Andy Bloom: Well, there they go again
The liberal media and Democrats lost their minds when the Supreme Court released its decision on Trump v. United States.
The Court found that presidents are entitled to broad immunity when performing their official Constitutional presidential duties.
The court held: “Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.”
Despite the histrionics of the media and Democrats, the court reached the only possible and logical conclusion. Despite claims to the contrary, as the ruling clearly states, immunity is not unlimited: it applies only to official acts and those granted by Constitutional authority.
Again: Immunity only covers official acts that are Constitutional.
The true reason liberals have lost their minds is because of Donald Trump and the derangement he causes.
A ruling of no immunity or complete immunity would have caused chaos. If the court found presidents have unlimited immunity, the hysterical claims by the left may have been justified – but they did not.
Liberals are only imagining Trump using immunity for far-fetched crimes. But without immunity presidents have long been understood to have, here are a few of the crimes they could have potentially been prosecuted for even though they were official acts:
- Harry Truman for using the atomic bomb.
- Barack Obama for killing a sixteen-year-old American citizen with a drone strike he ordered.
- Abraham Lincoln for suspending habeas corpus, freedom of the press and jailing opponents and other violations of rights during the Civil War.
- FDR for the Japanese internment camps during WWII.
Joe Biden should breathe a sigh of relief because if Trump wins, Biden is protected against political disagreements with this successor.
In her scathing dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote: “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.”
I’m no Constitutional scholar, as Sotomayor presumably must be, but I think we’re secure in saying none of the acts she writes about would be included as part of any president’s Constitutional duties or authorized under the Constitution.
The dissent Sotomayor wrote is beneath the dignity of a Supreme Court Justice.
Sotomayor continued: “In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”
Maybe it’s time for Justice Sotomayor to retire.
A more measured Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion: “The President is not above the law.” He also noted: “Trump asserts a far broader immunity than the limited one the Court recognizes.”
In other words, SCOTUS did not give Trump a get-out-of-jail-free card, or rights past presidents haven’t had and future occupants of the White House should lose.
Notably, the court sidestepped questions of what constitutes an official versus unofficial act, kicking the decisions in each of Trump’s pending cases back to the lower courts.
Trump-haters have tried to beat him through impeachment, lawfare using novel concepts, keeping him off the ballot, lying about him and turning him into a cartoon character resembling Dr. Evil. They’ve done this because they can’t campaign on their record.
After Trump’s conviction, Biden, in a White House speech, told Americans to respect the justice system.
He meant respect is a one-way street. When liberals agree with the Court’s decisions, we must respect them. When they disagree, anything goes, from Senator Chuck Schumer standing on the Supreme Court steps threatening justices to an unhinged Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that great legal scholar promising to introduce impeachment articles against members of the Court. Let’s see what high crimes and misdemeanors she substitutes for throwing a temper tantrum over disagreeing with their decisions.
Even as Biden claims to “respect the limits of the presidential powers,” He’s the president who ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling that his student loan forgiveness plan was unconstitutional – and then bragged about doing so. Whatever his faults, Trump never ignored the Supreme Court.
Biden also repeated the familiar refrain: “No one is above the law.” Does that include the eight to ten million people who have illegally crossed the border during the Biden presidency or the sanctuary cities protecting them?
Biden and the liberal media tell us the Court’s decision means that there are virtually no limits on what the president can do.” If he believes that, why not send SEAL Team 6 to Mar-A-Lago? It’s the president’s job to protect democracy, isn’t it? We tried taking out Castro – among others – to save democracy.
But Biden and his sycophants don’t believe the decision means there are no limits on what the president can do, nor do the believe that Trump is going to end democracy.
It’s the campaign theme for the re-election of a president with the worst record on the economy, border, and crime in decades, and whose foreign policy has led to chaos and wars.
In reality, the court’s decision doesn’t change much. It makes official the practice the nation has understood since George Washington was president.
The 119-page decision authored by Chief Justice Roberts is notated with many precedents going back to Alexander Hamilton and Federalist 70, as well as Chief Justice Marshall rejecting President Thomas Jefferson’s claim that he was not subject to a subpoena. You can read it here.
The logic is sound, as only acts consistent with the president’s Constitutional duties are protected. To be clear, not all actions while in office are covered, just those covered by official Constitutional duties.
