this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
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Protecting Trump’s enemies from prosecution just reinforces the idea of politics as retribution. Instead, Democrats should be defending his most vulnerable targets.

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[–] [email protected] 113 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

There's a vast backlog of "Biden should" that will never happen.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

President Biden should pardon student loan debt

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Supreme Court already killed that option, unfortunately.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

“Fuck you, official act”

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Do you remember those “That was Easy!” buttons that proliferated about … 20 years ago. (Yikes.)

In this flight of fancy, Biden has one of those placed on the Resolute desk and custom records audio for it, then goes on a wild spree of political edicts fulfilling everyone’s wildest dreams.

Forgiving all student loan debt. Done. Pardoning illegal immigrants. Done. Amnesty for everyone currently seeking asylum. Done. Full citizenship for DREAMers. Done. Removing the post office retirement Fund requirement. Done. Legalize Weed? Done. Nuke the whales? Believe it or not, done.
And after the scrawling of pen across paper has completed, the caps clicked safely back into place, another sound: cheap plastic clacking together, and Nixon’s disembodied voice emanating from the Easy Button’s tinny speaker “when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal!”

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago

He should send SEAL team 6 to the houses of the justices that struck it down and make it clear that they will reverse their decisions or they and their entire families will be shot dead. Israel, Trump's darling, routinely murders every single relative of people they don't like. When they killed Hamas's political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, they also killed 60 (you heard that right, 60!) of his relatives.

They made their bed, now they need to sleep in it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

People still don’t understand Democrat Establishment is also on Team Corporations. They serve as the foil to Republicans, but only as entertainment to the masses. If they were a real party, they would have fielded a better candidate against Trump in 2016 and 2024. Bernie, for instance, could have easily mopped the floor with Trump, and greatly undermined his populist support, but that’s not what Capitalism and corporations want.

Class warfare is happening and everyday Joe has been losing for decades. It’s no wonder The Adjuster did what he did.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Like what?

The only actions that I can think of that Trump couldn’t immediately undo are related to pardons, seating judges, or funding allies. Any other actions that Biden could take through Executive Order would be reversible, no?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Any other actions that Biden could take through Executive Order would be reversible, no?

Then make trump do it. Make a bunch of popular executive orders. Let trump be the bad guy.

Oh wait. That's not pardoning a cokehead or supplying a genocide, which are the only things he's willing to do, and you'll forgive the former because he's doing the latter.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I forgive the former because he’s already outlived two children and I wouldn’t trust them not to just go full kangaroo court.

Edit: I absolutely do not excuse the latter

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

I'd be a lot more likely to forgive the former if he hadn't been so fucking dedicated to norms when it could have mattered for people not named Hunter or Bibi.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

The problem is that pardoning undocumented immigrants won't have any real effect. Yes, crossing the border illegally is a crime, but is the equivalent of a misdemeanor; in other circumstances, it would likely result in a fine and no jail time. But even if they're all pardoned, that doesn't give them legal status in the US. There's likely not a lot that Biden can do to give them the status that they would need. And even if he could, there wouldn't be much to stop Trump from revoking it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Here's a straightforward thing the Biden administration could do without Congress to protect migrants

In the period between now and Inauguration Day, on January 20th, the Biden Administration could still give immigrants additional layers of protection before Trump takes office. One of the most obvious possibilities is to expand T.P.S. for Nicaraguans [and other migrants]... So far, however, the Administration appears unwilling to do so, just as it remains opposed to renewing parole for those who entered through Biden’s “pathways.” Trump almost certainly will revoke parole. Either way, the senior congressional staffer told me, “parole is a weak protection compared to T.P.S.”

When Trump tried to end T.P.S. for certain nationalities in his first term, federal courts blocked him on the grounds that he had a “predetermined presidential agenda” that betrayed a racial “animus.” According to a former Biden Administration official with knowledge of current talks, the State Department supports expanding T.P.S. for Nicaraguans, based on a straightforward analysis of what’s happening in the country, but Mayorkas, at D.H.S., is opposed. (A D.H.S. spokesperson said that this was false and that “no decision has been made.”) “Extending T.P.S. used to be one of the easiest things Democrats supported,” the senior congressional staffer told me. But the Administration’s approach is now constrained by anxieties that it might seem brash or opportunistic on its way out. “It’s becoming evident that they believe immigration was one of the main factors in the electoral defeat,” the staffer said. “They don’t want to take actions that would double down on what they believe is a failed political strategy.”

