8 ms·

Impeach! That's the prerogative, and the enforcement mechanism, of the legislative branch.

20after4 2y ago
Trump has already been impeached a couple of times. That definitely isn't happening with a conservative majority in both houses of congress.
- cogman10 2y ago
  Dems should bring up articles of impeachment yet again. It will fail in the house and if it doesn't the senate won't convict. But that's really not the point right now. The dems need to get off their asses and actually message that "hey, this isn't right or normal" and make the republicans defend the behavior.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - jaggederest 2y ago
    Why? To what end? How will any of that have any effect in the next two years, at least? Nobody elected Elon or any of the DOGE people.
    - notahacker 2y ago
      Yeah. Frankly driving a wedge between Trump and Elon would be the more effective political strategy, since it wouldn't exactly be uncharacteristic of them to spectacularly fall out, and Trump couldn't care less if DOGE exists or not as long as he's getting praise from the right quarters
      - idiotsecant 2y ago
        It's inevitable that the two will break up, but it'll be after trump has used him to do all the deeply unpopular hacking apart of social safety nets that he wants to do. He's a useful idiot. A very rich useful idiot.
        Forgeties79 2y ago
        What a convenient scapegoat to have when we eventually feel the ruinous effects of these decisions. "I trusted ELLEN and he couldn't get the job done, THATS why I FIRED him"
        ethbr1 2y ago
        Dollars to donuts this goes the other way. Trump isn't known for playing the long game, and Elon (for all his craziness) is incredibly Machiavellian. E.g. 'Trump was coopted by the deep state, and that's why I couldn't get it done.' Also convenient once Trump is (a) term limited and more importantly (b) too old to be politically useful anymore.
        Forgeties79 2y ago
        Also a very valid theory!
        hn_acc1 2y ago
        Once Elon has all the passwords, it won't matter what Trump says about him.. He's in forever.
        timacles 2y ago
        Elon is clearly bankrolling Trump, hes his boss. Trump is CEO and the techno oligarchs are his board.
    - brandonmenc 2y ago
      > Nobody elected Elon or any of the DOGE people Nobody ever votes for the President's cabinet or anyone else they bring in.
      - Aloisius 2y ago
        The Senate actually does vote on a chunk of the President's cabinet.
        brandonmenc 2y ago
        The voters on election day don't, which is obviously what the comment was referring to.
  - 20after4 2y ago
    I'm not convinced that the democrats (most of them anyway) are actually apposed to what is happening. Both parties seem to have largely the same goals just preferring to use different tactics in order to achieve them.
    - rewgs 2y ago
      I love how "both sides are the same" continues to persist, even though Biden did absolutely none of what Trump has done these last two weeks, either in terms of method or outcome. They truly could not be more different and yet people like you are like theyrethesamepicture.jpg.
  - indoordin0saur 2y ago
    Waste of time and really achieves nothing other than theatrics. I don't doubt they'll do it though. Theatrics is really all the Dems ever do these days.
    - DFHippie 2y ago
      > Theatrics is really all the Dems ever do these days. They have no power. They can't set the agenda; they can't get legislation to the floor; they can't call investigations. They certainly can't arrest lawbreakers. All they can do is make a case against the ruling party. And if they do it quietly and politely, no one will hear it. So really, it is political malfeasance for them not to be theatrical. All they can do is make Republicans pay some price for the destruction they are bringing to the country and the world. And this requires theatrics. They have no other levers they can pull.
  - intended 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - Sharlin 2y ago
      In case anyone needed even more reasons to despise "people in SV".
      - dgfitz 2y ago
        Nah, heh, nobody needed any additional reasons.
    - toomanyrichies 2y ago
      > If it costs lives, well so be it. Remember you said this if/when it's your life on the line. I have a feeling that, when that time comes, a lot of people will be changing their tune. "I always knew he'd fuck people over, I just didn't think I'd be one of them!"
      - intended 2y ago
        In case it wasn’t clear, this is me explaining what voters think. Not what I think.
    - netsharc 2y ago
      You really are deluded if you think these moves are for draining the swamp and to make the nation great again... that's the thinly veiled bullshit they're feeding you, and geez, people like you think they're clever and have got it figured out?!? It's to consolidate power for the foreseeable future for a bunch of elites, so they can even more freely exploit people like you and make tons more money. But hey, seems like people like to bend over and get MAGAed harder...
      - intended 2y ago
        I’m speaking for what others think. This isn’t how you drain the swamp.
  - reissbaker 2y ago
    How exactly are Democrats going to do that considering they don't control the House or the Senate? All that's required to block impeachment is a simple majority to kill the resolution. The Republicans control a House majority and can schedule those kill votes whenever they want. They don't need to defend anything, they can just vote to kill the measure. Not only that, but the impeachment first needs to make it past the House Judiciary Committee, which is controlled by Republicans and chaired by Jim Jordan. Democrats have no tools to impeach. Their best bet is to focus on the midterms. Elections have consequences.
    - brookst 2y ago
      Too simplistic. Democrats can’t force an impeachment, but they can try to find a handful of Republicans who still care about the rule of law. They can continue to make the case all day, every day. Assuming that a policy can only be achieved if you can ram it down opponents throats is a sad commentary on just how authoritarian the US has become.
