I have a question about the Presidential Get Out of Jail Free card according to which a President has immunity from criminal prosecution for acts performed as part of his "official" duties. How do we determine a President's "official" duties? Article II of the Constitution tells us. Among the Article II enumerated duties is the requirement that the President "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." So, if a President breaks a Law, that breaking of the Law can in no way constitute an "official" duty since it is the President's "official" duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." It seems to me that the Get Out of Jail Free Card contains the seeds of its own self-immolation: The President gets Immunity for breaking a Law that is part of his "official" duties, but Article II says that breaking a Law can never be part of his "official" duties. richtergh@gmailcom
Brother Richter, you are correct in theory, but you have to consider the proof problems. The prosecution bears the burden of proving the president violated the law, which would require scienter. The administration only admits to an administrative error, so arguably they did not violate the law as there was no intent to deport a person under court protection, and Mr. Garcia is stuck in El Salvador. There are all sorts of games they can play over the question of what constitutes a violation of law. And, of course, none of this happens until after Trump is out of the office because Bondi is not going to prosecute.
The intent of my comment about the Presidential Get Out of Jail Free Card was not to clear up the El Salvador imbroglio. My intent was to point out what appears to me to be the self-contradictory nature of the SCOTUS presidential immunity ruling itself.
You are right, and I hate that you are right. I suppose we deserve it, but all those men in that torturous concentration camp don’t deserve what they are getting. It’s as sickening as capital punishment.
Bukele would be HAPPY to send all the prisoners home to the US once the 7th Fleet shows up off El Salvador and conducts a 100% blockade - nothing in, nothing out.....
In the meantime, he's delighted to continue receiving $6,000,000 for a year's worth of incarceration of the deportees from the U.S. Based on my calculation of the initial number of men sent, that works out to $20,000 per person. Does he expect additional payments from U.S. taxpayers for additional prisoners sent? And what happens when, as his habit, Trump reneges on the promised payments or, perhaps, dribbling payments out bit by bit. Wonder how Bukele will feel then?
Only year one. Has to either keep the number up by not letting them die or get replacements to fill empty beds. Think of all the American partners who may provide services to El Salvador as part of a new supply chain...involving human lives.
Maybe that's why it has been stated that Abrego-Garcia is still alive (not that they wouldn't lie about it). I cannot even imagine the pain that his American family is feeling as TFG & Bukele play mind games. Wonder if additional prisoners sent to El Salvador would entail additional payments from U.S. taxpayer coffers?
Yeah, the honor system has not worked out quite the way we had hoped..... It is obvious we need a new set of rules that automatically self-enforce when Congress refuses to do so. We need to specify that following illegal orders is itself a crime and make that stick with jail time and loss of political power. How we do that is likely well above my pay grade..... The really sad thing is that ALL of it must be done at the same time - government reform, electoral reform, education reform - all the stuff we let fall into disarray or disuse, it all has to be done at the same tine.....
That would require the greatest number of new spine implants in Christendom, especially for the members of Congress, who so happily delegated their core constitutional responsibilities to the president over the years and do not appear to want to have them back - that would require real work.....
The self-castration has been a very ugly sight, especially for a group that loathes DEI. Now that they are eunuchs you'd think they's want some defined opportunities to get them up to speed.
I don't claim to be any kind of soothsayer, but I often think back to Election night 2026 (edited to be 2016), in bed with my husband, in utter shock and despair. With my husband, who with the best of intentions, voted for the creep. (He has definitely seen the error of his ways now.) And he said to me, "nothing bad is going to happen right away." My answer: "No, we're just lobsters in the pot, waiting for the water to boil."
And now we're all fully cooked and have become the entree the oligarchs will feast on. :'-(
FWIW - if you click the three little dots in the upper far right corner of your post, a popup will show, with "edit" as a function. Click it and you can edit your post with ease.
2016 I'm sure you mean. I made the error, here in California, of turning on the tv for a last check of election results. I didn't sleep the rest of the night and still felt nauseated when I dragged myself out of bed the next morning.
WHY does NO American commentator ( I read a lot of sources- something a librarian does-OOPS the profession so many the MADE MAD MAGA REPUBLICAN PARTY AND theur LOONY TUNES Leader loves to target and villify) ask or even mention the mainly American citizens, who unfortunately for them, don't have a white skin AND maybe have tattoo that even some white Americans might have, that are ALSO unlawfully being held, tortured, or arw already dead in the notorious El Salvadoran concentration camp that American citizens are paying for????
