US Politics Mega-thread - Page 7525

On May 15 2017 00:09 ChristianS wrote:
That is, indeed, crazy. But my rule with the internet is not to believe anything from a url I wasn't previously aware of

While it is understood that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution means that, until Mr. Trump is impeached, he cannot be prosecuted, sources say that the indictment is intended by the FBI and prosecutors in the Justice Department to form the basis of Mr. Trump’s impeachment. The indictment is, perhaps uniquely, not intended or expected to be used for prosecution, sources say, because of the constitutional position of the President.

On May 14 2017 17:12 RenSC2 wrote:
The FBI is under the Department of Justice, which is part of the Executive branch. If the President, who is head of the Executive branch, wants to fire the head of the FBI, that is within his right for whatever reason he deems fit. However, that doesn't make the situation okay. Without Comey, the FBI investigation will continue for now; however, his firing is a shot across the bow for investigators. Those investigators should feel intimidated and feel like their jobs are potentially on the line if they ask too many questions or dig too deep. That will be especially true once Trump appoints a loyalist to head up the FBI who wont appreciate people questioning the president. Trump has a history of valuing loyalty to him over competence. I doubt the FBI appointee will be any different.

The FBI should not be the one investigating the President because it can't do a good job. Investigating your boss is never a good situation and it's especially bad when your boss is Trump.

Instead, investigating the president should be done through congress, which has the power to impeach the president. Congress absolutely must hire a special prosecutor. They are completely derelict in their duties right now and I'd suspect one of the first acts of the next congress will be to appoint a prosecutor and give him the resources to complete a proper investigation. If Trump is unwilling to cooperate, impeach him.

On Pence taking over as President (from a day or two ago), I'm perfectly okay with it. He's a regressive for sure. Civil rights, tax policy, healthcare, foreign policy, and ultimately the economy will take a step or two back. But they're normal steps back and a large portion of the American population wants that except for the last part (they want the policies that will put us in a recession, but not the recession itself). It's not good, but America can elect a progressive in the next election and we can go back to making progress and get back to where things were at the end of the Obama administration within 4 years and exceed it within 8.

With Trump, there is a significant risk that he can break the system. That he can cause harm domestically and internationally that will take over a generation to fix. Invading Iraq was pretty bad, but Obama restored most of the American reputation abroad within 8 years (mostly with the caveat of "just don't do it again"). Pence could do another Iraq (probably in Syria), but I think Trump could do much worse. We're only approximately 1/12th into his presidency and things keep going FUBAR. He's a real risk of destroying important institutions and destroying America's place in the world.

Yeah, I'll take a Pence and hope the next president can undo his regressive damage.

On May 15 2017 00:23 Nevuk wrote:

Well, I was highly skeptical before I saw that someone was taking credit for it (if it were an anonymous site I wouldn't have brought it up). Louise Mensch isn't someone with 0 credibility, though I will remain somewhat skeptical of the full scope of claims (that Orrin Hatch is the likely new president due to a RICO case against the 3 ahead of him) and I still have my doubts on the limited claim - if it's true, and if it even matters if it is true - Because it would still require the GOP house to impeach him - kind of an interesting situation:

On May 15 2017 05:30 Plansix wrote:
Also today:

https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/863798328143876099

On May 15 2017 05:53 xDaunt wrote:

Clapper can go fuck himself. What does he think Trump was elected to do? And saying something like "our institutions are under attack" is needlessly vague and inflammatory.

On May 15 2017 05:19 Plansix wrote:

This part is an ongoing problem with the House and Senate. Before the era of cheap air travel, congress members would live and rent apartment in DC. But in the last 20 years, they have moved to a more "work three days, home for 4 days" where a lot of them sleep in their office. This kind of culture of just only being in congress when there are votes isn't good for government.