Trump's revenge plan relies on a return to the tortured past of the George W. Bush administration

Trump’s revenge plan relies on a return to the tortured past of the George W. Bush administration
Torture Memo author John Yoo has hitched his wagon to the MAGA train

By AUSTIN SARAT - DENNIS AFTERGUT
PUBLISHED JULY 17, 2024 7:13AM (EDT)


(Salon) Who said there are no second acts on the American public stage? The good fortune of Donald Trump’s narrow escape from an assassin is a powerful recent exception to that rule, along with his GOP nomination this week after his 2020 election loss. Now Republicans are pressing their luck, bringing back Berkeley law professor John Yoo who is attempting to hitch his wagon to the second act of Donald Trump.

Yoo first came to prominence on the national stage two decades ago, in 2002, when he authored a series of infamous memos providing legal justifications for the Bush administration’s post-9/11 use of torture. Recently, Yoo has again broken out of the pack of the right-wing chattering class and returned to the limelight as a regular commentator on Fox News.

Because of his ardent defense of former President Trump and advocacy of revenge and reprisal as legitimate tools in a second Trump Administration, as Rolling Stone Magazine notes, “Trump and his allies are increasingly smitten with John Yoo’s work and his views on punishing their enemies and expanding presidential power.”

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As he wrote, "Make no mistake, Democrats have crossed a constitutional Rubicon. For the first time in American history, they have brought criminal charges against a former president. . . . To prevent the case against Trump from assuming a permanent place in the American political system,” Yoo urged Republicans “to bring charges against Democratic officers, even presidents. A Republican DA… will have to investigate Joe Biden for influence-peddling at the behest of a son who received payoffs from abroad.” .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/07/17/trumps-revenge-plan-relies-on-a-return-to-the-tortured-past-of-the-george-w-bush-administration/