CORRECTION:
When I posted this yesterday, I looked on the web and found the above quote in several publications. Dave Dubya brought to my attention in the comments that he could not find the quote anywhere. I looked again today and found that Trump did not say those exact words, so the quote is not authentic.
I checked SNOPES and found this:
Many of the posts online included a clip apparently of Trump answering the reporter's question, thus implying Trump answered by saying, "Loyalty outranks law." That clip is from a real May 18, 2026, news conference with Trump, and the reporter did, in fact, ask him about the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund. However, Trump did not actually say the specific words shared by social media users.
As such, we have rated this quote as an incorrect attribution.
This is the actual exchange documented by SNOPES:
LANDERS: The Justice Department has this new fund that was announced today, $1.7 billion. Why should taxpayers pay for the January 6ers?
TRUMP: It's being very well-received, I have to tell you. I know very little about it. I wasn't involved in the whole creation of it, and the negotiation. But this is reimbursing people who were horribly treated, horribly treated.
It's anti-weaponization, they've been weaponized. They've been, in some cases, imprisoned wrongly. They've paid legal fees that they didn't have, they've gone bankrupt. Their lives have been destroyed. And they turned out to be right. I mean, it's, it was a terrible period of time in the history of our country, and they worked on it. I know the Justice Department has really been working on it very hard.
There's been numerous other occasions over the years where things like this have been done. But these were people that were weaponized and really treated brutally by a system that was so corrupt, with corrupt people running it. And they're getting reimbursed for their legal fees and the other things that they had to suffer.
I was mistaken when I posted the quote. I should have been more careful with researching its validity. Trump has always valued loyalty above all else, and there are many quotes where he expresses his admiration and loyalty to those who praise and support him without question. That's why I believed this inaccurate report.
I regret the error.
When a reporter asked why taxpayers should cover the costs of a $1.7 billion DOJ fund for January 6th defendants, Donald Trump responded: "Because in my world, loyalty outranks law. They broke the rules for me, so you pay the bill for them. That's the transaction."
Yes, Trump, the POTUS, actually said those words. And millions of Americans heard them.
Trump told us that he cares nothing for the Constitution nor the rule of law. Loyalty, above all else, is what Trump esteems.
A U.S. President swears a specific constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office and to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Through this oath, the President takes on the duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." This responsibility is outlined in Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which directs the President to ensure all federal laws are properly enforced.
Trump's language today as he spoke those words in the title of this post is the language of a mob boss, not a POTUS who swore an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution."
As long as this criminal sits in the Oval Office, expect more criminality and disregard for law and order.
Donald Trump has told us in plain mobster language what is important to him: loyalty. And that loyalty "outranks the law."
This attitude underpins his reasoning for seeking reparations in the billions of dollars for the men and women who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and who were found guilty of felonies by a jury of their peers.
Donald Trump has pardoned those criminals and now will take your tax money and give it to them in service to him and for breaking the law.
I'm not surprised to see this happen. Trump, after all, is a convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulter/rapist, liar, cheat, and fraudster. Did anyone with half a brain expect excellence in the office of the presidency from someone with that rap sheet?
As someone on the internet said, I do not think Americans understand how insane this is. Trump is openly describing the country as a patronage network where crimes committed in service to the leader become obligations absorbed by the public.
This is the language of a man who thinks the state belongs to him personally.
"An American president sues/extorts his own government, then settles with his own justice department to funnel taxpayers' money to his criminal allies. Trump will go down in history as the president who came up with forms of corruption never contemplated before."
"Trump did not reach a settlement with the government. There was no case to settle. He has not created a slush fund. He has colluded with Todd Blanche to steal money from the US Treasury. This is not a "deal." This is a crime for which Trump & Blanche must be prosecuted. It is a crime."
Stay tuned for more corruption: Trump's corrupt stock trading while president. Even Wall Street is appalled.
28 comments:
This is on the republican party and everyone who voted for trump in 2024.
Several of the folks I follow/read have talked about Trump and whether or not he's an asset for Russia. I mean, I've been asking the same question on the socials since the dude invited known Russian agents into the White House Oval Office his first term. But here we are watching as Trump says what he says.
Imagine! Just imagine Biden saying the same thing? Or Obama? Let's just say the kitten distribution system would have a plethora of new kittens to distribute.
So... He's above the law per the Supremes. He can do no wrong per both houses of the Legislative branch... And Putin's wish list of how to take down American has been fulfilled not by them but by us and an administration more interested in lining their own pockets than accountability for those who stole our future (current issues + Epstein + fraudsters who stole our money).
