;)
The Conversation -- September 21, 2023
Groundhog Day All Over Again. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Right-wing House Republicans dealt another stunning rebuke to Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Thursday morning, blocking a Pentagon funding bill for the second time this week in a vivid display of G.O.P. disunity on federal spending that threatens to lead to a government shutdown in nine days. Just hours after Mr. McCarthy signaled he had won over some of the holdouts and was ready to move forward, a handful of Republicans broke with their party to oppose the routine measure that would allow the military appropriations bill to come to the House floor for debate, joining with Democrats to defeat it. It was a major black eye for Mr. McCarthy, who has on multiple occasions admonished his members in private for taking the rare step of bringing down such votes, known as rules, proposed by their own party -- a previously unheard-of tactic.... 'This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,' Mr. McCarthy said on Thursday." The NBC News report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yo, Kevin,"burning the whole place down" has been a GOP tactic at least since the Gingrich era, and you've lit a few matches yourself. So don't act all shocked when the mob nails you to the stake.
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The New York Times is including President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Capitol Hill and the White House in its regular daily Ukraine liveblog.
Succession. Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "Rupert Murdoch is retiring from the Fox and News Corporation boards, the company announced Thursday morning, making his son Lachlan the sole executive in charge of the global media empire he built from a small local newspaper concern in Australia starting 70 years ago. The elder Mr. Murdoch will become chairman emeritus of the two companies, the company said in a release. Mr. Murdoch, 92, had shown no intention to step down or even slow down -- even after he named Lachlan as the heir to his business empire in 2019, when he sold his vast entertainment holdings to the Walt Disney Company.Even now, in his emeritus status, he will continue to offer counsel, Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement." Here's the AP story.
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Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "The Biden administration said late Wednesday that it would allow hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans already in the United States to live and work legally in the country for 18 months. The decision followed intense advocacy by top New York Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams and party leaders in Congress. It will affect about 472,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the country before July 31, temporarily protecting them from removal and waiving a monthslong waiting period for them to seek employment authorization. In an unusual break with a president of their party, the New York Democrats had argued that the city's social safety net would tear under the weight of more than 110,000 recently arrived migrants unless they were allowed to work and support themselves more quickly. Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, said that he made the decision because conditions in Venezuela 'prevent their safe return' but stressed that immigrants who had entered the country since August were not protected and would be 'removed when they are found to not have a legal basis to stay.'" Politico's story is here.
Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "Attorney General Merrick B. Garland offered a fiery defense of the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden on Wednesday, telling a House committee he was 'not Congress's prosecutor' -- and would not reveal details of the inquiry no matter how much pressure lawmakers applied. During a grueling hearing before the House Judiciary Committee that foreshadowed a bruising impeachment fight ahead, Mr. Garland repeatedly refused to answer questions about internal deliberations or offer explanations for decision-making in the investigation, or the two federal indictments of ... Donald J. Trump.... Many of the claims and insinuations [Republicans] leveled against Mr. Garland -- that he is part of a coordinated Democratic effort to shield the Bidens and persecute Mr. Trump -- were not supported by fact. And much of the specific evidence presented, particularly the testimony of an investigator who questioned key decisions in the Hunter Biden investigation, was given without context or acknowledgment of contradictory information.... Countering their claims, [Mr. Garland] denounced escalating threats Trump supporters have directed against prosecutors, including the special counsel Jack Smith, and F.B.I. agents, prompting significant increases in security." ~~~
~~~ Farnoush Amiri & Lindsay Whitehurst of the AP: "House Republicans clashed with Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, accusing him and the Justice Department of the 'weaponization' of the department's work in favor of President Joe Biden's son Hunter.... Republicans on the committee -- led by chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio -- set the tone with accusations that the Justice Department is favoring the Biden family while targeting his likely 2024 opponent, [Donald] Trump.... Questioning in the Republicans' arsenal focused on allegations that the Justice Department interfered in the yearslong case into Hunter Biden and that the prosecutor in charge of that case [-- whom Trump appointed --] did not have the full authority he needed to bring necessary charges." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I listened to about a half-hour of the hearing until I couldn't stand it anymore. Jordan, as usual, was outrageous in his disrespect for Garland and his refusal to let Garland answer the "questions" (okay, accusations) he raised.
