ICYMI and for those who want to see a collection of relevant posts:
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It struck me watching this how Trump is saying “WE’RE” going to the Capital… then he goes back to the White House and watches it on TV like a sports event. It has a very “Caligula at the Colosseum” vibe to it. Just cowardly and awful, sitting there with his diet coke watching his supporters and the security people die.
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#deservesmorelikes
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If these republicans had a spine and removed trump the first time he was impeached, when they knew he was every bit guilty, this never would have happened.
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Lithuania has the dubious distinction of being the first (and, so far, only) country in Europe to remove a president from office by impeachment. On the one hand, it sucks - the crook should not have been elected in the first place, and the impeachment proceedings took time and attention away from other important issues in the country, not to mention the harm it did to our international standing right as we were joining the EU and NATO.
On the other hand, it’s a relief that the mechanism of impeachment was attempted and proven to work, and only a bit more than a decade after the constitution that provided it came to effect. It means the principle that the law applies to everyone actually works. If the impeachment had failed despite the proven illegality of the president’s actions, or if an impeachment was not attempted at all because the crime was considered too small, it would have set a bad precedent. Future instances of impeachable offenses would have to clear not only the requirements written in the constitution, but also the unwritten bar of “is this worse than the last time(s)?” Eventually, this could lead to the constitutional mechanism completely rusting shut and turning into a mere performative symbolic act while the office of the president would lose vitally important checks to its power.
It seems to me that the US has already had some of its important functions of state calcify into mere ceremonies - e.g. the Electoral College clearly does not perform its intended purpose of weeding out unfit candidates who somehow win over the masses. And if it turns out that a failed coup is not enough to trigger the full force of the impeachment, I don’t see how the bar could go any higher - there will be nobody left to hold an impeachment after a successful one.
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And I suppose you should do now. Write to him or her.
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I hope that some senators have the intelligence and understand that jettisoning Trump will not harm the party and their chance to be re-elected.
Trum isn’t a true party member, was an outsider with money and TV presence.And is clearlu a loser, that can’t accept the defeat. Are they really like to be associated with a loser like this?
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Uh, yeah…
triggered.
Not that is something we’re proud of, but we managed to successfully impeach (we call it “mocion de censura” but I think is the equivalent proceeding) our president in 2018, after it was clear his party embezzled several millions of euros during 17 years (and of course, that prime minister profited of it). The ramifications of that case are still pending but there is, of course, active oposition from both major parties to not “uncover too much”. 
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The most egregious I saw was “He didn’t do it, and if you convict him, he will do it again or something even worse.”
Equivalent: “Your Honor, my client did not commit murder, an if you allow him to be convicted, he will commit murder again or worse.”
Does not seem like a winning strategy.
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I’m assuming that wasn’t a case eligible for the death penalty… 
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Stopped after a few minutes. It’s horrifying. A police officer being beat with an American flag while people chant “USA” and wave the “thin blue line” flag just…I can’t.
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The ol’ Chewbacca Defense
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Comforting to know that Democrats could show a video of Trump personally stabbing Nancy Pelosi, and Republican Senators will still vote to acquit.
/s
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ETA: @anon29537550 beat me to it!
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It should regularly be pointed out that they could have prevented this. And decided not to.
I don’t know you can plausibly argue that. There’s a standing threat for the Trumpists to split off, and polling showing a majority of their voters would follow. That means there’s a serious chance of split votes in tight races. And there’s already been a lot of Republican incumbents falling to right ward primary challenges and attacks from Trump. Even more people who just “retired” rather than risk it.
And of course there’s a good lot of people in office who are true believers.
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I think you can - but republican harm is our gain.
If the republican party splits into two parties the GOP fear is that they will become a minor party and lose power. But the truth is that as soon as the GOP breaks up the Left will detach from the Democrats. The natural outcome will be a merge of the traditional republicans and the centrist democrats as their policy stance is nearly the same.
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That’s a pretty bizarre prediction. For one there’s little evidence of that kind of split in the DNC. For another “traditional”, “Centrist”, “Moderate” however the fuck you want to phrase it Republicans basically do not exist. Even the non-Trump GOP is ten miles to right of Reagan at this point. And are openly antagonistic to mere existence of Democrats of any sort. The GOP is ideologically (and racially) homogeneous, and their policy position is we are not a democracy.
Meanwhile Bluedog Democrats are a shrinking block, with less and less influence. What you’re talking about is largely something that happened 40 years ago, and the principal people involved are on the verge retirement (or straight up dying).
As far the left all they would accomplish is giving up the influence they’ve gained within the Democratic, which is growing, for the sake of becoming a minority without enough pull to push policy.
Meanwhile the short risk of a GOP in fight for the GOP is not that a slightly different flavor of conservative wins. But that if their voters split to nearly any extent, other other party ends up with win regardless of their particular politics. You wanna see progressive candidates get a toe hold in purple and red states? Split the GOP ticket.
On top that if their existing caucuses split. They lose majorities. Like now. Not down the line.
None of that is a recipe for a rift in the Democratic Party. That’s a fucking bonanza.
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Bizarre? There is evidence all around us. Open your eyes man.
More bizzarre is the shade of difference that exists between centrist dems and traditional republicans which you see as a gulf.
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