Former DOJ officials warned in a new letter that the “fabric of the nation, the rule of law and the future of the Democracy are at stake in this election.”
For Justice Department employees who had spent weeks contemplating the possibility of two-time federal criminal defendant Donald Trump returning to the presidency, Joe Biden’s decision to drop out and endorse Kamala Harris offered a sense of relief.
Former and current Justice Department employees believe that a future president Harris, a former prosecutor, unlike Trump, would respect the norms that have been in place to ensure DOJ independence in the half-century since Watergate.
Those fears of another Trump term are central to a new letter endorsing Harris, signed by more than 40 former Justice Department officials who served under presidents of both parties. They include former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former deputy attorneys general Sally Yates, David Ogden and Jamie Gorelick, and John McKay, who was appointed as a top federal prosecutor in Washington state during the George W. Bush administration, among others.
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Trump “regularly ignored the rule of law” as president, the former officials wrote, pointing out that one of his first acts was an “unconstitutional Muslim travel ban” and one of his last acts was an attempt “to stay in power by defying election results and the will of the American people.”
I’d argue she’s not a good candidate. She’s just not senile or a dumb racist facist…
Jesus Christ American politics is embarrassing…
Okay.
In your opinion: Who would be a good candidate?
When she ran in 2020, she was like 4th or 5th in my list.
I think where we are no, there’s no other options logistically, and I am happy with her. But we shouldn’t pretend she was the best candidate.
If Biden never ran for a 2nd term (as should have happened), do you think Harris would have been guaranteed to win?
I think no candidate is a guarantee. All we can do is increase the likelihood. Right now there are two groups against Harris, Republicans being a given:
The people who denounced Biden’s Presidency and claim he’s done nothing, despite his rather impressive record these last four years.
Those who denounce Harris by attaching her to Biden and then complain about how she can’t win and that both are bad for the county because [insert democrat party].
What we never get are reasons. The simple reality is that you may have your opinions, and the opinions I hear so often are old. A courtesy search allows you to learn a lot about any candidate and member of any party. However, I can’t expect you to spend the time to learn about any of them yourself. The Dems get this much at least, and so does Harris. It’s why she’s pushing so hard.
Now’s the time to show us why she can be President and why she can beat Trump. 2020 doesn’t matter. Now does. Reasons matter.
I will just say that I am excited she doesn’t have the baggage Biden has and I am hopeful that as time goes on I will appreciate her more in her own right. I am not there yet, and I assume the person you were responding to originally was in a similar place.
She hasn’t really earned this, but she has the opportunity to prove she deserves it.
No one who can actually win/no one democrats would actually endorse.
Kamala is basically just another Joe Biden. Someone to toe the line and keep the status quo. Is she better than Trump? Absofuckinglutely. Am I voting for her? Hell yeah. But she’s just more of the same. And the same has sucked for a long time…
Also if she wins I feel like 4 years later were going to be having this exact same conversation about protecting America from Republican facist while Democrats ignore their constituents while they fight amongst themselves.
I’m sorry. I’m not trying to be one of those ppl who just complain but I’m just so very very tired of our politics and it gets harder and harder to fight off voter apathy…
That’s the issue with American politics. It’s so overtaken by corporate lobbying that “good candidate” and “electable candidate” are mutually exclusive.
So take what energy you do have and with the rest of us take these next four years and work to fix it. There is a chance if we do it together.
It’s a very typical response I have gotten from people since Biden became the presumptive nominee and now that he’s dropped out for Harris.
Here’s how it usually goes-
“It should have been someone else!”
“Did you canvass for someone else?”
“No, it was inevitable that it was going to be Biden!”
“Okay, who would you have voted for in a primary instead of Biden?”
“No one, they’re all centrists!”
Before any US election I seem to read everywhere “go vote, this is the most important election of your lifetime” or something. And while I agree that you should vote whenever you have the option, it gets old to have “the most important election” every 4 years. Maybe that’s a result of the bad electoral system, maybe it’s sensationalism, idk.
In any case, I wish the US good luck with this election and hope you can get Trump out once and for all, and tbh I feel like with Kamala Harris you actually have a shot, while with Biden I was convinced it was over already.
When one of the candidates just essentially said it will be the last election of our lifetimes to a group of Christian supporters a couple of days ago, I’d say it is the most important election of our lifetimes.
I guess you are right, I just hope the next one can be super boring in comparison!
As they say, a Chinese curse is “may you live in interesting times.”
You got your downvotes, but your comment was what I was thinking. I never would have voted for her in a primary, but I am happy with her now!
You’re right. Kamala is about as centrist as you can get with the only thing going for her being the current VP.
No one the could even possibly jump in and be a better candidate, but a two primary without Biden burdening it would have been better to nominate a true Dem candidate.
I have repeatedly heard her voting record is relatively close in line with Bernie’s, who is as about as left as they come here in the US. I haven’t verified that, but if it is true, how can you call her a centrist? Do you have information I lack?
You may point to her being a “cop,” which is a fair enough critique, but centrist is not really what I expected to hear
She also made calls for ceasefire back in March, which indicates to me that she would be at least a fair bit left of Biden
Being VP and calling for a ceasefire vs a President calling for a ceasefire is very different.
But I agree she is further left than Biden and am more eager to support her then when Biden was running.
You’ve triggered the lemmy downvote avalanche. We don’t do well with nuance here.