It’s not difficult to understand that murdering an opponent or cabinet member, taking bribes, etc. aren’t covered. Presidents are not immune from their unofficial acts either.
Despite the hysteria, this is a sound ruling and logically the only one the Court could have reached. When you wake up tomorrow, the Earth will still be 93 million miles from the Sun, and America will still have a president, not a king — one who will have to answer for illegal actions he conducts.
Andy Bloom is President of Andy Bloom Communications. He specializes in media training and political communications. He has programmed legendary stations including WIP, WPHT, WYSP/Philadelphia, KLSX, Los Angeles, and WCCO Minneapolis. He was Vice President of Programming for Emmis International, Greater Media Inc., and Coleman Research. Andy also served as communications director for Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio). He can be reached by email at andy@andybloom.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @AndyBloomCom.
Mr. Blooms article can be boiled down to two things. Anyone who disagrees with him is suffering from TDS and “but, other Presidents did bad things and weren’t punished”.
TDS is just an excuse for Mr. Bloom to stick his fingers in his ears and go, “la, la, la, I can’t hear you”. Now lets look at the other examples.
Harry Truman for using the atomic bomb. – This was during a war with an enemy who would not surrender and we had already been firebombing Japanese cities. The civilian death toll in Japan from Allied bombing was between 330,000 and 900,000 with an additional 112,000 killed from the atomic bombs.
Barack Obama for killing a sixteen-year-old American citizen with a drone strike he ordered. – The son of Anwar al-Awlaki, who was a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Trump then killed the 8 year old sister. They both died because their father put them at risk.
Abraham Lincoln for suspending habeas corpus, freedom of the press and jailing opponents and other violations of rights during the Civil War. T
FDR for the Japanese internment camps during WWII. – This happened due to racism in America and the deliberate suppression of The Ringle Report which clearly stated there was no threat.
We are all well aware of Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, lying about classified documents in his possession for 18 months, blackmailing the Ukrainian President, and his multiple sexual assaults. Many of which the trials and sentencing is being delayed due to the SCOTUS ruling. Given Trump’s on going statements about punishing anyone who he views as disloyal and Project 2525. American Democracy and the Constitution are at risk if he is elected.
Abraham Lincoln for suspending habeas corpus, freedom of the press and jailing opponents and other violations of rights during the Civil War. This was a major breach of the American Democracy and the Constitution and should never happen again.
Judah, I especially liked your Obama comment. Obama was all good for murdering a 16-year-old U.S. citizen because years later Trump murdered his sister? What? You are a piece of work… Comrade!
Be careful of political parties that warn of a threat to Democracy while simultaneously arresting political opponents, working (coercing) with Tech and Social Media companies to censor those that disagree with them, allow men in women’s sports and bathrooms, encourage child mutilation surgeries, fire federal workers & nurses for not accepting experimental mRNA gene therapies, threaten to expand the Supreme Court (FDR style), eliminate the Electoral College (…and to the Republic for which it stands), cause rampant inflation, allow 11+ million people to illegally cross the borders, and push the entire world to nuclear war…
BREAKING: French prosecutors have launched a fraud investigation of Marine Le Pen for “illegal financing” her campaign. That news broke just two (2) days after the Socialists/Communists won the French election. Now, somehow, Boeing admits they did indeed kill 346 people BUT they were fined less than Alex Jones for saying stupid things, and Trump for having Banks agree with his appraisals of his properties and for paying his loans. Yep! Boeing killed people (at least 346 people) but they were fined less. They did not commit thought crimes. Do you see what is going on? If you haven’t figured it out by now, our U.S. government is a huge mafia that launders our taxpayer money right back to themselves through foreign aid and endless wars. These elites do not care if you suffer and die horrible deaths, as long as they get rich. There was time a few decades ago that one (1) person with a high school education could support a family of 5 comfortably. That was real. For millions of US families. It was “normal”, and it was stolen.
If you are going to insist that Obama was culpable for murder, then so is Trump.
I wonder if Joe will be immune from instigating an assassination attempt on his political rival Donald Trump?
I mean telling his donors that “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye” is direct inflammatory language that would instigate a stage 4 TDS case to act out. Judah did boast that Joe would enjoy the same immunity protection…