{"id":18214,"date":"2016-11-27T20:36:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-27T20:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=18214"},"modified":"2016-11-27T20:38:19","modified_gmt":"2016-11-27T20:38:19","slug":"trump-damages-due-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=18214","title":{"rendered":"Trump damages due process"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"bergdahl\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Donald J. Trump proved beyond anyone’s doubt that political candidates can — and do — say anything without regard to the consequences to certain\u00a0cherished American principles … such as,\u00a0oh,\u00a0due process.<\/p>\n

While running for president, Trump condemned a U.S. Army sergeant as a “rotten traitor.” The man in question is Bowe Bergdahl, who is set to be court-martialed in the spring on charges that he walked off his post in Afghanistan before he was captured by Taliban terrorists.<\/p>\n

He was held captive for five years. Then he was released in a prisoner swap with U.S. officials.<\/p>\n

I am not going to make an assertion about Bergdahl’s guilt or innocence. I wasn’t there. Neither was Trump. Or anyone other than the Taliban terrorists and Bergdahl. That didn’t prevent Trump from issuing a blanket campaign-stump conviction of the young man.<\/p>\n

Moreover,\u00a0as the New York Times wondered in an editorial published today, the rants of the future commander in chief likely have put Bergdahl’s right to a fair trail in extreme jeopardy.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/11\/26\/opinion\/sunday\/the-soldier-donald-trump-called-a-traitor.html?ref=opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

As the Times stated: “Sergeant Bergdahl is charged with desertion and misbehavior in front of the enemy; a guilty verdict could result in a sentence anywhere from no jail time to life. But how can he get a fair trial in the military justice system when the next commander in chief has proclaimed his guilt and accused him of treason?<\/p>\n

“The short answer is he can\u2019t.”<\/p>\n

The Army has charged Bergdahl with desertion and he could be sentenced to prison for the rest of his life if he’s convicted.<\/p>\n

Trump’s proclamation of guilt of one of the men who soon will be under his command speaks to his utter disregard for the rule of law and of the due process that is accorded to all criminal defendants.<\/p>\n

The Times suggests that President Obama might grant Bergdahl a pardon to allow him to “rebuild his life” and avoid what it calls a “questionable” prosecution. The Times states that Bergdahl had a pre-existing mental condition when he enlisted in the Army, which granted him an enlistment waiver.<\/p>\n

Given the poison that the next commander in chief has inserted into this pre-trial discussion, the current commander in chief ought to take a hard look at a pardon.<\/p>\n

Trump’s rhetorical recklessness only demonstrates his unfitness for the job he is about to assume.<\/p>\n\n

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Donald J. Trump proved beyond anyone’s doubt that political candidates can — and do — say anything without regard to the consequences to certain\u00a0cherished American principles … such as,\u00a0oh,\u00a0due process. While running for president, Trump condemned a U.S. Army sergeant as a “rotten traitor.” The man in question is Bowe Bergdahl, who is set to … Continue reading Trump damages due process<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,13,14],"tags":[167,540,722,1424,3360,4501,5041],"class_list":["post-18214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-news","category-national-news","category-political-news","tag-afghan-war","tag-barack-obama","tag-bowe-bergdahl","tag-donald-trump","tag-ny-times","tag-taliban","tag-us-army"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18214"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18218,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18214\/revisions\/18218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}