r/politics • u/RB_Reich Robert Reich • Sep 26 '19

Let’s talk about impeachment! I'm Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, author, professor, and co-founder of Inequality Media. AMA. AMA-Finished

I'm Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor for President Clinton and Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. I also co-founded Inequality Media in 2014.

Earlier this year, we made a video on the impeachment process: The Impeachment Process Explained

Please have a look and subscribe to our channel for weekly videos. (My colleagues are telling me I should say, “Smash that subscribe button,” but that sounds rather violent to me.)

Let’s talk about impeachment, the primaries, or anything else you want to discuss.

Proof: https://i.imgur.com/tiGP0tL.jpg

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16

u/dontknowwhybutimhere I voted Sep 26 '19

How likely is it that we see Trump criminally prosecuted at the end of his presidential tenure, whether it be through the 2020 election or impeachment process?

43

u/RB_Reich Robert Reich Sep 26 '19

If he's not reelected in 2020, the statute of limitations would not bar criminal prosecution of Trump on any number of issues.

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u/chaoticneutral262 Sep 26 '19

The decision to prosecute an ex-president for crimes committed in office shouldn't be taken lightly. The precedent it would set could be dangerous.

8

u/kzintech Sep 27 '19

Yeah, imagine our top elected executive official, the employee of We the People, having to account for their actions! What a terrible precedent!

/s

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u/chaoticneutral262 Sep 27 '19

Well, you are right but keep in mind that literally every president is accused by the other side of committing crimes while in office. Murder, war crimes, treason, you name it. There is a danger that prosecuting a former president could quickly devolve into a tit-for-tat downward spiral of revenge. Ford pardoned Nixon because he knew that prosecuting him would tear the country apart. I'm not saying that presidents should be immune, only that prosecuting one should not be taken lightly.

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u/kzintech Sep 27 '19

"Accused of crimes" isn't the same as "indicted and prosecuted after due process".

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u/hypermodernvoid Sep 27 '19

Well, you are right but keep in mind that literally every president is accused by the other side of committing crimes while in office.

This is precisely the problem, yes. Conservatives had a whole list of things they thought Obama should be convicted for. Hillary didn't even win - she just ran. In fact, just being Secretary of State, they wanted to jail her. It is a very dangerous precedent, even though in this case, in my sincere opinion, Trump has done something even worse than Nixon. Far worse, really.