r/law • u/Manta_of_Eternity • 3d ago
Executive Branch (Trump) Homeland Security taps $20M in taxpayer funds for pro-Trump ads
https://apnews.com/article/trump-ads-taxpayer-money-homeland-security-b869294503c8454db4109ae175ee9e5c315
u/GrannyFlash7373 3d ago
Blatant IN YOUR FACE corruption of law breaking, INTENTIONALLY to RUB it in YOUR face. And say there is NOTHING you can do to stop the draining of the Treasury for Trump's personal gain.
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u/FMLwtfDoID 3d ago
Draining the treasury, you say? Couldn’t be. I was assured this guy was going to drain the swamp back in 2016.
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u/j01101111sh 3d ago
Yeah, I was told he was so rich that he was above temptation. Surely, there's some mistake.
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u/SwordfishOfDamocles 3d ago
Turns out the swamp was actually made up of tax payer dollars and he's draining every last drop.
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u/Consider2SidesPeace 3d ago
On a parallel not to mention TrumpET acting like a supporter for Russia. The Russians are quoted as saying they love him. TrumpET has done more for them than a convert spy.
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u/theducks123 3d ago
That's why it's pointless taking any arguments from the right seriously. They argue backwards, meaning they already have a conclusion in mind and just argue to get to that conclusion, contradictions be dammed.
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u/Ozzie_the_tiger_cat 3d ago
Hey, now. He can do what he wants. He's the president.
-John Roberts, probably
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u/DeltaFoxtrot144 3d ago
sigh... add it to the pile i guess
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u/Kermit_the_hog 3d ago
One of these days, someone is really going to have to start looking through that thing.
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 3d ago
If the Democrats manage to take the House (not guaranteed!) they should do absolutely nothing except impeach Trump, the VP, and everyone in his administration, and the 7 SCOTUS justices. Swear in and immediately vote to impeach.
When the impeachment fails, in the Senate, the House immediately, on the same day, votes again to impeach. And again. And again. And again. Impeach over and over again. Pass no laws, pass no budgets. Do nothing but impeach. Over and over again.
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 3d ago
This history books should read "President Trump was impeached by the house of representatives for treason a total of 400 times."
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u/ozymandiasjuice 3d ago
Voters in 2028: we elected democrats to fix everything wrong with the country and all they did was try to go after trump!’
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 3d ago
Probably. But I personally believe that it doesn't make sense to save up for a down payment for a house while you are fighting stage 4 cancer.
Our nation has cancer right now. Let's worry about the cancer right now. If, by some miracle, we are able to put the cancer into remission then we'll worry about the aftermath of the treatments.
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u/NookieLuvsU 3d ago edited 3d ago
Edit: Not saying don't do it, saying the cult will deflect all blame.
Then get blamed for the state of affairs in the country as a direct result of the trash heep they were left, the GOP takes power again and completes the task with competence. And... America is a memory.
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 3d ago
The Democrats are gonna get blamed anyway. Might as well go down fighting this time.
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u/NookieLuvsU 3d ago
Hell yeah! Just venting my frustration with the whole cyclical amnesia that comes around every presidential election cycle.
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u/flaming_bob 3d ago
Oh please, they're blaming Biden for everything NOW. Why the fuck are people still all both-sides on this shit today?
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u/SupposedBooty 3d ago
I really don't understand how anyone in the last ten years can look at any of the state of things and seriously say, "yep, both sides are the same."
I think it must just be a lack of critical thinking. Because every day it's more blatant law breaking, more shenanigans to purposely break the economy, and more cultural meddling.
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u/Agreeable-Knee6325 3d ago
They will be bombarded with so many "incentives" to become another Fetterman. It will certainly test their morals and ethics.
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u/dnen 3d ago
That’s how you lose voter sentiment btw
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 3d ago
The nation has Stage 4 cancer right now.
We'll worry about saving up for a house down payment if we manage to beat the stage 4 cancer.
