Want to know what a ‘banana republic’ looks like? (hurl alert)

Washington Post ^ | July 31st 2022 | Jennifer Rubin

[Ennis85]

Nervous pundits warn that for the good of the country, the Justice Department ought not to indict Donald Trump, since prosecuting a former president is the sort of thing “banana republics” do. That’s wrong on two grounds.

First, it is not up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide what’s in the country’s long-term democratic interests. The decision whether to “spare the country” the turmoil surrounding a past president’s criminal trial rests with the chief executive, as was the case under President Gerald Ford.

The closest the Justice Department’s prosecutorial guidelines come to that concept is the requirement that a prosecution serve a “substantial federal interest.” But that factor, as properly understood, weighs in favor of prosecution. As the guidelines note:

"In determining whether a substantial federal interest exists that requires prosecution, the attorney for the government should consider the nature and seriousness of the offense involved. A number of factors may be relevant to this consideration. One factor that is obviously of primary importance is the actual or potential impact of the offense on the community and on the victim(s). The nature and seriousness of the offense may also include a consideration of national security interests."

Well, there could hardly be a more substantial interest than punishing the leader of an attempt to overthrow a democratic election in order to deter future coups.

Fortunately, Garland made clear in a recent interview with NBC News’s Lester Holt that his department intends to “hold everyone, anyone who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable.” The attorney general seemed to reject the idea of excluding a prosecution simply because Trump was president.

[kiryandil]

She’s got room-temperature IQ.

I still remember the time Bill O'Reilly beat her with her own lips.

Dumber than dirt.

[muir_redwoods]

All you need to know about Trump is that the democratic socialist would sell their mothers to a wolf pack to keep him from regaining the White House. They’re are rightly terrified about a Republican controlled congress and a second term Trump. Nancy better be scouting a second home on Taiwan.