      - reissbaker 2y ago
        America is a democracy, and the Trump won the election, and the Republicans won the majority of elections in the House and the Senate, and by virtue of those elections they also control the Judiciary Committee by a wide margin which can block attempts at impeachment. Trump is not going to be impeached less than a month into his term for doing exactly the kind of things he said he was going to do during his campaign. The best bet for Democrats is to focus on winning the midterms. Impeachment is not a serious option.
        LightBug1 2y ago
        Not the point. The point is to signal (to stand against, to protest) that what the current wankers in charge are doing, shredding up what little decency was left in Washington, is not normal, is wrong, and moving the needle one more small notch towards fascism. From afar, it's grotesque seeing what's happening over there. Perhaps you're too close to see it.
        2y ago
  - ActorNightly 2y ago
    >The dems need to get off their asses and actually message that "hey, this isn't right or normal" They have been doing that. The issue is that people just look at it all and think "its all political theater" The only way anything will change is if the ~200m americans who didn't vote actually start to realize that voting matters. Texas could turn blue if all the people in the liberal areas actually voted, which would basically win the election for Democrats.
- sverhagen 2y ago
  Okay, another nitpick, but it's not because the majority is _conservative_, is it? If they truly voted from conservative principles, _some_ possible actions of the administration could offend them enough to impeach. It's probably more correct to say that it definitely isn't happening with a loyalist (MAGA) majority?
  - 0xffff2 2y ago
    In the US, "conservative" is synonymous with "Republican" and "Republican" is (so far, at least) synonymous with "MAGA loyalist", so it's really splitting hairs to call out the alleged difference.
    - netsharc 2y ago
      I thought one of those synonyms was going to be "spineless". It's amazing how many lines on the sand the fascist has crossed, but despite some Republican noise, in they end they vote to protect their job and its perks (like info about stock movements before they become public, amongst the many other forms of corruption) rather than to defend their principles. But then again, the Vichy Democrats are quiet too, they're too chickenshit to escalate and call out this enemy of the constitution. I grew up in a "democracy" with rigged elections and decades of one president. From TV we thought "Oh, America is such a better place, the politicians are clean, the cops are honest and can't be bought...". Hah, fucking Hollywood fairytales.
      - trealira 2y ago
        Yep, you're right. When I was a kid during the Obama years, I was even proud of our country. Now I realize that it and the conservatives in it are basically no different to Putin and his followers in Russia, and the liberal opposition party is spineless and feckless at best, complicit at worst. We may well have an autocoup soon, if we haven't already. I hope to be able to leave this country before that point, but until then I can only attend protests, even though they seem ineffective at effecting change. I hate everything.
    - Olumde 2y ago
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jacurtis 2y ago
I mean you could impeach him again. But that's doesn't really do anything other than wave a finger at him and says "Naughty naughty". Hell, the guy is able to re-run and win the elected office again after being impeached a few times during his previous administration. Congress needs to affirm his impeachment to force him out of office and that requires a supermajority, which will never happen. Trump could kill someone on national TV and he would maybe get impeached, but he'd have enough friends in congress defending his actions that he would still be president. I mean he's already a convicted criminal. That's why he just doesn't care anymore and is going crazy as if no laws exist. Laws mean nothing to him. At worst they are an annoyance or noise to him, but he already proved that nothing can stop him.
- ornornor 2y ago
  It’s fascinating to watch, from a distance. If I was a US resident, or worse: US citizen, I’d be terrified.
  - mrkeen 2y ago
    Your politicians are watching from a distance too, and taking note of what works.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - Aeolun 2y ago
      We have a functioning political system, and not nearly as much power concentrated into the hands of a single person.
      - pseudalopex 2y ago
        For now.
      - mrkeen 2y ago
        Three branches of government, two houses, mix of federal and state powers, checks and balances, an impeachment system, all that stuff?
kcplate 2y ago
Good luck with that. He is in for the next four years and will finish his term. Impeachment and removing him from office means the dems will need to control congress. Which can’t happen until 2027. Then, those dems will need convince at least a double digit count of GOP senators to vote to remove him and not care about facing the wrath of the MAGA base…just to get him out a couple of years before term limits do?
- Aeolun 2y ago
  > term limits I kinda imagine the next 4 years will work hard towards the singular goal of eliminating those. Or he might just ignore them with a whole lot more preparation than the badly organized insurrection of last time.
  - kcplate 2y ago
    It takes much longer than 4 years to amend or unamend (which would be required in this case). He’s out in January 2029 without a doubt.
    - popinman322 2y ago
      The executive branch is currently ignoring the law. Why would they start following it in 2029?
      - hedora 2y ago
        He's already floating the idea of a third term, and the house is considering a constitutional amendment that would allow it. Of course, that'll be a moot point if he continues to just ignore the constitution as he has been so far this entire term, and the other two branches continue to just let him.
        willy_k 2y ago
        Source?

