While I worry that a prosecution of an ex-President will be very divisive and will hamper what Biden wants to get done the country is already divided and getting worse. Not having a functioning transition will greatly hamper what Biden wants to get done and will harm the country as the new administration scrambles to get up to speed. There needs to be consequences to undermining our system and putting the country at risk out of pettiness and spite. At this point Trump and his enablers should be given until the vote of the electors and if the still doesn't accept the election and continues to prevent the transition of power action should be taken. While impeachment is the proper historical and Constitutional route it's likely not going to succeed as it is highly doubtful Republican Senators still will vote remove. I think talk of post-presidency prosecution might get his attention while governors might be able to sue the Trump administration as hampering a transition has a direct effect on the ability of states to prepare for a new administration.
its not even about preparing for the new admin the current admin is doin nothing.. no covid task force, no intelligence briefings.. the states need to coordinate with those to function properly as well they can all sue trump for having not evein a single shred of evidence, deligitimized and announced as rig their state's electoral process
The Senate does not have to start the impeachment at all. So if it came to Mitch appointing a judge or impeachment you know what would happen. https://www.lawfareblog.com/can-senate-decline-try-impeachment-case But it is also possible that, in this time of disregard and erosion of established institutional practices and norms, the current leadership of the Senate could choose to abrogate them once more. The same Mitch McConnell who blocked the Senate’s exercise of its authority to advise and consent to the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland, could attempt to prevent the trial of a House impeachment of Donald Trump. And he would not have to look far to find the constitutional arguments and the flexibility to revise Senate rules and procedures to accomplish this purpose. The Constitution does not by its express terms direct the Senate to try an impeachment. In fact, it confers on the Senate "the sole power to try,” which is a conferral of exclusive constitutional authority and not a procedural command. The Constitution couches the power to impeach in the same terms: it is the House’s “sole power.” The House may choose to impeach or not, and one can imagine an argument that the Senate is just as free, in the exercise of its own “sole power,” to decline to try any impeachment that the House elects to vote.
trump is obviously doing everything in his power prior to being forced out of office because he lost the election in order to retain control over a corrupt Republican Party in disarray. He is threatening to ruin whatever chance the 2 GOP extremists have in the runoffs for the Senate seats in Georgia. That is implicit in his threats and ravings via Tweets. He’s raging against the high state officials, who are Republican, that have declared the elections fair in their respective states, because they are fair. trump is already pushing for extreme “trumpists” to run against them in 2022. Which brings me to what McConnell could do if he chose to and won’t, because he values power over country. McConnell could say out loud that he supports trump’s impeachment and free his senators to vote as they wish, declaring that trump deserves impeachment, should be impeached, and then convicted immediately by the Senate, with McConnell’s active support if the Democratic majority in the House were to pass articles of impeachment. That would do several vital things for the good of the country and the Republican Party. End trump’s lunatic effort to steal an election that the GOP actually did better in than they and the Democratic Party expected they would do, aside from the result at the top of the ticket. Disgrace trump, remove him from office, engender goodwill towards the GOP, largely end trump’s domination of McConnell’s own political party, freeing the GOP of trump’s baggage that an historic 6 million vote majority of the country in the election said clearly at the ballot box that they wanted to come to an end. That, and much more. It would be a clear “reset” for the Republican Party. A powerful blow against the extremists peddling their mad conspiracy theories to trump’s misguided supporters, something being done largely for those owning Newsmax and the other Alt-Right “news” sources in order to line their pocketbooks at, ironically, the expense of Fox News. It makes too much sense. McConnell will never to it. Too bad. It would be such a great political move for the GOP, and to a degree at the expense of the Democratic Party. Most importantly, of course, it would be tremendous for the country and save countless lives, as well as countless small and medium sized businesses. In order to support such a move by McConnell? The Democratic House and the Democratic leadership in the Senate could negotiate a deal with McConnell ahead of time to immediately pass most of the Democratic relief bill that would provide what Americans were getting several months ago. The weekly payments. Another lump sum for individuals and families. A continuation of the unemployment payments. All in the Democratic bill passed months ago that McConnell has proudly ignored, openly ignored, while lying about about it. A Democratic bill that provides vital help for small, medium, often family owned businesses hung out to dry by the Republican majority in the Senate, led by McConnell. McConnell would also have to promise to confirm qualified appointments, whether as majority or minority leader, submitted for confirmation by the Biden Administration during it’s first 6 months. For the cabinet and other key positions vital to a functioning government and our national security. To vote to confirm qualified judicial appointments during the 1st 6 months of the Biden Administration and to stop voting to fill judicial vacancies prior to Joe Biden’s inauguration. In my opinion, it is more than a fair deal and would actually be a boon to the Republican Party at the expense of the Democratic Party. Changes around the margins would have to be made. Some modifications, of course. Just a thought I had.
