Politics 2021

[Geo]

Yeah, I get that.
But what do you think Biden will like to accomplish, save for fighting Covid, restoring international commitments, and perhaps giving the Affordable Care Act more teeth again.

[Buster's Uncle]

I honestly view him as a man of little conviction(s), given his career.  His appointments to cabinet and other positions have been somewhat left of what I expected, which is a pleasant surprise, but I'm not sure he has an awful lot of policy goals beyond Do the Work of Governing -great- and Settle Things Down -Neville Chamberlin-.

It might could work, doing a quiet Eisenhower Presidency, if only the rest of the Democrats had the strength and guts to deal with Joe McCartney, which they do not.  We got us a Nazi problem, and Chamberlin ain't the guy for the moment, as Bakrama already showed.

[E_T]

It seems Georgia has turned Democratic now for the foreseeable future.

Narrowly and only in the Senate and only because of [Sleezebag]'s BS.  If he had not continued on this Vote BS, the Senate seats would still be Red (or one would have been).  GA Republicans are not happy about that at all.

[Geo]

Sounds like unhappy undercurrent in US society will fester a couple years longer then.


Thanks E_T. I hadn't thought of checking the political origins of Georgia's Representatives.


Then I say its save to predict the second half of Biden's term won't be more or less free ride anymore.

[Elok]

Elok, you know I love you, pal...

Is he still harmless?

I don't recall saying harmless, more useless and inert.  He has always done some measure of harm, mostly by being crooked and raising the temperature.  I mean that he is not anything like the stuff successful tyrants are made of, and I stand by that.  This was, by my reckoning, a brilliant self-own, the nail in his coffin; it associated him with open and shocking unrest and forced him to give up his quest for the presidency.

Cruz and Hawley were never going to succeed, but this cut short even the pathetic effort, and gave everyone in Congress perfect and reasonable cover for turning against him.  Any hopes he might have had for a future career are now dead, because everything he says will now be associated with the images of lawless cretins swarming up the walls and a half-naked guy with a furry hood posturing from the podium.

Worse than that, [Sleezebag]'s appeal was to law-and-order, and his boys just bull-rushed through police to do something clownish, getting four people killed to no purpose.  He's a take-charge guy who lost control of his movement, then bashfully backed down and distanced himself when they decided to take action during his big speech.  Before this, he might have tried to dominate the GOP from exile.  Now?  He's done.  He can command a fringe of thugs and lunatics, but all they can do is primary vulnerable candidates so they lose to Dems.  If that; this is going to be profoundly toxic.

If he had an ounce of courage, he might be dangerous as a terrorist leader, but as we've seen, he'll never take responsibility for anything risky, and Trumpism is all about [Sleezebag] so he can't be replaced.  Unless someone with his talent for sucking attention and brains appears.  His army of lost boys will drift off by and by to join some other cause once it becomes clear that he's not doing a blamed thing.  The best hope for his movement is for him to die or be incarcerated so he can't be blamed for inaction.

At least, that's my prediction.

[Buster's Uncle]

This is the fellow who spoke so frankly on the phone to Lester Holt yesterday.  He has, since this vid, called today for invoking the 25th, but that doesn't seem to be on YouTube yet.

-I'd add that 25th doesn't bar the Pig from all office forever, so an impeachment conviction is one million percent better...

[E_T]

This is the Democrats you're talking about.  With the Presidency and both houses of Congress, history indicates they're already planning the circular firing squads.

Which causes the Swing back to something like [Sleezebag] afterwards...

[Buster's Uncle]

Yes.  That's generally how Democrat firing squads end, yes.
---

Another profile in Congressional courage:  Speaker Pelosi sez

If the vice president and the cabinet do not act the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment

Yesterday the president of the United States incited an armed insurrection against America.

In calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation.

This is urgent, this is an emergency of the highest magnitude,

Pelosi stresses, adding [Sleezebag] is

a very dangerous person who should not continue in office.

I use "courage" with heavy sarcasm, to be clear, 'cause she and a lot of others are waiting for Mike freakin' Pence to do it for them...

---

Also, word is that the House Sergeant at Arms has offered his resignation...

[Buster's Uncle]

Lori?  Robot Singularity Blob position?

Uno?  Whatever the heck it is you are position?

Rusty?  Please don't be sick any longer...

[E_T]

Arnie posted this over at WPC Discord:

25th it looks like could just a fr3akin' mess


[Sleezebag] gets to respond and delay the whole process for 4 days, after which the VP has to re-submit a letter again co-signed by the cabinet.  [Sleezebag], being [Sleezebag], he will use those 4 days to declare he's still president and fire the entire cabinet, throw the process into the courts.

it'll be a circus

[E_T]

Rusty?  Please don't be sick any longer...

[Buster's Uncle]

This is the quickest way to impeach [Sleezebag] (again) and remove him from power
Are Republicans the party of violent fascist insurrection or not? Is [Sleezebag] their king forever, or do they want to move on?

Noah Berlatsky  New York  20 minutes ago


Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi read the final certification of Electoral College votes cast in November’s presidential election during a joint session of Congress, after working through the night, at the Capitol on 7 January 2021 in Washington, DC (J Scott Applewhite – Pool/Getty Images)

There are less than two weeks left in Donald [Sleezebag]’s term. Joe Biden will replace him as president on January 20. Is it worth impeaching him and removing him from office with that little time left?