NOTE: I heard a highly respected Anerican military leader ( whose name I cannot recall) use the term "Rogue" for both the leader and his party and I went Bingo! how absolutely appropriate...
Joanna Marie Rolland
A proud Canadian 🇨🇦 citizen living under a thinly veiled 'Declaration of War', called by LOONY TUNES 'Annexation' which is NOT recognized in international law!
But as we learned today, a Rogue Leader (I refuse to call him President) and his Rogue government believe they are above American Law!!!!
I, too, would like to know which congress authorized the funding for such rendition sites, if they are even that. I wouldn't be surprised to see the ocean level rise more quickly as Trump's enemies get dropped in the drink, and the cash goes into the El Salvadorian president's pocket, or is evenly split by the two autocrats.
Albrego is likely, and I hate to say it, likely already gone and if not probably wishing he was…but the neanderthals would never reveal that because they’re not done using him as a pawn.
The darkness I find overwhelming and indeed barely a whimper.
You are correct, the rubicon has been crossed, I doubt I will see that happen again because the return will be straight up…
Beautifully written in critical historical contexts.
On a slight tangent, has anyone else noticed that Bukele bears a striking resemblance to certain Trump sons? it's probably the facial hair but that was my immediate reaction on seeing a photo of him.
Judith, exactly!! Had the same thought. Donny seems to be fatally attracted to that type of young man. He is way too self- absorbed for it to be a " fathering" urge. More likely he thinks it makes him look cool to be hanging with the young handsome guys......or, something else........?
To make an uncomfortable analogy, did you guys watch the Masters this weekend? I never saw anything like it. Everybody was rooting for Rory and he came out Saturday birdie, eagle, birdie in the first three holes and we all sat back to watch to see if anyone could catch him. Then on Sunday he started the opposite way and everybody caught him. He got the lead back, he lost the lead, he made a unbelievable shot, he made a terrible shot, he did them both again, then it was tied and into sudden death. Today's version of the Apprentice in the White House after these last several weeks of turmoil is how we would feel if Rory missed the putt.
“There are no longer any ifs, ands, buts, or maybes. This morning … the move to defy the federal court system is complete.”
and this, a bit later:
“The bad faith is so obvious it makes one want to puke.“
Bingo! I’ve been trying to put my finger on a term to describe how all this revolting chaos actually feels.
Thank you for that.
My goodness, what a roller coaster of emotions, reading this piece.
Intense (matching the topic, matching “real time”…), packed with facts and astute perspectives, so on occasion, as during studies at university, I found myself going back to reread a sentence or two or three that really really really had a lot to say.
TC describes so many intersections where people had choices, certainly including us, and arching back to the times of the Founding Fathers, how at various forks in the road, certain voices were dismissed based on what we now acknowledge as misplaced perceptions (our “fool’s paradise”); choices were made, and now we find ourselves where we are today — not just today, but “today today”, Monday, April 14, 2025.
This is crushingly true, prompted a visceral reaction:
“The system doesn’t run itself…
It’s not robust, it’s incredibly more fragile than the finest Ming vase. And it was our responsibility not to let it fall to the floor and be smashed.”
Even if we don’t think we’re taking things for granted, it’s clear that <the collective> we were, are and have been. No longer!!!
How does any of this qualify as
“foreign policy of the United States”?
It’s all a deal made outside the law between two thugs who think they can get away with it… as Dachau played out.
This is not how I remember the picture painted when we studied history… But I was naïve and immature in those times… blissful ignorance:
“And without the process to protect the country against a criminal like Trump,
>>> which Patrick Henry deemed so important that its lack of presence in the final document was what led him to vote against the document’s adoption as the Constitution<<<
we are as unable to rid ourselves of this criminal cabal masquerading as a government as Henry predicted 237 years ago that we would be.”
Time for Lin-Manuel Miranda to step up and create a sequel…
Oh, this is so ugly.
Watchful and alert, indeed hoping it is not a lesson learned too late.
Judith, I think you and I must be on the same page, that my first time reading through TC‘s post had me on an emotional roller coaster. The Ming vase comment caught me up short with tears. The piece was just packed with so much significant information, so that my training with foreign language instruction plus ELD, language analysis and so forth, had me literally taking a few of his sentences and breaking them down to what Roberts English call kernel sentences. I loved teaching from that paradigm, far superior to typical English curricula. The basis is the kernel sentence and then you build by add-ons (like popcorn kernels popping!). It’s not like I had to analyze his writing to that degree, but still, I was aware of my brain putting some of it to use. Please forgive me for the academic detour here, so I’ll come full circle back to what a privilege it is for us to read such writing as TC generates, and he does it daily. Boggles the mind. Pure brilliance.
