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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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politics
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I'm not going to downvote you for saying something I disagree with like everyone else seems to be doing, but I think that would be a way worse outcome for a variety of reasons.
The most obvious: Trump escapes punishment for his crimes. One if not the central issue here is that no one should be above the law and if we fail to convict and punish a president who commits crimes, we demonstrate that some people are indeed above the law. Holding him criminally accountable is therefore a test of the very integrity of our judicial system.
If we "trade" Trump a clean slate for his promise (or somehow a legally enforceable agreement, although I'm not sure there's any real legal ground for that) to stay out of politics, then we demonstrate that this whole thing really is about politics, not justice, and the Right's view of this whole thing is validated.
Trump is wily enough that he will find a way to continue having an influence over politics even without the ability to tweet or use other social media or public statements. One of the benefits of putting him in prison is that he can't do this anywhere near as easily.
Trump's base will consider his freedom a win and accept any explanation he provides them for why it was a "good deal" for them as well. He can then choose any proxy candidate he cares for and his base will obediently vote for them in Trump's place, creating a puppet president. Again, this is not so easily done if he's in prison.
Voters of all stripes could see this as a sign of weakness in the Biden administration or an indication that the cases against Trump really were flimsier than the media has been reporting. This could potentially affect how people vote or voter turnout in 2024.
Overall, I think it's a no-brainer: we have to prosecute Trump to the best of our ability. Failure to do so proves our judicial system is broken and leaves Trump free to continue to influence politics. The GOP will remain the Trump Party for as long as he is alive and able to speak cogently. No, for the good of our country and our political system, we need to give him what he deserves. We're at a very precarious moment in our history right now, wherein close to half of our country has abandoned reason and empiricism in favor of blind loyalty to a demagogue. In 20 years, our history must reflect that we didn't cave or compromise with this insanity and instead asserted that truth and justice are vitally important to us as a nation. I don't care if it hurts half the nation's feelings. Hopefully, in 20 years, those people's children will grow up to know their parents were sadly deluded by their own prejudices and political biases, and we may yet see the return of a sane conservative populace.