Looks like we need another one. Here’s a link to a livecast.
If a Member of Congress is a reflection of the people he or she serves, man are there some dumbshits in these R+infinity districts. I’m not just talking about Louie Gohmert. I also wonder how many of them have committed domestic violence, because their main argument is “look what you made us do” and “don’t make us face any consequences or we’ll do it again.”
In other news, never overestimate Mitch McConnell. He’s apparently called Schumer and told him he won’t consent to an emergency session of the Senate.
MattF
Good point. Think of it in terms of behavioral repertoire— this isn’t the first time they’re using these arguments.
mali muso
Nancy SMASH speaking!
LuciaMia
Everytime I see or hear Gohmert, I’m amazed he’s still alive; that he has enough working brain cells to keep him breathing.
WaterGirl
@mali muso: All I see is Kevin McCarthy. Was Pelosi before or after him?
mali muso
@WaterGirl: Not sure…I have the CSPAN “live” link up in another window on youtube. But I had it muted until a minute ago.
And have muted it again as Gym Jordan is spewing.
(possible that my feed is delayed as my internet appears to be hiccuping)
Old School
@WaterGirl: Pelosi spoke at the debate about an hour ago. Maybe she is speaking to reporters outside.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Does McCarthy think that Trump’s mob was going to spare him? Because if he does, he’s complicit.
NetheadJay
Opened livefeed in new tab. Saw traitorous fuckface Kevin McCarthy. Insta-close.
mali muso
Yeah, my feed was hung up. Refreshed now and Kevin McCarthy is spewing. MUTE!
la caterina
McCarthy’s up now- watching the feed on MSNBC. Pelosi was much earlier.
Damien
Man this is pathetic. All this bleating about unity, and yet they won’t join with us to begin the process of cleaning out and reconstructing a functional government.
Oh….oh wait, you mean it’s a bad faith argument in the first place?
Leto
@WaterGirl: Listening to him right now and just want to make him eat chicklets. In fact, that’s what I want almost all the R’s who I’ve heard speak so far, especially Gaetz, to do.
Roger Moore
They’re Representatives in more than one way.
randy khan
It’s perilous to consider McConnell’s motives, but I’m going to do it anyway.
My theory is that McConnell will vote to convict Trump only if there are enough votes that it will happen. (This is a two-way bet – either he counts to 67 (66 right now) and joins in, or his decision to vote for it pulls enough other Senators along to get to 67/66.) Lately I’ve been thinking that, on top of that, he might not want to be the decisive vote or close to it – essentially he will want the vote not to be close if it’s going to happen.
The refusal to reconvene before the 19th (which, let’s face it, is contingent) suggests to me that there aren’t enough votes to convict or that it’s in the zone where it’s not overwhelming, so call it somewhere between 55 and 74. (With the current configuration of the Senate, 74 votes is just over half of the Republican caucus.) I think McConnell doesn’t want a vote that fails or, possibly, a vote that has half of his caucus supporting Trump, which would just exacerbate the internal tensions in the party
And, in practice, this could change very fast if the feeling in the caucus changes. He won’t hold up a vote if his caucus wants it.
oatler.
McCarthy wants unity and our better angels??
Martin
This is my take on Mitch from a previous thread:
He’s leaked that he’s in favor of removal. He knows how to count. If he can’t get to 66, he’s not going to reconvene only to fail and further embolden Trump.
More than anything McConnell is more interested in the remedy that the Senate can use after Trump is gone – which is to ban him from ever holding office again. That keeps Trump from burning down all of the 2024 GOP candidates. It gives him at least the possibility of a GOP win in 2024.
I’ll add – it’s possible he can get to 66 for banning him from holding office, but not removal.
MomSense
@Leto:
Goetz is the worst. I wanted to throw my phone across the room.
kirbster
I know I’m biased and all, but as a former high school debate team member, I’ve got to say these Republican congresspeople are making some of the lamest “arguments” I’ve ever heard. Mostly, they have nothing to do with the charge in the articles of impeachment, and are all over the map.