Judith’s comment really touched me and I could relate, wanted her to know, did not want to just leave it as a “like”… Then I went off on a tangent but at least circled back to her point. I’m reminded of one of the first WWII pieces of yours that I read, once I tried your Substack, probably thanks to a reference by Rob Hubbell… And you were describing some activity in the south seas, with narrative as intricate as a delicate crocheted throw… I remember remarking about it and another reader chimed in and said he agreed. Storylines can be so complex, with lots of separate arms of activity, each and all in the long run influencing a common outcome. You clearly have a talent for knitting (or crocheting) it all together with great effectiveness. Teacher Kathie here: A++. Lol. (And your comment did cause me to laugh out loud).
We were close friends with astrophysicist, Dr. Robert Hamilton Cannon. When first getting to know him, he mentioned a premise he had learned is always true in life. Impressed by his background and experience, of course we were at the edge of our seats. We came to learn this was known as Cannon’s Canon: “One thing leads to another.” One of his sons founded a startup and named it OTLTA. After Bob’s stroke (11 years before his passing), he was extremely sensitive to light and always wore his baseball cap with those initials over the bill.
My point? This series of comments… One thing leads to another. Definitely a truism.
I have a question about the Presidential Get Out of Jail Free card according to which a President has immunity from criminal prosecution for acts performed as part of his "official" duties. How do we determine a President's "official" duties? Article II of the Constitution tells us. Among the Article II enumerated duties is the requirement that the President "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." So, if a President breaks a Law, that breaking of the Law can in no way constitute an "official" duty since it is the President's "official" duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." It seems to me that the Get Out of Jail Free Card contains the seeds of its own self-immolation: The President gets Immunity for breaking a Law that is part of his "official" duties, but Article II says that breaking a Law can never be part of his "official" duties. richtergh@gmailcom
Brother Richter, you are correct in theory, but you have to consider the proof problems. The prosecution bears the burden of proving the president violated the law, which would require scienter. The administration only admits to an administrative error, so arguably they did not violate the law as there was no intent to deport a person under court protection, and Mr. Garcia is stuck in El Salvador. There are all sorts of games they can play over the question of what constitutes a violation of law. And, of course, none of this happens until after Trump is out of the office because Bondi is not going to prosecute.
The intent of my comment about the Presidential Get Out of Jail Free Card was not to clear up the El Salvador imbroglio. My intent was to point out what appears to me to be the self-contradictory nature of the SCOTUS presidential immunity ruling itself.
Sadly, all true. And the Roberts Court appears to be sucking the teat of their patron saint.
Yes. And not with a bang, but a whimper. Thanks for the reference to Patrick Henry.
Thanks, also for referring to CECOT as a concentration camp. A spade is a spade.
You are right, and I hate that you are right. I suppose we deserve it, but all those men in that torturous concentration camp don’t deserve what they are getting. It’s as sickening as capital punishment.
I hate that I am right.
“Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number-
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you
Ye are many-they are few.”
― Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy: Written on Occasion of the Massacre at Manchester
https://allpoetry.com/The-Mask-Of-Anarchy
It is already too late for the people who are trapped in the concentration camp.
This will get a lot worse before we can turn it around.
Bukele would be HAPPY to send all the prisoners home to the US once the 7th Fleet shows up off El Salvador and conducts a 100% blockade - nothing in, nothing out.....
In the meantime, he's delighted to continue receiving $6,000,000 for a year's worth of incarceration of the deportees from the U.S. Based on my calculation of the initial number of men sent, that works out to $20,000 per person. Does he expect additional payments from U.S. taxpayers for additional prisoners sent? And what happens when, as his habit, Trump reneges on the promised payments or, perhaps, dribbling payments out bit by bit. Wonder how Bukele will feel then?
Only year one. Has to either keep the number up by not letting them die or get replacements to fill empty beds. Think of all the American partners who may provide services to El Salvador as part of a new supply chain...involving human lives.
Maybe that's why it has been stated that Abrego-Garcia is still alive (not that they wouldn't lie about it). I cannot even imagine the pain that his American family is feeling as TFG & Bukele play mind games. Wonder if additional prisoners sent to El Salvador would entail additional payments from U.S. taxpayer coffers?