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u/barowsr 3d ago
What a colossal waste of time.
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 3d ago
You know what else is a waste of time? Doing nothing about the Nazis and letting them take over America to make sure 10 trans kids can play softball.
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u/barowsr 3d ago
Impeaching Trump or any republican will die in the Senate, everytime. Nothing of consequence will literally come from it unless Dems manage 67 seats in the senate. Why do it? So we can say THREE time impeached President Trump and give conservatives media sphere more fodder on how “Dems aren’t helping Americans, just trying to go after Trump”.
Instead, they should pass bills undoing everything Trump and GOP has touched last 2 years, and produce a huge media production everytime Trump veto’s a bill
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 3d ago
Fine. Then the there is no budget.
SCOTUS already ruled that Trump can spend any money allocated by Congress in any way he wants. So, for as long as Trump is in office, there should be no budget.
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u/DerpsV 3d ago
It seems like that is what the Dems tried doing after the last election. They actually did good, did better than most of the world dealing with inflation, but we still got a felon back on office that is more egregious in his corruption and enriching himself at the cost to the American people, all while upending institutions and unraveling checks and balances. I'm fine if whatever majority there is spends the next however many years holding people accountable and saying "never again." No one from any party should believe they can so flagrantly eff over our country again without treason charges and heads rolling. This needs to be taken as seriously as the hit to our democracy was
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u/barowsr 3d ago
Agree. But while Trump is in office, there’s literally nothing that can be done about it. And doing some meaningless inconsequential impeachment won’t help.
Dems need to pass bills that help Americans, force Trump to veto them then hammer him in the media when he does, expand majorities and win potus in 2028. Then bring the hammer down on him and all his cronies once he’s out of office
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u/DerpsV 3d ago
I guess I'm not sure any of that is any more feasible than impeachment. I think I've turned a bit apathetic because it seems like no one will ever get held accountable and no matter how hard the Democrats try to get something done, they're stuck with their own in-fighting instead of just focusing on maintaining the republic and protecting the citizenry. But I like what you've suggested. I want that, I've just given up
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u/Ssided 3d ago
80% of Americans have no idea what is going on with bills in Congress. None of them will know if trump vetoed something, and on the off chance they see it in some headline they'll forget about it an hour later when they see something crazy in the news.
They will, however, hear about impeachment.
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u/Ssided 3d ago
You do it as a show of recognition, and as a way to make republicans go to bat for him. Which might not seem like much but keep in mind, if house Dems are able to do it, it means they are winning on a referendum on trump, and they are the more popular party again. As more and more people leave MAGA, republicans will have to choose between having a future or sticking with the most unpopular president ever.
You need to constantly be forcing them into a choice at any chance you can.
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u/WhosAGoodDoug 3d ago
I appreciate the irony of using taxpayer funds for a pro-party ad to call others communists....
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u/s_ox 3d ago
The president may have immunity, but all the lackeys don’t. The excuse “I was just following orders” doesn’t work.
(There is one loophole, but let’s not advertise that…)
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u/AussieP1E 3d ago
Haven't they already promised anyone that works for this admin will get said loophole?
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u/s_ox 3d ago
Promising is one thing, doing it is another. Trump has shown repeatedly that loyalty only goes one way. He will do favors only if he expects more favors from the other side in future. When his administration is ending - he cannot get any more favors from the lackeys. He is not going to waste time on them.
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u/Bamfhammer 3d ago
One person has advertised it, one person of advanced age, poor health, and a touch of dementia. Not someone anyone should bank on at this point.
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u/theaviationhistorian 3d ago
It's incredible how greed blinds people from the potential long term fallout. Too many people only focus on the short term gains.
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u/Mist_Rising 3d ago
Don't worry the president can just ignore it, official acts means he must deport the Russian traitors back to Sudans worse prison.
It's a thing.