Nicole
Unsurprising about McConnell. His obstructionism continues to the very end. I will be curious to see what his control is over his caucus once he’s Minority Leader. What with so many corporate donors to the GOP rethinking things I wonder if that’s going to hurt his status in the party. If he can’t get money to them, he’s less useful.
germy
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@randy khan: The Republicans aren’t going to feel safe enough to just do the trial until Biden is in office.
MattF
@randy khan: I think there’s more to come on who was involved and what actually happened. And it’s bad enough that McConnell wants to wait until it comes out.
karen marie
I’m listening via my local NPR station’s live feed. Listening to the Republicans is horrifying. Matt Gaetz – I can’t even. The issue of House Republicans’ direct complicity has only been addressed obliquely but I hope at some point it is addressed directly, and all of the traitors are ejected from their seats.
What happened January 6th is not “past history,” it continues today, with Republicans promoting and organizing attacks on capitals in all 50 states.
Mallard Filmore
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
If he thought that, then there was some SERIOUS organizing behind this. The mob would not know McCarthy from Jordan, and he would have been killed in the blood lust.
Maybe the team with list was really out to “save” the right people, spirit them away and leave the rest to the mob.
MJS
Since Turtle is apparently going to be Turtle, here’s hoping that the House and Senate spend their time beginning January 20 evenly split – COVID/economy in the morning, investigations into Trump, Republicans and January 6, in the afternoon.
Betty Cracker
Okay, Boebert is nuttier than a squirrel turd.
mali muso
Go Auntie Maxine!!!
MJS
@Martin: If you’re correct (and I think you are), the Democrats shouldn’t do him that favor.
Hoodie
@Martin: I think some have opined that you have to have a conviction before you can punish by disqualification, which only takes a majority. It’s more like a sentencing phase of a trial.
Betty Cracker
Wow, Newhouse (R-WA) will vote to impeach.
Leto
@MomSense: save your phone, throw HIM into the sun. :)
@Betty Cracker: so, so nutty.
Haroldo
@germy:
What’s Auschwitz Dude’s name and where’s he from?
karen marie
Just because Trump is prohibited from running himself does not mean he loses his ability to burn down all of the 2024 GOP candidates.
Roger Moore
@randy khan:
I think it’s simpler than that. McConnell doesn’t want to vote on Trump’s impeachment at all, or at least he doesn’t want to do it himself. He’s stalling until after inauguration because by then he’ll be minority leader and won’t be in charge anymore. This way, he gets what he wants- a Trumpectomy for the Republican Party- without his fingerprints on the scalpel. It’s classic McConnell: he wants to move things his way by inaction.
germy
Can someone explain Ali Alexander to me? There seems to be part of his story I’m missing.
One of the strangest characters in this story (a story full of strange characters)
RedDirtGirl
Rep Chabot’s hair is impressive.
LuciaMia
I see Jordan is actually wearing a jacket. No shirt-sleeves today, Mr. Man of the People?
WaterGirl
@Old School: thank you. with that clue, i was able to go back and find it. well done, madame speaker!
Betty Cracker
These people keep invoking Lincoln’s “better angels of our nature.” Since Lincoln was subsequently murdered by seditionists, I don’t think it’s the show-stopper they seem to believe it is.
MattF
Raskin:
BC in Illinois
My own usually reliable Trump-voting Rep Ann Wagner (R-MO), who stepped out of line last week, voting to accept the electoral votes, has stepped back into line:
RandomMonster
Reuters and WSJ reporting that McConnell has contacted Schumer’s office to tell him that they won’t convene the senate before 1/19.
germy
@Haroldo:
Robert Keith Packer is his name.
He was arrested in Virginia. I don’t know if that’s where he’s from.
Immanentize
@randy khan: I don’t care when the Senate reconvenes, but I certainly do NOT want the articles of impeachment to be sent to the Senate until after January 22, when GA will certify the elections and Schumer can become Senate Majority Leader. Waiting must happen.
MisterForkbeard
@BC in Illinois: “Other republicans won’t do their job so I won’t either” is… also classic Republican argumentation.
