Members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol have warned America for three years to take former President Donald Trump at his word.

Now, as Trump is poised to win the Republican presidential nomination, his criminal trials face delays that could stall them past Election Day, and his rhetoric grows increasingly authoritarian, some of those lawmakers find themselves following their own advice.

In mid-March, Trump said on social media that the committee members should be jailed. In December he vowed to be a dictator on “day one.” In August, he said he would “have no choice” but to lock up his political opponents.

“If he intends to eliminate our constitutional system and start arresting his political enemies, I guess I would be on that list,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose). “One thing I did learn on the committee is to pay attention and listen to what Trump says, because he means it.”

Lofgren added that she doesn’t yet have a plan in place to thwart potential retribution by Trump. But Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), who has long been a burr in Trump’s side, said he’s having “real-time conversations” with his staff about how to make sure he stays safe if Trump follows through on his threats.

“We’re taking this seriously, because we have to,” Schiff said. “We’ve seen this movie before … and how perilous it is to ignore what someone is saying when they say they want to be a dictator.”

  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    7 months ago

    he’ll have no trouble finding dirt on them because all US politicians are corrupt as fuck.

    And this is the problem with "both sides"ism.
    “Sure these Republican politicians are corrupt as fuck, but all politicians are corrupt as fuck. How do I know? Look at the Republicans!”

    They tried this with the whole impeachment of Joe Biden: start an investigation on bullshit and surely they’ll find something because everyone is just as corrupt as they are.

    They found nothing.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlM
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      22
      ·
      7 months ago

      If you think that Biden or the rest of the democrats are any less corrupt than republicans then you’re well and truly lost.

          • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            7 months ago

            Strangely none of that is about crimes being done by politicians.

            You know, the thing this entire thread is about: crimes.

            • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlM
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              7 months ago

              If you don’t think US politicians who execute the will of the oligarchy aren’t criminally corrupt then you’re childishly naive.

              • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                7 months ago

                You should really stop using words when you don’t know what they mean.

                criminally corrupt

                What crimes are being broken?

                The system being bad and broken doesn’t automatically make everyone criminals who should be in jail. Trump has broken laws and committed crimes. What crimes have his opponents committed to warrant being put in jail?

                • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlM
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  3
                  ·
                  7 months ago

                  Seems to me that you’re the one who doesn’t know what words mean. Can you point out a crime that Trump has actually been convicted of since you obviously know what words mean.

                  As I explained in my original comment, Trump will have no trouble finding crimes his opponents committed, the same way Trump’s own crimes have been found. What part of that are you struggling to understand?

                  Since you clearly have trouble wrapping your head around this concept I’ll try explain it to you again. US is run by corrupt people, and once somebody starts looking into them, it’s not going to be hard to find dirt. If you don’t understand why it’s going to be easy to find dirt on deeply corrupt people, then what else is there to say to you.

                  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    7 months ago

                    Can you point out a crime that Trump has actually been convicted of since you obviously know what words mean.

                    I don’t see why you’re asking for this since we both agree Trump is corrupt as fuck. As you said:

                    all US politicians are corrupt as fuck.

                    Which would include Trump, so why are you asking me to prove something we both agree on? Where we disagree is on the Democrats being equally corrupt, so the burden of proof is on you to show how the Democrats are corrupt / which crimes they have committed.

                    But here you go, here’s some lists of charges against Trump: https://www.politico.com/interactives/2023/trump-criminal-investigations-cases-tracker-list/

                    once somebody starts looking into them, it’s not going to be hard to find dirt

                    The Republicans have been looking into Joe Biden for some time now for their impeachment claims. What dirt have the found? Have the named any actual charges yet?

          • Natanael@slrpnk.net
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            7 months ago

            Where’s the study on who’s more corrupt? Corrupt people tend to do things that make people think they’re corrupt