Nov 2023 Mod notice:
There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines
before posting here.
Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.
If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules
when posting here.
In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Edited by nova92 on Nov 10th 2020 at 3:36:44 AM
x2 He can, but the Secretary would only be able to put it into other Homeland Security Departments. The person can't just say "I closed ICE and will now give the Money to the Military", they'd have to put it somewhere within their Department. FEMA would be the nicest place to put that money, looking at the list of Agencies under the Homeland Security banner.
Edited by DingoWalley1 on Nov 10th 2020 at 6:40:30 AM
Trump has removed almost the entire Pentagon civilian leadership, and is replacing them with lackies: https://twitter.com/rabrowne75/status/1326284851268489217?s=20
and https://twitter.com/attackerman/status/1326282360015495169?s=20
He could found FORGIVE which is an ICE that exists to relocate people and with an entirely new staff.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Tata has called Obama a "terrorist leader" and lied about Islam being "[the] most oppressive violent religion I know of". He has been a frequent guest on Fox News, and has attacked Pelosi and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Twitter and shared an article promoting a conspiracy theory about Obama being a "Manchurian candidate". (Tweets were unearthed by CNN.)
Patel has had numerous roles in the administration - most recently, he has been a deputy assistant to Trump and as the top White House counterterrorism official. He was also a large part of helping the Republicans discredit the Russia probe.
Mr. Kernan's resignation was, according to the Pentagon, planned for several months. Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who has been acting as assistant secretary for special ops and low-intensity conflict, will fill in for him on an acting basis. Mr. Cohen-Watnick is a member of the Union League of Philadelphia, a traditional and conservative society club.
House Armed Services Chair Adam Smith said that "the next 70 days will be precarious at best and downright dangerous at worst" if this removal of officials is the beginning of a trend.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.-) tweeted that "Trump's Defense Department purge is deeply dangerous to our national security-first firing SecDef Esper by tweet & now promoting a known racist Islamophobe".
[1] Feel free to correct me if I got the details of who has been performing whose duties incorrect.
This is, of course, coming after Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense, was fired by tweet yesterday.
Edit: I did not see CookingCat's post, but consider this an extension of that.
Edited by Altris on Nov 10th 2020 at 4:03:04 AM
So, let's hang an anchor from the sun... also my TumblrNo, the leader of the Executive Branch cannot just reorganize his own branch. Or at least they shouldn't be able to, for several reasons:
- A leader being able to restructure their own branch would be asking for corruption and damage, since a bad actor leader could unilaterally reshape their branch to their own liking.
- Subsequent leaders constantly reorganizing their branch would weaken the government with constant turnover and change.
- No single person can oversee all the consequences of such an action, and it should take more deliberation than unilateral action would suggest.
Considering Biden will be appointing his own staff and cabinet members when he assumes office, it's likely of little consequence
Remember how Obama left a letter in the Oval Office Desk with advice on how Trump should handle things? I think Trump might actually follow that up by literally leaving a turd in the office
Edited by Xopher001 on Nov 10th 2020 at 2:14:53 PM
To wantonly paraphrase past posts on this subject: It's kind of hard to pull off a coup without the military, intelligence community, and your bodyguards on board, and none of those groups like Trump enough to spit on him if he were burning to death, let alone violate the Constitution for him.
Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.I was thinking earlier that it's possible Trump actually has accepted that he's lost, but he's trying to make Biden's election appear illegitimate. He's doing this either out of spite, to maintain a fanbase that will follow him after he leaves office, in service of a sinister ideological agenda, or for some combination of the three.
He isn't intending to actually overturn the election, just to drive a wedge even further in the country and create opposition to Biden.
Edited by Protagonist506 on Nov 10th 2020 at 4:16:55 AM
Leviticus 19:34

Doesn't Biden have the authority to appoint a DHS Secretary who'll fire every single ICE agent and pump all the organization's money into other programs?