Classism in Mueller and Barr. Racism in the system.

Steve M.

"State of mind" legal arguments always seem to be resolved in favor of white guys in expensive suits

So if Trump intended to commit a crime but was thwarted, it wasn't a crime. 

And if [he] committed what could be regarded as a crime but didn't intend it as a crime [Barr said he did it out of anger], it wasn't a crime.

. . . .

Also see Mueller's conclusion that Donald Trump Jr. couldn't be indicted, in part because Mueller's office "did not obtain admissible evidence likely to meet the government’s burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that [Trump Jr.] acted “willfully,” i.e. with general knowledge of the illegality of [his] conduct," otherwise known as the Junior-was-too-stupid-to-know-what-he-was-doing defense.

A tweet from Bravewing: I'm crying because Don Jr is too stupid to prosecute, yet Black Men who are developmentally disabled are fit for the Execution Chamber.

. . . .

And going back to the question of whether we should ignore intent to commit a crime when the would-be criminal is thwarted by law-abiding people: How many times since 9/11 have the authorities arrested, tried, and convicted someone who thought he was buying weapons for a terrorist attack, only to learn later that the seller was an undercover FBI agent? 


Maybe there are excellent legal reasons for the discrepancy in the ways we treat high-powered white-collar suspects and other suspects on questions of state of mind. 

Nah.

But it defies common sense.