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It's today then ... (Trump thread)


mikehoncho

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17 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Scary stuff, but I’m hoping the all become ultra isolationist and we don’t have to bother hearing from ever again. 

This is what I was wondering. If they believe the electoral system is rigged against them, that the "Deep State" works against them, and that only Donald Trump could have saved them, why continue voting if he's written off? The hardcore followers might cease to be an issue, electorally speaking. 

I'm not confident, though - another soulless Republican will be along to try and tempt them back into the fold, and the full-blown QAnon types are still likely the minority of his supporters. There are literally millions of Americans prepared to vote for him for whatever reason without the self-reflection of why their chosen candidate might also attract support from Neo-Nazis and actual nutters. QAnon could always move on to a new messiah figure - it's not like conspiracy theories of that nature rely on any kind of logical coherence, after all.

One thing that's always worth bearing in mind is that the average Trump supporter earns somewhere in excess of $70,000. We've been sold the lie of a left-behind working class and that his base is a bunch of angry rednecks. Aside from the fact that they're armed and angry and probably endangering their own families and neighbours, in the grand scheme of things we shouldn't be worried about that lot. It's the CEOs and millionaires prepared to bankroll Trump, and the wealthy upper middle class support base (even among those "storming the capital" were investment managers and people travelling by private jet) that will continue to be a danger to American democracy, and that are less likely to just disappear into the ether.

16 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

His core followers still love him and those who were put off by the Capitol incident will lie to themselves and say that Trump wasn't to blame just like he isn't to blame for anything and open their wallets for him. 

There's something to be said for this - whether honestly or disingenuously, a major part of the American right-wing world view is complete personal responsibility. They don't believe that there could have been any foreign involvement in the 2016 election, because no Russian told them who to vote for. They don't believe that anything Trump has ever said or done has led to the actions of others, because he wasn't down there storming government buildings himself, other people were doing it out of their own free will. It's obviously a very appealing belief structure, because everyone wants to think that they make all their own decisions without outside influence.

Similarly - again, whether honestly or otherwise - the Republican world-view seems to be built on a very simplistic, "If A, then B" understanding of the world. Nothing can have multiple causes, and any explanation for an event is only one step removed - e.g., there's more gun violence in majority black inner city neighbourhoods therefore black people are more violent; it's a binary explanation, rather than that statement being the baseline to then ask, "well why do the poorer areas tend to be majority black? Why is there a connection between poverty and crime?", and so on. Black people are killed by police because they were "resisting arrest", because that's the obvious one step explanation, rather than the myriad systemic factors that put those black people in that position in the first place. People who die "with Covid" and of pre-existing conditions means that Covid didn't cause their death, not that it aggravated those existing conditions. Everything is binary, either/or, or If Then Else. 

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Quick clarification on the impeachment/consequences:

* Impeachment is done by a simple majority of the House of Representatives. (That's almost certainly happening as a majority of members have already said they'll do it.) It has no consequences other than the House can then send it over to the Senate. It's happened three times before (Johnson, Clinton. Trump.)

* Once the Senate receives the articles of impeachment it has to hold a trial which ends in a vote whether to convict, which requires a 2/3 majority. That's never happened before, largely because of the party splits. It's been nearly 60 years since one party had 2/3 of the seats, so conviction will almost always require cross-party support.

* If there's a conviction, the immediate effect is removal from office. They also lose several privileges and benefits that go to former Presidents such as their pension, though they do retain lifetime Secret Service protection.

* After conviction, the Senate can also vote to ban them from holding office in the future, which only requires a straight majority. This vote can only happen if you've had the conviction with the 2/3 vote.

* There's nothing to prevent an impeachment/conviction after somebody's left office, though obviously the removal from office wouldn't have any effect. You could still do the ban on future office. It's not entirely clear if the loss of pension etc would still happen.

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Most of the people in this video have THIS week pleaded for unity and working together for a smooth transition.

But the video shows them encouraging everybody to do the exact opposite of that LAST week!

 

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Trump's statement where he complains about being silenced, on the very social media service that he's twice been banned from.

I can't wait until all we can get a full account of his behaviour at moments like this. It certainly looks to me like he's only agreed to denounce the violence if he could keep moaning about losing his Twitter.

Stories coming out that he's refusing to pay Rudy Giuliani now too.

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