Sorry if this is not the proper community for this question. Please let me know if I should post this question elsewhere.

So like, I’m not trying to be hyperbolic or jump on some conspiracy theory crap, but this seems like very troubling news to me. My entire life, I’ve been under the impression that no one is technically/officially above the law in the US, especially the president. I thought that was a hard consensus among Americans regardless of party. Now, SCOTUS just made the POTUS immune to criminal liability.

The president can personally violate any law without legal consequences. They also already have the ability to pardon anyone else for federal violations. The POTUS can literally threaten anyone now. They can assassinate anyone. They can order anyone to assassinate anyone, then pardon them. It may even grant complete immunity from state laws because if anyone tries to hold the POTUS accountable, then they can be assassinated too. This is some Putin-level dictator stuff.

I feel like this is unbelievable and acknowledge that I may be wayyy off. Am I misunderstanding something?? Do I need to calm down?

  • SwingingTheLampEnglish
    21·
    6 months ago

    Biden withheld funds from Ukraine to halt an investigation into his son and nothing happened.

    Bit of a refresher as it’s so hard to keep all of the lies straight: Republicans claimed that an FBI informant said that Hunter Biden took a position on the board of Burisma, and the Bidens took a bribe, in return for Joe pressuring Ukraine to fire the government official investigating Burisma. Nobody can produce the evidence, and said government official wasn’t investigating Burisma, after all.

    Pres. Trump threatened to withhold funds from Ukraine unless Zelenskyy dug up kompromat on Trump’s political opponents. He was impeached over it. So that happened.

      • SwingingTheLampEnglish
        21·
        6 months ago

        That is indeed a series of events. Did they ever come up with any evidence linking them in a causal way?

              • SwingingTheLampEnglish
                21·
                6 months ago

                I get the intent of such posts: To confuse and demoralize people with a “both sides” or “they’re all bad” message. I object because they discourage participation in the democratic process and serve authoritarian interests, and in the abstract, truth matters.

                  • SwingingTheLampEnglish
                    2·
                    6 months ago

                    I make it a point not to tell people who they are or what they believe on Lemmy, actually. And yes, Biden, Trump, Obama, Bush, et al. are certainly part of a protected class with special privileges. That doesn’t make them guilty of whatever their political opponents want to believe. These vague allegations of bank transfers are part of an investigation that’s been going on for years without turning up anything concrete, so claims that the Bidens have been protected from scrutiny don’t stand up.