Summary
Donald Trump has exempted himself from key ethics guidelines required under the Presidential Transition Act, which he signed into law in 2020.
By rejecting federal funding for his transition team, Trump avoids donor limits and disclosure requirements, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and transparency.
Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren and government watchdogs, warn that Trump’s refusal to submit an ethics plan undermines accountability and could open the door to corruption.
This move marks a break from precedent and has sparked alarm over potential personal enrichment during his presidency.
Shit now there’s nothing stopping him from doing immoral undemocratic stuff like pardoning his children.
Oh you poor thing…
What about pardoning war criminals?
You’re right. What could Trump possibly do that would even come remotely close to equaling Joe Biden doing such a totally outrageous and unacceptable legal thing?
or appointing relations to advisory and diplomatic posts.
Lol, trump would do way worse than pardon his kid that was targeted by the doj for something that hardly gets charged in the first place. Trump incites violence, disregards the constitution, is a sexual predator (probably a pedophile) and the list goes on.
Rules for thee but not for me, got it.
Biden is literally following the rules with an official presidential pardon. Trump is violating a law he signed into law.
What does any of this have to do with Biden?
Did you forget your original comment?
Shit now there’s nothing stopping him from doing immoral undemocratic stuff like pardoning his children.
Or did you bring up “pardoning his children” right after Biden pardoned his son for an entirely unrelated reason?
He did that? Oh never mind, if Biden did it, then it’s ok if Trump does it, too. Please disregard my initial comment. It is in fact not immoral and undemocratic to pardon your own children.
Yes. It is “okay” if a president uses their legal power to pardon people for federal crimes. In that it is their legal right to do so.
Is this the first day you’ve been aware of that fact? It’s been true for a very, very long time.
Oh look, crickets.
You tell 'em Captain Logic! Also, when are we going to poison this damn infestation of giant pandas?
Tell me of all the people Don pardoned.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_granted_executive_clemency_by_Donald_Trump
Relatively few compared to his predecessors. Some real assholes on that list. It amazes me how Roger Stone isn’t under the Jail.
Lil Wayne is on that list btw.
We will get to see is how they twist the presidential pardon this coming year.
Afaik a presidential pardon is strictly federal.
State cases and Civil cases are not covered.
I’m sure the supreme Court will Fix that.
?
What about that is confusing to you?
Every part. I’m not your siri, just google it or something
Are you mental?
Don’t let any of them have access to briefings or classified materials. Period. Not cleared, you have no access. You fuckers will do whatever you want after in office, but right now the current administration should not fuck around. Fuck these assholes. Let them catch up later. Its not like it will cause any more damage to our country if they don’t have access before then.
Isn’t the President granted super-whatever clearance, through? I can just imagine Donny calling for some ridiculously secret files and just whipping out his phone to snap some pics of them “for a friend”. At this point, I’m not convinced anyone would actually stop him!
lol. Watchdogs. Hilarious. Let me know when we have a government again.
“Hey! You’re not supposed to do that!”
“Is there a specific law being broken?”
“Well…no, not exactly. But it breaks with tradition!”
Even if there was a law being broken, time has shown that Trump is pretty much above the law at this point.
“Dont enforce democratic norms with tradition” should be in the historical rulebook. Right next to not printing money to pay bills, not invading Russia in winter, and not touching Americas boats
They’re gonna be barking a whole lot more the next four years.
Maybe someone should pair the watchdogs with guard dogs to do the biting when the former bark
Don’t hold your breath.
it usually takes 4-6 years or so for democrats to fix most of whatever republciants screw up.
donvict part 1 will take a generation, at least.
donvict part 2 will take a lot longer and require practically-impossible coordination and commitment to get non-republicants to the levels of representation needed for amendment ratifications and impeachments.
it usually takes 4-6 years or so for democrats to fix most of whatever republciants screw up.
Liberals never actually fix what conservatives screw up. We never closed Gitmo and we still have troops based in Iraq. We never actually ended the War on Drugs (which has left Republicans a loophole to ban contraceptives by listing them as controlled substances). We never truly repealed Jim Crow and much of the country still relies on forced labor even in liberal bastions like California or New York.