Right!? All of these people that are straight up pikachu face about what happened are ****ing stupid. What did you expect? How did people not believe that this was inevitable? Morons. Racists. Deplorables. Terrorists. Traitors. They are everything that we knew they were.
What damage can Trump do on the next 13 days? Can he launch nuclear bombs on his own? Or Pence must give his codes too? Yes thats what I mostly worry about at this point. No need to bring down the rest of the world with your insane tyrant.
Trump can start multiple wars in the next two weeks, just to **** over Biden and everybody else really, since Man Baby got cheated out of his election coronation. Trump recent behavior has shown that this is not a bridge too far.
Financial Times editorial... Holding Donald Trump to account for storming of the Capitol Options that seemed exotic a few days ago are now merited The world’s foremost power and oldest democracy lost control of its own capital on Wednesday. The storming of the US legislature by a rightwing mob suspended its business, forced elected politicians into hiding and, while details remain scarce, cost lives. American institutions have come under attack before. Never, though, at the instigation of its own president. As mayhem spread, Donald Trump did not categorically deplore the violence he helped to unleash from his own supporters. Some of his lawmakers then challenged the certification of Joe Biden as his successor, on the same specious grounds that incited the riot. An event can be shocking and entirely predictable all at once. To suggest that this one has been coming since November, when Mr Trump contested his election defeat, is to understate the case. Even before polling day, he implied that any loss would be down to electoral fraud. And for years before that, he had encouraged the wildest elements of the right through gesture and insinuation. It is tempting to regard Wednesday as the culmination of his incendiary political career. Despite Mr Trump’s belated pledge early on Thursday of an “orderly transition”, with two weeks still to run of his presidency things may yet deteriorate. It is up to Congress, other members of his administration and above all the Republican party to avert that fate. Options that were exotic at the start of the week are now common currency in Washington discourse. One is to exercise the 25th amendment of the Constitution, which allows for the removal of an “unable” president. Mike Pence, the vice-president, would then see out the remainder of the Trump term. Another course is to complete the unfinished business of a year ago. Mr Trump was impeached for crimes relating to foreign meddling in the 2016 election, but then acquitted in the Senate. Many Democratic lawmakers now suggest another attempt over his part in Wednesday’s turmoil. The hope is that enough Republican senators will find their conscience to form a supermajority for conviction. Impeachment has the advantage of barring Mr Trump from another run at the presidency. Neither approach guarantees order. Each would increase the far-right’s baseless sense of dispossession. Mr Trump does not even need a formal office from which to inflame them. Ideally, public outrage at the assault on Capitol Hill would cause agitators to calm down or even rethink. This would allow the nation to make it through to Mr Biden’s inauguration on January 20. It is no longer prudent, however, to count on such luck. Unfit for office in the first place, Mr Trump is becoming more dangerous, not less, with time. And there is too much of it left to simply wait him out. Of the flawed options available, the least bad is to commence impeachment proceedings. Even if it fails, it would at the minimum send a moral signal. The raid on the seat of US democracy confirmed what should have been obvious years ago. America has a national security problem in the form of the far-right. This closed world of misinformation, paranoia and grievance receives succour from mainstream conservatives: public office-holders, cable news anchors. The costs are increasingly unmistakable. Overlaying the domestic threat is the geopolitical ignominy. China will never find it easier to mock democracy as a charter for chaos. Even Turkey tweeted its concern for America’s civic peace. Shoring up its democracy, and therefore its good name in the world, will take the US years of work. It can start with formal action against a rogue president. A man who despaired of “American carnage” has incited another kind. He cannot be allowed to cause more. https://www.ft.com/content/c7af1bca-3d0a-49f7-be20-e3460479b89a
