Editor:
For some time now, I’ve read opinions on the Hub that have mischaracterized former President Donald Trump, misconstrued facts, and tried to present our ailing President as a well-meaning, moral figure that stands for the average American.
After the tragic event that occurred Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, where we were literally inches away from former (and likely future) President Trump’s gruesome assassination on live television, I thought it’d be an appropriate time to address some of the things that have been said here.
Firstly, the Supreme Court’s decision on absolute immunity was by no means some sort of radical decision that gives the President absolute immunity from all criminal misdeeds, as it was previously characterized in another opinion. The decision gives absolute immunity only to “official” acts taken by the President that may otherwise be considered criminal.
When President Obama approves a policy that leads to a fatal drone strike of a 16-year-old American citizen in Yemen, that is considered an “official” act taken by the President, and the President is therefore immune from prosecution. If a private citizen, such as you or I, were to order something similar that led to the death of someone else, we would be criminally liable because we’re in no such position to make that decision.
This type of immunity is essential for the President to have or there’d be prosecutions left and right for their actions while in office. The Supreme Court, however, does not extend that immunity to “unofficial” acts taken by the President.
When President Bill Clinton has an affair with Monica Lewinsky while in the White House, lies about it to Congress and the American people, and is held in contempt of court, this is not considered an official presidential act, and could potentially be punishable. This is the distinction – the President is absolutely immune from being prosecuted when it comes to official, legitimate actions taken while holding office.
The President is not immune from other, more private, personal actions that have nothing to do with the presidency itself. The reason that this decision was made was because we have yet to have a president be criminally prosecuted, let alone convicted, forcing the Supreme Court to make the distinction between acts that are immune and acts that are not.
Regardless, the notion that this decision allows whoever holds the title of President to do whatever they want without facing any consequences, a notion pushed in the dissenting opinion of the Supreme Court, is simply untrue and wildly misleading. Furthermore, comparing the court’s completely legitimate decision to the legislation that cemented Hitler’s dictatorship in Germany is absolutely absurd rhetoric that is damaging to both the political landscape of America and to the nation itself.
Secondly, we’re at a unique point in time where both individuals running for President have been President before. And in this case, it’s important to make the distinction between a “good person” and a “good president.” Whether you think Donald Trump is a good person or a bad person, I’d like to point out that when he was in office, the economy was strong, the Taliban didn’t rule Afghanistan, Ukraine wasn’t in an endless stalemate with Russia, and the Middle East wasn’t on fire.
For all the talk of how President Trump was a “Russian plant,” President Putin didn’t dare to invade Ukraine under his reign because President Trump’s reaction was not predictable and certainly would not be weak.
The problem for President Biden is that he’s neither a good person nor a good president. On top of his current incoherence and rapid decline in sentience, which we all witness on a daily basis, President Biden is and always has been a career politician that cares about no one except for himself and his immediate family. He is one of the only politicians in modern American history to somehow defy the meritocracy and fail upwards in his career.
He was a mediocre Senator whose only accomplishment was the disastrous 1994 Crime Bill, a man who failed to run for President numerous times, and a man who had to ride President Obama’s coattails to power.
No one likes Joe Biden. They just hate Donald Trump so much that they’d vote for anyone that opposes him, regardless of how incompetent and ineffective they are. Regardless of how foolish and weak they make our country look.
It appears we will have an election between two old men. But there is a huge difference between them. One old man can nearly get shot in the head, remain composed, pump his fist in the air in defiance of the attempt on his life, and be up early the next morning for a round of golf. The other old man cannot go a singular day reading off of a teleprompter without fumbling over himself and vomiting out unintelligible nonsense.
God Bless America.
Thomas J. Burgess Jr.
Medina
