On July 1, 2024, a date which may live in infamy, an out-of-control Supreme Court issued a ruling that shields presidents from criminal liability for anything that can remotely be deemed an “official act.”
The ruling appears to give White House occupants a license to murder political opponents (read story here).
The idea of trying to win an election by murdering one’s opponent isn’t new, of course. A couple years ago, a Florida Republican allegedly entertained that idea (see my posting here).
Long before him, there was Byron “Low Tax” Looper. Which brings me to Looper’s big mistake: He was only a county auditor, not president, when he murdered his election opponent. (For details, read my posting here.)
But it is new for the Supreme Court to institutionalize this practice. We haven’t had that before. But then, we haven’t had a Supreme Court like this one, either.
Trump, by his own admission, wants to be a dictator. He admires Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who has systematically eliminated rivals and critics by having them killed. He’s bragged about getting away with shooting people in the street, and has talked about using the military to kill protesters. Now it seems he can, if he returns to the White House.
Back to Looper. Not being president, he needed to get on very friendly terms with one. What Looper could have done, to take out his Democratic opponent, was go to President Trump and request a favor. If President Trump had ordered a hit on the Democrat, nobody would’ve been prosecuted.
Of course, this option wasn’t available to Looper, who died in prison in 2013. But it might work for the next “Low Tax” Looper, if voters return “Baby Hitler” Trump to the White House this fall. (Don’t ask me where that nickname came from; I have no idea who coined it.) And it’ll definitely work for Trump; the Supreme Court just said so.