I don't have any answers. Shoot, I'm in the middle of a huge Fibro flair which has me yelling at the cat if his whiskers brush the wrong way. I'm lucky to still be here which means all my answers are of the smiting kind, and I'm told those aren't really answers to our issues.
In my world loyalty outranks law. They told us before the election who they are ("We live in a Post-Constitutional era") but we didn't show up to vote. They revealed the depths of their cruelty but because it was aimed at populations so many of our fellow citizens hate that they assumed (incorrectly) there wouldn't be any fallout on them.
Loyalty outranks law. So much for their oath to defend our Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. Well, there really isn't any teeth to that oath is there? Maybe WeThePeople should change that.
I can't find the source of this quote, but it essentially conveys Trump's scorn for the rule of law and plans to reward his thugs and henchmen.
So I'm hearing "people, Congressional leaders and others" are very "upset, concerned and unhappy" with Trump over this. The theory is this...
They know this is beyond the pale. They know it's a scam, and they know people who literally beat cops with flag poles will get paid. And they don't like any of it.
But at the end of the day, they will remain silent. Why? Because to actually stand up and be critical of our convicted felon of a president would be to turn their back on friends, family and others in their circle of acquaintances. And for political leaders it means criticizing your party, something the GOP has not done successfully since 2016.
But here's the reality. I was able to post a comment at the HMS Mothership that actually got through the Maginot Line of denial about this, on a post the Capitaina wrote about it. I quoted from the text of order Todd Blanche wrote and here's the response I got...
"Dave….imagine if Blanche and Trump and many other lawyers thoughT you were right and [they] did this anyway, thinking what a huge backlash they’d get AND DOING IT ANYWAY? I’m tired of the ways the Left is spinning this. I don’t like the whole thing..."
She can't even believe the truth of the written word from her president Acting AG. Why? Because it's so bad it is unimaginable for her. And that was before the 100% complete immunity deal from IRS audits for Trump, his sons (Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump), the Trump Organization, and all affiliated family businesses, trusts, and subsidiaries for all taxes filed before May 18, 2026.
All taxes, for all of them.
$1.776 Billion people, and IRS immunity.
And conservatives, MAGA clowns and the supposedly moderates like Skud will remain silent, both sider this, Hunter $8 million Biden this or pooh pooh completely it as the Mothership crowd has done and be like Speaker Johnson and just work like crazy to not know anything about and then refuse to believe it's even true.
It's breathtaking.
You're correct, Dave. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. See the correction in the post.
I posted a correction today on the quote in the post title. It is not authentic; but for me, it was believable because of what Trump has said about loyalty to him in the past. The fact is that I absolutely COULD imagine Trump saying this, so I eagerly believed the false quote. My bad. And I absolutely COULD NOT imagine former Presidents Biden and Obama making this statement. It's a statement that a mob boss would make, not a POTUS.
Shaw... good job. We too get stuff wrong sometimes and when we do, we should not attack the messenger, as I have been, for pointing that out. Careful, responsible people and journalists admit errors and correct the record when these errors are pointed out.
And yes, often that correction includes an apology if the person who erred really cares about ethics and their relationship with either readers or viewers.
The report on the payout to the convicted felons who attacked the U.S. Capitol on J6 is correct. The quote featured in the post is NOT. But as I explained in the correction to this post, it was easy to imagine and believe Trump saying what was posted.
What is just gutting me is the intent was accurate even if the actual words were not used. I believed it and I heard the original rambling answer Trump gave to the reporter. The brevity of the quote used in the post should have been my first clue. I'll do better at remembering Trump can't say a thing simply when a thousand words are at his fingertips.
As to who's gonna get paid... we'll never know. It's all confidential. But I bet a certain pillow guy will somehow be on the list.
That quote was entirely believable in context of Trump's history of arrogance, lies, and foul behavior.
The quote wasn't real, but it WAS an accurate representation of Trump's twisted personality and authoritarian nature.
Instead of seeing how we can correct our mistakes, Skud will ignore Trump's corruption. Or say Biden was worse.
At least you did the ethical thing and corrected the error. Many people in the same position choose to double down, or hand-wave and make excuses, or simply refuse to acknowledge that they made a mistake.
There are so many fake quotes flying around these days that I've started researching anything that looks even slightly implausible -- and something that look perfectly plausible -- before citing them. Posting inaccurate information discredits one's own cause.
“The Democratic Party had become a radical Left wing party, with id an anti-Americanism. and a pro Socialist Party, I myself is I’m on the side of a strong America, an America who stands up for its allies and that’s now the Republican Party.”
we NOW have a president that will fight like hell for Americans rights and to be First!
President Trump has the Guts. And the forditude to do what no other American President has ever done before.
