Summary
Donald Trump, speaking at the Justice Department, called for jailing officials behind the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and defended allies while attacking critics.
He praised Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed his classified documents case, and condemned those who criticized her.
Trump called former special counsel Jack Smith “deranged” and referred to Jan. 6 defendants as “hostages.”
His remarks, delivered before Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, underscore his escalated rhetoric on retribution now that he holds presidential power again.
As bad as I wanted to see that happen, this problem doesn’t go away when one man dies. It’s clear that we need to see where this path leads before we learn our lesson. I wish that weren’t true, but it is.
Cults of personality fall apart when the leader dies though.
However, I agree that you can’t just assassinate your way out of a deep, societal sickness. You have to address the underlying symptoms or it will just flare up again.
The Germans did a remarkable job at addressing their issues and changing their society for the better.
Unlike the US did after the civil war. Or after Trump’s first reign and insurrection.
Hopefully they’ll learn the lesson there.
Honestly, my country learned its lesson only through a new generation having grown up in the results of the war. Before 68 talking about Nazis still being judges, prosecutors, heads of police etc. wasn’t really tolerated in polite society. Policy was always “Don’t speak about it, don’t acknowledge it, just move along and everything’s fine.”
Only the gigantic student protests in the late 60s early 70s changed that and created the culture of honest confrontation and dealing with the past. And it is highly under threat now that the post-war generation, the babyboomers are leaving the demographics, because people are forgetting how hard that culture had to be fought for. They had to fight conservatives tooth and nail for it and now it’s slowly drifting out of focus.