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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#174376: Feb 15th 2017 at 5:13:45 AM

The problem with impeachment is just that: there are too many Republicans involved to throw anyone overboard. All they're going to do is pull together and throw a middle finger, and it's not like they can be arrested until their terms are up.

All we can do is keep up the pressure and try to steal the House in 2018 (long shot due to the gerrymanders, but Trump was also a long shot), and then sweep the administration in 2020.

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#174377: Feb 15th 2017 at 5:15:13 AM

[up] Unless they do something so illegal from the government that it might cause military intervention.

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#174378: Feb 15th 2017 at 5:23:03 AM

If the progressive movement can keep up the momentum until 2018 when the elections come then maybe it won't be such a big longshot.

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#174379: Feb 15th 2017 at 5:32:49 AM

[up][up]That's a can of worms you almost never want to open. Overthrowing Trump by military coup will politicize the armed forces, which is breathtakingly dangerous.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Wildcard Since: Jun, 2012
#174380: Feb 15th 2017 at 6:26:43 AM

One reaction the election I understand but don't agree with, (yet) is that at least Ted Cruz wasn't elected. It means the Religious Right lost it's stranglehold on the party, but I don't agree since now the much further right Stormfront users have at least a major portion of control.

I wouldn't keep my hopes up for impeachment though, not until we'd get a good source or even bad source like TMZ to report this and spread it as a meme to the public. Which could happen, or they could try the "Everything bad about us is Fake News" thing that works so well with their base.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#174381: Feb 15th 2017 at 6:48:44 AM

[up] Is that really true, since Pence is Religious Right and stands likely to take Trump's place in the event of inevitable downfall?

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#174382: Feb 15th 2017 at 6:52:49 AM

[up]Cruz is cut from a different cloth than Pence - he's a Dominionist. Who has been declared the messiah by his father. Pence is awful - his political career would have ended had he not become VP because Indiana hates him, but he's nowhere near that.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#174383: Feb 15th 2017 at 7:01:58 AM

Pence's end goals suck, but Cruz actually wants the end of the world to happen. It's awful, but someone who will be awful to LGBT people is better than a man who will both be awful to LGBT people and who will deliberately try to arrange things so the end of the world will happen. I wrote a paper on Ted Cruz once, and one thing I found is that his father actually preached once that if it won't happen on its own, the Gog and Magog prophecy (the Dominionist interpretation has a ton of countries, including Ethiopia of all places, but not including Iran, invading Israel and failing miserably) should be deliberately triggered to essentially force the end of the world.

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#174384: Feb 15th 2017 at 7:52:04 AM

Pentagon chief Mattis tells NATO allies to increase defense spending by year's end or US will `moderate its commitment'

https://twitter.com/AP/status/831888833012703237?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

But he's the "Sane" one.

>.<

New Survey coming this weekend!
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#174385: Feb 15th 2017 at 7:57:27 AM

He can't actively counter his own president and hope to keep the job. Going after Mattis is a red herring. By all professional accounts, across party lines, he's legitimately good as a secDef. Regardless of what he may have said over ten years back.

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#174386: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:05:05 AM

Plus, technically speaking they're in the right.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#174387: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:13:44 AM

Schwarzenegger calls for redistricting reform.

Sometimes I wish Arnie was an American born citizen so he could run for president.

Someone drew a political cartoon comparing DeVos to the little black girl in Normal Rockwell's "The Problem We All Live With".

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#174388: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:14:07 AM

Also, keep in mind that "sane" is a relative term here.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#174390: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:15:03 AM

I don't think we have seen Mattis in office long enough to judge him.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#174391: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:15:09 AM

Arnie could have been really successful in any other Western country, ones with truly center-right (and not right-wing) conservative parties. But he's in limbo, stuck in that gulf between the center and the right-wing.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#174392: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:26:52 AM

Nah. If we were to have Amended for Arnold, he'd probably have won 2016 handily from both sides. He's broadly popular across the spectrum, even more so than John Mc Cain used to be.

As for Mattis...well, he's not wrong, except that Trump is going to "moderate his commitment" anyway.

edited 15th Feb '17 8:35:16 AM by Ramidel

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#174393: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:31:55 AM

That EPA bill is horrifying. Because god forbid that you live in a country that isn't a blasted unliveable wasteland with undrinkable water and no food.

And who founded the EPA? Why, Richard Nixon, of course.

I mean, seriously, what the hell? The Republicans are stomping on their own legacy because they can't remember what's actually theirs and what's actually Democrat related. The National Parks thing is in the same boat. Theodore Roosevelt was one of the biggest driving forces behind them, and he was a Republican.

edited 15th Feb '17 8:34:15 AM by Zendervai

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#174394: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:32:46 AM

He's got a few personal scandals (though that didn't stop the Orange One), and his record in California is mixed. He'd have had a rough go in the primaries, especially with another celebrity there.

The GOP would brand him a RINO, and Democrats would see him as a Blue Dog at best.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#174395: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:33:25 AM

We're getting to the point where even a Captain Planet villain would be going "WTF, man?!"

[up][up] Nixon was also the one who established diplomatic relations with China. Relations that Trump and Tillerson may very well fuck up.

edited 15th Feb '17 8:36:27 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#174396: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:39:57 AM

I still don't get why this "must be born in the US" is a requirement - I mean, if this election has proven anything, then that being born in a country doesn't make you automatically less like to serving foreign interests.

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#174397: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:43:30 AM

No, but there is a certain legitimacy in the leader of a country actually be from that country. That's true in any nation, I'd think.

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#174398: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:43:46 AM

That political cartoon is a perfect representation of how "conservatives" and other right-wingers see themselves as "the real victims", always ignoring historical or even present context and making false equivalences.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#174399: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:44:00 AM

But the US is one of the few democracies to insist upon it.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#174400: Feb 15th 2017 at 8:45:59 AM

I'm not totally convinced that it was even a good idea at the time, but my understanding is that the purpose at the time the Constitution was written was to prevent European nobles from running for President and the U.S. ending up an elective monarchy. Ditto the "no titles of nobility" thing. Because there actually were some Federalists who tried to field minor nobles for such a purpose.


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