I, too, would prefer that Donald Trump were in another country. Indefinitely.
Donald Trump has come under fire on social media after saying he'd rather be "in the south of France" than "this country frankly" during a rally on Tuesday.
The event took place in Windham, New Hampshire, with Trump addressing the three criminal indictments he is facing. He also spoke about a possible fourth, over allegations he acted illegally in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in Georgia.
[…]
Speaking in New Hampshire, Trump addressed the allegations against him. He said: "They know it's a phony story. They say he's going to jail."
He added: "I could have been relaxing at Mar-a-Lago or in the south of France, which I would prefer to being in this country frankly."
Not the south of France, though. And, dear Lord, definitely not my country. I’m thinking more along the lines of… [scans news headlines] Niger.
There’s been some debate about whether Biden should offer Trump a federal pardon (JVL posted a thought experiment about this on Tuesday) and I am firmly on team “Hell, No.”
Aside from the principle that he should be held accountable for his crimes against democracy - assuming he is found guilty in a fair trial, of course - there is the simple observation, based on Trump’s decades as a businessman, celebrity and President of the United States, that there is absolutely zero possibility of him adhering to the terms of any deal that would see him avoid prosecution.
But some kind of exile deal, that sees him voluntarily giving up his citizenship and flying his 757 to some other country where he can yell at clouds all he wants? I could be talked into that.
Here’s your chance to get everyone off your back, Niger coup leaders. I’m just saying.
I’ve seen some variation on this poster in several independent bookstores lately, and I admire the sentiment.
But I suspect if I went in and asked for a copy of Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage, which activists demanded be withdrawn from my local library (and which I haven’t read - neither has the activist quoted in this local alt-weekly story, it turns out - and may very well be terrible, but I’d rather come to that conclusion myself) they’d look at me kind of funny and maybe politely ask me to leave.
After all, as the great Kat Rosenfeld argues, it’s only censorship and banning when the other guys do it. What we’re engaged in is responsible content curation.
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