I’m talking about on the federal level - in Congress and in the Senate, The Democrats need to isolate and ignore the GOP. They need to use reconciliation and the Senate schedule to grind the opposition to dust. They need to treat the GOP as the whacky fringe party they are and push past the parliamentary sandbags a minor party can put up. They need to make the GOP actually lose the elections they just lost. Being “a winner” is the best way to not only actually win, but its something most Americans admire so it perpetuates winning.
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The only thing I look forward to with regard to Trump is how his legal and financial problems will play out over the next two years. Fraud conviction and bankruptcy are the most reasonable things to hope for now.
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To be honest, they don’t have many options. At this point if they return to their old boring tactics it’ll just make it easier for neo-libs in the opposing party win more seats. It’s Alien v Predator and we’re still losing.
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How are they losing though? I’m actually curious because I’m feeling scared and pessimistic atm. Maybe it’s my own anxiety/depression skewing things but I just don’t see it.
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This is something I’ve chewed over quite a bit lately. At this point, it looks like he won’t start a new party because he clearly doesn’t have to. But supposing the Senate did convict him (which they absolutely will not) a third party would be an obvious move, but one I think would backfire on everyone. What people don’t seem to remember about creating a third party is that you leave the GOP apparatus behind entirely. They have a strong presence in every state that is robust enough to be competitive or dominant in nearly every district, despite (or because of) constantly sending up unhinged losers. Aside from being white supremacist and xenophobic war mongers whose only real fidelity is to the 1%, they really have no coalition beyond being unified by fear and hatred.
However, this all may well happen anyway if they can’t get rid of him. He didn’t do himself or the party any favors with the military, which is the only real ingredient necessary to tear down a functioning government. That leaves actually governing which requires a robust party apparatus with leadership that can effectively take the reins. They did a lot of damage over the past 4 years, but were also thwarted at nearly every turn by trump’s ineptitude and egocentric reactivity.
In short, I don’t know what’s better for the country; trump retaining an iron grip on the GOP or peeling off on his own. Both are incredibly destructive to their aims and, unfortunately everyone else, too.
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Yes. Me too. They have half the senate and gained seats in the house…
They can’t always do that.
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Don’t hold your breath…
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A ton of really bad publicity couldn’t hurt. Where’s The Lincoln Project (or similar outfit) when we need them? They’re counting on the public ignoring (or forgetting about) what was done. It needs to be in their faces on a regular basis that the strategy won’t work this time. The opposition should’ve gone after the dollars that donors pulled from GOP members over their position on the election.
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Most legal minds agree there’s no legal mechanism to prevent Trump from seeking office again without a conviction in the Senate first.
The good news is that it’s hard to imagine Trump winning a second Presidential term in 2024 anyway. He’d be going against an incumbent, he’d be historically unpopular, he’d be old and in ill health, and even his GOP supporters would know he was ineligible for more than one additional term. Plus most people who might have been able to help him pull it off have already been thrown beneath various buses.
Granted, almost everything about the last four years was hard to imagine before it came to pass so better safe than sorry.
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They have lost control of the House, the Senate and the Presidency in the last four years. The demographics of this country will swamp them. Is already swamping them. These people are a small minority nationally and they need to be treated as such.
The best way to bring flyover country along is by being successful and being successful means fucking steamrolling the GOP.
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Not being our friends, of course.
Yep. Or approving of it or not caring… or thinking it’s not a real threat.
Never mind. Have a great Friday.
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I think a threat of using this “Plan B” would get some traction, and avoid any double jeopardy.
Plan B
Cease all impeachment efforts and remand this case to the appropriate federal/municipal court within the District of Columbia. In this case, his “jury” would be comprised of less friendly DC residents as opposed to the senate membership. I am sure if the DC residents are appropriately briefed as to what activities fall outside the scope of sovereign immunity they will more than deliver justice.
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Oh, that’s a great point! I also kind of maybe possibly think he may have overplayed his hand and can’t rebuild the coalition necessary to win 2024.
I think best case scenario for the country is that he drags the GOP around on his heel and blows up all of their opportunities for gains like he did in GA. Despite what everyone still wants to claim about his “genius” (evil or otherwise), he is just a plain old stupid man with no success he’s had to fight for and the attendant wisdom therein.
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ok - Bette Midler’s description is better than mine. Thanks!
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I’m sure that all his grovelers will bask in it’s gaudy glory and return tanned by it’s gilded bullshit.
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Guys, I have good news and I have bad news.
The bad news is that impeachment and conviction in the Senate is not going to happen.
The good news is that there are state and federal prosecutors all over the place looking into every corner of Trump’s dealings over the past few decades.
Impeachment is the least of that MFer’s legal problems, believe me.
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I wouldn’t assume that they want to remove Trump but are afraid, their actions suggest they want to retain trump without looking tainted.
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I’d argue that the reason impeachment and conviction is so important isn’t because of the consequences they would have for Trump personally. He’s unlikely to run for political office again anyway, so most punishments they could impose would likely be largely symbolic.
The reason a conviction in the Senate would be meaningful is because it would demonstrate to current and future generations that there are actually limits on what an American President can do without being called to account for his actions.
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I’m guessing 50/50. There are a lot of old school institutionalists who realize the gravity of what’s happening and are too scared of their base revolting as evidenced by the much higher number of retired GOP voices who have spoken up.
The rest are just pure monsters.
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I’d argue, further, that it’s important for us for preserving some kind of accountability for corruption and treason by elected officials to the public. If he gets away with this insurrection and everything else without any consequences from congress, we’re really fucked.
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