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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Bulwark: Don't Let Trump Fool You, He Was Never Exonerated
His re-election doesnt change the damning evidence of his crimes.
Will Saletan
Dec 12, 2024

DONALD TRUMP IS TRYING TO rewrite his history as a criminal defendant.
A few days ago on Meet the Press, the president-elect said hed been exonerated in the cases against him. Ive won these cases. Ive won every one, and the rest are in the process of being won, he declared.
Then, on Wednesday, Trump celebrated the resignationwhich he had overtly encouragedof FBI Director Christopher Wray. He claimed that under Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home, without cause, and worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me.
These are lies, and Republicans are working with Trump to spread them. They want the public to believe that the feds are the bad guys, that Trump has been vindicated, and that the proper remedy for his persecution is for officials like Wray to step aside. But Trump hasnt been vindicated. His record in court accurately reflects his corruption: thirty-four convictions in one case, four guilty pleas from co-defendants in another, two unfinished prosecutionsincluding the document-retention case that involved the FBIs search of his Mar-a-Lago homeand zero acquittals.
The snow job about Trumps exoneration is actually three overlapping arguments. The first one is that he was cleared by courts before the election. Trump has been saying this for months. We won the big case in Florida. Were winning them all, he told a crowd in September. At a rally in October, he proclaimed, I was exonerated and fully exonerated.
/snip

FBaggins
(28,018 posts)But the goal of all of those cases was to keep him from ever becoming president again...
...and he's about to become president again.
Oh... one of them could cost him some money in the end and we know that's part of how he keeps score. But it won't be enough
MichMan
(14,318 posts)Isn't that exactly what Trump has been claiming?
FBaggins
(28,018 posts)Blind squirrels and all that.
Seeking Serenity
(3,139 posts)Y'know, the Bill Kristol who fully supported the Chimp and Cheney and their wars of choice, the founder of the now-defunct neocon rag Weekly Standard that was a thorn in the side of the Clinton Administration. All and only because he's anti-Trump?
I spit on that!
intheflow
(29,382 posts)"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"Politics makes strange bedfellows."
Seeking Serenity
(3,139 posts)Not with blood-thirsty maniacs like Kristol. The man for whom there is not enough death (American or otherwise) possible in support of his preferred ends.
Nope. Sorry. Not willingly inviting a venomous snake into my home. Even if he says he just wants to discuss the rat problem.
En-oh spells NO! And Democrats should not be welcoming of militarists.
peregrinus
(409 posts)And if Trump invades Iran then youll see Bill Kristol warming up to him in a heart beat.
Blue_Tires
(57,596 posts)It's the goddamned "Never Trump" Republicans... I was a huge supporter of them from day one... I followed dozens of them on Twitter... I thought I was part of some unstoppable bipartisan anti-Trump coalition that would defeat him forever and bring at least a little bit of sanity back to the GOP...
And for all the time, money, and energy spent, for all the flashy commercials, podcasts, memes and viral tweets they produced, they did absolutely NOTHING to convert even a minuscule number of Trumper voters over to the good side... I feel like I've been played like a fucking mark.
Dennis Donovan
(29,501 posts)And it's a good article. That's why I posted it.
BannonsLiver
(18,834 posts)spanone
(138,347 posts)malaise
(281,444 posts)for truth