And Sleepy Joe Will Get The Credit: US Politics January 2021

the house wields the impeachment, the cabinet squeaks in the direction of the 25th, the wizard reaches for the staff, the rogue pulls out a dagger from a sock fold, i grab my keyboard

I greatly appreciated this

Is there any way to punish or even refuse to seat a congressman like Gaetz or Jordon or one of these true-believer wackadoos? Or even Cruz or Hawley, who one presumes knows better but is still being an asshole? Can *they* be impeached?

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, January 7, 2021 11:11 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

This may have already been posted, but Cori Bush is calling for their expulsion:

I believe the Republican members of Congress who have incited this domestic terror attack through their attempts to overturn the election must face consequences. They have broken their sacred Oath of Office.

I will be introducing a resolution calling for their expulsion. pic.twitter.com/JMTlQ4IfnR

— Congresswoman Cori Bush (@RepCori) January 6, 2021

good

xp i am pretty much always playing solo d&d in my head

It looks like it was teechip.

God, I hope they go after Cruz.

harrowing but worthwhile (and prognosticatory, as it was posted in November) read by Indi Samarajiva, via Tabs:
https://indica.medium.com/i-lived-through-a-coup-america-is-having-one-now-437934b1dac3

Two years ago, I lived through a coup in Sri Lanka. It was stupid. The minority party threw chili powder at everyone in Parliament and took over by farce. Math, however, requires a majority and the courts kicked them out. They gave in. We’d been protesting for weeks and yay, we won.

No.

I didn’t know it at the time, but we had already lost. No one knew — but oh my God, what we lost. The legitimate government came back but it was divided and weak. We were divided and weak. We were vulnerable.

It’s absurd, because the whole thing seems like a clown show. Coups are supposed to be orderly, authoritarian, not this dumb shit. It honestly seems like a grift to bilk supporters out of more money. You can just roll it back, right? Right? No. No no no. Oh God no.

The tragic thing which you do not understand — which you cannot understand — is that you’ve already lost. You cannot know exactly what — that’s the nature of chaos — but know this. You will lose more than you can bear.

We lost our children, playing at church. We lost our friends, sitting down to brunch. Muslims lost their dignity and rights. Your Republicans have set forces into play they cannot possibly understand and certainly cannot control. And they don’t even want to. To them, chaos is a ladder.

This is the point. You have taken an orderly system balancing a whole lot of chaos and fucked with it. I don’t know how it’s going to explode, but I can promise you this. It’s going to explode.

This is precisely why we have elections, and why both sides accept the results. To keep the chaos at bay. The whole point is that you have a regular, ritual fight rather than fighting all the time. Once one side breaks ritual then you’re on the way to civil war. Once you break the rules then chaos ensues. What exactly happens? I don’t know. It’s chaos.

"This is an invite for a sequel."

They're on film exiting the Capitol yelling "next time we're not going to be so peaceful" etc

Vice President Mike Pence formally ascertained Biden's win as the clock struck 3:32 a.m. Thursday morning.

I imagine their next luncheon will be a bit, err, awkward.

xposts Yeah, I remember reading and sharing that at the time. Different situations but still feels very otm.

My clock showed 3:41 a.m. fwiw, but maybe Congress is in a time-delay zone.

The 25th Amendment is a copout.

It is the only quick way to remove him, being instantaneous once it is invoked. Impeachment is absolutely necessary as a parallel track, but calling for the 25th is not a copout, but a call for immediate effective action by people with a solemn obligation to take the power of government out of Trump's hands and avert an immanent threat to the nation.

what kind of majority is needed for expulsion in the senate? does anyone know? 51? 67? 69 lol?

It is the only quick way to remove him, being instantaneous once it is invoked. Impeachment is absolutely necessary as a parallel track, but calling for the 25th is not a copout, but a call for immediate effective action by people with a solemn obligation to take the power of government out of Trump's hands and avert an immanent threat to the nation.

it was/is being called for by people who do not support impeachment

(democrats i mean)

xxxpost Not really instant. The President can challenge the move and then it has to go to Congress vote

worth noting that if he's removed by the 25th (which won't happen) he can run again, but if he's removed by impeachment (which also won't happen) he cannot.

25th Amendment and/or Impeachment are completely appropriate, but I'm not holding my breath on either.

the #1 argument for impeachment (given that neither option is actually going to "work") is that it forces a vote.

people who do not support impeachment

they are wrong not to support impeachment, but that does not make them wrong to call for the 25th to be invoked.

Does Trump have to appear to prove his competence?

