Summary
The Justice Department’s decision to dismiss bribery charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams has led to a wave of resignations, tripling those of the 1973 “Saturday Night Massacre.”
Six senior officials, including Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, stepped down in protest, citing concerns over political interference.
Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the dismissal, arguing the case was “weaponization” of the justice system.
Legal experts see parallels to past executive overreach, raising alarm over the independence of the Southern District of New York.
Oh God. Do you realize where we’re going?
Elongate.
Or fElongate to be more precise.
Can’t spell FELON without ELON! 🤣
Nope theirs was more clever
I find it fascinating that there are still regular references to Watergate in American political reporting/commentary. It just doesn’t seem relevant.
From my contacts with Americans, it seems that anti-trump Americans are in a state of shock (understandable), but still clinging to the hope that their institutions will save them (debatable considering global examples with the rise of authoritarian/corporate regimes in democratic environments; generally a “second term” tends to be a make or break period).
The pro-trump group seems to be doubling down on trump and even low key trying to justify statements like the Gaza annexation proposal by claiming “that’s just Trump, he says things.” Some of the stuff I’ve heard honestly made me a bit uncomfortable (these are people I know well for 15+ years) and I don’t discuss internal US matters with the pro-trump camp.
Watergate was a really big deal. By all accounts, it still technically is. It’s pretty blatant corruption and was cartoonishly executed. That said, what’s happening now is under the guise of “making America greater.”
The players are equally cartoonish goons (Anthony Scaramucci? Guilliani? Steve Bannon? His entire administration was toon town) but Trump is slimier than Nixon and is great at getting people to do his bidding for access. The deluge of news and control of the narrative they have has greatly played into their hand. They figured out how to rig the modern media machine. Nixon could never have done that.
The cult following he has is truly astonishing. The perfect toilet bowl of gullible and psychopath
Watergate is about as far back as the average person can connect the historical dots. My view is that it goes much further back, to slavery itself - but many still view Watergate as some kind of original sin.
Watergate is as far as you can draw a direct line. That’s when Roger Ailes really started working on right-wing television. That got us Fox News, and here we are today.
Watergate is as far as you can draw a direct line.
I’d say Nixon administration as a whole. They picked up the dixiecrats post Civil Rights movement. Look up Nixon’s political Strategist Kevin Phillips and his discussion on the Southern Strategy where it was specifically targeting the racist whites to bring them into the Republican party.
But then that’s the part where I can say goes all the way back to slavery, but hey, if you grew up in the South the Civil War was never quite over even to modern era. But I’d definitely say the Southern Strategy the Republicans put into place would be where I’d say the beginning of drawing a direct line to where we’re at now.
but hey, if you grew up in the South the Civil War was never quite over even to modern era.
This right here. Reconstruction was a failure, a lot of traitors should’ve been tried, not allowed to go home with dignity and honor. Lands should’ve been confiscated and given to the newly freed peoples, 40 acres and a mule should’ve been the law. The racism never went away it just learned to hide behind code words and shared looks.
The racism never went away it just learned to hide behind code words and shared looks.
Ah yes, the Lee Atwater strategy to bring in the Reagan administration. It’s not blacks they’re against, just “Welfare queens.”
Came here to post the Reuters article “US prosecutors formally ask judge to drop case against NY mayor Eric Adams”, but saw that it’s already posted.
I’ll just quote a part from the other article and add some comments about it:
“The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to … illegal immigration and violent crime,” Bove, Trump’s former personal lawyer and a political appointee, wrote in the memo seen by Reuters.
Essentially, they are sending a letter to a court of law saying “we’re playing politics, don’t distract us with your laws”. I think that should be named “political corruption” and “obstruction of justice”.
Fortunately not everyone was spineless:
“I am confident that Adams has committed the crimes with which he is charged,” Sassoon wrote on Wednesday in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi seen by Reuters. “I cannot agree to seek a dismissal driven by improper considerations.”
My viewpoint:
- resignation is not the best way to deal with a fascist takeover, resistance would be better (and every political firing of a resisting prosecutor should come with a court case attached)
- letting politicians directly influence prosecutors (to stop cases before they go to court) presents massive opportunities for political corruption
- fortunately this case has already gone to court, so next they will be putting pressure on the judge, who is better protected against influence
- if corruption trials should become unfeasible, or feasible only for unimportant or opposition-minded persons, there’s not much point in having a legal system
These people need to understand this quickly, like yesterday: This whole “protesting by stepping down” thing, doesn’t help a damn thing. These mass resignations only embolden the shitheads to continue breaking the law with no fear of reprisal
Resignations are no longer working. They are not shaming people into doing the right things. They just allow the corrupt to carry out their actions unimpeded.
Staying is a career killer. You stay, it means you’re on board with this shit. You can leave and your next employer will see it as a good reason.
COOL. Cool. cool. Doesn’t this mean they will just get replaced by people that fall in line with corruption?
just a bump in the road. bondi gonna fire those who doesn’t anyway.
Yeah - but when future generations (if there are any) appraise this time frame at least these folk will be seen as being outside and opposed to the oligarch-fascist take over.
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