“See here now you all! When I spent the last four years speaking highly of the face eating leopards, I never thought that they would ever eat my face. I mean, who thinks face eating leopards eat faces?
But today we’ve seen that face eating leopards do indeed eat faces. I do not want my face eaten.”
-Lindsey Graham (and all the other now very concerned republicans)
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I wish the UK government could speak as clearly as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition Labour Part - spot on about Trump, Johnson and Raab:
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Trump only wants to scream they stole it from me and provoke his followers. Using the 25th amendment would give him a new pretext to claim boas against him. I think its a bad idea to go that way.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon sounding like a real leader (unlike our own mini-Trump who still can’t call him out by name):
On one level I think what happened last night, what we witnessed last night, is not that surprising. In some senses Donald Trump’s presidency has been moving towards this moment almost from the moment it started, but that doesn’t make it any less shocking.
What we witnessed weren’t just scenes of horrible breaches of law and order, people taking over the seat of democracy, we actually witnessed the president of the United States inciting insurrection in his own country and I think for many people it will take some time to get our heads round that.
Thankfully there’s only a matter of days of his presidency left. We heard Joe Biden last night remind us what a real leader, a real democratic leader, should sound like.
This has been a dark period in America’s history, there’s no doubt about it, and I would imagine many people in that country and across the world are looking forward to it coming to an end but clearly there are deep-seeded divides there that the new administration has to tackle and try to heal.
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Yeah she’s right about the divides, though I think the healing needs to be amputation and cauterization, the same way Scotland needs to deal with Westminster.
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I’d settle for drug him and lock him in a bathroom at this stage.
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Before anyone gets too excited, this is CNN clickbait. They didn’t say that six Senators or even six Representatives told them they support impeachment. They very carefully said “elected officials”. That could mean a couple of podunk sheriffs, some school board members, and a fifth circuit judge or two.
Lest anyone think Republican congresspeople suddenly grew any moral fiber, they did not.
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‘elected Republican leader’ could mean the dogs warden in Dogshit, Nebraska - names and people willing to go on the record - looking at you lady Senators from Alaska and Maine…
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Being unable mentally is distinct from being disinclined mentally. He can still do the job. He just doesn’t want to. The right tool for this job is impeachment.
It’s less than two weeks. We can manage for two weeks,especially since he’s actually thrown in the towel at this point. He knows he’s out of options to stay in power past the 20th.
“We define a coup d’état as the sudden and irregular (i.e., illegal or extra-legal) removal, or displacement, of the executive authority of an independent government,” wrote the Coup D’etat Project at the University of Illinois’ Cline Center for Democracy in 2013.
And trying to invoke the 25th amendment would be irregular method to passing executive authority. IOW, a coup.
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[citation needed]
Evidence from yesterday indicates the opposite. Inciting violent rebellion against the United States is a fundamentally disqualifying event. Whether through impeachment or 25A, he needs to be removed before he does more damage.
I would prefer impeachment, since they can disqualify him from ever holding office again as well as add criminal penalties, but you are very wrong that we can afford to wait out the next two weeks. As he showed yesterday, he can inflict untold damage in a few hours.
False dichotomy. 45 already attempted a coup. His removal is not irregular given that act. It’s one of the reasons the 25A was put in place.
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Getting Trump’s cabinet to invoke the 25 is like trying to make bricks from runny excrement.
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Nothing stopping him from running for office from prison.
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Nowhere in the 25th Amendment is that distinction made. Adamantly and demonstrably refusing to do a job can be reasonably equated to being unable to do it, with termination and removal being a normal consequence. It’s up to Pence and the cabinet to decide that. If that crowd – usually all about “employment at will” clauses for normal people – declines to do that it’s about cowardice more than philosophical concerns.
Both tools can and should be used.
Four years later and people are still thinking “what’s the worst that can happen with this guy in office?”. Amazing.
No he hasn’t. He’s still talking about “our fight” continuing, and he’s addressing that to the same fascist thugs who stormed the Capitol.
Invoking a Constitutional provision meant to deal with a rare and unusual situation is not an “irregular method to passing executive authority”. It’s exactly the opposite.
No, a coup is when a group with no constitutional or legal authority attempts to remove or displace the executive authority of an independent government. An example would be a bunch of armed thugs storming a legislature to try to stop a constitutionally allowed process (perhaps you’ve heard of such a thing happening recently).
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What to do with the limb? Stories like this show how off the rails some have gone:
They’ve been told they’re on a mission to take the country back, they geared up for the fight, engaged in mob violence, and now they believe that they’ve won a battle - but their war continues.
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The US is full of prisons, might be some space if that law decriminalizing MJ went through?
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No. THIS was an attempted coup. They had weapons and tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power. This is not a BOTH SIDES thing. ONE SIDE is trying to end democratic practices in the US. ONE SIDE and it’s not this. It’s an entirely lawful use of the 25th amendment, because the outgoing president was in communication with this mob.
Apparently when it takes a treasonous asshole out of office, they do. Mob rule is fine, but legal remedies to ensure the peaceful transfer of power is a bridge too far…
He could NEVER do this job. Ever. He JUST participated in an actual coup attempt. The White House was in contact with some of the rioters, AND HE TWEETED A FUCKNG VIDEO OF SUPPORT!!! Do you NOT think we should remove a president who tries to overthrow the government?
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Exactly. Reminder of what happened last night:
Six senators and more than half of the House Republicans backed an attempt to overthrow our government, in favor of a man caught on tape just four days ago trying to strong-arm a state election official into falsifying the election results.
-H. Cox Richardson
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Too little, too late. I suppose removing him from office would be a form of punishment, but it will likely change nothing. Other than possibly hasten the speed in which Donald Trump is kicked off Twitter.
Did you miss the events of yesterday? That was a coup attempt. Invoking the 25th would be using the law as it exists. Very very different things.
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