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PaperclipPerfector  12d ago (text post)   33233 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025

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Maybe it's the cajun in me but what is wrong with a quid pro quo? The president is supposed to enact his agenda and that entails some corrupt deals. If you don't like it vote him out.

Nothing wrong with a quid-pro-quo when it comes to things that either side is entitled to use as bargaining chips. You get me an airport, I'll help your stadium, we'll build a bridge, I'll pass your law, all that's regular politics.

What's awful about this is that both "I won't obstruct immigration enforcement" and "I will have your criminal indictment dismissed" are both beyond the Overton window of things to be bargained with.

IOW -- there's nothing wrong with trading favors, provided that thing you're doing is actually supposed to be a discretionary thing.

Exactly which part is awful? Keeping in mind the order in which these things have been done.

I'm willing to agree that local jurisdictions actively obstructing enforcement of immigration law is awful. Lots of left-leaning jurisdictions have been doing that for decades though.

Dismissing criminal indictments is pretty bad too. But if it's the only stick they've got that's big enough to get them to stop obstructing immigration enforcement, I can live with it. I don't exactly love it, but if that's where we're at now, well then okay I guess.

The part that's awful is being rewarded for doing awful things or, if you prefer, allowing people that chose to do awful things to be rewarded for stopping it.

Behavior that is rewarded is repeated.

Would you also be happy to apply that reasoning to Biden (Sr. and Jr.) and Ukraine? Surely "get Ukraine tangled up in US patronage networks" was part of the Biden admin's agenda.

I'd say it was part of Ukraine's agenda and Hunter Biden's agenda, but Biden was off the Burisma board before Joe Biden became President.

Yes. I’m not sure why some favor trading with a second world country that serves mostly as the punchline for jokes about corruption is worth getting upset about.

Yes? I'm against Biden's agenda, and I'm against US patronage networks psy-opping half the world, but it's not something beyond the pale in pursuit of political goals.

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