U.S. Presidential Election 2020

2 republican senators have said they will and McConnel has said he believes Trump committed impeachable offenses

McConnell is probably the most effective Senate leader in living memory. I loath him, but you have to admit that he knows how to play the cards he’s dealt. He is utterly furious with Trump. Probably had nothing but contempt for him from the start, but was pragmatic about working with him. Now, Trump has no value beyond his fanbase, but this is a chance for McConnell to eliminate a cancerous tumour on the Republican party. If McConnell says he’ll vote to convict, that means there’s solid support to convict. At the moment, there are only anonymous reports from sources “close to the Senate leader”. If they turn into public statements of support for conviction, that pretty much means Trump is toast.

Is this just a waste of time and effort?

I don’t think it is. If Trump’s actions don’t deserve at least an impeachment debate and a Senate trial what signal does that send out? Has any president been more deserving of impeachment?

I don’t think Mcconnell has said he’ll support it- he’s said he thinks Trump committed impeachable offences, and that having him impeached would be good, but that doesn’t mean he’ll actually do anything to make it happen. The difference between this time and last time is enormous, though. He always hated Trump but loves power wherever it comes from and whatever it’s doing, so that’s a pretty interesting bag of drivers.

I think it’ll be pretty interesting if he does fully back it- a lot of the party respect his decision making, and frankly a lot more are pretty desperate and seem to be realising that they lack the capability to make good decisions so will be happy to be told what to do. But there’s also the ones that’ll just rightly or wrongly believe it’s the wrong decision/bad for the party/bad for them/not legally proven- not necessarily trump fans and of course there’s no shortage of actual cultists.

I don’t think it is. If Trump’s actions don’t deserve at least an impeachment debate and a Senate trial what signal does that send out? Has any president been more deserving of impeachment?

Agreed – also i think he might loose certain immunities from prosecution + his Presidential pension if convicted so got to be worth it…

It won’t be a waste of time and effort. This is not the time to let Trump off the hook. If republican Senators vote against impeachment let them be damned by it, history will remember them as traitors.

Just a thought; what it the mob had succeeded in killing a few Senators? I think the Military would have given the Republicans 15 mins to invoke the 25th or they would have stepped in.

Whilst everyone talks, Trump plots his next attack. All the Republicans refusal to invoke the 25th has done is give more oxygen to the big lie. The most important thing now is to impech so he can’t run for office again.

I spotted the National Guard sleeping in the hallways of the Capitol as I walked in this morning. pic.twitter.com/PzVpQCo5yU

— Daniella Diaz (@DaniellaMicaela) January 13, 2021

The most important thing now is to impech so he can’t run for office again.

Stopping him standing again is a few steps down the road from impeachment but ought to be the aim. That way the Republicans are rid of him, which I’m sure would be to the relief of many.

They can also censure Trump on a simple majority by my understanding which would bar him from public office. thats for later tho as is the criminal charges which can also bar him from office

its amusing how I ( we all?) have become obsessed with minutiae of American systems of governance

They still got over 70 million votes, they got more votes in 2020 than in 2016

I’ve seen a lot of chatter about moderate Republicans leaving the party to become independents.

I think a splintering of the party is not out of the question.

its amusing how I ( we all?) have become obsessed with minutiae of American systems of governance

I’m not amused, but I agree it’s happening. As a young bloke I remember hardly giving the US a second thought except for sports and Hollywood etc, them having cool inventions such as skateboards. I determined that 1. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars + 2. 20 yrs of the English-speaking internet have brought the UK much closer to the US in a number of non-positive ways. Conspiracies, division, dumbing-down, talk radio bolx, an inclination towards hard right racist and sexist rhetoric, hard-grifting ‘white-identity’ extremist bullshit
-artistes/demagogues/idealogues who make money by manipulating theirs and our politics in similar ways. All the while taking us further from both our self-identity and away from our actual European neighbours.

It’s depressing.

Only because our own corrupt & incompetent government can’t be impeached, no matter how bad they are

As a young bloke I remember hardly giving the US a second thought except for sports and Hollywood etc, them having cool inventions such as skateboards.

I might be younger than you but I feel the opposite. I spent my whole life – until a couple of years ago – thinking that the USA was just UK+. Brighter, brasher, richer, fatter but pretty much the same. We speak the same language, have similar hobbies, watch the same films, listen to the same music etc. Whereas “Europe” was a disparate group of other countries with other languages and traditions completely unlike ours. I don’t think I’ve ever felt ‘European’ in my lifetime (which is a shame).

It’s over the last couple of years that I’ve realised that the USA is mad and their attitude to guns, ‘freedom’ (whatever TF that is), healthcare, social justice and particularly religion marks them out as substantially different from the UK.

Meanwhile, actually the UK is aligned pretty closely with Europe on loads of things. Politics, (lack of) religion etc. Perhaps we should join a ‘union’ of all the European states or something?

I don’t think it is. If Trump’s actions don’t deserve at least an impeachment debate and a Senate trial what signal does that send out? Has any president been more deserving of impeachment?

I agree but he is out of office, out on his arse. Of course there wil be a media tornado around that, but is it good use of politicians time and public money to flog a dead horse?

its amusing how I ( we all?) have become obsessed with minutiae of American systems of governance

For me it’s almost a nice distraction from how uttery **** up the UK goverment is. It doesn’t make it any better for us on our sad little island.

Sarah Groh, chief of staff to "Squad" member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, tells the Boston Globe that when she hid from the howling mob, she discovered that “every panic button in my office had been torn out.”

Sure hoping for an innocent explanation for this.https://t.co/1NbNmIcB3H

— Helen 0️⃣7️⃣ Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) January 13, 2021

Is this just a waste of time and effort? Trump is out on his ear anyway, so why they don’t just let nature take its course in due time and focus on more productive endevours?

