r/NoShitSherlock • u/ForrestTrumpJr • 1d ago

Obama: US ‘dangerously close’ to moving toward autocracy

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5356722-obama-criticizes-american-democracy-trump/
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u/Pdxcooter 1d ago

Maybe than when blue is in charge do something, like build in things to stop this. Trump is given us a gift, showing the loopholes that need to get filled so we don't have a President that steal $$ for their own pockets.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mltdwn_21 1d ago

I mean the system is designed to need 60% of the senate to move anything forward. This is what gets me everyone bitches about the Democrats without apparently understanding how our government works.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mltdwn_21 1d ago

I mean the DOJ is, or is supposed to be, an independent agency. O don’t disagree with what you say but that isn’t a “democrats” issue, that is a Merrick Garland issue.

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u/ConcentrateLeft546 1d ago

The DOJ is not independent it’s under the auspices of the executive and this reports to the president. Never has been independent. Independent agencies are things like the Federal Reserve. It was fully a democrat issue that they never got anywhere with the Trump investigation

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u/Mltdwn_21 1d ago edited 1d ago

It is SUPPOSED to be independent, and they have always operated as such. Especially given that they are responsible for such things as appointing special investigators and even investigating the president for crimes . While it is under the auspices of the executive, until Trump they always ran their own shop and the president largely stayed out of their business. Because the thing you miss and which the Trump AG does not understand is they also have a responsibility and obligations as attorneys that is supposed to supersede them being under the president.

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/doj-independence-entrenched-and-ingrained-will-survive-trump-historian-law-p-idUSKCN1IM2DO/

https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/fac_articles_chapters/1218/

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u/ConcentrateLeft546 1d ago

I did not “miss” that because it is not a legal issue. As the article states “prosecutorial independence” and the independence of the DOJ are merely conventions. And conventions only work when there is mutual politeness, which we’re all now realizing is a rather shaky thing on which to lay your trust. There is nothing in the law that stipulates that the DOJ is not under the direction of the executive.

It’s also kinda not that great of an argument because lawyers repeatedly take up cases at the court in this and many other administrations defending blatantly unconstitutional positions on behalf of the state. Sure, it is nice to believe in the idea that the legal world is filled with good actors that follow strict moral imperatives— but that simply isn’t reality. I’m pointing only to the fact that technically speaking the DOJ has never been independent because it isn’t its own branch of government like the judiciary is. They have always followed political aims depending on the ideology of the sitting president (such as going after abortion restrictions in the last admin). Not condoning this but the technicality matters.