Uncle Cosmo
Which is worthless. U. S Constitution, Article I, Section 3:
“And,” not “or’. IOW disqualification cannot occur unless the impeached official is removed from office as well. The Article of Impeachment about to be voted specifies disqualification as a consequence of removal to ensure they go hand in hand.
germy
@Betty Cracker:
One of the republicans was quoting MLK.
I don’t know if she was trolling us, or if she sincerely believed she was being profound.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: Also too, just two months after that first inaugural address (better angels) is when the South fired on Fort Sumter. Didn’t work then, won’t help now.
ETA I was too generous. Lincoln address: March 4. Fort Sumter attack begins: April 12 — all in 1861.
Quinerly
@BC in Illinois: well, did you see MY Congresswoman Cori Bush last night on Chris Hayes? 😎
kirbster
Ooooh, “precedent!” Many of the Republicans are making veiled threats that if they ever gain the majority in the House again, they’ll impeach Biden just because they can!
JoyceH
@karen marie:
I think it does, I think it neuters him entirely. It prevents him from being able to fund-raise on ‘donate to my campaign’. Being out of power without the ability to return to power completely diminishes him as the totem of the faux-masculinity cult that he built up around himself.
Steeplejack (phone)
Guys, rest easy. Everything is well in hand!
Haroldo
@germy:
Thank you.
Baud
@germy: Whenever a Republican quotes MLK, it’s always trolling.
MisterForkbeard
@germy: Nope. When conservatives quote Lincoln or MLK it’s ALWAYS trolling.
Jinchi
They’d know McCarthy from Nancy Pelosi, though. Or AOC or Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib, or … well you get it. Other than Mike Pence, they don’t need to know their targets. Just pick out Pelosi and every minority woman in the building and they wouldn’t need to worry about accidentally taking out a member of their own team
Quinerly
And I said her name and she appeared just like that!
💙💚❤️♥️💜
SiubhanDuinne
Nice to see my newly-elected Representative, Carolyn Bourdeaux (D GA-07), give what I think was her maiden speech (all of 30 seconds!) in the House.
Looking forward to great things from this incredible woman.
Baud
@kirbster: They’ll impeach Biden three times just so Trump doesn’t have the record anymore.
PJ
@Uncle Cosmo: the restriction is explicitly a ceiling not a floor. There’s nothing in the law that says it can’t be either as well as both.
tinare
Ugh. I’m so sad that there are so many batshit crazy people in Congress.
germy
They’d know who the Democrats were…. the ones wearing masks.
Martin
@karen marie: No, but it significantly changes his motivation. Trump fights for himself and nobody else, so it matters a great deal whether he has a personal stake in the game.
Baud
@Steeplejack (phone):
Well, I hope Q people believe that because it will hopefully encourage them to stay home on the 20th.
RedDirtGirl
Who is the woman they are referring to as Madame Speaker? It’s not Nancy Smash…
Immanentize
@JoyceH: Trump will still be able to bring the mob and their lost cause (and their wallets).
germy
@MisterForkbeard:
They should quote someone from their side, but Adolf Eichmann didn’t make enough speeches.
Immanentize
@Baud: this times every skull cracked on the Edmund Pettus Klan Bridge.
Hoodie
@Steeplejack (phone): Best part:
LuciaMia
@Steeplejack (phone): Well, that makes PERFECT sense! Do they mention who inaugurated him?
PJ
@Betty Cracker:
@Immanentize: the rhetoric is for the people who can be swayed, not the people who never listen. Biden in particular needs as many fence-sitters as possible on his side
ETA: I’m referring to people who make the reference in good faith, like Biden, not Republicans who just want insurrectionists to go unpunished.
germy
@Baud:
Alex Jones has been speaking against Q.
They all seem to be in disarray, arguing with each other.
Immanentize
@Quinerly: Cori Bush makes AOC sound like a Junior League Republican. I love her!
Chris Johnson
A whole pile of these people want Dems to drop their guard so they can attack a second time and this time, kill their enemies quite literally.
