John A. Stoehr: It's not a crime when a Republican does it. It's freedom

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.editorialboard.com/its-not-a-crime-when-a-republican-does-it-its-freedom/

For normal people like you, the answer is obvious.

If people break the law, they should be prosecuted justly for breaking the law. The answer is obvious, because we’ve all drunk deeply from the well of American exceptionalism.

Here, right matters.

Here, everyone’s equal.

Here, no one is above the law.

So it must be confusing for normal people to hear the press and pundit corps in Washington debating whether Donald Trump should face criminal indictment. If he broke the law, yes. If he didn’t, no.

Why is this so complicated?

It’s complicated because American exceptionalism gives and takes. On the one hand, we say no one is above the law. On the other, we say America is no banana republic. We don’t go around jailing political leaders as they do in so-called democracies like Russia and Turkey.

But American exceptionalism is also convenient. It gives the press and pundit corps a way of talking about Donald Trump’s crimes without talking about the former president’s crimes. It also gives them a way of avoiding the real reason Trump has not yet to face arrest and trial.

*snip*

[TheRealNorth]

1. Republican response

But, but Bill Clinton lied about getting a blow job.