This cannot be emphasized enough: in healthy democracies, this is absolutely normal. It is in “banana republics” that criminals go into politics to stay out of jail.
From one of my colleagues two weeks ago: “Legal cases against former heads of state are commonplace in healthy democracies.” freedomhouse.org/article/us-i...
Legal cases against former heads of state are commonplace in healthy democracies. The United States, with its strong rule-of-law tradition and independent judicial institutions, is entirely capable of...
Or hummus republics, apparently.
In Illinois we imprisoned 4 governors, 3 dems and 1 repub. It's a blue state.
The Italian equivalent of “spring forward, fall back” literally translates as “former president sent to prison, time to change the clocks”
The US Department of Justice declines to prosecute a large number of elected officials it has evidence of wrongdoing on.
I know this shouldn't be taken seriously (literally?), but it illustrates a common misconception. You, regular citizen, are not more vulnerable to prosecution than a former president -- nor should you be! If you go into big-time politics, you should expect greater scrutiny.
France loves to try their former presidents!
Come give me a shout when George W. Bush faces a war crimes trial and I’ll be right on board.
A significant concern on the conservative side of the divide is that the judge appears (to conservatives) to not be behaving in a fair and impartial matter. This compromises faith in the system.
Heads of state shouldn’t be treated differently from any other elected official who commits crimes.