It was mental gymnastics by someone who knows Trump shouldn't be anywhere near the ballot, but doesn't want to be the one to actually open that Pandora's box out of fear of retaliation. If it weren't that for an excuse, it would be because the Founding Fathers accidentally misspelled the word "President" or something. The judge was simply looking for any excuse to rule the way he did, and that's just the excuse he settled on.
Pathetic people really shouldn't aim for positions of power but they make up the majority of powerful positions. This guy could've been remembered for hundreds of years for doing the right thing. Instead he'll be vaguely remembered similar to the failures in the German government pre WW2 if shit truly goes wrong.
Pathetic people really shouldn’t aim for positions of power but they make up the majority of powerful positions. This guy could’ve been remembered for hundreds of years for doing the right thing.
I'm not trying to defend the judge by saying this, but I do think it needs to be said. Trump is probably the first person in US history to be:
Easily the most corrupt authoritarian in US history
Able to wield such a disproportionate amount of influence over people at every level of not only government but the private sector; he has enough power to dictate the political careers of representatives in deep red states, and enough influence over individual people that there are lone wolf followers out there willing to carry out threats on his behalf.
Able to make mobster-level, "coded" threats against his political enemies and anyone even tangentally associated with them and has the resources to carry them out.
Judges are probably used to death threats from every two-bit defendant that just got sentenced to life without parole. They're probably also used to credible threats from cartel associates who don't actually have the resources to carry them out (because their associates are in Mexico or wherever). But Trump is a unique case, as threats coming from him could easily be carried out by any local lone-wolf MAGA cultist who has decided that this is the hill they're willing to die (or kill somebody) on, making the threats not only credible, but almost impossible to defend against. This does put judges in a situation where they have to weigh whether ruling against Trump is worth putting their literal lives at risk for, and we've seen the results of that time and time again recently. And while I may not necessarily agree with them, I can understand judges being gun-shy over issuing a ruling that could be the equivalent of signing their own death warrant.
You are giving Donald too much credit. His cult is fairly inactive in commiting stochastic terrorism, moreso recently. I'd argue the judge is just gargling his limp mushroom dick over it being some difficult scary decision. Judges are normal people too and can be swayed into the maga cult.
Standing up to authoritarians when you are given the opportunity is the only way to stop them...
It was mental gymnastics by someone who knows Trump shouldn't be anywhere near the ballot, but doesn't want to be the one to actually open that Pandora's box out of fear of retaliation. If it weren't that for an excuse, it would be because the Founding Fathers accidentally misspelled the word "President" or something. The judge was simply looking for any excuse to rule the way he did, and that's just the excuse he settled on.
Pathetic people really shouldn't aim for positions of power but they make up the majority of powerful positions. This guy could've been remembered for hundreds of years for doing the right thing. Instead he'll be vaguely remembered similar to the failures in the German government pre WW2 if shit truly goes wrong.
I'm not trying to defend the judge by saying this, but I do think it needs to be said. Trump is probably the first person in US history to be:
Judges are probably used to death threats from every two-bit defendant that just got sentenced to life without parole. They're probably also used to credible threats from cartel associates who don't actually have the resources to carry them out (because their associates are in Mexico or wherever). But Trump is a unique case, as threats coming from him could easily be carried out by any local lone-wolf MAGA cultist who has decided that this is the hill they're willing to die (or kill somebody) on, making the threats not only credible, but almost impossible to defend against. This does put judges in a situation where they have to weigh whether ruling against Trump is worth putting their literal lives at risk for, and we've seen the results of that time and time again recently. And while I may not necessarily agree with them, I can understand judges being gun-shy over issuing a ruling that could be the equivalent of signing their own death warrant.
You are giving Donald too much credit. His cult is fairly inactive in commiting stochastic terrorism, moreso recently. I'd argue the judge is just gargling his limp mushroom dick over it being some difficult scary decision. Judges are normal people too and can be swayed into the maga cult.
Standing up to authoritarians when you are given the opportunity is the only way to stop them...