Originally Posted by OakAsFan
[quote=mustachepete]

I didn't say there was anything illegal about supporting someone for office. And, yes, clearly it was an ethical question. More detail? What detail do you need? President is indicted and refuses to surrender to arrest, or president is impeached or voted out and refuses to leave office. Would you still support him, assuming you're a Trump supporter? I'm not sure I could make the question any simpler.


Your question is extremely vague, and therefore unclear. The first thing that should be obvious is that a person's answer shouldn't depend on who the specific president is. It should depend on the circumstances that surround the acts you're proposing. You've omitted any specification of circumstances from your hypothetical, so it's unanswerable as posed.

The question, obviously, is a variant of the "will you support whoever is nominated/accept the result of the election?" question posed to candidates. The answer to that question always has to be, "It depends on the circumstances." If the election proves to have been carried out outside of bounds consistent with democracy, then both the candidates and the voters have a duty to resist that outcome.

This hypothetical is the same: just as a person can't personally ratify an election until he or she knows the circumstances, the person can't arbitrarily pre-approve the removal of an office holder. In fact, the only person who would arbitrarily approve that is someone who knows the process is being abused, and who is trying to get pledges of support from those who are not yet aware of the abuse.

Again, it's necessary to know more detail about the circumstances surrounding the hypothetical before a responsible citizen could respond.


"All of these men were good listeners; patient men."