Many Congressional Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, believe the answer is “yes”. And they are correct. [Sleezebag]’s increasingly desperate, irresponsible, and frankly seditious behavior is a threat to democracy and to the lives and safety of Americans. More, removing him from office now sends a message to him and his followers that open sedition has consequences. Refusing to hold [Sleezebag] accountable signals to his violent, authoritarian followers, and to [Sleezebag] himself, that they can attack democracy with impunity. Refusing to impeach now could have dire consequences on the immediate and long-term future.

As long as [Sleezebag] is in office, he retains a great deal of power to do harm. His claims that the election was stolen have encouraged Wednesday’s attack on the US Capitol as well as demonstrations at statehouses across the country, and those may well continue. He’s also egged on other Republican lawmakers to cosign his baseless claims about election fraud. One of his chief sycophants, Florida House representative Matt Gaetz, shamelessly lied yesterday on the floor of Congress, claiming without evidence that the insurrection was the work of left-wing agitators disguised as [Sleezebag] supporters.

This dangerous rhetoric is designed to justify more attacks and shield perpetrators from prosecution and blame. It is easy to imagine [Sleezebag] himself picking up these arguments, or calling even more explicitly for violence as the week goes on and he becomes more desperate. He may also try to pardon his supporters who engage in violence as long as he retains power. The inauguration itself will be a particular flashpoint, and [Sleezebag] supporters are almost certainly already plotting to disrupt it with violence. Nor will the threat from [Sleezebag] necessarily end after the inauguration. [Sleezebag] retains a large following, and he’s reportedly said he may run for the Republican nomination again in 2024.


Removing [Sleezebag], and delegitimizing him, then, is an imperative. That’s why Schumer called for his removal earlier today. “The quickest and most effective way — it can be done today — to remove this president from office would be for the vice president to immediately invoke the 25th Amendment,” Schumer suggested. “If the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president.”

The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit for office, and relieve him from power. The president could dispute the removal and appeal to Congress, but by the time the process worked itself out, [Sleezebag]’s term would be over.

The advantage of the 25th Amendment is that it could, as Schumer says, be invoked immediately. It’s quick. The disadvantage is that it’s never been used before, and the process is relatively opaque. It’s not clear whether [Sleezebag]’s own Cabinet would agree to it. It’s also generally seen as a process meant to be put in place if the president is unwell or physically unable to perform duties. Depending on how Pence and the Cabinet framed the removal, it might or might not be a strong rebuke of [Sleezebag]’s deliberate efforts to seize power and destroy our democracy.

Impeachment, on the other hand, is designed to clearly list a president’s offenses, and hold him accountable for them. Impeachment could also bar him from office permanently. Impeachment would be a strong, powerful rebuke, with real consequences for [Sleezebag]’s inflammatory actions. Given the uncertainty of the 25th Amendment outcomes, there’s good reason for Congress to pursue it as quickly as possible.

And in fact there is a lot of support for pursuing impeachment in the House, where the process begins. Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar started to draw up articles yesterday. David Nir, the political director at DailyKos, has been tabulating Representatives who have come out in support of the proposal; he’s already counted 61 as of this writing, with more coming in practically every hour. Speaker Pelosi has also said she wants to move forward with impeachment if the vice president and the Cabinet don’t remove the President.

Impeachment in the House requires only a majority, and it’s likely that Democrats in the chamber could pass it. Removal requires a 2/3 vote in the Senate, which means it would need somewhere around 19 Republicans to vote for it, presuming unanimous Democratic support.

That would be difficult, but it’s far from clear it’s impossible. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell yesterday rebuked [Sleezebag] for his “sweeping conspiracy theories” and refusal to acknowledge the election results. Many Republican Senators were clearly exasperated and angry at [Sleezebag] enablers like Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who objected to certifying the electoral vote.

At the least, a removal vote would force Republicans to either embrace or reject [Sleezebag] as he tries to retain control of the party for the next four years. Are Republicans the party of violent fascist insurrection or not? Is [Sleezebag] their king forever, or do they want to move on? It’s worth making McConnell and his cronies answer those questions.

Impeachment and removal alone aren’t a sufficient response to the ongoing assault on our democracy, of course. The people who invaded the Capitol should be arrested and prosecuted. [Sleezebag] minions like Cruz, Hawley, and Gaetz should be censured by their colleagues, or better, expelled from Congress for their efforts to reject electors and overturn a democratic election. Our entire electoral system needs to be strengthened by expanding the franchise, investing in election security and administration, and eliminating the antiquated electoral college.

There is not much controversy about the seriousness of the insurrection at the Capitol yesterday. Right-wing, pro-[Sleezebag] rioters attempted to halt the certification of Biden as the next president, and forced Congress to recess as members evacuated. The insurrection was clearly inspired by [Sleezebag], who has been claiming for weeks, with no evidence, that he is the rightful winner of November’s election, and that Biden engaged in massive vote fraud. There are reports that [Sleezebag] resisted sending the National Guard to defend the Capitol against rioters.

Our democracy is as fragile as it has been at any time since the Civil War. We need to begin the work of repairing it as soon as possible. Impeachment and removal can’t be the end of that. But they should be the start.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/[Sleezebag]-impeach-25th-amendment-how-b1784141.html

[E_T]

and Option #3) some talk about "Boxing him in" for the 13 days, like was done to Nixon on his final days before he had resigned.  Helped to take arbatary Military actions off the table

[Buster's Uncle]

What is "Boxing him in"?

[E_T]

a very hard thing to do with winy brats....