Impeachment – and hopefully subsequent criminal investigations – are the only way to remove Trump from heading a serious challenge in 2024.

And there is the wider point – if what he has done, specifically last week but I guess to a degree more generally, is seen to be taken as “acceptable” by the Senate, then what the hell will the next loon try and do?

Trump personally, and his actions, have to be shown to be morally and politically unacceptable

Yup, line must be drawn, with Tump on the wrong side of it.

Impeachment – and hopefully subsequent criminal investigations

I guess while the 25th could be quickly implement it also sort of gives Trump a free pass.

Impeachment is about transgressions a president has knowingly made. Deliberate acts

the 25th is about the president lacking capacity  – diminished responsibility.

While you could argue they’re both applicable to Trump one makes you guilty and the other sort of makes you innocent.

How do all the law cases waiting for trump in a few days time fair if Trump has been subject to the 25th – if he’s demonstrated to not have sufficient capacity by the same measure he’d be unfit to stand trial.

It’s got him rattled, he sent out Lindsey Graham to beg for mercy.

“I agree but he is out of office, out on his arse. Of course there wil be a media tornado around that, but is it good use of politicians time and public money to flog a dead horse?”

He’s not out on his arse and as much as we may gloat about the banks pulling away from him and his impending financial doom, remember that he has 35 million deranged followers who will be easy to tap for money should he launch a media channel. The fee he would charge just to host a show on another channel would be astronomical as well.

Hitler got a 5 year sentence for the Munich beer hall putsch but was let out after a year.

Reports of GOP congressarses and senators apparently “scared of threats of violence towards [them] and their families”.

Fascinating to see the curtain drop. No wonder so many were licky-bumhole types since 2016.

Hitler got a 5 year sentence for the Munich beer hall putsch but was let out after a year

Luckily Trump is a crap demagogue, hasn’t got the attention span to really keep it going long term.

At the very least Hitler actually believed in his own shit, something that can’t be said for Trump.

Hitler also had the Bownshirts bumped off when he no longer had any use for them.

This all comes down to the GOP growing a backbone, which means that the US establishment has to either offer Republican senators and congresspeople a guarantee of protection, or give them the lesser of two unpalatable choices.

This is amazing: a Philadelphia police detective, whose job was to run background checks on police recruits, is being investigated for social media posts that show she was at the Capitol during the attack.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/jennifer-gugger-gun-taken-capitol-trump-pence-20210112.html

Unsurprisingly her recent social media includes accusing Mike Pence of being in the Cabal:

And of course..

Her job was literally to look for this kind of stuff from recruits and yet she did it herself. 🤦‍♂️

He’s not out on his arse and as much as we may gloat about the banks pulling away from him and his impending financial doom, remember that he has 35 million deranged followers who will be easy to tap for money should he launch a media channel.

I don’t think that his followers matter, the white house sige was pretty crap to be fair. I expected something more interesting.

Trump just needs to get back into the sea, he’s a horrible person, and he will go back to the sea, it’s just a question of how.

its amusing how I ( we all?) have become obsessed with minutiae of American systems of governance

It’s like watching a really far fetched TV show only it’s actually happening. I feel so sorry for the normal people of America caught up in this mad shit

Number two for the big number two

Trump impeached!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55656385

“Donald Trump has been impeached for “inciting” the deadly riot at the US Capitol”

He now has half of all US presidential impeachments…..👏👏

This f*****r needs to be stopped from ever running again.👍

Can they let him back on Twitter just for today so we can all see how angry he is? Please?

@franksinatra my sentiments too!

CNN say Trump is expected to make a response in a video. I guess it won’t be on YouTube though.

Oh we gonna rock down to Pennsylvania Avenue

And then we’ll take it higher

Oh yes it’s impeachment two on Pennsylvania Avenue

And then we’ll take it higher

I read a smart retort on Twitter today about his right to reply / ability to broadcast along the lines of the fact that he has a special room in his house where the worldwide media will come and sit and listen to what he has to say. Yet still he and his followers pretend they’re gagged.

C’mon ya stupid shitgibbon tell us how you feel.

If they don’t properly go after Trump, all those who followed his lead will get punished and he won’t. I’d throw Cruz in there as well, but the instigators need to catch as much of the poo as those who did their bidding for them.

the fact that he has a special room in his house where the worldwide media will come and sit and listen to what he has to say.

I watched something the other day about (can’t remember who said it) say seeing some really board staffers sitting at the back of the white house press room. He asked them if they were there all the time “He said yes just in case there’s nuclear war”.

So what/who else will he take down on his way out?

Such a despicable, spiteful, spoiled, fascistic, abusive and hateful man-baby. I lack words to fully describe how depressingly depraved he is

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/nasty-parting-shot-hhs-finalizes-rule-axing-lgbtq-nondiscrimination-protections-n1253959

With little more than a week left to the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services has finalized a rule permitting social-service providers that receive government funds to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity…

…Critics claim the new guidance could have wide-ranging implications for agencies that address adoption and foster-parenting, as well as homelessness, HIV prevention, elder care and other public services. According to Kruse, Tuesday’s final rule could also allow a homeless shelter to turn away a queer teen and a senior center to refuse to drive an elderly gay man to his doctor’s appointment.

He must have done a bit of sick in his mouth reading this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-55645957?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=5fff7d3454a69202e80dc79b%26Trump%20issues%20statement%262021-01-13T23%3A09%3A11.404Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:69d0267e-13a7-4cb7-82df-53dc804affdc&pinned_post_asset_id=5fff7d3454a69202e80dc79b&pinned_post_type=share

Edit. I’m incompetent at using this website. It’s his speech.