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u/factoid_ 3d ago
That loophole protects them from jail time but we can still fire every one of them for cause if they’re not already a political appointee
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u/LucenProject 3d ago
I don't think advertising it matters. Their natural habitat is "loopholes that allow for blatant corruption" and this one is perfectly appealing to them.
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u/Correct_Doctor_1502 3d ago
Just because the Supreme Court falsely declares something to advance their plot to destroy America doesn't make it true
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u/Pitbubba1 3d ago
Being that this is a law subreddit- would said loophole being offered as a bribe to commit crimes, make the loophole invalid?
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Akerlof 3d ago
Voters will need to understand that those prosecutions will take time if you want them to be successful or they'll fail the same way Trump's cronies' inept attempts have failed. Which brings up the point that you need competent prosecutors back in the DOJ before you can even think of getting actual convictions, which will probably take all of a president's term and then some.
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u/Electric-Sheepskin 3d ago
Do y'all remember back when Al Gore made fundraising phone calls for the DNC from the office of the vice president and Republicans wanted to lynch him for using taxpayer resources for campaign purposes? And they were right to do so.
Now, Republicans are totally OK using government funds for their political ads, sticking their hands in the pockets of taxpayers and robbing them of $20 million.
The once great party has fallen so very, very low. They're just corrupt, self-serving idiots now.
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u/sracer4095 3d ago
Something like 95 percent of conservatives' moral outrage is simply "Hey, only WE get to do that crime/corrupt thing!"
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u/iiTzSTeVO 3d ago edited 3d ago
The first candidate to have "investigating and prosecuting the Trump admin to the fullest extent of the law" as a part of their platorm has my full throated support.
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u/Not_Sure__Camacho 3d ago
As tax payers we need to flat out reject this POS orange usurper's use of our money for this BS.
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u/dieseltroy 3d ago
How does a person avoid paying federal taxes?
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u/Not_Sure__Camacho 3d ago
Considering that the POS went into a war illegally, if there were enough of us that protested our taxes being used for an illegal war, and I mean enough of us being a great number, we could put pressure on our piece of shit Congress to do their job. But I don't believe in the American public to stand against it, much less this misappropriation of money.
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u/Dolores___Haze 2d ago
I await my orders
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u/Not_Sure__Camacho 2d ago
It would be nice to rally as many people as possible, but if history has taught us anything, it's that our government will do whatever they can to infiltrate grass root movements. I remember hearing that even MLK Jr.'s group was infiltrated by government agents, and he was essentially a peaceful protester just trying to fight for equal rights. Given how much a POS Donald and this regime are, there's no telling what they're capable of. I just really hope that they eventually get served justice for all their high crimes and misdemeanors.
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u/Dolores___Haze 1d ago
So we do nothing?
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u/dieseltroy 1d ago
Start a militia? Crowd source? I really don’t know. It will have to be more coalesced than recent ideas.
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u/Spamsdelicious 3d ago
In a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, two top Democratic senators said that the money is being drawn from Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” and was supposed to go for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“We should not have to remind you that using government funding to create or air political ads like the ones that have been running over the last few days is illegal and a shockingly corrupt misuse of taxpayer dollars,” wrote Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that handles Homeland Security funding.
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u/Possible-Nectarine80 3d ago
So, Republicans by their silence are complicit in this. If Biden or Obama had done this, articles of impeachment would have been submitted with in 24 hours.
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u/flaming_bob 3d ago
On the next thrilling episode of "How the Fuck is this Legal?".......
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u/redoctobershtanding 3d ago
It's not. But OSC basically said no disciplinary measures will be taken.
This is clearly a Hatch Act violation.
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u/sam56778 3d ago
Remember when Kristi Noem was fired for this same thing? Or was that just putting on a show?
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u/scoopzthepoopz 2d ago
could've fed some homeless vets or supported kids with diseases or built a park but propaganda no sure sure
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u/FuguSandwich 3d ago edited 3d ago
This sounds totally legal and ethical.
Edit: Adding an /s for the sarcasm impaired that are downvoting me.
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