Members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have warned America for three years to take former President Donald Trump at his word.

Now, as Trump is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination, his criminal trials face delays that could stall them past Election Day, and his rhetoric grows increasingly authoritarian, some of those lawmakers find themselves following their own advice.

In mid-March, Trump said on social media that the committee members should be jailed. In December he vowed to be a dictator on “day one.” In August, he said he would “have no choice” but to lock up his political opponents.

“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”

Lofgren added that she doesn’t yet have a plan in place to thwart potential retribution by Trump. But Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has long been a burr in Trump’s side, said he’s having “real-time conversations” with his staff about how to make sure he stays safe if Trump follows through on his threats.

“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff said. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlM
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    8 months ago

    If you don’t think US politicians who execute the will of the oligarchy aren’t criminally corrupt then you’re childishly naive.

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      You should really stop using words when you don’t know what they mean.

      criminally corrupt

      What crimes are being broken?

      The system being bad and broken doesn’t automatically make everyone criminals who should be in jail. Trump has broken laws and committed crimes. What crimes have his opponents committed to warrant being put in jail?

      • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlM
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        8 months ago

        Seems to me that you’re the one who doesn’t know what words mean. Can you point out a crime that Trump has actually been convicted of since you obviously know what words mean.

        As I explained in my original comment, Trump will have no trouble finding crimes his opponents committed, the same way Trump’s own crimes have been found. What part of that are you struggling to understand?

        Since you clearly have trouble wrapping your head around this concept I’ll try explain it to you again. US is run by corrupt people, and once somebody starts looking into them, it’s not going to be hard to find dirt. If you don’t understand why it’s going to be easy to find dirt on deeply corrupt people, then what else is there to say to you.

        • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          Can you point out a crime that Trump has actually been convicted of since you obviously know what words mean.

          I don’t see why you’re asking for this since we both agree Trump is corrupt as fuck. As you said:

          all US politicians are corrupt as fuck.

          Which would include Trump, so why are you asking me to prove something we both agree on? Where we disagree is on the Democrats being equally corrupt, so the burden of proof is on you to show how the Democrats are corrupt / which crimes they have committed.

          But here you go, here’s some lists of charges against Trump: https://www.politico.com/interactives/2023/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list/

          once somebody starts looking into them, it’s not going to be hard to find dirt

          The Republicans have been looking into Joe Biden for some time now for their impeachment claims. What dirt have the found? Have the named any actual charges yet?

          • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlM
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            8 months ago

            But here you go, here’s some lists of charges against Trump

            Do you understand what the word convict means?

            The Republicans have been looking into Joe Biden for some time now for their impeachment claims. What dirt have the found? Have the named any actual charges yet?

            Democrats have been looking into Trump for a while now, and no convictions so far. Biden is currently being investigated in case you weren’t aware https://oversight.house.gov/landing/biden-family-investigation/

            • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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              8 months ago

              Do you understand what the word convict means?

              Yes, do you understand what moving the goalposts means? There are active trials happening for Trump right now with evidence and actual charges and everything. There has been no evidence presented or trials scheduled for Joe Biden, or any of these other Democrats Trump wants to jail.

              So to be clear here: implying that Trump is innocent because he hasn’t been convicted yet, but saying Democrats are “just as bad” despite there being zero evidence or charges, is incredibly disingenuous.

              Or, to simplify: holding Trump and Democrats to different standards, where Trump’s trials haven’t finished yet so “you can’t call him guilty”, and Democrats haven’t even been charged and somehow “they are the same,” makes it obvious that you’re full of shit.

              Biden is currently being investigated in case you weren’t aware

              I… have mentioned that repeatedly. I even mentioned it where you quoted me. So again, so full oh shit you’re not bothering to read what other people are saying. They have been investigating for a year. What crimes have been found? What charges are they presenting? Why are the wanting to quietly end it?
              https://newrepublic.com/post/179789/house-republicans-desperate-biden-impeachment-exit-strategy

              Again, let’s make fair comparisons here: I provided a link that shared specific charges being brought to trial against Donald Trump that prosecutors have evidence for.
              What specific charges are being made against Joe Biden? What evidence has been found? They’ve been looking for over a year, and as you said:

              once somebody starts looking into them, it’s not going to be hard to find dirt

              So where’s the dirt?

              • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlM
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                8 months ago

                Yes, do you understand what moving the goalposts means?

                Yeah, that’s what you’re doing. Trump has not been convicted of any actual crimes, and last I checked US system says a person is innocent until proven guilty. I see this is a concept you continue to struggle with here.

                Or, to simplify: holding Trump and Democrats to different standards, where Trump’s trials haven’t finished yet so “you can’t call him guilty”, and Democrats haven’t even been charged and somehow “they are the same,” makes it obvious that you’re full of shit.

                Nobody is holding Trump to different standards. You’re just making a bullshit narrative here because you lack basic honesty.

                I… have mentioned that repeatedly. I even mentioned it where you quoted me. So again, so full oh shit you’re not bothering to read what other people are saying. They have been investigating for a year. What crimes have been found? What charges are they presenting? Why are the wanting to quietly end it?

                They’ve been investigating Trump since 2016, and still haven’t convicted him of anything. Yet, apparently that’s different somehow. The fact that you don’t even see how utterly full of shit you are is absolutely hilarious.

                So where’s the dirt?

                Once they start being investigated then we’ll know. It’s like if you were a psycho serial killer and nobody looked into you, then you too could be running around saying where’s the dirt.

                • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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                  8 months ago

                  They’ve been investigating Trump since 2016, and still haven’t convicted him of anything.

                  Once again: they have specific charges they are accusing him of and bringing him to trial for. They can name the specific crimes he is being accused of and when they were committed.

                  Then you come in with your vague “Democrats probably do illegal things too.” And act like those are the same thing.

                  Do you understand the difference between “specific” and “vague”?