Yeah, the honor system has not worked out quite the way we had hoped..... It is obvious we need a new set of rules that automatically self-enforce when Congress refuses to do so. We need to specify that following illegal orders is itself a crime and make that stick with jail time and loss of political power. How we do that is likely well above my pay grade..... The really sad thing is that ALL of it must be done at the same time - government reform, electoral reform, education reform - all the stuff we let fall into disarray or disuse, it all has to be done at the same tine.....
And it's possible to do it if there is a will to do it.
That would require the greatest number of new spine implants in Christendom, especially for the members of Congress, who so happily delegated their core constitutional responsibilities to the president over the years and do not appear to want to have them back - that would require real work.....
The self-castration has been a very ugly sight, especially for a group that loathes DEI. Now that they are eunuchs you'd think they's want some defined opportunities to get them up to speed.
I don't claim to be any kind of soothsayer, but I often think back to Election night 2026 (edited to be 2016), in bed with my husband, in utter shock and despair. With my husband, who with the best of intentions, voted for the creep. (He has definitely seen the error of his ways now.) And he said to me, "nothing bad is going to happen right away." My answer: "No, we're just lobsters in the pot, waiting for the water to boil."
And now we're all fully cooked and have become the entree the oligarchs will feast on. :'-(
FWIW - if you click the three little dots in the upper far right corner of your post, a popup will show, with "edit" as a function. Click it and you can edit your post with ease.
2016 I'm sure you mean. I made the error, here in California, of turning on the tv for a last check of election results. I didn't sleep the rest of the night and still felt nauseated when I dragged myself out of bed the next morning.
Thanks for the correction! I'll edit my post. :-)
Tom, 40 years, try 45 or 57 (more proof that it all goes back to Nixon). Things haven't been the same since Kennedy had has brains blown out.
No Nixon, no 'Powell memo,' no Howard Hughes loan to his brother, no Agnew, no Watergate, etc.
WHY does NO American commentator ( I read a lot of sources- something a librarian does-OOPS the profession so many the MADE MAD MAGA REPUBLICAN PARTY AND theur LOONY TUNES Leader loves to target and villify) ask or even mention the mainly American citizens, who unfortunately for them, don't have a white skin AND maybe have tattoo that even some white Americans might have, that are ALSO unlawfully being held, tortured, or arw already dead in the notorious El Salvadoran concentration camp that American citizens are paying for????
NOTE: I heard a highly respected Anerican military leader ( whose name I cannot recall) use the term "Rogue" for both the leader and his party and I went Bingo! how absolutely appropriate...
Joanna Marie Rolland
A proud Canadian 🇨🇦 citizen living under a thinly veiled 'Declaration of War', called by LOONY TUNES 'Annexation' which is NOT recognized in international law!
But as we learned today, a Rogue Leader (I refuse to call him President) and his Rogue government believe they are above American Law!!!!
I, too, would like to know which congress authorized the funding for such rendition sites, if they are even that. I wouldn't be surprised to see the ocean level rise more quickly as Trump's enemies get dropped in the drink, and the cash goes into the El Salvadorian president's pocket, or is evenly split by the two autocrats.
Albrego is likely, and I hate to say it, likely already gone and if not probably wishing he was…but the neanderthals would never reveal that because they’re not done using him as a pawn.
The darkness I find overwhelming and indeed barely a whimper.
You are correct, the rubicon has been crossed, I doubt I will see that happen again because the return will be straight up…
Beautifully written in critical historical contexts.
On a slight tangent, has anyone else noticed that Bukele bears a striking resemblance to certain Trump sons? it's probably the facial hair but that was my immediate reaction on seeing a photo of him.
Judith, exactly!! Had the same thought. Donny seems to be fatally attracted to that type of young man. He is way too self- absorbed for it to be a " fathering" urge. More likely he thinks it makes him look cool to be hanging with the young handsome guys......or, something else........?
