Extradition process and justice system are too slow for would-be presidential candidate
Donald Trump, a man who has previously and may once again tout himself as a presidential candidate, believes that the American justice system is too slow and cumbersome to deal with whistleblowers like former NSA analyst Edward Snowden.
Labeling Snowden a “spy”, Trump went on Fox News to advocate his immediate “execution”.
In a vomit inducing interview with Fox and Friends, Trump, in his infinite wisdom, stated:
“You know, spies in the old days used to be executed.”
“This guy is becoming a hero in some circles. Now, I will say, with the passage of time, even people that were sort of liking him and were trying to go on his side are maybe dropping out…”
“We have to get him back and we have to get him back fast. It could take months or it could take years, and that would be pathetic.” The Donald noted.
Blatantly advocating that Snowden be assassinated, Trump suggested that the US would somehow cease to exist, should he be allowed to live and divulge secret information on government surveillance and other unconstitutional practices.
“This guy’s a bad guy and, you know, there’s still a thing called execution,” he said.
“You really have to take a strong… You have thousands of people with access to material like this. We’re not going to have a country any longer.” Trump continued.
Ironically, that reasoning was EXACTLY why Snowden went public with the material on the NSA in the first place – because he could not face living in a country that treats its own citizens like suspects and actively spies on all their communications.
Trump also labelled journalists who covered the story “disgraceful”, saying that newspapers should not have printed the details of the revelations.
Trump’s lack of understanding of the Bill Of Rights and the Fourth Amendment will not come as a surprise to regular readers, given his attacks on former Congressman Ron Paul last year.
Despite him being the most constitutionally sound presidential candidate in decades, Trump called Paul a “joke” candidate, and belittled his Libertarian outlook on foreign policy, saying Paul did not care about foreign affairs such as “if Iran has a nuclear weapon that can wipe out Israel.”
“You know, spies in the old days used to be executed.”
This is untrue?
Spies are executed if caught during wartime. War of course meaning during times of actual military conflict with a sovereign country.
The "War on Drugs"(TM) and "War on Terror"(TM) and "War on poverty"(TM) don't qualify.
During peacetime, spies are deported or jailed, depending on their status as possessing diplomatic immunity or not.
The "Old Days" Trump refers to are WWI & WWII.
Were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg “spies” … executed on June 19, 1953, for treason and conspiracy to commit espionage, relating to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union?
Were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg “spies” … executed on June 19, 1953, for treason and conspiracy to commit espionage, relating to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union?
They were before my time, so I don't know. Have to see the law and facts on the case, which I have zero time for, though there's no question that political/national fear would have played a role in the cold war 50's, even if the law may not have quite supported the death penalty.
In any event, there's no comparison to that and what Snowden did, which was basically to humiliate the US establishment for it's illegal activity. Regretably, there has been and won't be any legal repercussions against the NSA, including the chief who, on video record, outright lied to Congress about the NSA data collection activity which is a crime, simply because the proof of that crime was provided by Snowden. And no politician wants to give Snowden the honor of bringing down an NSA chief, so the crime is purposely overlooked.
In any event, there's no comparison to that and what Snowden did, which was basically to humiliate the US establishment for it's illegal activity. Regretably, there has been and won't be any legal repercussions against the NSA, including the chief who, on video record, outright lied to Congress about the NSA data collection activity which is a crime, simply because the proof of that crime was provided by Snowden. And no politician wants to give Snowden the honor of bringing down an NSA chief, so the crime is purposely overlooked.
This is of course true.
I never though Snowden was classified as a spy and even if he were, I would never suggest he be executed. I was merely commenting on the statement that “spies were executed”….which they were.
I feel the article tried to give the impression that Trump believed that Snowden should be summarily executed without benefit of a trial. I don’t see that Trump was saying that. Maybe I misunderstand the author’s intent….again, I don’t think so.
I can understand Snowden’s motive and will not condemn that. What he did, needed to be done….but in a different manner, if at all possible. I can only wonder if there were not a better method for him to accomplish his goal. Oh, I read what all the different articles had to say with varying opinions….but none gave me a factual satisfaction to possible correct methodology.
I don’t know how much damage Snowden did, if any….or what the tradeoff to cost vs results is, or will be. I can only hope for minimum cost.
Moving on: I kinda like Trump, not his personality which stinks sometimes (maybe most times)….but his no nonsense way of addressing problems and getting things done. I have seen what enough bad politicians can do as president, maybe a good businessman can do better. Nothing could be worse that what we have now.