Redshift
@oatler.:
These assholes can hear from the better angels of our nature as soon as they get rid of the worse devils of theirs.
karen marie
@JoyceH: It doesn’t stop him from creating a PAC to fund his continued sedition, it doesn’t stop him from being paid by seditionist Republicans to give speeches. It only stops him from raising funds as part of a campaign to run for office.
JMG
@germy: Q is messing with Alex Jones’ meal ticket. It’s simply a professional rivalry.
Immanentize
@PJ: Just a quick clarification — the Senate must first CONVICT. That takes two thirds of the Senate. Then, the punishments after conviction need only a majority vote. Some say conviction immediately includes removal, but that other punishments need separate votes.
Baud
@germy: That’s actually their natural state. Trump was able to consolidate them under one umbrella. I and others think they will not remain unified after Trump is gone, but it’ll take many years and many tragedies before that happens.
raven
They’re all over “how could an event that was “pre-planned” be incited. I there any other kind of planning?
PJ
@Immanentize: right, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.
germy
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Read an article in the WaPo that claimed impeachment stops on Jan. 20, that constitutionally it can’t happen if he’s not in office. Does the WaPo know their constitution better than Pelosi or James Clyburn or are they wrong?
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl: Is it a black woman wearing red? If so that’s the rep. From Brooklyn. She was in the chair today earlier.
Yvette Clark
germy
@JMG:
Yes. Alex never figured out a way to monetize them, so they’re a threat. Plain and simple.
Redshift
@JoyceH:
I think it diminishes it, but not completely. His fundraising now is for a leadership PAC, not a campaign. I’d love to see the money he’s been pulling in dry up if he can’t run again, but I’m not optimistic. If he can sell them on the idea that he will be named the winner of this election, he’ll be able to sell them on the idea that he won’t be stopped by being barred from running again.
Baud
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
I believe people have been impeached and convicted after leaving office, but obvious below the level of the president.
Kathleen
@RedDirtGirl: Congressman Combover? I told him yesterday he was racist Fascist and seditious and I hoped he was censured and removed.
LadySuzy
Well, at least there is division. Jones is fighting for relevance ?@germy:
Immanentize
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Was that Judge Luttig’s non sense piece of shit op Ed?
Captain C
@Steeplejack (phone): Can we find a way to make and spread to them a conspiracy theory that Q wants them all to jump in the Pacific and swim to the great garbage gyre there, and once they’re all there Trump will be declared God-Emperor of their new nation and they’ll conquer the world? I’m not saying they’d all buy it, but we might get rid of a few of the more credulous ones.
Almost Retired
I took the day off work to watch this. Fascinating look at history being made in real time. Also, this entire hearing is an infomercial for manufacturers of spangly masks.
Uncle Cosmo
@PJ: Bullshit.
If the impeached office-holder is disqualified “to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States” then s/he cannot continue in the office s/he currently holds. Therefore s/he is removed from that office. That’s simple logic.
p.a.
I enjoy the perp walks and mug shots, but that reminds me: anyone know what became of the Pacific Northwest protesters tossed in the back of unmarked vans by gun toting camo guys without insignia?
Quinerly
@Immanentize: she was on fire last night.
Immanentize
@Uncle Cosmo: I think you are mostly right, but there was some talk during the Clinton impeachment (remember when consensual oral sex threatened the Union?) Of convicting but not removing Clinton. But that talk did not get far.
Immanentize
@Quinerly: Has she ever not been?
ETA I just hope she doesn’t burn out like a bright falling star.
oatler.
Jordan continues to reserve. What monsoon is he planning?
Wapiti
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: There was an oped to that effect. I think someone at LG&M said that lawyer/commenter also said that Pence had the ability to discard electoral votes.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: William Belknap, Grant’s Secretary of War. Impeached, tried in the Senate and acquitted, all post-resignation
Captain C
@oatler.:
Really? Fine. First you and all your seditionist, thieving jokes you call Republicans admit Biden won the election, admit you took part in sedition (even if only in a RICO-sense assuming the Republican Party as an ongoing criminal enterprise), resign, donate all your assets to a charity or charities of my choice, and admit the whole enterprise (Trumpism, and well, the Republican Party for at least the last 52 years) was for your own power, money, and egos. Then act like decent humans for, oh, a couple centuries or so. Then, maybe.
