Because they only ever hold whatever line they think the need to on any given day. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia
1 Like
For all the talk of the 14th amendment being used to ban Trump from office, his commitment to the coma and the run on sentences it produces should have seen fit to have the 25th amendment invoked while he was in office and had him removed due to mental incapacitation
https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1696153691559284750?s=20
He is obviously mad, but most disturbing is the fact that around 35% of US voters still want him to be their leader.
That’s the real insanity.
Joe Biden is miles better, as a man and a politician. But Biden is way past his best, and that adds an extra level of danger to the race, assuming Trump does as he has done all his life, and avoids meaningful consequence for his crimes.
Biden is old and doddery, and a lot of people will be swayed by that.
I hate it, but it is what it is.
2 Likes
But at this stage it’s not a binary choice. There are a number of candidates especially on the Rep side.
A complete lunatic is the best option?
The problem is that the GOP has been actively lobotomizing itself since circa 2010. There are very, very few serious people left in leadership positions. In 2010, Pence was thought of a Tea Party loon, but simply by remaining stationary versus the shifting Overton Window he now looks thoughtful and principled.
2 Likes
I would go further than that. So much of the turn has been the 4Chanification of the party and its now been going on long enough that those 12 year olds pushing boundaries in 2012 with dead baby jokes are now full blown white supremacists who love Nazi iconography and old enough to be the primary cohort running GOP campaigns, and sometimes even offices.
Also , American people would be questioning on whether Biden can survive through the second term (if he gets re-elected) , the alternative if he doesn’t is Kamala Harris as president (which a lot of democrat subscribing people do not like)
That’s not the question right now. The choice is between a foaming at the mouth nutcase and some other people, who may have some bad ideas, but who don’t belong in a straitjacket.
The batshit crazy guy by a landslide.
I agree. It will be unfathomable if Trump gets elected again.
It’ll be an unmitigated disaster. Almost definitely the end of democracy in the US and the beginning of the end of it everywhere else.
The Senate is always the slowest arm to change, and is really the last bastion of any traditional Republicans. The Tea Party era followed by Trumpism has really led the 4Chan types to dominate in the House GOP, to the point that they largely dominate offices - and simply don’t know how to get anything done. Senate GOP staffers have been exasperated since before Trump with their own House counterparts, who arrive to complex processes like bill reconciliation completely unprepared. The populist talking points don’t matter, don’t achieve anything, slow things down, and in the end dumped most of the substantial work on the Senate staff. In the short term, that isn’t much of a problem (because that means the Senate wins its points more often than not). As soon as control shifts, nothing can get done. But now with the emergence of figures like Tuberville, even the Senate is becoming paralyzed.
1 Like
A little thought experiment :
Just imagine if he’s convicted (Jan 6 case) before the general election and yet still retains the Republican nomination. He will still be protesting his innocence , calling it a miscarriage of justice that will be righted on appeal , right up until polling day.
Then he loses again to Biden , and with that loss he knows that he’s very likely going to spend years in prison. Does anyone expect that he will take that defeat any more graciously than the one in 2020 in those circumstances ? And how about his enablers in the GOP , will they accept the results this time , or will they once again indulge his fantasies and law-breaking ?
Unless I’m missing something , Jan 6 2024 could look a whole lot like Jan 6 2020.
3 Likes
One key difference though - Trump won’t control the apparatus of the state. It is very clear that the White House took steps to paralyze the normal response of the state in order to allow events to unfold as they did.
You can bet that unfettered by those constraints, Capitol Police will move to lethal force very, very quickly based on the fact that they saw fatalities next time. It might be even uglier, but it won’t look the same.
3 Likes
Can you imagine a similar scenario though where Trump and his acolytes are once again railing about a stolen election … even after being convicted of using that same lie to perpetrate an attempted coup once before.
I most certainly can , and I wouldn’t be too sure about anything really until that madman is either dead or in jail.
This guy’s certainly not mincing his words ;
1 Like
There have also been over 100 regular schmos charged for their role in the events of Jan6th which has at least been perceived to have taken a lot of the heat out of other potential flare points
Whenever Trump is mentioned in any article… Two words spring to mind
DENNY CRANE… only without the spark of personality
William Shatner plays the above character with his tongue placed firmly in the side of his cheek in Boston Legal
Trump plays the role for real
Another look here at something that’s been bubbling up for a while now. You’d have to say that , as it stands , it’s still most likely a longshot , but the fact that there are currently Secretaries of State discussing its merits suggests it’s still a possibility.
With a less batshit crazy supreme court, perhaps. With the current bunch of crooks, don’t think so.