President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Way down in the story is the real point. Gaetz himself knows it won't pass. He says it's to get on the record who is with Trump and who isn't.

 

I don't know about anybody else in jail, but I can damn sure confirm I was thinking about doing and eating anything other than sitting in that concrete blockhouse. And yeah, if you're dumb enough to consider the Orange Cheeto your loud lord and swarmy savior, who are we to stop you from having turkey franks and beans tonight, followed by a 24-hour lockdown on a steel cot?

 

I wonder if the GOP had had the onions to convict Trump at his second impeachment, would the MAGA base still be so mad next year as to not vote for the GOP candidate in 2024.

 

It's been the only bullet in the chamber since midterms.

 

They said so at the time, and the Republicans in Congress believed them, but I'm doubtful. We are a nation of front-runners, left and right, and my bet is the cult would've found a new leader quickly enough.

 

At Trump's first impeachment, GOP said don't convict, let next election decide----->Trump loses that election, sparking his rampage to over turn that election and leading----->to his second impeachment at which GOP said, don't convict, let criminal justice system handle it------>which led to indictments, which GOP say shouldn't be the remedy, but rather------>the 2024 election

 

It's almost like the Republican Party has no principles whatsoever and everything they say is performative bullshit.

 

“almost”?

 

"On the one hand, checking an authoritarian threat like Trump requires independent action by key institutions. On the other, the very reason the authoritarian threat exists — Trump’s strong popular support in one of two major political parties — makes it hard for institutions to take definitive action.

This illustrates the paradox of American democracy: The institutions are both strong and weak. Strong in the sense that they are capable of coordinated action to defend democracy; weak in the sense that they lack sufficient bipartisan legitimacy to address the fundamental reason why democracy needs defense in the first place."

The Trump indictments reveal a paradox at the heart of American democracy

 

1. The United States of America is NOT and has never been a democracy. It's a constitutional republic. Was everybody asleep during Civics? Do you pledge allegiance to the flag and the democracy for which it stands? I can't remember the last time I heard the Battle Hymn of the Democracy. (Rant over.)

2. The Republicans may not have to win another national election in our lifetimes. They used Trump to pack the only branch of the government capable of taking a wrecking ball to the Constitution -- the Supreme Court, in which only FIVE non-elected people -- in a country of over 335 million -- who have that job for the rest of their lives can decide anything they want and it's the law of the land. Majority rules. How ironic.

The President, for better or worse, gets too much credit when things are good and too much blame when things go bad. And Congress has been nothing but performative art since I fell asleep during Civics nearly 50 years ago.

3. The only reason the GOP keeps putting up with his shit now is because of their own phony-baloney jobs. They cannot afford to piss off his base because they're connected at the hip. And they're perfectly happy in private to let the Department of Justice, New York, Florida, Fulton County or whomever do the dirty work for them, because they can distribute the blame evenly in public without having to take a stand. If Trump goes to prison, it's the Democrats' fault. It's a perfect "play both sides" situation right now, except for the Republicans in Democratic strongholds who keep getting put on the hot seat by the Freedumb Caucus.

You don't have to come up with ideas to fix this country if you broke it on purpose in the first place.

 

And just like that …

 

So in a sense you’re right: We’re not a democracy in the sense that everyone votes on everything.

However

We are a democracy.

The nuance you’re going for is direct versus indirect democracy. We are a representative democracy, which is still a democracy. However, we set up the system so the only office directly voted on by everyone is president. Congress has 535 people making laws. Any one person votes for three of them. Such is the system.