Oh wait, this was a metaphor?

Silly Rabbit! Accountability is for Liberals!

Exactly.

I remember Mitch saying that the reason he voted against the second impeachment was that he felt Trump’s Jan 6 crimes would be better adjucated in criminal court. And before that, I remember Linsday saying that if Trump wins the GOP nomination in 2016, the GOP will get “destroyed… and we’ll deserve it”.

Never underestimate the ability of Republican voters to enthusiastically vote against their interests…

Shit, now he will never win another election

Don’t misgender him…

BUTT TIZZY MALES!!!

Not everyone, just people who weren’t born here. Or people who were, but who don’t look like they were. Or, people who just don’t “look right”…

Yeah, no way We’re letting a long haired, bearded freak into our church…

Of course not, the two cases are totally different. They’re so different, it’s like black and white…

Maybe that’s his defense, if he ever sees a trial over them. “You can’t prove my idiotic subordinates didn’t give them away before I could sell them!”

Aw, it’s too bad that empathy is the downfall of Western Civilization, because I have none left for him.

The one thing we have going for us that might make a difference in the fact that the administration of elections is up to the individual states. So there is very little the President can do, on his own. Even the recent Executive Order targeting elections only threatened to stop Federal funding. States can (and will!) fund elections on their own if they have to.

We also have never postponed a Federal election, the date is set by Federal law and it has gone off without a hitch, even through a Civil War and all the wars and pandemics since. So he can declare “Marshall” Law all he wants, but States are free to ignore him and hold elections anyway.

Wisconsin has a lot of dairy farmers, and produces a lot of cheese. So much so that their football team’s fans wear those cheese hats and are often called “cheeseheads”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesehead

But there is nothing that prevents him from taking a position in the line of succession.

The Constitution left the matter of Presidential Succession up to Congress, and Congress set it up in the Presidential Succession act. That act includes clauses that say it only applied to those “eligible to be President” and not to those who have a "failure to qualify* for the office.

So, simply putting Trump in the line of succession is not enough to get around the Constitutional bar on a third term. He would still be ineligible. There is precedent to enforce this, too: there have been a handful of cabinet secretaries over the years who were not natural-born citizens, and they were not included in the line of succession. Madeline Albright is the one I remember; she was born in Prague and was not eligible despite being Secretary of State.

With all that said, succession is determined by Congress and I suppose they could just pass a law to do whatever they wanted. They’d have to blow up the Filibuster for it. Would they? It would surely get challenged in court but even if the Supreme Court disallowed it, would Trump listen? The Court would need to find a way to enforce it.

Idk how the USDS had money lying around in its budget for a bunch of new and unqualified GS-15s to just be added to the payroll like government billets aren’t painstakingly difficult to establish, but that is another question, I suppose

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if all the DOGEies are actually only getting paid a token amount by the government, or not getting paid by the government at all, but are getting paid directly by Musk. It’s probably illegal, but who’s gonna prosecute it?

I was very confused by this quote, because I thought Luna was one of the authors of the proxy bill. But she is saying “Allowing proxy voting won’t destroy democracy”, she is still strongly in favor of the bill.

It’s noteworthy because they are trying to use a discharge petition to get around Speaker Johnson, who refuses to bring it to the floor to a vote because he says it’s unconstitutional. I bet if it makes it to the floor, it will pass. (And if they can demonstrate that a discharge petition will be successful, then there may be more in the future).

If this is denied, the next pregnant member should just give birth right on the House floor, and see what they think of that.

More than 30 US Democratic lawmakers

Sadly, it’s not going anywhere until Republicans get involved. Since the margins are so thin, though, it will only take a single Republican on the proper commtitee to agree with Democrats to hold hearings.

Getting legislation passed is a different matter, because even if enough Republicans are for the idea of reining in these practices I doubt the leadership will ever let it come to a vote. But hearings would be the first step.

No, you missed the part where they do it ballistically.

I’ve posted this often in threads about Trump begging for eggs: European diplomats can get their point across succinctly by delivering a few dozen eggs, personally and ballistically, direct to the White House front door.

Yes, that will get them expelled, but they will get expelled anyway just for saying things Trump doesn’t like. May as well make it count.

It’s important to note that the reason this can happen here is because of how our checks and balances in the government are structured. None of them are automatic, and the GOP has ensured they will not be used.

Congress can function as a check on the Executive, but only by passing laws (and, to a lesser extent, Senate approval, of appointments). So Congress has to take action to rein in the chaos (and, in the case of legislation, override a veto). If Congress takes no action, it cannot function as a check on the Executive at all. Essentially, their lack of action is permitting the chaos just as surely as what Elon Musk is doing.

Similarly, the Courts can function as a powerful check on the Executive, but they rely on someone challenging something done by the Executive, and that starts off a lengthy review process. Individual judges have a lot of discretion, but their rulings get reviewed and it can take a while for appeals to be exhausted. Our court system also relies in all parties having respect for its process and judgements, and it’s clear that this administration does not have respect for rulings it doesn’t like. So even if a ruling against it goes all the way through the appellate process and is “binding”, they are very likely to ignore it anyway, and start another lengthy review.

Both of these checks on the Executive have been effectively neutered, one by complicity and one by contempt. So Trump and Musk can do whatever the hell they want. It is always easier to tear down than build up. Even if, by some miracle, Congress changes hands in 2026, the Federal Administrative State will be a shell of itself, and while we set about to rebuild it Trump and Musk will loot it for their own enrichment.

The next Federal election is critical, precisely because the President is not on the ballot, so all the elections will be for Congress, and hyper-local. Musk has already proven he can buy a national election. If he is successful at buying 50 state elections as well, he may build up enough power in enough states to call for a Constitutional Convention, where they can rip the whole thing up and start over. I think that is Musk’s endgame, where he can turn the US into Apartheid-era South Africa, totally legally.

On second thought, let’s not go to America, 'tis a silly place