Trump has already been impeached a couple of times. That definitely isn't happening with a conservative majority in both houses of congress.

cogman10 2y ago
Dems should bring up articles of impeachment yet again. It will fail in the house and if it doesn't the senate won't convict. But that's really not the point right now. The dems need to get off their asses and actually message that "hey, this isn't right or normal" and make the republicans defend the behavior.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- jaggederest 2y ago
  Why? To what end? How will any of that have any effect in the next two years, at least? Nobody elected Elon or any of the DOGE people.
  - notahacker 2y ago
    Yeah. Frankly driving a wedge between Trump and Elon would be the more effective political strategy, since it wouldn't exactly be uncharacteristic of them to spectacularly fall out, and Trump couldn't care less if DOGE exists or not as long as he's getting praise from the right quarters
    - idiotsecant 2y ago
      It's inevitable that the two will break up, but it'll be after trump has used him to do all the deeply unpopular hacking apart of social safety nets that he wants to do. He's a useful idiot. A very rich useful idiot.
      - Forgeties79 2y ago
        What a convenient scapegoat to have when we eventually feel the ruinous effects of these decisions. "I trusted ELLEN and he couldn't get the job done, THATS why I FIRED him"
        ethbr1 2y ago
        Dollars to donuts this goes the other way. Trump isn't known for playing the long game, and Elon (for all his craziness) is incredibly Machiavellian. E.g. 'Trump was coopted by the deep state, and that's why I couldn't get it done.' Also convenient once Trump is (a) term limited and more importantly (b) too old to be politically useful anymore.
        Forgeties79 2y ago
        Also a very valid theory!
      - hn_acc1 2y ago
        Once Elon has all the passwords, it won't matter what Trump says about him.. He's in forever.
      - timacles 2y ago
        Elon is clearly bankrolling Trump, hes his boss. Trump is CEO and the techno oligarchs are his board.
  - brandonmenc 2y ago
    > Nobody elected Elon or any of the DOGE people Nobody ever votes for the President's cabinet or anyone else they bring in.
    - Aloisius 2y ago
      The Senate actually does vote on a chunk of the President's cabinet.
      - brandonmenc 2y ago
        The voters on election day don't, which is obviously what the comment was referring to.
- 20after4 2y ago
  I'm not convinced that the democrats (most of them anyway) are actually apposed to what is happening. Both parties seem to have largely the same goals just preferring to use different tactics in order to achieve them.
  - rewgs 2y ago
    I love how "both sides are the same" continues to persist, even though Biden did absolutely none of what Trump has done these last two weeks, either in terms of method or outcome. They truly could not be more different and yet people like you are like theyrethesamepicture.jpg.
- indoordin0saur 2y ago
  Waste of time and really achieves nothing other than theatrics. I don't doubt they'll do it though. Theatrics is really all the Dems ever do these days.
  - DFHippie 2y ago
    > Theatrics is really all the Dems ever do these days. They have no power. They can't set the agenda; they can't get legislation to the floor; they can't call investigations. They certainly can't arrest lawbreakers. All they can do is make a case against the ruling party. And if they do it quietly and politely, no one will hear it. So really, it is political malfeasance for them not to be theatrical. All they can do is make Republicans pay some price for the destruction they are bringing to the country and the world. And this requires theatrics. They have no other levers they can pull.
- intended 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - Sharlin 2y ago
    In case anyone needed even more reasons to despise "people in SV".
    - dgfitz 2y ago
      Nah, heh, nobody needed any additional reasons.
  - toomanyrichies 2y ago
    > If it costs lives, well so be it. Remember you said this if/when it's your life on the line. I have a feeling that, when that time comes, a lot of people will be changing their tune. "I always knew he'd fuck people over, I just didn't think I'd be one of them!"
    - intended 2y ago
      In case it wasn’t clear, this is me explaining what voters think. Not what I think.
  - netsharc 2y ago
