If Trump is not convicted, all Democrats running for the presidency should seek foreign help.

[shockey80]

If Trump is not convicted for his obvious crimes, seeking foreign assistance becomes legalized. All the Democrats should ask foreign countries to give them dirt on Trump and his family The Democrats cannot play by the rules while Trump and the Republicans do not.


If the Republicans refuse to convict Trump the constitution becomes worthless when it comes to seeking aid from a foreign country in our elections.

The Democrats running for the presidency should announce it publicly. If this is what the Republicans want America to be, then so be.

If they are not going to follow the rule of law, then neither should the Democrats. If they do not convict Trump that will be a green light for Trump to cheat, break laws, ignore laws in order win the election. If the Democrats play by the rules while he cheats, Trump will probably be re-elected.

If Trump is not convicted there will be no rule of law in America. That's the truth.

I am still hopeful the Republicans will force Trump to resign so it will not go to trial. If this goes to trial our country will be torn to pieces.

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. No. I will never vote for any candidate who cheats.

[shockey80]

4. If Trump is not convicted, Breaks the law again and wins the election.

What will you say then, I"m happy the Democrats played by the rules? Everything changes if Trump is not convicted.

[fleur-de-lisa]

11. I will still say no to cheating. It offends me to my core.

[unitedwethrive]

13. But if Trump is not convicted, then it is no longer cheating.

The new precedent will be that foreign help is okay in federal elections.

[fleur-de-lisa]

14. Unless the laws are changed, it is still cheating.

I don't give a shit what Trump does. I like to think I am better than him.

[unitedwethrive]

15. I think many liberals have very pure beliefs about right and wrong, but for the sake

of getting our country back, it would benefit political candidates to follow the precedent set by the impeachment verdict. If we feel strongly about writing laws for such actions, the only way we can do so is to have control of all three branches of government.

[fleur-de-lisa]

16. No.

[unitedwethrive]

18. Yours is the exact reaction that repubs want. They know that they can lie, cheat and steel to get

power, and our response will be essentially nothing. As long as they ban together in their lies, they cannot be brought down. When the senate fails to remove Trump (which it will), the Democratic Party will have to think long and hard about the best way to salvage our Republic. The first part of that consideration is the realization that the playing field is not even.

[fleur-de-lisa]

19. I will always say no to cheating. I AM BETTER THAN THAT!

And I am done with this conversation.

[unitedwethrive]

23. I absolutely respect your values, and wish everyone felt the same...but they don't.

Normally my advice would always be to 'turn the other cheek', but now we are clearly being led down a dark hole where there are no rules. All the senate repubs have to do is hold together for a few more weeks, and they win.

Then what? Are we just going to go on with our Democratic Primaries as if nothing had happened? While Trump is embolden to get all the help he wants to win the general, and his supporters are secure in the knowledge that he did nothing wrong and that their side won?

If we are handed the reality of a new precedent saying that it is okay to seek foreign help with an election, we need to use it. It would not be illegal, as the trial in the Senate will confirm. The surviving democracies of the world would be more than happy to help unseat Trump.

Again, the only way to change things so a president like Trump never happens again is to regain power and then strengthen our laws.

[California_Republic]

2. Nope

[unblock]

3. no, but we should pound the media if the *ever* quote a republican over a democratic scandal

in the event that a democrat is ever accused of anything illegal, unethical, or improper, we should give the media holy hell if they ever give airtime to any republican about such a scandal.

our position should be, we believe in following the law being ethical and following proper norms. we will investigate and enforce proper behavior at all times, but republicans have lost any basis whatsoever to complain about democrats over such matters and we will not tolerate their selective and self-serving hypocrisy on such matters. unless and until republicans clean up their own party and abandon their philosophy of corruption, they have no leg to stand on when it comes to commenting on behavior of democrats.

and the media should know better than to give free airtime to unethical people to complain about the ethics of others.

[Buckeyeblue]

5. We don't want to go down that road but it should be a major campaign issue

[shockey80]

7. We may have no choice. We may be dragged down that road.

When over 60 million Americans no longer believe in the rule of law or the constitution, we may longer control our fate.

[Brainfodder]

6. Other countries will be lining up for this!

Will hardly need to ask...?

[Scoopster]

8. What kind of message does this send to the rest of the world?

Did you ever stop to think about that? It's bad enough that the current Administration is basically telling every other country "the United States is so untrustworthy that we're willing to stab ourselves in the back".

No sir, we should NOT stoop to that level. We need to show the world that there are still leaders in the US who are trustworthy.

[shockey80]

9. If Trump is not convicted, then wins the election, we will be completely untrustworthy.

Our reputation around the world would be destroyed.

[Scoopster]

10. If that happens we won't be the United States anymore.

The country itself would be destroyed.

[TheRealNorth]

12. There a lot of corporations with foreign assets

It would be a shame if something happened to those assets.

[UCmeNdc]

17. If this becomes the normal way to get elected say goodbye to the old United States of America

Say hello to a banana republic in which anything goes as long as you lie, cheat, steal, extort, bribe, etc. to gain money and power.

Ask the GOP if that is what they really want for their children's future?

[KentuckyWoman]

20. NO !!!! HELL NO !!!!

Illegal is illegal is illegal is illegal.

No Democratic candidate worth the smallest would do such a thing. But if any did, I'd want their butt in jail too.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

21. Doesn't work that way.

When George Zimmerman was acquitted in the death of Trayvon Martin, it didn't give me carte blanche to go start shooting people because he got away with it.

Morals and ethics, and laws--when moral and ethical--should always be respected, no matter what the circumstance might be.

[harumph]

22. Shockey - I'm not quite there yet - but I find the pearl clutching upthread humorous.

Folks, if Trump is not convicted, ipso facto - the written laws incl. the constitution are meaningless for the simple reason they
are unenforceable. It would be a good
time to converge on the capital a la Maidan.
Emoluments!
Openly inciting violence against your critics!
Conspiracy to defraud the US!
Extortion of foreign allies!
Voter suppression!
Friggin Russian stooges have no bottom. When is enough enough?

[BuffaloJackalope]

24. But there's the eternal double standard: IOKIRDI

It's OK If Republicans Do It