This definitely has parallels to how Hitler snowed his nation of citizens with his own BS to where they all ate it up and believed everything he said. Trump's basically got these people believing his **** tastes like caviar. So easily swayed by a con man who has pounded out his BS for 4 years. He set the election up as going to be fraudulent months before the election happened...planting those seeds of doubt. He's thrown any and every reason he and his cronies can think of as a fraud claim against the election results and zero of them have held up to scrutiny.
Currently, there are 15 such secretaries, though 3 are holding their posts on an acting basis. (It’s not clear whether “acting” officials get a say here, but the Office of Legal Counsel advised making sure to have a majority both with them and without them, just to be safe.) They are: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Secretary of Energy Dan Brouilette Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs Robert Wilkie Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf So, Mike Pence and a majority of that group (at least 8 out of 15 people, maybe with an extra cushion if some of those are “acting”) would have to sign on to a “written declaration” that Trump is unable to discharge the powers of his office. (The Office of Legal Counsel says they don’t have to physically sign it, just to “direct their names to be added to the document” in “a reliable fashion.”) And if they do that, and send that declaration to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate president pro tem Chuck Grassley, Trump loses his powers, making Pence acting president. Trump would still technically hold the title of the president, but he wouldn’t have legal authority to actually do anything anymore. (At least, that’s how it should work in theory — if Trump tried to totally ignore this, we’d be headed into fully illegal territory, and who knows how it will play out.) Trump can try to get his presidential powers back — and Congress would have to resolve the issue If Trump is stripped of his powers, Section 4 also provides a way he can try and get them back. First, Trump has to send his own written declaration to Pelosi and Grassley that “no inability exists.” But then, the Vice President and Cabinet have four days in which they can reiterate their declaration that Trump is unable to serve. If they do so, per the amendment, “Congress shall decide the issue.” Congress would then have 21 days to consider the matter. If, in that timespan, two-thirds of both the House and Senate vote that Trump is in fact “unable,” he will remain powerless. If not, he gets his powers back. Interestingly, that 21-day specification means that, in the current situation, Congress wouldn’t have to do anything at all — Trump’s term in office expires in 14 days, at noon on January 20. So Pence, plus about eight Cabinet secretaries, have the full authority to strip Trump of his powers for the rest of the term, if they want to do so. That is one legal and constitutional failsafe that remains to them — if things get truly out of control and they decide enough is enough.
I think we'll find out once everything hashes out that President Trump was directing a soft response to his event.
Looking at the Facebook Trumpers I know, it's about 50/50. The older ones seem to be against it. The younger ones are mostly denying it even happened and trying to blame ANTIFA infiltrators, or bemoaning BLM protests of yesteryear.
If you left trump handcuffed to the resolute desk with his phone, a few Big Macs, and the tv remote just out of reach, he’d saw his hand off in less that 10 minutes.
I don't think Pence has anything to lose by convening the cabinet. He can be the saving hero or complicit, which would you choose?
"The stunning display of insurrection was the first time the US Capitol had been overrun since the British attacked and burned the building in August of 1814, during the War of 1812"
Even if just a piece of mail, that is theft. And, whatever else...trespassing, etc. . He is as good as caught and will be arrested.
