Andrew on SIO, Part 2! Can Trump Refuse to Leave?
Added 2020-08-06 13:37:35 +0000 UTCHere's part 2!
Comments
Thanks to Thomas for pushing Andrew towards the end... The belief that if Trump refuses to leave office, the law will come through, and/or some Republicans will reject it and refuse to follow, misses the more existential point that about 30% of the country is bought into the Fox alternate universe so don't believe Trump has broken any laws (and probably believe the Democrats and Obama have), and Bill Barr used (is still using?) nameless federal agent mercenaries to arm the administration to push down the population's right to protest. The question I would ask is (and just go along with me for a bit), might that 30% (who are likely also armed with many guns) be enough for Trump and his corrupt administration to physically force the republic, and whatever norms/laws that used to matter, to literally, finally break beyond repair? Forget the law for a moment: the law doesn't matter to these people; they're playing with a mob playbook. The GOP (and to some extent the House dems for not being forceful enough when they had the chance to use legal remedies like subpoenas and perhaps inherent contempt when these assholes refused to show up) has enabled its corruption by not removing Trump from office using the only legal mechanism after extorting a foreign country to intervene in the election (and dozens of other crimes that weren't in the articles of impeachment). What happens if, in the days following the election (assuming, best case scenario, a huge landslide win for Biden for the office, and Dems take back the senate), there are violent demonstrations by the 30% of people who believe everything Trump and Fox has been telling them? What happens if Barr and other cronies are "activated" to use force to keep Trump and his mob in power? Is there a counterforce from people who don't want the democracy to break that can respond in kind? What if it's NOT a landslide because Trump's/GOP's efforts right now to stop the mail and suppress the vote and let Russia/foreign actors continue to interfere are all successful, and a literal civil war erupts following the election? These may be very extreme hypotheticals... but the world has witnessed a lot of extremes that none of us imagined in your country, which is why my mind goes to these places (not the least which is allowing 160k+ people to die from homicidal levels of leadership neglect)... what if the world is literally seeing the great American experiment fail right now? (maybe these existential thoughts are not topics for a law podcast!! Some of your fans like me are watching too closely and very scared right now for you.)
bella ciao
2020-08-07 21:22:08 +0000 UTCWe get older, we get wiser or more foolish or both, no?
David in Brooklyn
2020-08-06 14:38:49 +0000 UTCWait Andrew supports Medicare for all now? I’m sure I remember you saying you were for a public option back in 2016?
General Contact Unit Problem Child
2020-08-06 13:39:42 +0000 UTC