Today, in a hearing with the Attorney General of the United States, Jim Jordan boldly, and perhaps proudly, demonstrated just how astonishingly stupid he thinks Republican voters are. -- Lawrence O'Donnell, Wednesday ~~~
~~~ Eric Swawell (D-Calif.) strikes back at Jordan and "the law firm of Insurrection, LLP":
Carl Hulse & Annie Karni of the New York Times: "House Republicans inched closer on Wednesday to overcoming deep internal divisions and reaching an agreement that would allow them to advance stalled spending legislation, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy bowed to the demands of far-right lawmakers for steep spending cuts that stood little chance of surviving in the Senate. The emerging deal was unlikely to bring Congress closer to averting a shutdown in 10 days, and it remained unclear whether Republicans could even reach agreement among themselves on a purely symbolic measure that underscored Mr. McCarthy's precarious hold on his job." MB: IOW, McCarthy may or may not have the votes to pass pass spending bills that have no chance of passing the Senate. Congrats, My Kev. You're a real leader.
Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "The long-shot idea that Democrats could bail out the beleaguered Speaker Kevin McCarthy is suddenly getting real. Small groups of centrist Democrats are holding secret talks with several of McCarthy's close GOP allies about a last-ditch deal to fund the government, according to more than a half-dozen people familiar with the discussions." MB: Is something really secret if it's published in Politico?
"The Tyranny of the Small Minority." Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "... the increasing accumulation of power by a small band of Republicans has left the House almost completely dysfunctional.... With a very narrow Republican majority, rules and tradition have been so contorted that as few as five members -- out of 435 districts -- are controlling the chamber and dictating outcomes.... In addition to threatening to block rule votes to sabotage legislation deemed insufficiently conservative, these few hard-right Republicans are also issuing threats to use even more obscure procedural motions to toss [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy out of his job. The most rational option for the speaker would normally be to negotiate with Democrats.... But McCarthy has badly damaged his ties to Democrats by, first, reneging on the debt-and-budget deal he cut with President Biden in May in an attempt to appease his hard-line faction.... Then, last week, McCarthy declared an impeachment inquiry centered on the business dealings of Biden's son, Hunter, though lawmakers have yet to produce direct evidence linking the president to those activities.... Democrats dealt with their own ideological flank in the last four years of the tenure of Rep. Nancy Pelosi's (Calif.) as speaker, but they never lost a procedural rule vote and she never faced a call to get expelled from her post. 'Because we didn't have any nihilists,' Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.), who served as Pelosi's deputy for 20 years, said Wednesday."
Karoun Demirjian & Kayla Guo of the New York Times: "The Senate confirmed Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. of the Air Force on Wednesday as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, circumventing Senator Tommy Tuberville's blockade of Pentagon promotions. The vote was 83 to 11, and was expected to be followed by confirmations of the Marine Corps and Army chiefs, which also have been held up for months by Mr. Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, over the Defense Department's abortion-access policies. General Brown is set to succeed Army Gen. Mark A. Milley when he steps down as Joint Chiefs chairman at the end of the month." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.)
Dareh Gregorian & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., on Wednesday offered to 'save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week' if House Republicans 'stop trying to shut our government down.' Fetterman issued the statement poking at congressional Republicans -- or as he put it, 'those jagoffs in the House' -- as he was presiding over the Senate in shorts, a short-sleeve button-down shirt, and no tie. His relaxed attire while presiding comes just days after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., quietly changed the Senate's informal dress code to allow lawmakers to casual attire on the floor.... The loosened dress code has been ridiculed by Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who joked that she planned to wear a bikini instead." (Also linked yesterday.)
Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: "Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, a decision that gives policymakers more time to assess whether they have raised interest rates enough over the past 18 months to fully wrestle inflation under control. But policymakers also released a fresh set of economic projections suggesting that they still expect to make another rate increase before the end of 2023 -- and that borrowing costs are likely to remain higher than officials had previously expected in 2024. In all, the Fed's decision and its outlook suggested that a resilient economy is keeping central bankers both optimistic about growth and firmly in inflation-fighting mode." The AP's report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump is concerned enough by the criminal charges against him that he's been obsessively asking his lawyers and confidants about what jail would be like for him. The former president has one question in particular -- would authorities make him wear 'one of those jumpsuits' -- that he's been consumed with in recent months, sources close to Trump told Rolling Stone.... 'Would he be sent to a "club fed" style prison -- a place that's relatively comfortable, as far these things go -- or a "bad" prison?' the sources told Rolling Stone. 'Would he serve out a sentence in a plush home confinement? Would government officials try to strip him of his lifetime Secret Service protections? What would they make him wear, if his enemies actually did ever get him in a cell[?]'... 'What would happen -- including in the Fulton County, Georgia criminal case against him and various co-defendants -- if he were convicted and sentenced, but also re-elected?' the sources added." ~~~
~~~ One of the best YouTube parody songs ever:
Amy Gardner & Holly Bailey of the Washington Post: "Lawyers for three [Georgia] electors who were charged in a sweeping indictment along with [Donald] Trump and 15 others made their first appearance in court Wednesday with ... [this] argument: that the electors were acting as federal officers, empowered by the U.S. Constitution and federal law -- and therefore immune from state-level prosecution. At the very least, the lawyers argued, the three are entitled to prosecution in federal, not state, court.... A key element of their defense Wednesday was that federal law -- as well as the Constitution -- expressly allows states to send more than one slate of electors in the event of a contested election. When they convened, voted and signed electoral certificates that were then sent to Washington, they were acting within the law to preserve Trump's legal remedies while a lawsuit contesting the Georgia election made its way through court, their lawyers said." An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)
Zachary Cohen of CNN: "Pro-Donald Trump lawyer Lin Wood is a 'witness for the state' in the Georgia election subversion case, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis revealed Wednesday. The reference to Wood was buried in a new court filing by the DA's office that raised potential conflicts of interest for six defense attorneys because they previously represented witnesses or other defendants in related proceedings. Wood was previously subpoenaed by prosecutors in the Georgia probe but his status as a witness for the state was not previously known." (Also linked yesterday.)
Eewww! Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump aide turned crucial January 6 witness, says in a new book she was groped by Rudy Giuliani, who was 'like a wolf closing in on its prey', on the day of the attack on the Capitol. Describing meeting with Giuliani backstage at Donald Trump's speech near the White House before his supporters marched on Congress in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Hutchinson says the former New York mayor turned Trump lawyer put his hand 'under my blazer, then my skirt'." (Also linked yesterday.)
Alan Feuer & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Ray Epps, the Trump supporter who was swept up in one of the most persistent right-wing conspiracy theories connected to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a single misdemeanor charge for his role in the attack on the Capitol. The 20-minute plea hearing, conducted by video in Federal District Court in Washington, came one day after the Justice Department charged Mr. Epps with disrupting the orderly conduct of government business by entering a restricted area on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6.... Mr. ...Epps, who voted twice for Donald J. Trump, became the unlikely focus of a conspiracy theory promoted on Fox News and by right-wing commentators. It held that he had been a covert government asset who helped instigate the riot as a way of discrediting Trump supporters."
She Couldn't Stomach Bill Barr. Susan Haigh & Eric Tucker of the AP: "A former federal prosecutor who helped investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe said Wednesday she left the team because of concerns with then-Attorney General William Barr's public comments about the case and because she strongly disagreed with a draft of an interim report he considered releasing before the election. 'I simply couldn't be part of it. So I resigned,' Nora Dannehy told Connecticut state legislators during her confirmation hearing as a nominee to the state Supreme Court. It marked the first time Dannehy has spoken publicly about her sudden resignation from the probe overseen by former special counsel John Durham.... [Donald] Trump expected the investigation to expose what he and his supporters alleged was a 'deep state' conspiracy to undermine his campaign, but the slow pace of the probe -- and the lack of blockbuster findings -- contributed to a deep wedge between the president and Barr by the time the attorney general resigned in December 2020. The investigation concluded last May with underwhelming results...."
Elections 2024. A Blue Wave? Nathaniel Rakish of 538: "Democrats just scored a big win in an election on Tuesday: Democrat Hal Rafter defeated Republican James Guzofski 56 percent to 44 percent in a special election to fill a Republican-held seat in the New Hampshire state House.... It's also the latest example of Democrats outperforming in a special election, a trend that could be a harbinger of a very good year for Democrats in 2024.... Democrats have been posting special-election overperformances of that magnitude all year long, in all kinds of districts. And on average, they have won by margins 11 points higher than the weighted relative partisanship of their districts."