Immanentize
@oatler.: That is customary lingo to preserve any time left.
Wapiti
I’ll offer up that if there is violence in DC or state capitols on 1/20, the Repubs are going to look worse for the votes they take today (or in the Senate, for the votes they refuse to take).
Redshift
@Wapiti:
Apparently not. I looked it up, and it’s true that Pence asked him (among others) for legal advice about it, but he told Pence he didn’t have that power.
Old School
@oatler.:
When Jordan checked time earlier, the Republicans had already used about five minutes more of their time. I think he’s just saving time for the end.
Immanentize
@Wapiti: It seems that January 17 is the next big revolution day — it is because Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet. Also conveniently on a weekend.
Kattails
@randy khan: So Mitch will dump the primary responsibility on the Democrats. Such a leader.//
This is why I’ve said that there is surely much more intel than has been released to the public. There’s solid reasoning for keeping much of it under wraps for now; but at the same time some of that will move some of the public, so it must be a balancing act. Moving the public will move their reps.
Haroldo
I believe Trump is fearing (more) legal consequences. From WaPo:
I think that horse is out of the barn, Don.
burnspbesq
@Immanentize:
AOC may represent parts of the Bronx and Queens, but she’s as suburban as they come (Yorktown High and BU).
John S.
Aw, how precious. Trump had one of his flunkies put out a statement:
A week late, $100 short and something even yesterday he was incapable of saying himself. So yeah, total BS.
Ksmiami
So much about America can be distilled down into quotes from “Animal House.” I say to the majority of GOP representatives “You’re all worthless and weak.” I predict that the country will not survive the Republican Party. It needs to be destroyed utterly
Immanentize
@Kattails: Believe me, we want McConnell to let the Democrats run the trial. Then we will control witnesses, arguments, timing, etc.
But for me, witnesses are the key. McConnell could call for an immediate vote with no witnesses and limited arguments (like the last impeachment). Schumer will want the public to know all.
germy
@Haroldo:
“Okay, Mr. Trump, you’ve covered your ass.”
Matt McIrvin
McConnell wants to hurt Trump but wants no Republican fingerprints on it. His ideal situation is if the Democrats impeach Trump and the Senate just votes it down party-line, again.
Ksmiami
@Wapiti: they are so stupid that they think they can control their feral supporters
Immanentize
@burnspbesq: Ha! That said, bar tending in the city is always hard respected work — especially for attractive women who take on that effort.
Leto
@Haroldo: “I know for the past 1490 days I’ve called for rioting, taking up arms if I lost, and this past Wednesday I incited you to the first attack on the Capitol since 1814; but this time I’m calling for peace, and for you to totally discard everything I’ve previously said.”
burnspbesq
@Wapiti:
It was Eastman, the asshole from Chapman, who told Trump that Pence had the power to disregard votes. Luttig told Pence the opposite.
Kelly
They were released fairly quickly. Next day if I recall correctly. I don’t recall if they were charged with anything. The folks grabbed reported several hours of intimidation tactics while they were held. Implied if you ever want see daylight tell us the antifa chain of command.
Another Scott
@karen marie: Moscow Mitch is all about Money, Money, Money in politics. Prohibiting Trump from holding office (likely, IANAL) prohibits him from raising money for a 2024 campaign. Moscow Mitch is hoping that that money instead goes to GOP PACs and candidates that he can control.
There’s no grand strategy here. Moscow Mitch isn’t going to help Democrats get it done – not unless he sees no other choice. The corporate donors turning off the spigot got Moscow Mitch’s attention and he wants that money turned back on, tout de suite. He figures with the money back on, he can win back power in 2022 and/or 2024 and knows that it’s hopeless without it.
That’s my theory, anyway.
Cheers,
Scott.
Immanentize
@germy: Get him in front of the cameras again and he’ll say the opposite.
