MSNBC Host Speaks as ’Relatively New Citizen’, Thinks U.S. is Strange for not Prosecuting former Presidents, Wants to Start with Donald Trump

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan wants to make it clear that in the rest of the world prosecuting former leaders isn’t unusual. He cites an Axios article that shows 76 countries across the globe have prosecuted former leaders.

Hasan, who became a U.S. citizen in October of 2020 in order to vote in the presidential election started his segment with, “Speaking as a relatively new citizen to this country, one thing that is uniquely American about it is that no former President of the United States has ever been charged with a criminal offense.”

“While that may seem normal to you, it is not normal everywhere else in the world. Former leaders in countries across the globe are being prosecuted and imprisoned all the time. In Israel, the ex-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is getting ready to launch a run for his old job even as his corruption trial is underway. Poor Bibi says he’s the victim of a witch hunt, hmm, where have I heard that before?”

The map from Axios shows that most countries in South America and many of Africa as well as a few in Europe and Asia have also prosecuted former leaders. Notably, none of the countries that make up North America have prosecuted any former leaders.

“So, you can understand why I chuckled when one reporter asked this question at a recent White House press briefing.” He then aired a clip of reporter Zeke Miller asking if the White House is concerned about the message the FBI raid on Trump’s Florida home sends to the rest of the world.

“The rest of the world is probably wondering why he hasn’t been prosecuted yet, why we are a weird global outlier when it comes to giving former leaders some kind blanket immunity from prosecution,” he added.  

“They leave out the fact that what Trump did to prompt that search, and a possible prosecution, was also unprecedented,” Hasan said.

In our view:

No time in the history of America has a former president been prosecuted, which makes it unprecedented for Americans. Many times former leaders are charged after a major change in their government.

America was created to be different, getting away from monarch rule and putting the government in the hands of the citizens. Many countries have tried and failed to implement a similar system and seem to end up with dictatorships or rulers who serve for decades something that is not allowed in America.

The raid on Trump’s home has seemingly stirred up people on both sides. The small amount of information that has been released to the public leaves much open to interpretation and so the talking heads continue to speculate.