** Fenit Nirappil of the Washington Post: "Just as a summer covid wave shows signs of receding, the Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is reviving a program to mail free rapid coronavirus tests to Americans. Starting Sept. 25, people can request four free tests per household through covidtests.gov. Officials say the tests are able to detect the latest variants and are intended to be used through the end of the year. The return of the free testing program comes after Americans navigated the latest uptick in covid cases with free testing no longer widely available. The largest insurance companies stopped reimbursing the costs of retail at-home testing once the requirement to do so ended with the public health emergency in May. The Biden administration stopped mailing free tests in June." Access to this article is free to nonsubscribers.
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Marie: Everyone who has passed through childhood knows that a childish interest in genitalia is as normal as breathing. But the children of Texas -- almost all of whom no doubt have shared that interest -- are not to be schooled about it, lest, I suppose, any shame they may have attached to their curiosity be retained. ~~~
~~~ Texas. Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "A Texas teacher has been fired after a middle school class was assigned to read a graphic novel adaptation of 'The Diary of Anne Frank' that officials say had not been approved by the school district. The Hamshire-Fannett Independent School District announced that a teacher had assigned an eighth-grade class to read a passage from 'Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation,' which includes passages Frank wrote about female and male genitalia, and a possible attraction to women. The unabridged version of Frank's diary has been removed from schools in Texas and Florida this year after complaints from parents over the book's sexual content." The Guardian's story is here.
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Ukraine, et al. Zelensky Proposes Putting Some Teeth in the U.N. Richard Pérez-Peña, et al., of the New York Times: "President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, denouncing Russia's 'unprovoked aggression,' told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that if it did not break the grip of Russian veto power, it would be powerless to resolve conflicts around the world, adding his voice to the rising calls to overhaul how the body works. 'Ukrainian soldiers are doing with their blood what the U.N. Security Council should do by its voting,' Mr. Zelensky said on Wednesday, arguing that 'veto power in the hands of the aggressor is what has pushed the U.N. into deadlock.'... Mr. Zelensky advocated changing U.N. rules to allow the General Assembly, which is made up of all member countries, to override a Security Council veto by a two-thirds vote. But that change would, itself, be subject to a veto, making it a nonstarter for the foreseeable future.... Many other countries have raised the issue of recasting the Security Council this week, calling for broader and more equitable representation for them, and at least limitations on veto power, if not its abolition.... Mr. Zelensky argued that the United Nations was wrong to allow the privileges of the Soviet Union, after it collapsed, to be inherited in the 1990s by Russia, 'which, for some reason, is still here among the permanent members of the Security Council.'" MB: Sounds reasonable to me.
News Lede
CNN: "A manhunt is underway for a suspect in a 2021 killing who was accidentally released from a detention center in Indianapolis last week, a sheriff's office said Tuesday, asking for the public's help finding him. Kevin Mason, 28, was 'mistakenly released' from an adult detention center in Marion County on September 13, two days after his arrest, 'due to a faulty records review' by staff, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.... Mason was arrested in Indiana on September 11, having been sought on three Minnesota warrants, including one asking he be held on suspicion of murder in connection with a 2021 shooting in Minneapolis, the sheriff's office said.... Two inmate records clerks involved in Martin's release have been fired, and an internal investigation is being conducted.... The sheriff's office waited six days to alert the public of Mason's accidental release because it wanted to maintain a 'tactical advantage,' [James] Martin [of the sheriff's office] told reporters." Emphasis added.
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Reader Comments (15)
When McCarthy kowtows to the loonies and the House passes slashed and mutilated budget bills McCarthy knows won't survive in the Senate, is that called passing the 85 cents?
Watching the Garland hearing yesterday was like watching a large group of rats try to gobble up a tasty dish that was beyond their reach. Was so proud of many of the Dems whose response was spectacular.
I was always curious as to why Fatty wasn't wearing a mask during the Covid period and thought I bet it's because of his makeup. Well, blow me down with a fancy feather look what we have here:
A new book by Cassidy Hutchinson reveals why Donny boy almost never wore a mask during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, even prior to the development of effective vaccines and treatments for the infection.