Gravenstone
@karen marie: Yeah, he’ll be hurling abuse at all candidates from the sidelines, via whatever mechanism he can find. This is another point where banning him permanently from social platforms has to mean exactly that. If he’s allowed a public venue for his venting, his deplorables will be revved right back up.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Googling… Yep, that’s the name.
mali muso
Nice that the speeches are short. But I’m still muting every single R as all they have is lies.
Matt McIrvin
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Constitutional scholars actually seem to be divided on this.
I had thought there WAS precedent–an old case in which some federal officer who had already resigned was impeached, or maybe just convicted after prior impeachment–but I can’t find it now.
Matt Gaetz brought up the possibility of impeaching Barack Obama just last year (though Gaetz is an idiot so it doesn’t indicate much), and I’m positive that there was semi-serious talk of impeaching Hillary Clinton, in her capacity as former Secretary of State, BEFORE she could take office if she’d won in 2016.
Captain C
@Haroldo: I wonder if someone told him he may have legal exposure regarding the murdered cop.
Kattails
Hoarse says “Insufferable fuckwit, Lauren Boebert, has been locked out ofTwitter until the inauguration.” Timer says about half an hour ago. Good. Now lock her out of chambers.
Immanentize
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Luttig is just pissed he was never appointed to SCOTUS. He is wrong as wrong can be, for under his theory, one could wait until the day the Senate was to vote after a brutal trial, and then resign and face no punishment. It’s ridiculous and poorly thought through. It has not been the practice, and it makes no practical sense. If what Luttig said we’re true, then it would write the secondary punishments (cannot seek office, etc.) out of the constitution because they could never be imposed.
Gravenstone
@germy: Q infringes on his brand of crazy, and he wants those gullible followers back.
mali muso
@Kattails: Good! Now toss her out of the chamber.
LeftCoastYankee
@p.a.:
The initial 2 reported both were let go the same night without charges.
The Oregon AG filed suit against DHS based on their experience and info more people had this experience.
I’m not aware of if any of these folks ever got formally arrested, but now I want to dig more and find out.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: Lincoln was prefect aware the seditionist were going murder him for the crime of darning to be decent but felt it was more important for him to set the example.
Another Scott
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Lawyers can argue about anything – it’s what they’re paid to do.
There was a show on C-Span in the last day or so with a guy who wrote a recent 50,000 word law-review article on impeachment. It’s more complex than people think, he says.
But he said there have been a few/several cases where people were impeached after being out of office.
I think it’s this (24 page .pdf), but can’t swear to it.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
I was probably thinking of Secretary of War Willam W. Belknap in 1876:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_W._Belknap#Senate_trial_and_acquittal
Belknap resigned following his impeachment, for taking kickbacks from a tradership contract at Fort Sill in Indian Territory, and was still tried by the Senate. The trial went on, and a majority of the Senate believed there was jurisdiction to try him, but he was acquitted when the Senate failed to reach a two-thirds supermajority, and some of that was because of Senators who believed there was not jurisdiction to try a former officer. So the story is more ambiguous than I’d thought.
tinare
I am really tired of members of the party that impeached over lying about a blowjob calling inciting insurrection baseless. And if one more arsehole talks about unity, I’m going to scream.
Another Scott
@Uncle Cosmo: Some apparently argue (with a straight face, but maybe not in good faith) that the President is not an Office under the United States.
Lawyers can argue about anything.
It doesn’t hurt to cross the i’s and dot the t’s to be sure… ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
Holy batshit crazy assclowns, Batman!
I’ve been glancing at some Twitter accounts that’re reporting on the (second) impeachment trial and holy batshit crazy assclowns on the Russthuglican side, Batman!
Leto
Finally turned it off. Repeating the same things plus I just can’t listen to the Sedition Caucus anymore. Fuck’em. Forever.
mali muso
@Leto: Yeah, they are utterly intolerable.
MisterForkbeard
@Haroldo:
“Also I won, and the Democrats stole it and this is the end of Democracy because of such a sacred landslide stolen from patriots that has never happened before”
Really, this would be defused much easier if he just admitted that he lost and no election fraud happened. He doesn’t even have to say he made it up. Just say that he’s been convinced that it didn’t happen and he lost fair and square. THAT’S how you promote healing and unity.
