Castrated Trump?

So, ten more days to end America's biggest political nightmare in recent memory, the only term of fascist wannabe lamest duck president Trump.

This deranged lunatic certainly still represents some danger to the country in his last ten days.

But his ability to inflict harm seems to have been diminished, fortunately.

1. He experienced a steep drop in popularity after Wednesday events, with a poll showing 83% of Americans horrified with the invasion of the Capitol. They'd be even more horrified if they realized that the Trumps were rumored to be giggly and celebrating during the invasion, in a party at the White House. Remember, the invasion resulted in five deaths.

2. Pence has allegedly stated that he doesn't rule out the 25th if Trump becomes more deranged, so Trump's wiggle room to do something else in his last ten days is not great.

3. A relatively contrite Trump had to read what amounts to a hostage manifesto, the day after the Wednesday events, supposedly strong-armed by WH Counsel Pat Cipollone, who allegedly made the point that he could face charges of sedition if he didn't back down.

4. Pentagon generals have reportedly assured Speaker Pelosi that they are not about to obey impulsive orders from the lame-duck president in case he tries to pull off some crazy crap domestically or abroad in the last days of his term.

5. He was banned from his favorite platform to instigate his followers, Twitter, and hasn't found a suitable replacement yet. It is funny that he reportedly tried twice to circumvent the ban by posting from other accounts and was immediately thwarted, with his tweets immediately deleted and those other accounts suspended too, a penalty the medium has for attempts to circumvent bans. Reportedly he went ballistic when it happened.

6. There is growing sentiment that he will be impeached again and this time, the Senate trial is likely to convict him and strip him of his political rights to run again in 2024 (although, if it happens, it will be done after the end of his term - which is perfectly constitutional, by the way).

7. Although apparently Biden opposes it, there is growing pressure to hold Trump accountable in courts of law for several acts committed during his term or as a businessman, reportedly to signal to future wannabe dictators that violating the law during a presidential term is not without consequences.

8. His reportedly long-pursued ideas of getting a pardon either by resigning hours before his term ends and then earning the pardon from Pence, or self-pardoning, do not seem to hold water now, with both Pence and the Supreme Court having demonstrated that they are not about to appease him.

9. Defections in his team and among previous allies make him even more isolated. There aren't a lot of people willing to support Trump these days, except for his usual die-heard fans, and some of them look so crazy that one wonders if Hillary Clinton was right after all when she mentioned that basket of deplorables. Horn boy, for example, is reportedly a failed actor who is a QAnon fan and lives with his mother.

10. To avoid domestic terrorism, the FBI is said to be energetically pursuing the conspiracy theorists and radicals who organized and perpetrated the events of Wednesday. Reportedly the FBI is seeking to decapitate the movement, in anticipation of possible additional troubles on Inauguration Day. 83 people, last I counted, had been arrested already; likely many more will be. A lot of them have lost jobs too, so they may think twice before doing it again. Suddenly, it isn't as much fun when the FBI comes knocking and/or your employer fires you.

So, at least for his last ten days, it is likely that Trump will just quietly go away (it doesn't mean his followers won't try to cause trouble again; apparently there are calls for armed insurrection in DC the day of Biden's inauguration). What Trump will do after his term remains to be seen, but the events of Wednesday did limit his prospects; he royally shot himself in the foot.

Almost all of the above is based on rumors. I cannot guarantee the solidity of a lot of the above. I do find that observing the context, most of the above is likely to be factual, but I can't pretend to be able to prove it.

I won't publish links to these items because like I said, all sources quote the above as coming from anonymous sources like "an official close to Vice-President Pence who didn't want to be named, said that..." blah blah. I don't think that there is probative value in providing quotes to this kind of rumor so I reiterate that I do not know if most items above are factual or are guesses (or even made-up stuff) by biased media.

Still, it might be interesting to debate them, to see whether or not people here think that they are factual, and to see what people think of how appropriate (or not) the proposed actions are, in case they are factual.

 

Lets hope someone can get him wrapped in a blanket bundled in Marine one and then Air Force one and off to the land of lunatics where he will become just another 'Florida man' for the rest of his life and we never have to hear from him again.

 

Bad post title, draft dodgers never had any balls.

 

That would be funny under a different circumstance. How much more deranged does he need to be to satisfy Pence's criteria? Risk his and his family's life? Oh wait ...

They will need at least 17 Trumpists and "reformed" Trumpists in the Senate to grow a spine and agree, not a chance unfortunately. Which brings up the point that the failure to convict amounts to acquittal. For blatant insurrection? Hopefully some courts aren't going to give him a pass.