"He was worried about his makeup, according to Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to Mark Meadows when he served as Trump’s White House chief of staff.
The Guardian reports that her book, “Enough,” describes Trump’s visit to an Arizona Honeywell facility in May 2020 where he went maskless despite the fact that the facility itself was making them.
Hutchinson wrote that he tried a white mask before the event, then asked staffers for their opinions.
“I slowly shook my head. The president pulled the mask off and asked why I thought he should not wear it,” she wrote. “I pointed at the straps of the N95 I was holding. When he looked at the straps of his mask, he saw they were covered in bronzer.”
Horrors! and as comical as this may be it sheds another light on a man so deprived of caring for anyone except himself.
@P.D. Pepe: Thanks for the info. I thought it likely was vanity that made Trump decide not to wear masks, because masks, generally speaking, aren't flattering. But now we learn it's even worse than that: sort of vanity on top of vanity. As for me, I solved the mask/make-up conundrum, too: I quit wearing make-up.
For several months, unless I was going to a doctor's office or someplace where I was in especially close quarters, I quit wearing masks and started wearing make-up again, but I'm back to masks now. And no make-up. So far, no one has run from my sight in shocked horror, so I guess I made a good choice.
P.S. Next time, PLEASE INCLUDE A LINK TO THE WEB PAGE you're citing.
I'm really serious about dumping this site if readers don't start contributing more links. Sometimes it's just a matter of good manners: have the courtesy to give other readers the opportunity to read what you've read and don't make them have to go to the extra trouble of trying to find the story. Other times, as in this case, it's a matter of integrity: you've quoted an article without proper attribution.
Yesterday, one person contributed a couple of links. I did a rough count, and I linked nearly 40 in the body of the page, and maybe a few in the Comments, too. There's something wrong with that ratio. It's suppossed to be more like Marie: 5; Contributors: 15 (or more).
Masks. I really liked wearing a mask for months on end, mainly
because I hate shaving more than once a week and that gets one
looking really grubby so going out in public it was always with a
mask.
I don't mind shaving for get-togethers with friends but otherwise,
screw it.
This is a infuriating yet illuminating read.
"This is the classic Two Santas strategy that the GOP has been running ever since 1981. In addition to showing the hypocrisy and depravity of these politicians who are happy to live on the largesse of rightwing billionaires but see no benefit in feeding hungry children, it also shows that Jude Wanniski’s grand plan, adopted by Reagan in 1981, is alive and well.
It’s no accident or coincidence that the threat of a failure to pay the nation’s bills or fund an upcoming year never once happened during the presidencies of Reagan, Bush, Bush, or Trump. Or that it did happen every single time during the presidencies of Clinton, Obama…and, now, Biden.
To set up its foundation, Wanniski’s “Two Santas” strategy dictates, when Republicans control the White House they must spend money like a drunken Santa and cut taxes on the rich, all to intentionally run up the US debt as far and as fast as possible.
The Democrats, he noted, had gotten to play Santa Claus for decades when they passed out Social Security and unemployment checks — both programs of FDR’s Democratic New Deal — as well as their “big government” projects like roads, bridges, schools, and highways that gave a healthy union paycheck to workers and made our country shine.
Then comes part two of the one-two punch: when a Democrat is in the White House, Republicans must scream about the national debt as loudly and frantically as possible, freaking out about how “our children will have to pay for it!” and “you must cut spending to solve the crisis!”"
@RAS: Thank you. While it's obvious this is what Republicans have been doing since Reagan, I must confess I've never heard of Wanniski & the "Two Santas" strategy. According to Wanniski's Wikipage, Wanniski was literally at the table when Arthur Laffer drew his infamous Laffer Curve on a napkin for Dick Cheney & Donald Rumsfeld.
Not sure if Wanniski's Two Santas plan including stocking stuffers like tickets to book burnings and gold stars for promoting voter suppression measures.
The cycle is obvious, but I didn't realize how much calculation was behind it initially. It also shows once again how awful the Republicans are and how long they have been trying to undermine the country in order to gain more power.
It seems that some of the Democrats in Confederate states have started to take the gloves off.
Andy Beshear's ad for govenor of Kentucky calls out his forced birth opponent.
RAS,
Yes, the cycle is obvious--to those who pay attention and to those who care to...
