Trump is throwing a hissy fit about the International Criminal Court. It’s not the first time a conservative including a GOP elected official has made a fuss over the ICC. The argument is that it’s unnecessary, unaccountable, shouldn’t have jurisdiction over U.S. people (including and especially our troops) and “reasons.” If memory serves Trump has tossed some barbs their way in the past. Now it seems Trump got it in for them in a big way. I for one wonder what got him all bent out of shape this time?
Well, the administration is being accused of what in an actual declared war or conflict under the color of a Congressionally approved use of force authorization meets every standard including our own (the DOD Manual even) of a war crime. SCOTUS’ immunity ruling might keep him out of legal jeopardy in the U.S. as an “Official Act” but international law is a different animal. Plus, he owns golf properties in the United Kingdom he wants to keep going to after he’s no longer President. It’s just a hop, skip and jump from there to the Netherlands if you catch my drift.
So far I don’t think this has grabbed a lot of headlines but here’s a short article by Raw Story on the matter. Their headline says all you really need to know – the White House is demanding a pledge from the ICC that they won’t prosecute Trump for War Crimes. The countdown clock to Trump, having decided to make a fuss starting to call the ICC a ‘Fake Court’. If he’s truly scared (possible) the administration and GOP Congress Critters still scared to death of him will move to cut off cooperation with/support. Perhaps even start lobbying with allies to have it abolished.
Maybe this is a one day whim on his part. We’ve certainly seen such things before. Then again, maybe not. After thinking about it there are two reasons this seems to have gotten Trumpty jacked up. We’ll have to wait and see but I find it curious that this has popped up and as I indicated started wondering if it was more than some random brain fart.
Let’s take a look, starting with a mess that like the Epstein files isn’t going to go away. That boat strike where a second missile was ordered to kill the survivors from the first not only has legs but they are getting stronger. Trump can and will toss Hegseth and anyone else down the chain of command over the murder of survivors of that Sept. 2 boat attack. Hell, he’ll probably wind up pardoning them. However even an Indictment from the ICC would be as big a blow to his ego as having been impeached. TWICE. (Dare we hope for a third? And if we’re going to fantasize conviction in the Senate on ‘third time’s the charm’ rules?) You know what else it would do? KILL Trump’s hope of EVER getting a Nobel Peace Prize! No way they will award it to someone under Indictment from the ICC.
So there’s that. There’s something else though. Jack Smith. His name has been lurking in the news for a while now. I saw the other day that despite his efforts to have a PUBLIC hearing he’ll have to settle for a closed door session with the folks on Capitol Hill. GOPers of course want it closed-door so they can LIE about what transpires. We’ll just have to count on Democrats to be ready to counter them. Hopefully it will wind up resulting in a big enough food fight that Smith gets to make his case in public. THAT will be must see TV. In the meantime though I’m sure Trump was told, probably as a way to make him happy that Smith wouldn’t get to testify publicly.
Now, wandering around in the spaces between the chunks of rotting brain cells and toxic RFK Jr. brainworms is to say the least unpleasant. However I put on a hazmat suit and breathing thingy and went in for a look. It’s hard to see anything clearly in all that mess but I THINK I saw a mashup of Jack Smith in his ICC robe, carrying a sign that said ‘Hey Trump, guess where I’ve gone back to?’ watching a video of that second boat strike of September 2. The one that murdered two defenseless men who our own rules say should have been rescued. A War Crime, that HE Donald Jagoff Trump was part of.
Irony deserves some payback. I can’t think of a better version than one in which a new Democratic administration comes in. A Democratic AG again seconds Smith to the ICC where he was well respected as a tenacious and effective prosecutor. How delightful it would be to see Trump in the dock, with Jack Smith standing there tearing him to pieces? I suspect this is a nightmare that is suddenly haunting Trump’s dreams, hence this out of the blue demand that the ICC pledge not to ever, ever, EVER prosecute Trump. Because he’s guilty as hell and everyone knows it.
In the real, practical world that’s just another hopeless fantasy on my part. Still, I think it’s an indicator of why Team Trump is fighting so hard to keep the video of that second strike hidden. It’s not just the few seconds of the murderous strike itself, it’s all that’s on video and audio recordings of who said what during the over half hour BETWEEN strikes. The “Hey – we’ve got survivors. What do we do now?” part. Either there was originally a make sure there are no survivors (or evidence proving whether or not drugs were on the boat) or a decision was made and an order for a second strike (and who gave it) is something that’s got Trump terrified. Well, anything that haunts Trumpty’s dreams is a good thing as far as I’m concerned.
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If anyone wonders if this can happen, just look at the fate of Rodrigo Duterte ,former President of The Phillipines and despot friend of Trump.
Without the protection of being Head Of State after he lost re-election, when he travelled out of his country, he was immediately arrested on the warrant issued by the ICC at The Hague, on charges of crimes against humanity at the ICC and will remain in custody at the ICC section of the United Nations Detention Unit while awaiting trial. The confirmation of charges was scheduled for September 23, 2025, so his arraignment is imminent.
Prison for a long time is certainly in his future. The same fate is likely for Trump.
… because the ICC (International Criminal Court) is no jaundiced, one-eyed Kangaroo court. You know who cannot stack, pressure, coerce, bend, buy or own, and you know who knows that right down to the very bottom of his fractured being. The ICC is an international legal anvil where a certain smith can expertly wield their most excellent legal hammer to thump you know who.
When the UN set up the ICC, 7 countries voted against it: China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, USA and Yemen. Other countries which have refused to join include Russia, Saudi Arabia and India. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, in March 2023, for war crimes committed in Ukraine, and a similar warrant, in June 2024, for Generals Gerasimov, Shoigu, Sokolov and Kobylash. Member states of the ICC are required to arrest and detain those individuals if they ever arrive in those countries. So yes indeed Trump should be worried, as should Hegseth, Admiral Bradley and anyone else who took part in the murders of people in boats on the high seas.
It seems like his wholesale deportation of people to CECOT, regardless of their innocence, should also qualify him.