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The hyperbole on Twitter is absolutely through the roof. Most of the people on there with big followings are mentally not well.
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@canefan said in US Politics:
@gt12 said in US Politics:
So, in 45 days they’ll happily confirm someone. If I’m not correct it was about 9 month out last time and he wouldn’t consider it? I find almost everything about what US politics has been turned into to be a fucking complete shambles.
How did the Republicans behave when Scalia died in 2016? I am told they tried to force Obama to delay appointment until after the election. I expect the dems to do the same
Obama nominated Merrick Garland, who is nominally Republican, and McConnell refused to allow a vote.
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@Godder said in US Politics:
@canefan said in US Politics:
@gt12 said in US Politics:
So, in 45 days they’ll happily confirm someone. If I’m not correct it was about 9 month out last time and he wouldn’t consider it? I find almost everything about what US politics has been turned into to be a fucking complete shambles.
How did the Republicans behave when Scalia died in 2016? I am told they tried to force Obama to delay appointment until after the election. I expect the dems to do the same
Obama nominated Merrick Garland, who is nominally Republican, and McConnell refused to allow a vote.
So he didn't nominate a democrat and the republicans still didn't vote on him?
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@Godder said in US Politics:
Obama nominated Merrick Garland, who is nominally Republican, and McConnell refused to allow a vote.
Which didn’t happen in a vacuum. The context was Obama’s unconstitutional actions where he was daring the Republicans to punish him (knowing it would be politically difficult for the House to rein in the President)
It was a dickish power play. They were acting within their constitutional rights though.
It was in response to dickish unconstitutional power plays. It was basically a censure
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@canefan said in US Politics:
@Godder said in US Politics:
@canefan said in US Politics:
@gt12 said in US Politics:
So, in 45 days they’ll happily confirm someone. If I’m not correct it was about 9 month out last time and he wouldn’t consider it? I find almost everything about what US politics has been turned into to be a fucking complete shambles.
How did the Republicans behave when Scalia died in 2016? I am told they tried to force Obama to delay appointment until after the election. I expect the dems to do the same
Obama nominated Merrick Garland, who is nominally Republican, and McConnell refused to allow a vote.
So he didn't nominate a democrat and the republicans still didn't vote on him?
Correct.
@Duluth what are you referring to?
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@Godder said in US Politics:
@canefan said in US Politics:
@Godder said in US Politics:
@canefan said in US Politics:
@gt12 said in US Politics:
So, in 45 days they’ll happily confirm someone. If I’m not correct it was about 9 month out last time and he wouldn’t consider it? I find almost everything about what US politics has been turned into to be a fucking complete shambles.
How did the Republicans behave when Scalia died in 2016? I am told they tried to force Obama to delay appointment until after the election. I expect the dems to do the same
Obama nominated Merrick Garland, who is nominally Republican, and McConnell refused to allow a vote.
So he didn't nominate a democrat and the republicans still didn't vote on him?
Correct.
So did they refuse him just because they could, and to spite him?
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@Godder said in US Politics:
what are you referring to?
In the lead up to the SC nomination he did a few things that were a direct attack on the Legislature
He signed an executive order that he previously said would be unconstitutional (he was right). An open and shut case for censure.
Treaties must be ratified by Congress. He removed the name treaty from an agreement to get around Congressional approval.
The Legislature makes laws and the Executive executes them. He told Congress to pass particular laws or he would bypass Congress via Executive Order (knowing any Judicial push back would be too late.. the Presidential power grab by EO by gets worse by each successive President and is a disgrace)These are all dickish power plays of the President against a co-equal branch. He knew it would be politically impossible for him to be impeached or even censured.
If you antagonise the Legislature they might bite back. The context of that moment in time is important. They were both fluffybunnies.
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@Rembrandt Seemed pretty genuine response to me.
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A few predictions.
I think Trump will pick Barbara Lagoa.
This will help him a lot in Florida (where Biden isn't doing so well) Trump is doing very well with Cuban Americans and this might be the nail in the coffin for Biden there. She has the classic American dream story.
He won't pick Amy Coney Barret because the possibility of Roe vs Wade being reversed will be too much for moderate suburban housewives in the swing states. Swing state Republicans will be fucked - Susan Collin, Thom Tillis, Martha McSally.
The Senate will not ram the whole process through before the election.
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The Constitution allows new Supreme Court Justices to be appointed in the lame duck session after the election but before the inauguration in January. Even if Trump loses and they lose the Senate Majority, those Republican Senators that lost their are still allowed to vote through the nominee because they retain their seat up until Inauguration Day.
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The Republicans will take the story of Lagoa and spin it to their advantage as a way of showing what a great Justice she is and how pro-women and pro-Latino they are.
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It will pressure Biden, but he may not do it, to produce his own list, which of course , if there are any crazy liberals on it ads will be televised. I don't think Biden will produce his own list for this reason, but it will be asked why he has no list.
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The Democrats know the Republicans hold this power, but the Republicans are not making this public.
This is why Democrats are going bananas, threats to stack the court, get rid of the filibuster, street violence. Of course, these kind of things play badly with moderates in swing states. -
The Republicans will welcome any bashing of a Latina women by the Democrats. For this reason, they may start hearings in the Senate. As luck would have it, the leader of the Democrats' Judiciary Committee is Kamala Harris.
Overall, the strategy will to be maximize the process for electoral gain and then, even if Trump and the Senate lose, confirm in the lame duck session anyway.
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So now every senator is going to use exactly the opposite argument to what they used back in 2016 when Scalia died in an election year. For both sides everything that was a bad idea then is absolutely essential now. The only difference is this time the Senate majority is held by the sitting President’s party.
What’s the bet not one senator is principled enough to use an argument that is internally consistent. Scumbags all of them.
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Lindsay Graham is on tape with it too I think.
I’m getting very concerned - my friend in Texas is a pretty reasonable guy; he’s a republican MD who owns a business and employs a few people. He sent me a photo of his b-day present from his wife - it’s a pump action shot gun, and he says both he and his wife are concealed carry permits with 9mm pistols.
He’s a very clear center-right leaning individual going full-on ‘they’re coming for us.’
I’m godfather to his kids and am just pleading with him to make sure that everything is stored safely. But, of course, guns won’t help if you lock them up properly....
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@gt12 I follow quite a few conservatives on Twitter (not blue check "political commentators", generally non-political accounts) that are saying the same things. Not sure if they've all gone off the deep end with paranoia or if their fears are substantiated? There's been a lot of political violence from the left this year, with many businesses trashed/burnt to the ground, so you can probably understand where they are coming from.
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@Rembrandt Honestly, old people should be forced to retire.
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Beware the long arms of American and Chinese law
A rules-based order is giving way to something that feels more like 19th-century imperialism
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Perhaps I will be wrong on this, but I think the Durham investigation of the FBI / CIA investigation of Trump and Russia will turn up wrongdoing on the part of some in the FBI and CIA or Mueller's team. I think there is a possibility that the rules were not followed and that some within the FBI and CIA had real political motivation.
I also think it possible that the govt. surveillance powers may have been abused for political purposes. This would be a huge political scandal if true.
If so, Trump has a real campaign issue to run on.
US Politics