The R's are now a party composed of those who don't pay attention, either because they simply prefer blissful ignorance or because they are more concerned with important things like unlimited access to guns, the real or imagined privilege of their whiteness, low taxes, or keeping power at any cost in order to impose their moral and religious views on the majority.
In other words, dumb and/or selfish.
Thanks for the Hartmann. He lays it out very nicely.
Some interesting history in this one:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/opinion/biden-republicans-impeachment.html
I'm skeptical of the writer's claim that at the time of the Bork nomination it was "extraordinary" to object to a nomination on ideological grounds, for what else is there to examine but the import of the nominee's record?
To do so is only rational.
So...in this piece we have rational on the one hand, resentful on the other...and we all know which party is which.
The Two Santas/supply-side theory is a conspiracy theory written and practiced in full view. Democrats get it, but I don't think most know the cynical, documented calculation behind it. I do think an essential ingredient in the GOP crap cake is an appeal to bigotry and white Christian tribalism. It is something they offer up outright, not just during election cycles but all the time. It's not just a sweetener; it's the ingredient in the recipe designed to mask the taste of the other unpalatable ingredients.
I suppose we should credit Richard Nixon and Lee Atwater with starting with the sweetener, and Lewis Powell's originally secret memo with providing the bland cake -- until Wallinski expanded the Powell dogma from an emphasis on promoting business interests to an emphasis on cutting taxes, always with a pretense of cutting them for everyone but in fact giving most cuts to the wealthy. I can attest that Trump's "tax cut" raised my taxes, and I'm not rich.
As if the Republicons didn't have enough to be skeered of:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/opinion/young-voters-2024.html
@Ken Winkes: According to this Wikipage on unsuccessful Supreme Court nominations, you're right. Nominations made by Eisenhower, LBJ & Nixon all were tanked for ideological reasons, though Nixon's nominees were weak for other reasons, too.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/21/politics/house-government-shutdown-negotiations-latest/index.html
Why work on Friday? When you don't work Monday-Thursday...
Forgot to link this a few days ago…
So there’s been some heated discussions about whether or not the Fat Fascist’s name should be allowed to appear on election ballots seeing as he, ya know, tried to overthrow the government he now wants another shot at destroying.
In fact, the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution states clearly that having taken an oath to uphold the constitution, should anyone then engage in or support insurrection, that person is hereby banned from being able ever again to hold federal office.
Pretty straightforward and sensible. You call for, engage in, or support overthrow of the government, you’re shit out of luck should you try to weasel your way back in.
In fact, several detailed and closely argued papers by political scientists, including one by Steven Calbresi, a Federalist Society bigwig and constitutional scholar who determined that there was no way, Jose, that fatso Trump could, or should, be allowed to stand for election for any federal offices.
Here’s what he had to say:
“Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment bans anyone from holding any federal office who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and who then breaks that oath by engaging in ‘insurrection or rebellion against the same.’ Donald J. Trump is precisely such a person.
Trump took the Presidential oath of office at noon on January 20, 2017. Then, knowing that he had lost the 2020 election, he engaged in an "insurrection" on January 6, 2021.”
This, however, was before…
And after?
The traitors went to work castigating any and all who correctly pointed out that the Dear Leader’s treason disqualified him from any federal position. And OOPS! Calabresi backtracked faster than Captain Hook from his tic-toc crocodilian nemesis:Oh…sorry. I didn’t mean this applied to Trump.
Yeah, he only meant appointed, unelected federal officials. Seriously?
Cuz here’s the thing…unelected officials don’t hold nearly the kind of power handed to members of congress or the president. So why would they be immune from this rule? They’re the ones whose treasonous actions would be most dangerous, not some assistant to the assistant secretary of agriculture or the adjunct administrative secretary of commerce, twice removed.
But hey, nice try Professor Konstitushanal Expert! The Constitution doesn’t actually apply to the fascist traitor your society helped slither into the White House, is that right? I guess those Federalist cattle prods must really work.
Seriously, the opportunistic, tribally manufactured jiggery-pokery trotted out by these sorry assholes in their attempt to rig another election in favor of this dangerous maniac is so gigantic and glaring as to be visible from the Kuiper Belt with 2X power Dollar Store binoculars. Actually, naked eye with a bit of a squint captures it nicely.