoritarian statement in a campaign that was already pretty authoritarian to begin with.

But after the debate was over, Donald Trump’s campaign seemed to want people to think that it was just a joke.

Trump spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany defended it just that way. People in the audience at the debate were laughing, they pointed out, so it must have been a joke.

[Buzz Clik]

2. Donald is running to be America's first African President

[sarcasmo]

3. Krugman, Van Jones, Michael Moore are all tweeting about this statment.

[Amonester]

8. caligula dRumft projects his fears he's going to serve time

for raping a 13-year-old girl
and doing business in Cuba
and +++

[rickford66]

9. He always "hates to say it" but "says it anyway"

[C_U_L8R]

10. Someone's may take Trump to court any day now

And his pussy grabbing boast will be key evidence.
He may not go to jail, but it will cost him a lot.

Meanwhile Democracy will breath a sigh of relief
that Trump's political career is finished

[napkinz]

12. "his political career is finished"

but he'll still be around .... get ready for the Trump News Network (TNN)

[C_U_L8R]

14. a.k.a. Breitbart TV

Teevee for batshits

[napkinz]

27. then make it TBN

Trump Breitbart Network

[AgadorSparticus]

11. It was a lame attempt to rattle her. She is like steel. Absolutely unshakeable.

[tammywammy]

13. This will be a huge take away from tonight.

[Coyotl]

18. Indeed, his freeper-talk moment. Wonder what his user name is over there?

[napkinz]

29. Dan Senor commenting on this now on MSNBC

Says it is shocking that a candidate would make such a threat (vowing to instruct his attorney general to prosecute a losing opponent).

[KingCharlemagne]

15. Good! That means President Obama can toss Bush

and Cheney in the hoosegow for torture and crimes against humanity, right?

What's good for the goose . . .

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. It dovetails with his call for "2nd Amendment" remedies if Hillary wins.

Two sides of the same coin:

Heads she wins and "Second Amendment people" are dispatched to make life difficult for Secret Service protection.

Tails he jails her.

[Coyotl]

17. That stood out as the Mr. Crazy moment. He's off his rocker, throw him in the nut house.

Kidding, but you can understand the need for some do onto others as they would do onto you, I hope.

What is particularly alarming about this is that Trump would throw a whole lot of us in jail just for typing what we are saying today if he gets elected.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Winds up his base tighter. Loses votes elsewhere. Loses. Big league loser. . . . nt

[napkinz]

31. He has already talked about opening up libel laws to sue the press

He would go after the first amendment.

[Coyotl]

20. Threatening to jail political opponents isn't normal, and needs to be condemned

Threatening to jail political opponents isn't normal, and needs to be condemned
By Hunter Oct 09, 2016 = dKos

Is this really where we are? Apparently so: Dana Bash on CNN is veeeeery carefully pointing out that jailing political opponents is a threat people usually associate with other nations and other leaders like, in her words, "Hitler."

That's not something that should go away tomorrow. It goes to the heart of Trump's fundamental unfitness for office. Threatening to jail political opponents isn't something our nation can ever, ever normalize.

Here’s the transcript:

Trump: If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation. [...] There has never been anything like this with emails. [...] You know what, people have been—their lives have been destroyed for doing one-fifth of what you have done. You should be ashamed. [...]

Clinton: Everything he said is absolutely false. [...] It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.

Trump: Because you would be in jail.

................

[Coyotl]

21. "When Nixon tried that his AG courageously resigned. Trump is dangerous/unfit"

Eric Holder @EricHolder
So @realDonaldTrump will ORDER his AG to take certain actions-When Nixon tried that his AG courageously resigned. Trump is dangerous/unfit
6:41 PM - 9 Oct 2016
8,869 Retweets
10,815 Likes

[napkinz]

28. CNN commentators called Trump's comments NIXONIAN

[Coyotl]

32. Ezra: "she's going to win the aftermath by a lot as people digest Trump's promise to jail ..."

Ezra Klein ‏@ezraklein 10 hours ago
Clinton won the debate by a bit, but she's going to win the aftermath by a lot as people digest Trump's promise to jail political opponents

Ezra Klein ‏@ezraklein 12 hours ago Retweeted Jon Favreau
This election in one tweet.

Jon Favreau @jonfavs
Trump disagreed with his running mate to praise the dictator who's trying to interfere with our election.
This is so dangerous.
Retweets 13,364
Likes 19,858

[LostOne4Ever]

22. I think every fair minded person can see that for what it was-an abuse of power akin to a dictator

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#00009d]This man MUST NOT EVER BE ELECTED TO ANY POLITICAL OFFICE EVER![/font]

[Coyotl]

23. Nixonian. Holder is on a rage: "In the USA we do not threaten to jail political opponents. "

In the USA we do not threaten to jail political opponents. @realDonaldTrump said he would. He is promising to abuse the power of the office

Be afraid of any candidate who says he will order DOJ/FBI to act on his command This is dangerous/so is @realDonaldTrump-he's not qualified

No apology for phony birth certificate issue and questioning legitimacy of President Obama?? Shame on @realDonaldTrump

[napkinz]

33. yep ...

[Coyotl]

37. ^^^ THIS ^^^

and promises to jail political opponents. I'm surprised he didn't say, "I'll send you to Siberia."

[radius777]

24. Trump is a 3rd world fascist thug. /nt

[Coyotl]

25. Donald Trump effectively promised he would commit an impeachable offense. Ignoramus seeks employ.

That's how stupid he is. Given Trump would need a room full of attorneys watching his every sniffle and tantrum, Republicans might as well have run a four year old and his nanny. Oh wait.....

[napkinz]

34. "effectively promised he would commit an impeachable offense"

How many times do we have to say DISQUALIFYING?

[Rochester]

26. That line didn't get C. F. Kane elected

and it won't get Trump elected, either.
Who else thought of that when he said it?

[napkinz]

35. MSNBC covering the story this morning

[napkinz]

40. kick