Trump’s just pulling back the curtain on how much has rotted.
Liberals never actually fix what conservatives screw up.
They do, it’s just they mostly concern themselves with the economic screw ups, less-so the rights ones.
Think ‘gay people can marry and have kids to give us more economic slaves’ vs. ‘gay people can’t marry, can’t have kids, and we’re going to use them as a scapegoat for our issues.’
Think ‘gay people can marry and have kids to give us more economic slaves’ vs. ‘gay people can’t marry, can’t have kids, and we’re going to use them as a scapegoat for our issues.’
Gay marriage was legalized under a majority conservative court system way back in 2003. When it went to a poplar vote in the bright blue State of California in 2008, Prop 8’s plan to kill it passed by a healthy margin
This was the same year Obama was tiptoeing around full legalization of gay marriage for fear of pissing off too many swing voters in the Midwest.
Gay marriage wasn’t fully legalized into 2015, again by the conservative courts. Efforts to legislate civil rights for LGBT people have largely failed even when the Pres and Leg were fully in Dem control.
Gay marriage was legalized under a majority conservative court system way back in 2003.
Again, under a Liberal government. And I keep saying over and over – I know they phone it in and constantly give bigot ‘swing voters’ things they want. I’ve never said anything against that. It had a 60% approval by the public in 2015 when it was fully legalized. So again, for like the fifth goddamn time – Liberal governments can be forced to do these things by popular will. Conservatives won’t (I’m sure there’s like two examples someone will bring up, again, exception proves the rule.)
To sum: Liberals have to be forced to allow LGBT rights by popular opinion. Conservatives do this.
Again, under a Liberal government.
The Republicans controlled every branch of government in 2003, as well as a majority of state legislatures and governorships.
What broke for gay marriage in 2003 was a libertarian strain of conservatism defecting from the mainstream. Liberals accepted the change with the same passivity as they accepted the status quo.
It had a 60% approval by the public in 2015 when it was fully legalized.
Again by a majority conservative court. The Obama legislature dragged its heels.
Liberal governments can be forced to do these things by popular will.
They can be forced to do things by powerful socio-economic interests. In this case, a big chunk of the legal community broke for gay marriage and Obama didn’t try to get in the way.
But they didn’t do anything. They just let the change happen.
Liberals (which I’m taking to mean Democrats) didn’t “fix” gay marriage. Right up until the Iowa Supreme Court decision, in the early 2000’s, the argument in Democratic circles was that gay-rights organizations should pipe down, settle for civil unions, and stop making gay marriage an issue. They were afraid of handing the Republicans a weapon. It was the gay-rights organizations that pushed it through the courts, and prominent Democratic politicians like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden “evolved” their positions to support it. I mean no criticism by the use of quotes. Kudos to them for changing their minds, but it wasn’t liberals that made it happen.
I’d say it was liberals that made it happen once there was overwhelming public support, which again, is performative, but drastically different from actively suppressing it. Someone has to pass the things into laws, and in the US it’s either Republicans or Democrats, and across the board any services those poor people do have was introduced through Democrats.
Again, under duress, I don’t argue otherwise. Up here in Canada it was the Liberals being forced to put Healthcare as a ‘universal’* right by the NDP (our Left wing party), then the NDP again to force Liberals to put Dental care through. But they actually did it, and the Conservatives don’t.
Liberals never actually fix what conservatives screw up.
Clinton fucking balanced the budget.
The real problem is Republican spend 4-8 years screwing everything up. Over the next 4 years, with the slimmest of margins, Democrats roll back 80% of it. Then you come in and say “both sides”.
If we want things to stop racheting to the right, we have to elect Dems more than half the time.
Clinton fucking balanced the budget.
For what? A few months? And largely by balancing off the SS Trust, a trick you can only do once (as Bush Jr discovered when he was too far in debt to privatize it).
The real problem is Republican spend 4-8 years screwing everything up.
Half the Democratic Party was along for the ride on the Bush agenda. Kennedy embraced NCLB, Clinton and Kerry fully endorsed the AUMF, Joe Biden authored much of the Patriot Act Hell, Graham-Leech-Biley was signed under Clinton, queuing up the financial crash of 2008.
