I’d call it a “flawed democracy.” The ideals behind it were sound, but the execution left much to be improved upon. And we’ve made many improvements (though we still have a ways to go).
Still, even a flawed democracy is preferable to Dictator Trump.
I want to say “Well, the military won’t comply with those commands” and maybe they wouldn’t, but if we even get into that position we’re in deep trouble.
Jail time in such a contempt is usually issued as “suspended” meaning that it’s ordered, but if the person doesn’t fuck up for a period, and obeys the final order, then they don’t actually have to go to jail.
So all Trump would need to do would be good and not act up?
He’s going to prison!
My guess (also not a lawyer) is to render the verdict as appeal proof as possible. If he wasn’t allowed to speak, he would have claimed that his rights were violated and if he had been allowed to give the closing remarks himself, he would have been found totally Innocent.
Engoron let him talk relatively briefly, cut him off when it was clear he wasn’t staying on topic, and closed off this appeal argument.
In many of the cases that Republicans refuse abortions for, there is no baby at the end. If a woman is at risk of dying and the fetus has such severe abnormalities that it will breathe twice and die, then what’s the argument against an abortion? It could save the woman’s life and wouldn’t “kill a baby” (even if I accepted that abortion killed a baby - which I don’t).
But the Republican line seems to be that a woman needs to be actively dying before they’ll even start to consider allowing her to have a life saving medical procedure.
Also, it is easy to say “I’m not voting for Biden, I want someone else” right now. There aren’t any consequences.
But come November and suddenly the consequences become more immediate. Many more people say they will vote third party than actually do it once in the voting booth.
I knew I recognized that expression.
“Are you pooping?”
“Nnnnnnoooo?”
“You’re pooping aren’t you?”
“Not anymore!”
I long for the day when someone mentions Trump and I respond: “Oh yeah. That guy. Last I heard he was sent to prison. That was years ago. Anyway, changes subject away from Trump…”
As I posted it, I wondered if I had missed it happening. There’s so much that it’s easy for one to slip by.
To steal a line from Trump: They aren’t sending their best!
The only way I’d vote for Trump would be if I was on a jury and the judge asked “Who deserves prison time?” Then, I’d vote for Trump so quickly that big, strong men would have tears in their eyes!
How long until a “protect the kids from groomers” member of Moms For Liberty is busted for grooming kids?
It’s because half of the Republicans don’t want democracy anymore. Democracy means that the other side might have power if the right’s views aren’t popular enough. That’s unacceptable to Republicans. They want a system where they are always in charge and nothing so minor as “our policies are highly unpopular” can stop them. They want a dictatorship with them in charge.
At best, maybe they’re willing to have a “democracy” where you have the choice of which Republican you want leading you. (It would sort of be as if the Republican primaries were really determining who would be President - not who would be the Republicans’ candidate for President.)
And before that, one of the Democrats (I forget which one) pointed out that the chair of the committee said that Hunter could choose to testify in public or private as long as he testified. Hunter chose in public. The chair disputed this and the Democratic Representative said “I really don’t want to play the video, but I have your exact words here.”
The guy was trying to change the offer after the fact from “public or private, your choice” to “you can testify publicly, but only after you testify in private.”
What are Republicans scared of that they don’t want Hunter to testify in public? Of course, we all know the answer. They’re afraid that their imagined giant conspiracy theory will be revealed to be based on nothing. (Well, revealed even more than it currently is.) They’re also afraid that they can’t misquote Hunter if his actual quotes are on public video. It’s a lot easier to say “Hunter replied ‘my dad used his influence to get me a job’” when there’s no video showing that his answer was actually “at no point did my dad use his influence to get me a job.”
Or they’ll split among horrible people with MAGA Group A fighting against MAGA groups B, C, and D. Their political relevance would wane, but they might get even more violent.
Even the border situation falls into this pattern. Republicans love to complain about how horrible the border is, but when Democrats propose more money for the border or fixing our immigration system, the Republicans balk. They’d rather give border agents no equipment and then blame Democrats for undocumented immigrants flooding over the border.
They asked for 3 extensions and were granted them. They asked for a 4th and it was denied. Now Trump’s claiming that it’s so totally unfair.
He’s like a spoiled toddler. If anything isn’t 100% of what he wants in that moment, he’ll cry about how unfair everyone is acting towards him. If only we could put him down for timeout and a nap like we might with a toddler. Perhaps he needs a diaper change? (Not it!)
My company switched up retirement plans and they held a seminar to explain them. The person running the seminar said that we should be putting 15% of our salaries into retirement.
Nice idea, but if I put 15% of my salary into retirement, then I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills. I’m not living extravagantly or anything (buying something for $20 for my enjoyment seems like a splurge to me). Still, whenever I seem to be getting on a better financial footing, life throws me a curve ball. Need new hearing aids ($3,600). New a new dryer ($750). Might need a new car soon.
So either I need to be paid a lot more, I will be working until I’m 90, or I put away the money and go deep into debt but can retire. (Just kidding. I’m nearing 50. I likely won’t have enough to retire. Maybe when I’m 80.)
Only if the House didn’t impeach him and the Senate didn’t convict.
So Biden would also have to kill as many Congressional Republicans as possible to prevent any impeachment vote from succeeding. This “legal theory” is essentially saying “one murder might be criminally liable, but mass murder of political opponents is just fine!”
And it gets better. In the Georgia case, they are arguing that Trump can’t be tried because he was impeached for that crime and a criminal trial would be double jeopardy.
Ignore for a second that his impeachment wasn’t over the Georgia crimes. Trump’s lawyers are arguing that you need to impeach/convict before you can criminally charge, but if you impeach then you can’t criminally charge.
Their legal theories are the equivalent of “I object! It’s devastating to my case!”
One big lesson from Trump’s presidency was that many of the rules we thought constrained politicians were only “Gentlemen’s Agreements.” They held up because everyone agreed to abide by them. When Trump walked in, refused to abide by them, and wasn’t immediately struck by the political equivalent to lightning from heaven, all the politicians on the right decided that they could toss those pesky rules aside also.