Acquitted but still impeached ... Trump thread 99

[TheClaws]

I’ll tell you a funny story. I’m a member of a very right-wing US politics online discussion group for kicks. The moderator of the group controls - and gets involved in - every discussion. (I should say the membership of this group is over 50K and the number of posts a day is generally 30 or so.) She’s also a typical Trumpian in that she reels off the standard “lamestream mass media” etc lines” and she mutes anyone who disagrees with her.

Anyway, I took her on eventually. She said that the Democratic candidates wanted to get rid of the Constitution. To this, I replied Trump flouts the Constitution on a regular basis. “What? Provide examples!” she replies. “Emoluments clause,” I replied. “That’s just one.”

GUYS. SHE HAD NOT HEARD OF THE EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE.

She then just spat something about she doesn’t read mass media lies and that’s why she didn’t know and muted me.

AIBU?

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3776378-Happy-Impeachment-Next-step-is-removal-Trump-thread-98

Not until the fat lady eyc.

amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/607969/

'The Trump Presidency Is Over.

It has taken a good deal longer than it should have, but Americans have now seen the con man behind the curtain.'

'It took until the second half of Trump’s first term, but the crisis has arrived in the form of the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s hard to name a president who has been as overwhelmed by a crisis as the coronavirus has overwhelmed Donald Trump.'

Oh...

State of emergency to be declared

He's been in contact with the Brazillian aide who has it. Ivanka has been in contact with an Australian official who has it.

Come, friendly virus, and fall upon Trump. We wouldn't want a market slump....

Yeah, it is starting to look rather likely Trump will catch the virus. He well might be not too ill with it, and of course will have the best medical attention.

I can't quite imagine what would happen if he were incapacitated for a period or died. I mean, obviously it's covered constitutionally and Pence would inherit. But politically?

Comedy continues.

The surreal comfort of Stephen Colbert’s audience-less Late Show monologue
Watch a confident comedy set performed in near silence
www.polygon.com/tv/2020/3/13/21178177/stephen-colbert-monologue-no-audience-coronavirus-new-york-ban

Hopefully Trump is currently too distracted to get any ideas.

Russian regions OK changes to allow Putin 2 more terms as president
www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/03/13/Russian-regions-OK-changes-to-allow-Putin-2-more-terms-as-president/3731584102265/

BREAKING: “I am officially declaring a national emergency, two very big words,” President Trump said as public life in America continued to grind to a halt. The move will allow the administration to utilize the Stafford Act, the federal law that governs disaster-relief efforts, to provide emergency funding to state and local governments. 
Concerns about the coronavirus pandemic rippled across the globe Friday, as more events were canceled and more landmarks were shuttered; U.S. schools closed to millions of students; and the Group of Seven leaders planned a virtual crisis conference.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/03/13/coronavirus-latest-news/

Mm, did you notice that here in the UK, the Electoral Commission advised delaying local elections from May till until the autumn because of coronavirus, and Johnson has instead delayed them for a whole year?

Coronavirus: English local elections postponed for a year
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51876269

Might not be for perceived political advantage. Then again, might be, given the current government.

Keep eyes open for more behaviour like this, from various regimes...

Pence is such a crawler. Can't bear to listen to him or Trump. They are so self congratulatory, but is any of it true? Lots of talk about testing but not much action.

twitter.com/Yamiche/status/1238564408391057408
Yamiche Alcindor
@Yamiche
My Q: You said you don’t take responsibility for slow response to coronavirus but your administration disbanded the White House office on pandemics?

President Trump: “That’s a nasty question...When you say me, I didn't do it. We have a group of people [in the administration].”

Not in charge, then?

'I don't take responsibility'

I think this will be the defining sentence of his presidency.

"Trump says he's not to blame for persistent delays in coronavirus testing from the CDC"

trib.al/IfIKygl
(Business Insider)

Four words that say so much.

I am not sure how much awareness he has of anything outside his own little world but there must be a glimmer of the truth that dawns on him from time to time.

www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-donald-trump-google-website/

'Google's not making a nationwide coronavirus testing website. And the company had no idea the president would say it was.'

slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/03/judge-james-dannenberg-supreme-court-bar-roberts-letter.html

'The Court, under your leadership and with your votes, has wantonly flouted established precedent. Your “conservative” majority has cynically undermined basic freedoms by hypocritically weaponizing others. The ideas of free speech and religious liberty have been transmogrified to allow officially sanctioned bigotry and discrimination, as well as to elevate the grossest forms of political bribery beyond the ability of the federal government or states to rationally regulate it. More than a score of decisions during your tenure have overturned established precedents—some more than forty years old– and you voted with the majority in most. There is nothing “conservative” about this trend. This is radical “legal activism” at its worst.

Without trying to write a law review article, I believe that the Court majority, under your leadership, has become little more than a result-oriented extension of the right wing of the Republican Party, as vetted by the Federalist Society. Yes, politics has always been a factor in the Court’s history, but not to today’s extent. Even routine rules of statutory construction get subverted or ignored to achieve transparently political goals. The rationales of “textualism” and “originalism” are mere fig leaves masking right wing political goals; sheer casuistry.'

www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/03/house-republicans-tried-to-capitalize-on-coronavirus-to-sneak-anti-abortion-language-into-law/

www.newsweek.com/parroting-chinese-coronavirus-republicans-are-promoting-racism-putting-lives-danger-1492033

It's going to be Pelosi in charge.
Congress is taking the lead on this one, it seems.

www.politico.com/news/2020/03/13/congress-coronavirus-stimulus-package-deal-friday-128140

When it hits home...
WP title:

Third Mar-a-Lago guest tests positive for coronavirus; Trump declares national emergency
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/03/13/coronavirus-latest-news/

It's going to be Pelosi in charge

My knowledge of the West Wing came in handy yesterday at work when we discussed what would happen if Trump and Pence were incapacitated.

When it's not health experts who have the last word:

Kushner and Miller the disastrous duo.

www.businessinsider.com/kushner-made-last-minute-changes-trump-error-riddled-coronavirus-speech-2020-3

The point is that Pelosi seems already more in charge than Trump and Pence on this one. Congress seems to be coming out with solutions and support while the administration falters.

Oh, I suspect Trump is having tests done on the hour, every hour. (Same for his lovely little family of chancers.) No way they are going to fess up to having the virus though.

Per pooler @franchambers, a WH physician just administered temperature checks to reporters in the briefing area. Reminder: Trump himself has yet to undergo a COVID-19 test himself.
twitter.com/gabbyorr/status/1238854344944033795?s=21

He's on now.

He says it's good that people are panic-buying if that's what they want.

He says he doesn't shake hands with people but they sometimes shake hands with him.

Also wants credit for the stock market rising back a bit after it fell a lot which wasn't his fault.

Bloke on this morning say the Fox News thing is overrated. Many of his supporters watch no news or only local news. They have never heard of Joe Biden except in connection with Ukrainian corruption and never mind a forty year career in congress.

Bonkers

If he passes the test he won't stop bleating about his superior genes.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/14/trump-coronavirus-paid-sick-leave-unemployment-testing