This isn’t just Republicans. The problem is broadly bipartisan.
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you see that’s the thing, its not exactly blue stats. its blue city’s, islands surrounded by hundreds of miles of red oceans
Mostly empty oceans
Lets be honest, average iq of the red ocean is negative, theres no “people” there. And for the record i live in red ocean
I’m in the purple ocean! But our laws are very very red
That red ocean is like 3 people on a fucking farm or in a trailer.
An ocean of empty land.
Rural/urban divide is not unique to the US in any way whatsoever. Also, expect polarization to self perpetuate as blue voters move to blue states and red states to move to red states.
Me in Europe for the first time a long time ago asking the same question in every country and getting the truth from a woman in Rome: “oh, we don’t hate the Jews. You’re fine here… But leave the cities… Yeah, it’s like anywhere”
Whoa, lets call it like it is. There will be blue states, and there will be welfare states.
Turkey is very similar in this regard. Progressive cities, backwards countryside.
It’s also roughly the size and population of Texas alone. Does it have a wildly unfair Electoral College?
I saw a post about that the other day, it showed a map of all the states with populations smaller than LA county. Almost every single red state was highlighted. Really shows you how silly the electoral college system is.
Those poor dogs. Someone should call the SPCA and repo… Defunded you say?
Maybe a network of volunteers can foster care for some, a few have sweet temperaments ?
I can volunteer some pet food
Alarm! Concern! Criticism! Hand-wringing!
we are well past the point of hand-wringing. this calls for a strongly worded letter
Furrowed brows!
What are you doing about it?
The news outlets will SLAM him for this!
indeed they will
Lowly me? Preparing to [email protected]
I’ll have to look into that.
And what are they going to do about it? If breaking the oath bears no teeth, the oath is pointless.
I face more punishment breaking my Paladin oath in Baldurs Gate 3…
Just like all checks and balances in government, it assumes the branches are somewhat independent and ethical, at least claim to serve their constituents, and protect their own power. It’s up to the legislative branch or the judicial branch
Turns out the concept of “checks and balances” was always a stupid lie.
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If it’s a law then he broke the law which means no other politician should be involved in the process as it’s a matter for the police, he should be prevented from taking power by those who enforce the law, aka the police.
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I still never finished act 2… patches and mod updates sent me back to RTS and 4x. My last run was a dope oath breaking paladin
I’m trying to keep my ancients oath but every dialogue option seems like a trap to make you lose it. I fucking lost it talking to a bird for fucks sake. I’ve lost so many hours of progress resetting because I don’t want to pay 1000 gold, it’s literally 1/10th that cost to change your class.
I wish paladins had a morality slider instead, like KOTOR
Do you play with any mods? UI?
I’d be happy that Trump voters finally got what they deserve, but unfortunately, the rest of us have to suffer the consequences alongside them. As well as the rest of the world.
I don’t know why, but most of the world voting their political parties into power is trending to the conservative right not towards the progressive left.
Because things are getting more worrying on a global scale (economical slow down, ecological crisis and wars) and the usual human reflexes are conservatism and blaming the people who are different. I think progressive ideas rather spread in times of peace and prosperity, or after catastrophic events like WW2.
Historically this does seem to be the trend. However it could be worth pointing out that the original New Deal was enacted during a period of historic economic turmoil and upheaval. Could be worth refreshing ourselves on how that came about to help prepare for what’s coming next.
I think the billionaire class has decided it’s better to be in control of government right now so they can use the power of state violence to keep their material wealth. There is an ongoing refugee crisis that is going to affect every single country as climate change makes certain places uninhabitable.
The final battle of the class war is upon us.
Pfffft you think therell be a battle? Well just slowly backslide into feudalism and the world will think it was inevitable. Im almost inclined to agree seeing how people behave now and historically
Those who try to actively pilot their lives are the minority. The preference is to not think about and simply do whatever it is that they want to do in the moment.
We aren’t actually a race of beings able to see or plan ahead mostly. To a degree the sociopaths are right to play the populace like a fiddle it’s just a shame most of them are idiots without a plan either.
the usual human reflexes are conservatism
Like voting in to power the people causing the economic and environmental issues. It’s absolutely mind-boggling how easy humans can be convinced to vote against their own interests.
