US Politics

I just really really hope the American people will get their shit together and vote him out.

Agreed. It's never a good thing to settle politics in the court room. The powers should be kept as separately as possible.

I think Haley's position is sensible.
Given Trump's age there's a none zero chance the fucker dies or becomes incapacitated in some way. Other than that, if the US is still a democracy four years from now, showing some fighting spirit in this round will serve her very well in the 2028 elections.

I think it’s imperative that Trump is defeated at the ballot box again. Losing twice will show what’s left of the Republican Party that he’s toxic to a majority of the American electorate.

I'm torn, because while on the one hand I recognise how important it is that Trump is defeated. It really fucking annoys me that he's able to evade justice by virtue of being a nominee.

Hopefully he gets electorally spanked then gets thrown in jail and bankrupted.

Hopefully he gets electorally spanked then gets thrown in jail and bankrupted.

Yup. This is the ideal order of things now.

(Well yes, the actual ideal order of things is he should have been locked away for racketeering years ago)

he's able to evade justice by virtue of being a nominee.

Silvio Berlusconi was a trail blazer in so many ways.

This

No one:

Me: The only things now that can stop trump from being reelected are a criminal conviction that disqualifies him from running or holding office, or key allies turning on him. A lot of powerful people have invested a lot of resources into backing trump, so it’s increasingly unlikely that the latter will happen.

In Scenario A, the repub/Maga plants on the SCOTUS turn on their masters, and their ruling disqualifies him. MAGA brains will explode and there might be localised unrest, but the non-Maga Repubs will voraciously jump on the opportunity to pull the party in their direction. Dems would likely win the POTUS.

Scenario B, the maga justices do what they were put there to do, and they protect trump. Trump wins the vote, Dems are out.

Scenario C, trump’s allowed to run, Biden wins despite Maga’s best efforts, the SCOTUS takes the case and decides yet again who will be the next president.

Scenario D, trump loses to Biden, SCOTUS doesn’t get involved, the House of Reps becomes the final battleground. The diehard Maga speaker of the house alleges electoral irregularities and refuses to allow the various necessary proceedings to certify a Biden win, Dems can’t overcome, and the Maga-heavy House gets the final vote on who’s the next POTUS for the 2nd time in US history.

Scenario E, somehow all of trump’s hidden aces fail to secure Maga the presidency. Anything could happen at this point.

Sadly I fear the MAGA movement is more powerful than the party old guard now

This has been true for 8 years now

Penetrating insights.

Scenario B, the maga justices do what they were put there to do, and they protect trump

There is no other scenario.

Thomas (not Roberts as previously stated) and (especially) his wife are exposed to possible charges relating to the Jan 6th insurrection, as do dozens of other Maga politicians. The attorney general probably doesn’t have the clout, political capital, or guts to go after her/them before trump’s court case is done, but the possibility is there.

Wouldn’t advise getting hopes up, given the lesson learnt from Mueller and his disappointing results.

Do you mean Clarence Thomas?

Cheers, unsure where I got Roberts.

Rigged Supreme Court does what it was put there to do...

(edit - unanimous, as below)

It was a unanimous decision...

Makes sense too imo. States shouldn't be able to disqualify presidential candidates otherwise you start getting politically motivated removals which would block R or D candidates from getting enough electoral college votes to get over the line.

Let's hope the more serious decision around presidential immunity is a different outcome though...

I just came back myself to correct that it was unanimous, yes.

Let's hope the more serious decision around presidential immunity is a different outcome though...

And you're damn right here.

i don’t understand how primaries work, is it technically possible that Harris could run for president?

She can decide she's running against Biden but would have to win the nomination and would also not likely be selected as VP candidate a second time.

It's a big game dirty game though - this one looks like the democrats looking to curtail the republican's ability to use muh-states-rights to do things like ignore election results and for the electoral college to vote for their preferred candidate.

Not that the Supreme Court gives a fuck about even pretending to hold with precedent any more.

right. thanks. incredibly improbable but technically possible. it’s obviously wishful thinking, friends in US are certain trump is going to get it. regarding harris, if she can get funded she has nothing to lose? silly to keep one’s powder dry when the end of the world is imminent

News Agents on Steve Banon is worth a listen.

i don’t understand how primaries work, is it technically possible that Harris could run for president?

Party primaries are to determine each party’s candidates. She could run as an independent but she might as well not run given it’s effectively a two-party election.

Slight nuance that it was the courts, not the political leaders, that disqualified the presidential candidate, on grounds ostensibly stemming from (what is meant to be) an objective, apolitical, authoritative interpretation of law. We all know the judiciary is partisan in the country but I don't know if they've been this brazen about it before. Makes nonsense of the slippery slope argument Trump's team was running (or on the other hand tantamount to an admission that the Emperor indeed has no clothes and their whole legal system is trash).

News source gets community noted:

https://twitter.com/axios/status/1764606248891170940