Uncle Cosmo
Also conveniently a holiday weekend for anyone who works where MLK Day is observed. Whole extra day to get home.
(Hey, those fuckheads might’ve happily fastened a noose around Dr King’s neck, but they’re not gonna turn down a day off with pay.)
MisterForkbeard
@Matt McIrvin: Yes. The “Impeach Hillary” thing was a plan. Basically, if the Rs took the Senate and House but not the Presidency, they were hoping to impeach her before her inauguration and prevent her from becoming president.
I don’t think they actually would have done it, but all the assholes grandstanding against impeachment now were in favor back then, or at least willing to consider it.
Martin
@Uncle Cosmo: It’s not. I’ve heard from enough scholars that there’s plenty of precedent that the two are detached, at least in the event that the person is no longer in office. Otherwise you could never impeach someone no longer in office, and we’ve done that quite a few times.
Chris Johnson
I’m listening to all of them but I’m interested to know which ones the Republicans are reserving for final arguments. They put some of the Q contingent up early, rather than reserving them for the very end. That might suggest the intended play is not to run with the Q people and their madness.
I also think everybody not crazy there knows that the insurrectionist plot extended to inside the Capitol and was enabled by some of the same people who are making crazy arguments. I guess there is tactical advantage to not arresting them right away. I wish I knew if any of them had brought assault weapons onto the floor. Some of them refused to comply with the metal detector stuff.
mrmoshpotato
@MisterForkbeard: He could even call it “not winning” instead of “I’m a massive LOSER of the popular vote AGAIN!”
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: So we can do the trial even after Trump is gone?
The people in the press who are saying we can’t.. are they just yahoos with an agenda?
WaterGirl
@Leto: Too bad that won’t fit as a rotating tag!
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: God, what did she do now?
Immanentize
@WaterGirl: Frankly, who can stop it? The SCOTUS has made it clear that Impeachment is solely a question for the Congress. Even though the Constitution says that the Chief Justice will preside if the official is the President, there is a lot of debate whether the Justice can do anything of substance. I think the current wisdom is that if 50+1 senators say a thing can happen during impeachment, it can happen. Courts have no say.
One interesting twist is whether the Chief Justice need to preside over the impeachment trial of an ex-President (one, say, voted out of office). Stay tuned!
NotMax
@Immanentize
Even in such a truncated case there are 99 witnesses – each one an eyewitness – in the Senate.
@WaterGirl
Yes, it can be held after Biden is installed.
Immanentize
@NotMax: I like that point. Thanks
DC
I saw even the WSJ with this great bit of snark and had to share:
“On Wednesday Mr. McCarthy urged lawmakers to refrain from voting to impeach, warning that would “further divide this nation, a vote to impeach will further fan the flames, the partisan division.”
Democrats have said the president’s rhetoric and encouragement of a mob was more divisive.”
Denali
I was hoping that McConnell would fast track the Senate vote in order to quell the violence that seems inevitable on the 17th and 20th. As long as T is President, people will do the unthinkable, as we have already witnessed. Does McConnell want more blood on his hands?
mrmoshpotato
@Denali: Moscow Mitch’s hands are basically tubs of blood after these past 4 years. He doesn’t give a shit.
mrmoshpotato
@DC:
Matt McIrvin
@Denali: McConnell’s standard MO is that he only prevents things from happening, and as long as he limits himself to that, he probably figures his hands remain clean.
WaterGirl
@Denali: I think if McConnell fast-tracked the impeachment trial, his name wold end up on one of the kill lists.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: Even though I know all those words, I do not understand what he’s getting at with that.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
It’s almost like the GOP’s decades of spewing crazy horseshit at their supporters had an effect.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl: Well, the GOP could compromise with us, if we’d stop being a bunch of dumb dumb poopyheads at them.
DC
@mrmoshpotato:
That is great! I have to get back to watching it more.
WaterGirl
@mrmoshpotato: okay, got it, thanks.
Just Some Fuckhead
WTF man?
brantl
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: The Washington Post is wrong.