Maybe Mark misunderstands me and thinks I don't agree with the principle? My argument isn't that it we as a people shouldn't hold that view, it's that in practice,  it clearly isn't the case.

And as for abandoning principles...? I never said I abandoned my principles, and I never said I don't agree that nobody should be above the law. What I said was that that's not the reality,  so I am tired of it being said in instances like the one that sparked this conversation to begin with.

I might hope and believe in an idea that everyone should love one another and has each other's best interests at heart, but that's not the reality, and never will be. And neither is the REALITY that nobody is above the law.

Anyone who disagrees,  I hope you can laugh in my face when Trump serves time for his crimes. If that happens,  we'd both actually be winners. But I don't see that ever happening. 

It's worth recalling at times like this, that much of human society is just an agreement.  A treaty.

When the government does not follow it, it weakens that agreement. If done enough eventually their only authority is their weapons and the threat of death on the assumption that there can be no similar effective pushback (ha!). They seem to be exercising that threat more and more.

  

As of this date, Trump has not been convicted of any crime, yet by fiat avoided sentenced punishment. He has lost many civil cases and been forced to pay considerable amounts of money or post bonds in the millions and has suffered other legal debilitations, before, during, and after his presidency. (Thirty years ago I was actually a lawyer on the main legal team in his divorce from Ivana and in the cases concerning his failed Taj Mahal and other business ventures -- he certainly was subject to the law then.)

Trump is incredibly powerful and protected. Does that mean he's "above the law" in every conceivable circumstance?