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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 6, 2025

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The peaceful transfer of power is one of the greatest selling points of democracy. Trump trying to mess with that was by far the worst thing he did in his first term.

Crucially, he did not get convicted because the court system (the SC in particular) stopped it, despite the wishes of the Biden administration. Trump getting convicted would in my mind not conclusively prove a kangaroo court, but him getting immunity proves reasonably well that the courts (or at least the SC) are independent of the political Zeitgeist.

He did get convicted (I'm talking about the NY trial here.) He just got lightly sentenced after winning the election instead of the possible 100+ years he could have gotten. The main point is that "kangaroo court" is mostly subjective, but only one side did actually bring a ridiculous case in front of an incredibly partisan area and get a favorable judgement against their partisan enemy. So while we can muse on what Kirk might have meant in his heart of hearts (and I wouldn't even say I really disagree with you there), Dems are actually putting it into practice.