One big lesson from Trump’s presidency was that many of the rules we thought constrained politicians were only “Gentlemen’s Agreements.” They held up because everyone agreed to abide by them. When Trump walked in, refused to abide by them, and wasn’t immediately struck by the political equivalent to lightning from heaven, all the politicians on the right decided that they could toss those pesky rules aside also.

I’d call it a “flawed democracy.” The ideals behind it were sound, but the execution left much to be improved upon. And we’ve made many improvements (though we still have a ways to go).

Still, even a flawed democracy is preferable to Dictator Trump.

I want to say “Well, the military won’t comply with those commands” and maybe they wouldn’t, but if we even get into that position we’re in deep trouble.

Hey, we can’t let kids know what words mean!

Bans the dictionary

The lying bit is where he claims that he’ll only be a dictator for one day. How many dictators have given themselves ultimate power and then gave it up willingly after a single day?

If Trump regains office, he’ll assert dictatorial powers. Maybe we can survive this via a mass uprising, but it’s unlikely. It would be like needing to survive open heart surgery, chemotherapy, and five organ transplants all at once. Could a patient survive this? Maybe, but the prognosis wouldn’t be good and even if they did, they’d be in horrible shape for quite a long time.

The best way of surviving Trump is to make sure he never gets close to the White House (or any other position of power) ever again. And, while we’re at it, vote against any Republican who kisses up to Trump. (So, basically, all of them.)

“I’d totally murder people, but that evil federal government would lock me up for murder? Can you believe the audacity?!!! I really want to murder these people, but they won’t let me. Total government overreach! Whatever happened to states’ rights?”

Big strong men come up to him, with tears in their eyes, saying “how do you do it, sir? How do you lose so many lawsuits?!!!”

Jail time in such a contempt is usually issued as “suspended” meaning that it’s ordered, but if the person doesn’t fuck up for a period, and obeys the final order, then they don’t actually have to go to jail.

So all Trump would need to do would be good and not act up?

He’s going to prison!

My guess (also not a lawyer) is to render the verdict as appeal proof as possible. If he wasn’t allowed to speak, he would have claimed that his rights were violated and if he had been allowed to give the closing remarks himself, he would have been found totally Innocent.

Engoron let him talk relatively briefly, cut him off when it was clear he wasn’t staying on topic, and closed off this appeal argument.

In many of the cases that Republicans refuse abortions for, there is no baby at the end. If a woman is at risk of dying and the fetus has such severe abnormalities that it will breathe twice and die, then what’s the argument against an abortion? It could save the woman’s life and wouldn’t “kill a baby” (even if I accepted that abortion killed a baby - which I don’t).

But the Republican line seems to be that a woman needs to be actively dying before they’ll even start to consider allowing her to have a life saving medical procedure.