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Lmao, they think taking the Republican line loudly and proudly failed so they're refusing to to double down by taking the democratic line from a decade ago? I'm not saying I don't believe the staffer, the Save America Pod interview made it clear they're completely detached from reality, it's just hilarious to me.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

Eh, do it anyway and force them to waste time arguing in court about it. Obstruct them like they do us.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

It would leave them without status, which just might prevent legal deportation.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 weeks ago

He should also pardon the adjuster.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

You think he is going to do that? I highly doubt it

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago

Even if he did, trump will get the supreme court to give him the go-ahead anyways.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

He plans to deport birth right citizens if they're living with illegal parents. He and the supreme court do not gaf about the law and a pardon isn't some additional barrier they won't ignore. If anything this would give them a path to normalize ignoring pardons

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

He plans on deporting naturalized citizens, too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

He wants to treat every state like New Mexico?

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I commented this before, but I'm gonna repeat what I said:

In immigration law, all arrests, all convictions, and the past five years of all juvenile proceeding, are all visible to USCIS and they are legally allowed to consider them when determining whether or not to allow someone to enter the US, whether or not to deport them, or whether or not to allow adjustment of legal status. Yes ALL records, even pardoned, even if sealed or expunged by court, they see everything. You can visit the USCIS website and see for yourself.

And, even if you are never arrested, but the FBI investigated you a few times, USCIS might have access to those and if the FBI agents wrote bad things on your file, you might have problems with immigration or naturalization. Yea its quite fucked up, but it is what it is.

Edit: Removed irrelevant portions

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I am not an immigration lawyer, but I question exactly how much Biden can do here. Simply being undocumented is not a crime. Now, some undocumented immigrants commit crimes in the process of coming here, but in most cases being undocumented is a civil violation, not a criminal one . So, what exactly is there to pardon?

Now. If Biden wanted to be real snarky, he could pardon Elon Musk for any crimes committed with regards to his immigration status. I don't think he committed any, other than the rumor that he once crossed the land border after being denied entry on a plane from Canada. But that puts Musk in the position of having to formally acknowledge the "grey area" in his immigration journey, and put the GOP's hypocrisy about this on center stage.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Simply being undocumented is not a crime.

It is, but it's a misdemeanor. It's not terribly serious, all things considered.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

No, it is not a crime by itself.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/dec/02/kathy-sheehan/being-undocumented-immigrant-us-not-crime/

You are confusing this with entering the US illegally, which is a crime, and typically a misdemeanor on the first offense

https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/crime-enter-illegally.html

But quite a few undocumented people here (perhaps the majority, I didn't look it up) came here with permission, but then overstayed their visa. They committed no crime in doing that, but if discovered they are subject to civil penalties, including deportation.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

for that to happen he'd have to be pro-immigration, pro-immigrant, or explicitly against harming immigrants and having a spine. I don't think he's any of those things.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

Also he should commute all federal death row inmates to life. The one thing that people don't remember or realize is just how incredibly bloodthirsty Trump was in executing federal inmates. He did it in his last year because, if I am not mistaken, he had an issue procuring the necessary chemicals for the lethal injections.

Trump executed more people in his one term than any other president in the 20th century save for FDR, and FDR was a 4-term president (technically 3 since he died shortly into his 4th term) and a very large portion of those were Nazi saboteurs (Many of whom were also American citizens, so they were guilty of treason). In total FDR had 16 people executed. George W. Bush, for all his bloodlust in Iraq and elsewhere, executed only 3 people, 1 of whom was Timothy McVeigh.

Trump, in the span of only 6 months, had 13 people executed. This is unprecedented. Trump talks about being an old school 'strong' president who was free of political correctness and wokeness, yet even someone from the 1920s would have found his actions to be disturbing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not sure the president can pardon civil infractions (AKA not actual federal crimes) and if he instead pardons any unrelated crimes, that's a free talking point for the professional hypocrites from the American Fascist Party..

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Same chances this happens as Trump doing it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Biden has like little to no time to really do anything. And his last big action regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict really placed a sour taste in everyone's mouths. Everyone's focus is shifted to endure the worst of what the Fascist Party has in store for us.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Should probably pardon everyone convicted of taking money under the table and smoking crack as well, but that would require a consistent moral character. I wouldn't hold my breath. He doesn't give a fuck anymore.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Biden used wrist-slap!

It hurt itself in its confusion!

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