Jen Rubin has a good take on Obi Wan Biden in today's WaPo. She say he was smart to say he wouldn't negotiate, even though he figured he would have to. This caused the GOP to pass a bill filled with incredibly heinous stuff he could demolish. I, for one, wanted a clean elimination of the debt ceiling since it is merely artifice and used by only one side for destructive purposes. But I also acknowledge that the Republicans control the House and can wield some earned power. Obi Wan knew this, too, so he drew them in and cut off their hand. What resulted was far less destructive than it could have been.
Well, he was the Senator for corporate "people" for a very long time. I suppose he must have learned something!
Excellent point! It would have to be Bragg's NY case then. In any case, having Trump get a second try at destroying our democracy is still a pretty bad nightmare.
Indeed. Various crooks have run criminal enterprises from a prison cell -- so why can't another run a country? While serial degree-mill operator James Kirk a.k.a. Thomas McPherson was serving five years in prison for various charges related to his degree mill operations, his wife, Natalie Handy, opened Edison University, another bogus operation, domiciled in a rented mailbox in Honolulu. (Wiki on Kirk a.k.a. McPherson here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kirk_diploma_mills ) Maybe Trump might even start another country from his jail cell. Screw one up, start another. Why not?
There's no particular reason why an incarcerated person could not be elected to the presidency and, if so, serve from a prison cell. There's nothing in the criteria laid out in the Constitution about it. To be removed would still require a 2/3 majority in the Senate. And if you think that failing to remove him would be beyond the pale, I ask that you consider all the other "red lines" he's been able to cross successfully and without consequence. Would this be materially different?
Two candidates for the USA President have run campaigns from prison in the past. https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-indictment-could-run-for-president-2-others-did-2023-3
Congressman Ken Buck, a Colorado member of the Freedom Caucus, is saying publicly that the passing of the debt limit bill is a failure by the Caucus but that the Caucus still has a lot of influence in Congress. He's right. The Freedom Caucus did fail pretty spectacularly to force the nation into default. I'm less sure about the second part though. He mentioned voting McCarthy out but at this point I don't think the Democrats would support that. It seems to me that the "adults in the room" in both parties are finding out that they can work together and ignore the crazies.
To be clear, the actual craziness is happening on just one side of the aisle. While there were some on the Left who opposed this deal, they didn't (a) start the conflict, (b) make insane demands, (c) threaten their leadership, etc. This whole "crisis" was concocted by opportunists, period.