    You really are deluded if you think these moves are for draining the swamp and to make the nation great again... that's the thinly veiled bullshit they're feeding you, and geez, people like you think they're clever and have got it figured out?!? It's to consolidate power for the foreseeable future for a bunch of elites, so they can even more freely exploit people like you and make tons more money. But hey, seems like people like to bend over and get MAGAed harder...
    - intended 2y ago
      I’m speaking for what others think. This isn’t how you drain the swamp.
- reissbaker 2y ago
  How exactly are Democrats going to do that considering they don't control the House or the Senate? All that's required to block impeachment is a simple majority to kill the resolution. The Republicans control a House majority and can schedule those kill votes whenever they want. They don't need to defend anything, they can just vote to kill the measure. Not only that, but the impeachment first needs to make it past the House Judiciary Committee, which is controlled by Republicans and chaired by Jim Jordan. Democrats have no tools to impeach. Their best bet is to focus on the midterms. Elections have consequences.
  - brookst 2y ago
    Too simplistic. Democrats can’t force an impeachment, but they can try to find a handful of Republicans who still care about the rule of law. They can continue to make the case all day, every day. Assuming that a policy can only be achieved if you can ram it down opponents throats is a sad commentary on just how authoritarian the US has become.
    - reissbaker 2y ago
      America is a democracy, and the Trump won the election, and the Republicans won the majority of elections in the House and the Senate, and by virtue of those elections they also control the Judiciary Committee by a wide margin which can block attempts at impeachment. Trump is not going to be impeached less than a month into his term for doing exactly the kind of things he said he was going to do during his campaign. The best bet for Democrats is to focus on winning the midterms. Impeachment is not a serious option.
      - LightBug1 2y ago
        Not the point. The point is to signal (to stand against, to protest) that what the current wankers in charge are doing, shredding up what little decency was left in Washington, is not normal, is wrong, and moving the needle one more small notch towards fascism. From afar, it's grotesque seeing what's happening over there. Perhaps you're too close to see it.
      - 2y ago
- ActorNightly 2y ago
  >The dems need to get off their asses and actually message that "hey, this isn't right or normal" They have been doing that. The issue is that people just look at it all and think "its all political theater" The only way anything will change is if the ~200m americans who didn't vote actually start to realize that voting matters. Texas could turn blue if all the people in the liberal areas actually voted, which would basically win the election for Democrats.
sverhagen 2y ago
Okay, another nitpick, but it's not because the majority is _conservative_, is it? If they truly voted from conservative principles, _some_ possible actions of the administration could offend them enough to impeach. It's probably more correct to say that it definitely isn't happening with a loyalist (MAGA) majority?
- 0xffff2 2y ago
  In the US, "conservative" is synonymous with "Republican" and "Republican" is (so far, at least) synonymous with "MAGA loyalist", so it's really splitting hairs to call out the alleged difference.
  - netsharc 2y ago
    I thought one of those synonyms was going to be "spineless". It's amazing how many lines on the sand the fascist has crossed, but despite some Republican noise, in they end they vote to protect their job and its perks (like info about stock movements before they become public, amongst the many other forms of corruption) rather than to defend their principles. But then again, the Vichy Democrats are quiet too, they're too chickenshit to escalate and call out this enemy of the constitution. I grew up in a "democracy" with rigged elections and decades of one president. From TV we thought "Oh, America is such a better place, the politicians are clean, the cops are honest and can't be bought...". Hah, fucking Hollywood fairytales.
    - trealira 2y ago
      Yep, you're right. When I was a kid during the Obama years, I was even proud of our country. Now I realize that it and the conservatives in it are basically no different to Putin and his followers in Russia, and the liberal opposition party is spineless and feckless at best, complicit at worst. We may well have an autocoup soon, if we haven't already. I hope to be able to leave this country before that point, but until then I can only attend protests, even though they seem ineffective at effecting change. I hate everything.
  - Olumde 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

