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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Fri Aug 24, 2018, 02:55 PM Aug 2018

NRA Says FBI Is Treating Trump As Unfairly As Al Capone

1:13 P.M.

By Jonathan Chait@jonathanchait

President Trump has drawn upon his vast knowledge of American history and used the case of Al Capone as a point of comparison to defend his former campaign manager Paul Manafort. (Trump reportedly considered the Capone line especially clever, and expressed pride in his handiwork to advisers.)

But why waste such a clever historical analogy on a mere underling when it can be used on the boss himself? NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch informs her audience that the FBI is trying to pull the same tricks on Trump that they used to entrap the beloved Prohibition-era Chicago gang leader:

They’re trying to Al Capone the president. I mean, you remember. Capone didn’t go down for murder. Elliot Ness didn’t put him in for murder. He went in for tax fraud. Prosecutors didn’t care how he went down as long as he went down.

You might wonder why Trump’s supporters believe his legal defense is aided by analogizing him to a murderous criminal. Perhaps the answer is that Capone had several qualities that recommend him to the Republican grassroots base. He was a business owner — or, in modern Republican lingo, a Job Creator. He was an avid Second Amendment enthusiast. And, most importantly, Capone, like Trump, was a victim of the deep state.

Loesch’s argument centers on the fact that Capone was convicted for tax evasion, rather than more serious crimes like ordering murders or bribing public officials. Loesch doesn’t argue that Capone was innocent of tax evasion. (Though who could blame him for not wanting to hand over his hard-earned income to wasteful government bureaucracies?) Instead she argues that the prosecutorial injustice done to him was charging him for something other than his worst and most famous crime.

more
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/nras-dana-loesch-compares-trump-to-al-capone.html

12 replies

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Highlight:

NRA Says FBI Is Treating Trump As Unfairly As Al Capone (Original Post) DonViejo Aug 2018 OP

Oh, don't your worry your sweet lil' heart, Dana ... the proof of criminal conspiracy to defraud mr_lebowski Aug 2018 #1

Borowitz? Bernardo de La Paz Aug 2018 #2

what the hell?? bdamomma Aug 2018 #3

Why yes, yes they are trixie2 Aug 2018 #10

So typical... CincyDem Aug 2018 #4

Al Capone was treated unfairly? Sanity Claws Aug 2018 #5

No, the FBI treated Al Capone's victims more unfairly than him by going after taxes. haele Aug 2018 #6

I'd rather have Uncle Al for president MountCleaners Aug 2018 #7

... The president himself is perhaps the origins of the .. Capone metaphor. In July, struggle4progress Aug 2018 #8

Well, he did die in prison of untreated syphilis, so there is that. Iterate Aug 2018 #9

NRA, lol duforsure Aug 2018 #11

She says that like it's a bad thing... Wounded Bear Aug 2018 #12

mr_lebowski

(33,643 posts)

1. Oh, don't your worry your sweet lil' heart, Dana ... the proof of criminal conspiracy to defraud

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 02:59 PM

Aug 2018

These United States of America ... committed by your Cult Leader IQ45 and his family and cronies ... is barreling down the pike, sugar.

Best brace for the impact ...

Bernardo de La Paz

(49,002 posts)

2. Borowitz?

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:00 PM

Aug 2018

bdamomma

(63,849 posts)

3. what the hell??

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:01 PM

Aug 2018

is the NRA equating one mobster to another mobster.

trixie2

(905 posts)

10. Why yes, yes they are

Reply to bdamomma (Reply #3)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:37 PM

Aug 2018

CincyDem

(6,359 posts)

4. So typical...

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:07 PM

Aug 2018

...trying to make is sounds like it was "only tax fraud.

These are the same guys who find out some black kid has been sitting in prison for 5-10-15 years doing time on a rap he didn't commit. DNA project or something finally sets the record straight and the guy walks. These guys say - well, he may not have done that one but he did something so it wasn't wasted time.

WTF? OK that this kid went away for the wrong crime cuz, ya know, he probably did something he should go away for. But Al Capone - they couldn't get him on murder so there's some epic miscarriage of justice that they got him for tax evasion.

Just WTF-ity F'ck.

I'm as so tired of these asshats.

The job I want is the contract on reinstalling the goal posts every time these guys move 'em. It's getting so you have to put them on wheels.

Sanity Claws

(21,849 posts)

5. Al Capone was treated unfairly?

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:07 PM

Aug 2018

Tell that to all of the families of the people he had killed in order to make money during Prohibition.

Donnie and Al are two birds of a feather.

haele

(12,654 posts)

6. No, the FBI treated Al Capone's victims more unfairly than him by going after taxes.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:07 PM

Aug 2018

Likewise, the prosecutorial "injustice" of going after taxes, campaign violations, fraud, etc. rather than the other crimes Drumpf may or may be guilty of is more an injustice to the 80% of citizens of the U.S. that are being harmed by Drumpf's mob activities with the Russians and the US corporate "oligarch - wanna-bes" that are shredding the Constitution for their own profit and perceived comfort.

It's not unfair or unjust to go after criminals for only half or as little of a quarter of the crimes they committed simply because it's easier to prove they committed those particular crimes.

The Law can always go after all the other crimes - the murders, assaults, extortion, racketeering, insurance fraud, etc. any time they have enough witnesses or other evidence to prove guilt beyond doubt once the criminal is off the streets.

Haele

MountCleaners

(1,148 posts)

7. I'd rather have Uncle Al for president

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:11 PM

Aug 2018

I hail from "Uncle Al"'s old stomping grounds. When I was a kid, there were stories about him. He fed the poor. He liked to party. Sure he killed hundreds of people, but having grown up in a town with a lot of mobsters, I'd rather have the old Italian mafia in charge than these people. I think they had more respect for American institutions.

struggle4progress

(118,282 posts)

8. ... The president himself is perhaps the origins of the .. Capone metaphor. In July,

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:11 PM

Aug 2018

interviewed by Sean Hannity, Trump said, “With Paul Manafort, who really is a nice man, you look at what’s going on with him, it’s like Al Capone” ...
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/150890/trump-supporters-seem-think-al-capone-unfairly-prosecuted

Iterate

(3,020 posts)

9. Well, he did die in prison of untreated syphilis, so there is that.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 03:23 PM

Aug 2018

Maybe the analogy can work after all. One can hope.

duforsure

(11,885 posts)

11. NRA, lol

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 04:01 PM

Aug 2018

After they work with russia funneling money into this country's elections and to KGOP Congress members, that's a joke anything coming from them now. Trump must be getting pretty desperate , and maybe putin too as this all caves in around them , and they are stopped. NRA put money over country, and the previous president of their group should be in prison.

Wounded Bear

(58,656 posts)

12. She says that like it's a bad thing...

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Fri Aug 24, 2018, 04:07 PM

Aug 2018

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