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

Until Inauguration, it's pretty likely the "Deep State" will actually kick in and hobble his worst intentions. "Yes sir, we've begun airstrikes on Pelosi's home. Here's a diet coke."

no he can respond with a letter saying he is the fittest to ever be fit xxp

I am still mildly impressed by the right-wing talking points right now that walk the tightrope in between:

1. Patriots were righteously
protesting the grave injustice the grave injustice of the stolen election

With the simultaneous angle of

2. But all the actual bad actors were Antifa infiltrators trying to make the peaceful protestors look bad

While also

3. The woman killed was a brave patriot martyr, just minding her own business

And

4. Anybody breaking the law deserves what they get (cf. stupid games/stupid prizes); if Trayvon Martin or George Floyd had complied then everything would have been fine

And also

5. Oh, NOW you agree that rioting is bad, media?

While simultaneously saying

6. Sheesh, it's not like they burned a city, unlike unhinged libs

And again pivoting back to

7. Oh but actually the rioters were Dem plants, not the well-behaved Patriots

Anyone else curious what stunts Trump will incite once he's out of office?

Find out next on OANN's "Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV. - The Donald Trump morning show".

Sorry for no link but I read somewhere that if they impeach, even if there is not enough of a majority to convict in the Senate and remove him, they can consider the issue of disqualification from future office separately, and that would need only a simple majority. Not sure how accurate that is.

Worth noting that talk of impeachment/25th more than likely to guarantee he won't make it to the end of the day without doing or saying something further demanding either or both of the aforementioned.

they are wrong not to support impeachment, but that does not make them wrong to call for the 25th to be invoked.

― Respectfully Yours, (Aimless), Thursday, January 7, 2021 1:07 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes it does in this case. they're calling for the 25th to *avoid* having to impeach because they want to "turn the page" (i.e. go home/avoid taking a position).

Does Trump have to appear to prove his competence?

― Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd)

it is time for donald trump to face...the final five questions of the dementia test, on live tv. And those last five are PRETTY hard

why is treeship making civil war shirts, ilx has gone off the rails

aimless, if pelosi announces impeachment proceedings then i'll take it all back.

Franco and Hitler had coup attempts before their success. It seems to be habit forming.

There’s a very good (French) fact-checking article in Le Monde that explains exactly who the fash fucks who invaded the Capitol are and why they can’t be mistaken for Antifa (in case there was any fucking doubt) and I’m struggling to find a proper English equivalent, which is sad:

https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2021/01/07/complotistes-neonazis-negationnistes-qui-sont-les-insurrectionnistes-du-capitole_6065491_4355770.html

This one comes close:

https://mashable.com/article/antifa-conspiracies-trump-mob-january-6-capitol-debunk/

does it say "they're not antifa because trump said 'we love you' to them"? but in french?

Not quite, not quite.

This video is so fucking funny. Gloria blasting. Everyone is concerned. Don just filming his dad standing there across the room. Kimberly dancing. Eric looks scared. Admitting to encouraging the siege on video lol https://t.co/zIh3CpoO6P

— Joseph Carnegie (@JoeCarnegie) January 7, 2021

fucking hell

Gloria blastin in the background

the threat of impeachment could also affect momentum for the 25th. and there huge political ramifications that would play out very differently, i think. cabinet members/mcconnell would need to choose between forcing senate republicans to vote to acquit Trump yet again via impeachment, vs the cabinet members invoking the 25th.

if it goes the way of impeachment, it's effectively continuing Trump's influence over the GOP. once again, it'll be all about trump, he'll be the center of attention, and once again a bunch of GOP senators will exonerate him. or, maybe he actually goes down that way. but at least a solid number of senators (hawley, cruz, etc) will go down fighting for him.

if the cabinet invokes the 25th, it would be perceived as the GOP finally "coming to terms with Trump" or whatever. that would be bullshit, because it would just be a small select group of cabinet members doing it, not anything like a GOP reckoning with what it has created. but still, the perception would be different

In a better world than we have, that video would be Exhibit A.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/25/4b/80/254b807d14469bc1cefbc7becb25e596.jpg

After Ted Cruz, does Don Jr. have the most punchable face in history?

_
I imagine their next luncheon will be a bit, err, _awkward._

Source close to the VP says Trump pressured Pence to engineer a coup, then put the VP and his family in danger. https://t.co/nCzD20UuQZ

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 7, 2021

It's a legit question what "the Cabinet" is for purposes of the 25th.

Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security are technically vacant, with acting secretaries. One (Wolf) is apparently in his position illegally. Does he get a vote? How about Rosen and Miller?

Elaine Chao was said to be considering resignation yesterday. Should she stay on to vote Trump out? Or would her "acting" successor vote?

After Ted Cruz, does Don Jr. have the most punchable face in history?

Gaetz has gotta be high on this particular list.

My clock showed 3:41 a.m. fwiw, but maybe Congress is in a time-delay zone.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, January 7, 2021 1:03 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago)

I figured everything was on time-delay in case you know a bomb went off or something

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is resigning, per two officials. Cites yesterday’s events as reason in email to DOT colleagues, per draft. First Cabinet secretary to resign. Chao is married to Mitch McConnell. More TK.

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 7, 2021

the 25th is not happening.

profiles in umbrage