To make an uncomfortable analogy, did you guys watch the Masters this weekend? I never saw anything like it. Everybody was rooting for Rory and he came out Saturday birdie, eagle, birdie in the first three holes and we all sat back to watch to see if anyone could catch him. Then on Sunday he started the opposite way and everybody caught him. He got the lead back, he lost the lead, he made a unbelievable shot, he made a terrible shot, he did them both again, then it was tied and into sudden death. Today's version of the Apprentice in the White House after these last several weeks of turmoil is how we would feel if Rory missed the putt.
opener:
“There are no longer any ifs, ands, buts, or maybes. This morning … the move to defy the federal court system is complete.”
and this, a bit later:
“The bad faith is so obvious it makes one want to puke.“
Bingo! I’ve been trying to put my finger on a term to describe how all this revolting chaos actually feels.
Thank you for that.
My goodness, what a roller coaster of emotions, reading this piece.
Intense (matching the topic, matching “real time”…), packed with facts and astute perspectives, so on occasion, as during studies at university, I found myself going back to reread a sentence or two or three that really really really had a lot to say.
TC describes so many intersections where people had choices, certainly including us, and arching back to the times of the Founding Fathers, how at various forks in the road, certain voices were dismissed based on what we now acknowledge as misplaced perceptions (our “fool’s paradise”); choices were made, and now we find ourselves where we are today — not just today, but “today today”, Monday, April 14, 2025.
This is crushingly true, prompted a visceral reaction:
“The system doesn’t run itself…
It’s not robust, it’s incredibly more fragile than the finest Ming vase. And it was our responsibility not to let it fall to the floor and be smashed.”
Even if we don’t think we’re taking things for granted, it’s clear that <the collective> we were, are and have been. No longer!!!
How does any of this qualify as
“foreign policy of the United States”?
It’s all a deal made outside the law between two thugs who think they can get away with it… as Dachau played out.
This is not how I remember the picture painted when we studied history… But I was naïve and immature in those times… blissful ignorance:
“And without the process to protect the country against a criminal like Trump,
>>> which Patrick Henry deemed so important that its lack of presence in the final document was what led him to vote against the document’s adoption as the Constitution<<<
we are as unable to rid ourselves of this criminal cabal masquerading as a government as Henry predicted 237 years ago that we would be.”
Time for Lin-Manuel Miranda to step up and create a sequel…
Oh, this is so ugly.
Watchful and alert, indeed hoping it is not a lesson learned too late.
Liked with tears in my soul.
Judith, I think you and I must be on the same page, that my first time reading through TC‘s post had me on an emotional roller coaster. The Ming vase comment caught me up short with tears. The piece was just packed with so much significant information, so that my training with foreign language instruction plus ELD, language analysis and so forth, had me literally taking a few of his sentences and breaking them down to what Roberts English call kernel sentences. I loved teaching from that paradigm, far superior to typical English curricula. The basis is the kernel sentence and then you build by add-ons (like popcorn kernels popping!). It’s not like I had to analyze his writing to that degree, but still, I was aware of my brain putting some of it to use. Please forgive me for the academic detour here, so I’ll come full circle back to what a privilege it is for us to read such writing as TC generates, and he does it daily. Boggles the mind. Pure brilliance.
Bet you say that to all the writers. :-) (thanks)
Judith’s comment really touched me and I could relate, wanted her to know, did not want to just leave it as a “like”… Then I went off on a tangent but at least circled back to her point. I’m reminded of one of the first WWII pieces of yours that I read, once I tried your Substack, probably thanks to a reference by Rob Hubbell… And you were describing some activity in the south seas, with narrative as intricate as a delicate crocheted throw… I remember remarking about it and another reader chimed in and said he agreed. Storylines can be so complex, with lots of separate arms of activity, each and all in the long run influencing a common outcome. You clearly have a talent for knitting (or crocheting) it all together with great effectiveness. Teacher Kathie here: A++. Lol. (And your comment did cause me to laugh out loud).
Tangent but connected by a thread. A heartwarming story.
I’d heard of him before, but never read his life story.
Wow! >>>
15-Year-Old Crochet Prodigy Donates His Profits to Ethiopian Kids
https://nicenews.com/culture/jonah-larson-teen-crochet-prodigy/
We were close friends with astrophysicist, Dr. Robert Hamilton Cannon. When first getting to know him, he mentioned a premise he had learned is always true in life. Impressed by his background and experience, of course we were at the edge of our seats. We came to learn this was known as Cannon’s Canon: “One thing leads to another.” One of his sons founded a startup and named it OTLTA. After Bob’s stroke (11 years before his passing), he was extremely sensitive to light and always wore his baseball cap with those initials over the bill.
My point? This series of comments… One thing leads to another. Definitely a truism.
It is so very scary and about to get even worse. Can anyone stop this madman?