On the surface for some people, it’s just voting for people who they think are not going to add restrictions on their daily lives, which comes way before ecology or the wellbeing of strangers, when you struggle. It’s the end of the month vs end of the world dilemma that right populism seems to utilize better than left populism.
I think “easy” is unfair. I mean, you really have to admit that the right-wing propaganda machine worked its ass off for the last 30 years and succeeded in its evil intent.
Have you seen how blatant the propaganda is?
Sure, but they had to work up to that exponentially. If they came out swinging like that even 10 years ago, there would have been a LOT more “it was a joke” back peddling.
The trend is technically voting out the establishment - trying something new out of desperation. Unfortunately, the extreme right is more than willing to pretend that they have a solution. Usually, it’s to blame the other and promise to get rid of the other. You know, Nazi shit.
You know that old saying, “every accusation is a confession”? When conservatives all over the world started getting hysterical about the WEF, I think what we all needed to be looking at was the IDU.
Technology has enabled the centralization of power and wealth in an unprecedented way. Also Russian influence campaigns, for the same reason.
“Most of the world” isn’t voting at all. And that is how the right wing gains power.
Turnout in the UK this year was 59.7%. Ireland’s 60%, Japan 54%, France 63%, South Africa 59%, Mexico 61%. Indonesia 82%. India 65%. Sri Lanka 79%. America’s around 65%.
In 2022 Italy had 63%, Brazil 79%, Australia 92%.
In 2021, Germany’s was 76%.
What does “most of the world isn’t voting at all” mean?
By your own numbers (Thanks for doing that work! Next time please remember to share the source you pulled from.) in most countries at least a third of people couldn’t be bothered to do the most meaningful action they can to impact the world. That’s sad.
The infobox from Wikipedia is the source for all but the Irish elections and American elections, neither of which are finished counting (although Ireland’s was only this weekend…). It really isn’t that much work to type “election turnout (country)” into Google and click the first result. I’m not writing a dissertation, so I’m afraid that will have to do you.
“Couldn’t be bothered” is an extreme oversimplification of the matter, but regardless, most people are voting, and when higher than usual numbers do vote - as in America - it hasn’t meant defeat for the right wing.
Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren and government watchdogs, warn that Trump’s refusal to submit an ethics plan undermines accountability and could open the door to corruption.
Fucking could? It’s kinda been proven that he is corrupt and this is the best the watchdogs can do? Where’s their teeth?
Not even kinda proven! It’s 100 fucking percent proven he’s corrupt. The man was found guilty of 34 felonies. He’s been doing this shit literally for decades… Fucking pussies…
The most blatant act of “rules for thee, but not for me.” My brother in Christ, you wrote the act.
“i didn’t read that. it don’t count.” -djt, probably.
The one thing we can absolutely be sure of is that this dispicable con-man will do all that he can to enrich himself, without regard for any limiting principle or structural restraint.
Its not a question of “if” he “may” be corrupt, but only how brazen the supposed patriots in the Republican party will let him be as he does it.
Raise alarms? Could open the door to corruption? Undermine accountability?
Where the Hell have these people been? And anybody who is shocked by these headlines needs to come out from under their rock. None of this is new or news. It’s SOP.
As for accountability and watchdogs? Can you be any more lip service? What is anybody going to do? Ever? They had four years to make Trump and team accountable. Hasn’t exactly worked out.
Wake me when September (2028) ends.
“Open the door to corruption”? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Before they were using the back door. Now we’re talking about the front door!
How is this allowed under an act of congress? Oh right, lack of accountability and oversight.
there was only going to be ‘accountability’ if democrats didn’t follow it.
And they shouldnt anymore. Clearly the voters do not want good people
To the people who will wake up tomorrow pretending this is going to be buisness as usual. Fuck you. That’s all.
Toothless watchdogs is more like it
“Americans expect and deserve a president who prioritizes the nation’s well-being over personal gain,” she added.
Yeah!
“They will not tolerate a president who abuses the powers of his office to line his own pockets.”
Weeeellllllll…
Im not so sure we deserve a decent leader atp