Infidel... you're right on the implausible. The problem is the ones that look plausible, as Shaw posted here. Anymore, if there's a quote, good or bad, it looks like we need to be checking it.
I assume this is parody -- a poorly written one -- but a parody of a typical Trump supporter who is willfully ignorant of reality.
Trump caused international outrage by claiming that NATO allies in Afghanistan "stayed a little back, little off the front lines" during the U.S. campaign against the Taliban. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other global officials condemned the remarks as "appalling," pointing out the thousands of casualties suffered by coalition forces. SOURCE
As for the parody's claim that Trump "...fights like hell for Americans[sic] rights and to be First!" Tell that to Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, James Comey, and others whom the president has sicced his administration on for exercising their First Amendment right of free speech.
As for the last part of the parody, it is true. No other POTUS has had the "forditude" to do what Trump has done, because previous US presidents have, for the most part, been careful to see that the laws be faithfully executed.
Thanks for the chuckle, AItubie.
Yes,
I've been hearing a lot lately from MAGA's "best and brightest" as well.
It's very difficult to discern between parody/satire and the actual idiots.
But it's clear they can "outstupid" any of us.
Altubie... the fact you believe what you wrote is pretty concerning.
A couple of questions... You said "we NOW have a president that will fight like hell for Americans rights and to be First!"
What rights is President Trump fighting for that you had lost or that other presidents did not fight for or defend? Can you name them specifically?
When you say "to be First!", what does that mean? First where? In what? When we are first, what will look different in the world because of that?
Just askin...
Question: Can Stephen Colbert apply for monies from the anti-weaponization slush fund??
Possumlady
trump is fighting for the following:
A) The capital class
B) American oligarchs
C) Genocidal Isreal's Netanyahu
D) To eliminate as much as possible the rights of minorities
E) To further weaken labor
F) To further dismantle social safety nets
G) To weaken America's legal framework
H) To insure every non capital class citizen remains a wage slave
I) To plaster his name on everything possible emblazoned in gold
Certainly there is more. But the point should be clear for all not drunk on his Nationalistic Koolaide and lies. That his goals are definitely not about working for the betterment of America's most important resource. It's people.
The truth, nothing in the country is really going to change unless and until the backs of the capital class us broken. Shattered. Ony then will America stand a chance at achieving economuc and political freedom and equality.
Democrats establish bail funds all the time. So why no objections to them when they occur? Oh, that's right... if WE do it, its' okay!
I don’t recall Democrats ever funding people who tried to overturn a free and fair election by attacking the US Capitol to stop the electoral certification, terrorizing Congress, and spreading their feces all over the walls of the US Capitol. Their actions caused the deaths of Capitol police, and they actually beat the crap out of law enforcement. I don’t recall Democrats funding anything like that. The Republican Party is a rogue party being led by a convicted criminal. Those are facts. You just haven’t the courage to internalize them.
Anonymous was me, Shaw Kenawe.
Indeed, Anonymous.
-FJ's projection ignores how it's "patriotic" to storm the Capitol, beat cops bloody, and terrorize Congress to overturn a fair election.
He's the sort who would have a tattoo of Nixon's face with, "It's not illegal if the president does it" under it.
Roger Stone is his idea of a patriot.
Anon... if you show up here regularly, you know -FJ is not an honest broker of information, inserts straw men into every post and seeks, as he has admitted, to simply derail as many "leftist" discussions as he can.
Don't take the bait. I've offered fair discussions, both here, via email and on his many pages, but to date. he refuses. Because fair discussion is not his goal.
He's a smart guy. He just doesn't give a rip about America.
Not that people don't know, but, who knows? Maybe they really don't know the difference between bail bond funds and the "anti-weaponization" slush fund (from AI):
Bail Bond Funds: Their goal is to prevent poor individuals from being unnecessarily detained pre-trial simply because they lack financial resources. When the case concludes, the bail money is usually returned to the fund, allowing it to be recycled and help others.
Anti-Weaponization Fund: Created as part of a legal settlement to resolve a lawsuit between President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the fund aims to provide financial redress to Americans who argue the legal system (or "lawfare") was weaponized against them.
Funding Sources
Bail Bond Funds: Typically financed through private donations, grassroots fundraising, and non-profit grants.
Anti-Weaponization Fund: Financed by taxpayer money drawn from the federal Judgment Fund—a standing U.S. Treasury appropriation used to pay legal settlements and judgments against the government.
Bail funds are established for the purpose of breaking the law.
"Bail funds are established for the purpose of breaking the law."
For Trump and his cartel, especially.
For Democrats it's for releasing non-violent protesters held by neo-Nazis.
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