Beer Belly Putsch AFTERMATH Thread

If true, why doesn't Pence invoke the 25th anyway? Cabinet not on board with it?

Afraid he'll get more death threats and lose whatever political capital he thinks he still has among the True Believers.

You really think he's going to put aside four years of subservience now?

Impeachment articles.

The plain text of the 25th Amendment says that the Acting President assumes all the presidential powers and duties. The powers would include the pardon power. So while anything new is hypothetically subject to a court challenge, I would say that it would be perfectly legal for that scenario to unfold.

There have certainly been news stories and opinion pieces speculating on Trump resigning and getting a pardon from then-President Pence, so I'd be shocked if it hadn't crossed the minds of Trump aand Pence.

At this point, there are a couple reasons why I don't think it likely:
1. Trump's ego probably wouldn't let him resign
2. Pence still may harbor some ambitions beyond the VP and wouldn't want to draw criticism for a pardon
3. Pence is personally pissed at Trump (and vice versa) for what they each see as betrayal (Pence for Trump's criticism firing up the crowd to put him and his family at physical risk and Trump for thinking that Pence refused to singlehandedly disrupt the EC vote). So there's little chance that either would trust each other to carry this out now.

If it's a 25th amendment removal, 2 and 3 still apply.

There have also been articles about whether Trump can pardon himself, and Trump has even tweeted that he believes he can. It's more likely that he will do that. Common sense suggests that the Founders did not intend for the pardon power to be abused in that way, but we'll see what SCOTUS might say about that.

Trump is fucked. Plain and simple.

The minute he's out of office, the criminal and civil suits against him are going to drown him.

Yes, there may be some last minute maneuvres at the federal level, shielding him from federal prosecution. But there's lots going on at the state level (and even in D.C.)

The D.C. Attorney General just announced today that he is looking into charges of inciting a riot. Coupled with the New York attorney's tax case and the lawsuits that will like arise from GA, PA and other states for election interference, I'm hoping we see Trump behind bars by the summer.

I just did a search and in the past five years that term was only used four times on WF.

Once by @El Chup , you probably don't have to worry about him coming after you.

Once by @Tererun addressed at themself.

Once by @Man Afraid of his Shoes in reference to the Skywalker boys.

And finally, before this post, once by you.

Get off your cross.

I tend to doubt that a majority of Trump's cabinet would be onboard with it. There are 15 cabinet positions, so you would need 8 out of the 15 to invoke. I'm guessing at least some four out of the following six would for sure be against it -- Pompeo at State, Acting AG Rosen, Acting Sec. Defense Miller, Ross at Commerce, Carson at HUD, and Chad Wolf at Homeland Security. ETA: Looks like Chad Wolf just resigned. Which brings up another issue: he's like the third cabinet member to resign since Wednesday. Presumably a lot of the replacements are going to be more devoted to Trump than not.

I can't see any people who would be likely for it.

But even assuming Pence or someone could line up the votes for the 25th in a timely fashion, there would be a couple obstacles.

1. There's something to the school of thought that the 25th Amendment is meant to be used only in cases of physical or mental disability as opposed to just plann incompetence or malfeasance. If you are one who thinks that the law should be bound by the framers' intent, I assume that the people who were writing it were purely thinking about situations like the Kennedy assassination where the president was not able to function but wasn't dead.

2. Admitting that you served someone who was unfit for office and that there's years of you kissing up to him as the greatest president ever is probably a hard thing to swallow.

3. The notion that your livelihood and indeed your life would be threatened if you cross someone with the level of devoted followrs as Trump has would give even the most courageous of us pause.

4. If this had happened with six months to go in Trump's presidency or even just after Election Day, it would be arguably more necessary to act. There would be a real temptation to let the next 9 days pass and let the problem take care of itself. (Or at least hope that it does).

I think you forgot Anc the punk-ass Nazi.
But you're right it might not be the exact phrase whiney bitch, I might have been paraphrasing. Thank you for reminding me to pay attention to detail since it's one of my pet peeves.

Another example of projection.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opini...mocrats-make-mockery-constitution-ncna1253751

An opinion piece from a member of the NY Post's editorial board arguing that it would be Democrats making a mockery of the Constitution if they tried to oust Trump.

1. The 25th Amendment wasn't meant to remove bad presidents, jsut infirm ones
2. Trump didn't call for insurrection. Those Trump supporters acted on their own.
3. What about Democrats who supported the summer rioters?
4. Time is running out on his term in office anyway.
5. Impeachment is virtue signaling
6. It's really an attmept to make sure he doesn't run for office again, and the American people can be trusted to see to that.
7. We need to heal, and trying to remove Trump will just spread division and resentment.

So there are your conservative talking points.

Hard to decide whether Stalin or Goebbels would have loved oldfella more.

Thanks. Of hasn't provided any.

Fallout from the conduct of the Capitol Cops on Insurrection Day...
Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) told reporters on a video call Monday afternoon that an officer seen posing for a selfie with a rioter after they stormed the building and another who donned a red Trump hat while directing the rioters in the sprawling, multi-level complex have since been suspended.
Another 10 to 15 officers are also under investigation, according to Ryan. He did not have specific details about their alleged behavior.
In addition to the actions taken by the officers on suspension, videos show officers moving outside barricades and physically stepping aside within the halls of Congress to allow throngs of rioters to rush past.
Developing....

1. The 25th Amendment wasn't meant to remove bad presidents, jsut infirm ones I suppose this a point that's worth arguing. Impeachment is probably the correct "remove a bad President" route.
2. Trump didn't call for insurrection. Those Trump supporters acted on their own. That's certainly arguable if you look at the totality of his speech. "Arguable" doesn't necessarily mean "correct" though.
3. What about Democrats who supported the summer rioters? Democrats who actually and truly supported the summer rioters seem to suddenly not have actually supported the summer rioters, despite supporting the rioters all summer and even denying that there was rioting at all. People notice this sort of thing.
4. Time is running out on his term in office anyway. A fact, but not necessarily germane to whether he ought to be removed or not. If he really needs to be removed, he needs to be removed whether he has three year or three days left in his term.
5. Impeachment is virtue signaling At this stage of the game, probably true.
6. It's really an attmept to make sure he doesn't run for office again, Probably true and the American people can be trusted to see to that. Not so sure about that.
7. We need to heal, Lots of people say this, but no one agrees on what "heal" means. If someone stabs me, I need to heal, but the knife has to come out first. Is Trump the knife? Debateably. and trying to remove Trump will just spread division and resentment. Undoubtedly true, but not necessarily the most important factor.

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick declines Trump's offer of Presidential Medal of Freedom, citing "recent events."

Edited to add: LINK

Trump must be so deflated.

I'm sure being told "NO" anytime, anywhere by anyone sends him into conniptions.

Why would anyone give Belichick a medal for ANYTHING after this season?

At least Belichick isn't a woman. That would really set him off.

RE #5: this is actually one of those great examples that demonstrates that "virtue signalling" is a good and needed thing.

QAnon Woke Up the Real Deep State

GOOD. Lets treat it like the domestic terrorism and sedition it is.

I hope Granny beat the snot out of him with a rolling pin before the cops got ahold of him!

Something tells me that lady makes a damn good plate of biscuits and gravy.