 

Hehe, funny indeed.

I actually think it is likely that he will be convicted in the Senate, for several reasons I detailed here:
http://www.politicalforum.com/index...-trumps-removal.583372/page-5#post-1072361563

 

Only a simple majority needed to ban him from running again.

 

Word has it that the House will wait 100 days after passage before sending the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate. Even though the majority in the Senate has flipped, it is still razor thin. 17 Republicans out of 50 voting to convict? I'm not very confident about that happening. I would much rather have Pence invoke the 25th to avoid all that. Either way, he can and may be criminally charged after leaving office on federal and state charges. Even if he pardons himself preemptively, the pardon will be challenged and I seriously doubt it will stand in the Supreme Court. How can they justify that a person can be his own judge, jury and executioner? If that were the case, any President can knowingly commit any crime and merely pardon himself. That would be the definition of a totalitarian. In any case, he cannot escape prosecution for state crimes and the many civil suits that await him.

 

They have bone spurs.

 

He should be whisked away to one of the many small little islands that are under US control. It used to be called being exiled, but we can tell him it's a lifetime spa resort where he can search for buried treasure.

 

You clearly feed on a lot of fake news.

 

Holding off the cognitive dissonance with denial? Smart move. What happens when Trump's world comes tumbling down? You still gonna cheer him on? "I wish him well."

 

Pretty soon the real fun will start ...

NY District Attorneys office is standing by with subpoenas when he leaves office.

Dominion will be serving him with the same papers they served his lawyer with - a $1.3 BILLION dollar lawsuit.

His Florida neighbors are starting a lawsuit to force him to stick to contract with the City of Palm Beach, and kick him out of Mar-a-Lago.

His Golf Club in Scotland is about to go into foreclosure.

And ...

 

This is what I do not get.
He is the Master of the deal and Promotion.
He is really superb at it.

If he had conceded, elegantly he would have promoted his brand and the brands of his family.

Nobody likes a looser, but everybody likes a good looser.

What happened to the king of self promotion and his clan ?

That is a total blow out

 

Conceding is a fate far worse than death to a narcissist.

https://www.insider.com/what-will-it-take-for-trump-concede-narcissism-expert-psychiatrist-2020-11

 

The only way we won't continue to hear from the whiny little baby is if he goes to prison, and is kept away from all electronic devices. That gets my vote.

 

You guys place far too much importance on those tiny, delicate little appendages of yours, IMO. A lot of tough volunteer soldiers don't have those.

 

Impeachment and removal, even after the fact, will prevent him from ever holding public office againe, with the added bonuses of no presidential pension, no annual travel money allotment, and no Secret Service detail. The though of all that makes me feel all warm and snugly, even on a snowy day.

 

Another poster pointed out that he has to have SS protection to ensure he is not kidnapped and tortured for state secrets. I can understand that point. However, I would like something to be done so he can't hold public office again and future would-be-dictators will know not to try anything equally or more ridiculous in the future.

 

Isn't that a type of egg slicer?

 

Do you think he actually knows anything important? I kind of doubt it.

I simply don't want my tax dollars going to anything that will benefit him.

 

Unfortunately, none of those lawsuits or criminal indictments will amount to much by the time the consummate delayer actually has to enter a court of law, if ever. He'll probably be dead of old age by then. Most of the financial shenanigans will result in fines, which he'll delay having yo pay as he has always done.

The world was simply not designed to punish those most deserving of punishment.

 

It doesn't really matter what he knows. It's what our political opponents think he might know.

 

Do you really believe that?

He's a flim flam man, a carnival barker, a grifter from a family of grifters. He has never done or said anything that didn't directly benefit his ego. Conceding would be admitting that he lost, and being a loser at anything is his greatest fear,

 

I like that last sentence...sadly true...

 

Pence invoking the 25th only lasts for a few days and then has no other consequence. Symbolically it is a rebuke but it is toothless. Impeachment + conviction on the other hand can lead to stripping him of his political rights so that he can't run for elected office. Much bigger consequence.

Do you think the GOP establishment will still be interested in upholding Trump? He became toxic and most of the country turned against him. I actually think it's pretty likely that there will be 17 Republican senators willing to convict. That's apparently what they are saying behind closed doors. They don't want to say it now, in public, or Trump might become more unstable and violence might occur again. But after he is gone they will have a lot more leeway.

As for criminal prosecution, agreed. Sedition criminal charges won't stick, though; too difficult to prove intent and to separate from political First Amendment speech. More likely they will get him on tax evasion charges (like Al Capone, LOL).