In the past week, many supporters of former President Trump have made an argument in his defense that his indictment violates the norm against prosecuting former presidents. There is no such norm, and there never was.PwnAllTheThings is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

  • pasci_lei@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Why would there be ever one? Being a (former) head of state doesn’t include being above law, and it shouldn’t ever be that way.

    • Flaky_Fish69@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      well. So, like, there is a norm of not writing them speeding tickets. But there’s a few reasons for this. the first being that the Secret Service provides drivers and they’re trained to not stop. ever. (they also don’t speed, but details.) there’s a certain amount of leeway with petty things, and a large part of that is the secret service usually intervenes and intimidates the people/mechants/whatever making the claims so they go away.

      Generally speaking, though, the reason these charges are unprecedented is because no ex president has ever committed these crimes. said another way, they’re unprecedented because trump’s criminality is unprecedented.