Trump indictment turns 2024 election upside down, but not the way Democrats hope

An absence of "better off" only brushes the surface. The ripple effects this president has caused will be apparent for decades (and blamed on those who serve after him, especially GOP members).

Better off is only half of it. National Security is the other half and it appears the world is on fire under the leadership of President Biden. MHO

Definitely NOT honorable or worthy of the office of President.

Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin - Thank you for your long and thoughtful response. It seems you know much more about Trump than I do. I find it humorous that because of my current writings most probably believe I am a die hard Trump supporter. I am not. Trump was not my first choice in 2016, I believed he was a pompous as__ole with a belly full of self-importance. I held my nose and voted for him. It turns out he was a pompous as__ole with a belly full of self-importance who could run a country well. But that isn’t the issue right now, law and enforcement of the law is. It is interesting that I was born and raised a Democrat.

The way I look at it it’s been over 40 years since Democrats have been receiving a get out of jail free card and Republicans have been charged for any transgression to the maximum extent possible, with sometimes inventing new ways to punish Republicans. For the timeline I go back to Hillary Clinton not being prosecuted for the illegal trading she did in cattle futures in the late 70’s.

I understand that the Rule of Law “must be” maintained but by letting so many off on one side of the aisle so many times over the last 40 years our Rule of Law has been destroyed. Now I know some smart young people will google and bring us a few times when some Democrats have been prosecuted to counter what I say, but I always say context is everything. Democrats have been prosecuted typically in a way that minimizes prosecutions and any admissions, liability, and penalties. I don’t need to provide examples; we have all lived through them.

I saw Barr in an interview yesterday where he basically said 2 wrongs don’t make a right. It’s interesting he didn’t cite “past preference” of the laws. If it were only 2 wrongs I could agree with him, what happens when it’s 100 wrongs over a period? Barr said non-prosecutions like Clinton with the server should have been prosecuted, but that should have no effect on prosecuting Trump because if we go that route our Rule of Law is destroyed, I am paraphrasing. Somehow Barr believes our Law Enforcement and Judicial System with right itself somehow. He didn’t say how.

That our Law Enforcement and Judicial System will right itself somehow is the big problem. The leadership of our DOJ, FBI, and CIA breaking our regulations, laws, and policies over prolonged periods of time to prosecute their political opponents without consequences for the leaderships is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. How will our system “right itself” as Barr says if there is no consequences of the leaderships breaking the regulations/laws/policies they are to enforce? Human nature tells us it can’t be changed without consequences. We all know that.

So what do we do? Congress can withhold funding to force changes but half the Congress who benefits from the lawlessness will cite national security as a reason to keep things the way they are. They will be successful. What does that leave us? A bunch of people who have the most powerful organizations in our Country turned against us. All we can do is remember who is making these bad decisions and vote them out of office. MHO

Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin - Clinical... chuckle. I caught that one but let it go. People will be how they are. I truly believe all here are good people, just that some are turned by the media constantly attacking some.

SFC (Join to see) - The Clinton era is one of the biggest travesties I have witnessed from our FBI and DOJ yet (in my lifetime). What she did authorizing her special little setup, allowing classified information to be stored and transferred on and from an unsecure server, and ultimately destroying evidence, should have put her in jail. This particular event above all others resonated very much with me, because I lived in that world for many years, advising and even denying senior leaders from enabling insecure environments and authorizing illegal actions. My expertise always came in the form of, "policy/law while not allow us to do that, but here is a solution to your requirement". Had I worked for Clinton under the State Dept's CIO office equivalent, I assure you I would not have stood for her little pet project. Virtually everything she did here crossed line for either going against policy (above her level) or the law. What she did was worse than Trump retaining classified documents (although I'm inclined to question his reasoning here), Biden retaining several of his own, and any other President having classified information after their terms. Put simply, what they've all done is not surprising, and not as big of a security risk that some would argue. Clinton, however, wasn't President, had no authority to do what she did while serving as Sec of State, and she made obvious attempts to hide or destroy evidence of her actions/motive. At best she may have done it all out of a simple desire for convenience (vs attempting to hide incriminated official records) and for that I would never seek the maximum punishment. But her willful act to destroy evidence could have proven there was more to it than just convinience, and that act should have had her indicted for obstruction, followed by a bunch of others. My only reprieve was that she did not become our President.

Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin - You were fortunate not to be in the position reviewing Clinton’s actions because you may have not made 0-4. I was in a position of responsibility on a state level and had to make some tough calls. One time I refused to approve permit work that should not have been done. Another manager in the Department approved the permit. Management wasn’t happy. Another time I happened to be driving by a bridge replacement my squad designed late on a Friday afternoon when I saw horizonal drilling that shouldn’t have been taking place on the project. I stopped by and found out they were drilling for a new sanitary sewer line, and they didn’t have a permit for it showing it wouldn’t conflict with the bridge footings. I issued an immediate order to stop all work on the site. Long story short, our District Executive allowed their work to continue Monday. One week later our construction inspectors and land surveyors identified the SS Line conflicted with the footings. I had to order our footing be redesigned to accommodate the SS Line. That was a bitter pill to swallow. I suppose if I hadn’t made the calls I did, with the experience I have, I would have retired a couple pay grades higher than I did. Heck on them, I sleep better at night.