jacurtis 2y ago

I mean you could impeach him again. But that's doesn't really do anything other than wave a finger at him and says "Naughty naughty". Hell, the guy is able to re-run and win the elected office again after being impeached a few times during his previous administration. Congress needs to affirm his impeachment to force him out of office and that requires a supermajority, which will never happen. Trump could kill someone on national TV and he would maybe get impeached, but he'd have enough friends in congress defending his actions that he would still be president. I mean he's already a convicted criminal. That's why he just doesn't care anymore and is going crazy as if no laws exist. Laws mean nothing to him. At worst they are an annoyance or noise to him, but he already proved that nothing can stop him.

ornornor 2y ago
It’s fascinating to watch, from a distance. If I was a US resident, or worse: US citizen, I’d be terrified.
- mrkeen 2y ago
  Your politicians are watching from a distance too, and taking note of what works.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - Aeolun 2y ago
    We have a functioning political system, and not nearly as much power concentrated into the hands of a single person.
    - pseudalopex 2y ago
      For now.
    - mrkeen 2y ago
      Three branches of government, two houses, mix of federal and state powers, checks and balances, an impeachment system, all that stuff?

kcplate 2y ago

Good luck with that. He is in for the next four years and will finish his term. Impeachment and removing him from office means the dems will need to control congress. Which can’t happen until 2027. Then, those dems will need convince at least a double digit count of GOP senators to vote to remove him and not care about facing the wrath of the MAGA base…just to get him out a couple of years before term limits do?

Aeolun 2y ago
> term limits I kinda imagine the next 4 years will work hard towards the singular goal of eliminating those. Or he might just ignore them with a whole lot more preparation than the badly organized insurrection of last time.
- kcplate 2y ago
  It takes much longer than 4 years to amend or unamend (which would be required in this case). He’s out in January 2029 without a doubt.
  - popinman322 2y ago
    The executive branch is currently ignoring the law. Why would they start following it in 2029?
    - hedora 2y ago
      He's already floating the idea of a third term, and the house is considering a constitutional amendment that would allow it. Of course, that'll be a moot point if he continues to just ignore the constitution as he has been so far this entire term, and the other two branches continue to just let him.
      - willy_k 2y ago
        Source?