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Comment by Steve16384 | Hacker News Reader

I don't want to automatically blame Trump, but if the leader of the country ignores laws, why would anyone else think they are that important?

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Most of the federal government predates the current administration. They really do want to follow the law. It's their job, not an ideology.

ICE is the President's personal force, screened for their loyalty to him. They have no interest in the law. The rest of the government doesn't like them any better than you do.

Voting data says there are large portions of the population loyal to Trump with no interest in the law, and even larger portions in the law enforcement agencies. If I was working in those departments, I would assume at least 2/3 (the portion of the general population fine with Trump's behavior) is not going to be on my side.

What do you mean ignoring laws aren't ICE agents going after illegals? Wtf are they doing in this country in the first place?

Maybe someone should remind them to only shoot illegals.

Its funny how nobody was making this argument when it was Obama ignoring international law to launch drone strikes on weddings and 18 yr old American citizens.

The president has always ignored the law.

Nobody?

Yes, America has thought itself to be above international law for quite some time. But with Trump, we’re talking national laws… the Constitution.

Ohh, your right! I forgot that the torture Obama was overseeing in Guantanamo was allowed by the constitution! He never violated anybody's rights, or broke any national laws!

Like I said, people only cry foul when its not 'their guy' disregarding the law and constitution. America has always been like this, and its only getting worse as both sides become more neurotic.

Plenty of people were making this argument. The main difference is the previous presidents didn’t fill their cabinet with literal neofascists.

I know leftists were criticizing Obama for drone strikes. If the Republicans weren't criticizing Obama for murdering civilians, it's because they agreed with it. They attacked him on pretty much everything else, after all.

I guess the way I'd put it is that we've been increasingly allowing and not punishing privacy breaches and government/authorities overstepping and after 20+ years of boiling the frog the latest, most extreme variant has pretty much pushed it over the edge of dystopian.

So it's not all Trump, but his administration has definitely pushed the lack of accountability to new heights and combining it with the new wave of surveillance tech with limited oversight or legislation it's all just become ingrained with nobody to fight it.

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