At The Very Least, It Is Imperative That ‘Political Candidates Acquiesce To Our Most Basic Constitutional Rules’
[guest post by Dana]
I submit that it would appear to be nearly impossible for any American that holds the Constitution and rule of law in the highest regard – and certainly in greater regard than any president – to reasonably disgree with this. Because, if one tries with all their might to push aside partisanship, party preference, and loyalty, and reads this as a concise explanation, and even warning as to why it is so imperative that we do everything within our power to safeguard the office of the presidency and our system of government, I believe that you too would be inclined to agree with Charles C.W. Cooke.:
Last year, the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman got a great deal of grief for reporting that Trump earnestly believes that he can — and possibly will — be reinstated as president before the 2024 election has been held. But Haberman was correct: Trump does believe this. And that he believes it should disqualify him from holding office. It should disqualify him because it represents a willful rejection of the American system of government, which does not allow for arbitrarily reinstating former presidents or holding do-over elections. It should disqualify him because it represents yet another attempt to stage a coup against the rightful winner of the 2020 election. And it should disqualify him because it exhibits a raw contempt for the public, which does not deserve to be told such brazen lies. Americans may — no, Americans should — disagree about anything they wish to disagree about. But, at the very least, they ought to agree unanimously to reject (or remove) political candidates who promise ahead of time that they intend to violate the rules by which they are legally bound. Eighteen months have now passed since Joe Biden was inaugurated, and Donald Trump is still searching for illegitimate ways to undo his loss. That, in and of itself, is proof of his unfitness for office.
Why does Donald Trump say such things? There are two possibilities. The first is that Donald Trump earnestly believes that he won the 2020 presidential election, and that, at some point soon, he is going to be parachuted back into the White House. The second is that Donald Trump cares so little about the American system of government that he is willing to spend his days inventing ever-more-outlandish theories as to how he might crowbar himself into the Oval Office. Only Donald Trump can know which of these possibilities is true, but both are proof that he’s a lunatic, and that the Republican primary electorate should reject him in favor of someone who is able — or willing — to acquiesce to our most basic constitutional rules.
Every. single. word. of. this.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (1225fc) — 9/1/2022 @ 1:29 pmDana, I agree with you. But there will be one heckuva cleanup in this aisle shortly.
I think that each of us needs to think long and hard about what kind of person should be President. Our current system seems composed of short attention span theatre devoted to dehumanizing opponents.
Thus, no wonder that DJT found fertile ground. JB is every bit as bad in his own way.
I think that lack of civic education, lack of the teaching of history, and this bizarre media we have….all of it has created this perfect storm of hypocrisy and cravenness.
I am going to read St. Augustine again. He wrote during a time when his concept of the world was aflame.
By the way, I love to remind my left of center pals that they put DJT and Mitt Romney in the same demonic category.
https://youtu.be/3Ctgn7kKYHo
Thanks again.
Simon Jester (ff9c91) — 9/1/2022 @ 1:40 pmThere is bad news for one of Trump’s little enablers…
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/01/graham-subpoena-atlanta-trump-probe-00054527
Appalled (03f53c) — 9/1/2022 @ 1:44 pmIt is a bona fide political position to say “the last election was rigged”, and Trump will not be the first person to use that claim to organize for the next election.
What is NOT acceptable though is to attempt to fix that “rigged” election by extra-legal means. The ONLY way that Trump can become President before Jan 20, 2025 is through an unlikely sequence that begins with impeachment.
What I fear though is that people who hold the first position are conflated with people who hold the second.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/1/2022 @ 2:56 pmJB is every bit as bad in his own way.
I dunno. Biden has impulse control and manners. That has to be worth something.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/1/2022 @ 2:58 pmPresident Biden will deliver a speech starting at 8 pm Eastern time in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia (lots of symbolism there) about “threats to democracy” which will be broadcast live on all the networks and on radio.
He will probably not mention the name Trump or even the word Republican
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 9/1/2022 @ 3:39 pmI have always loathed the person, Kevin.
https://youtu.be/D1j0FS0Z6ho
I understand that politicians lie. But very much like how I feel about DJT, personality and the quality of the person matters to me.
But that’s me.
Ugh. We created this system, and this is what we get.
Simon Jester (ff9c91) — 9/1/2022 @ 3:41 pm> What I fear though is that people who hold the first position are conflated with people who hold the second.
Of course. It doesn’t help that there are people who hold the second who are masquerading as people who hold the first.
aphrael (4c4719) — 9/1/2022 @ 3:49 pmHe will probably not mention the name Trump or even the word Republican
Just “MAGA” and “right-wing-violence.”
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/1/2022 @ 3:50 pmWere the day to come where Trump was getting his do-over election, we would all know how we had to vote.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/1/2022 @ 3:53 pmTrump can’t believe that,but he may believe that he doesn’t know enough to say that people who say this can happen are wrong.
It’s like in like in the movie Field of Dreams.
“If you build it, they will come”
He maybe thinks that if he says so enough times it may happen, and what has he got to lose if he’s wrong?
Donald Trump acts like every legal theory is a case of first impression.
This wouldn’t work even in a case of first impression, unless 2/3 of the people who could voice an opinion have no sense.
There’s no way to redo a election especially if what affected the results were political events.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 9/1/2022 @ 3:58 pmTrump would have a better case for a re-do if he were to complain about the non “October Surprise” like Jimmy Carter did (yes he was behind that) in the late 1980s (Reagan and Bush supposedly delaying the release of the hostages from Iran) But this was for real.
Approval of n Covid vaccine was delayed for three weeks. It’s mentioned in Jared Kushner’s new book, except it is isn’t news.
https://nypost.com/2022/08/27/biased-left-vs-jared-kushners-white-house-memoir
But Trump can’t say that, because too many of his die hard supporters are anti-vaxxers.
He could even draw a contrast with now, where new vaccines, targeted to include Omicron, has just been approved without going through all the usual hoops (but only for people aged 18 and over for new Pfizer vaccine and aged 12 and over for the new and improved Moderna vaccine. Not for children –but then they don’t need it anyway!)
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/31/fda-authorizes-covid-booster-shots-that-target-omicron-bapoint5-variant-.html
You won’t hear any complaints from ultra MAGA people about this though, except to criticize the vaccine approval, because so many are anti-vaxxers.
Trump is missing a good thing to demagogue about…Sad?
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 9/1/2022 @ 4:17 pmShouda, woulda, coulda. Why? Because you say so? These maggots are planning to give their electorial votes to trump regardless of who the popular vote winner was in the state. In pa. the gov. candidate says he will cancel all voter registration and allow only “patriotic citizens ” to vote. Watch the movie caesar chavez if you think they care about constitutional rights except the 2nd amendment. Maggots answer dob’t like what we are doing? Try an do something about it!
asset (f3d3dc) — 9/1/2022 @ 4:41 pmThat’s the NeverTrump spirit, assend! You fit right in.
Colonel Haiku (8049f2) — 9/1/2022 @ 5:08 pmThe speech is being carried only on selected radio stations, not on televiosn (at least not on CBS or NBC)
It could be summed up in about three sentences, and it mostly repeats itself.
There are people who want to deny and steal elections, and we and he can’t let that happen.
Sammy Finkelman (418659) — 9/1/2022 @ 5:22 pm“Democrats closed schools and churches during the pandemic. Democrats limited the rights of citizens to peacefully assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances. Democrats conspired with social media and media companies to suppress and censor reporting that they believed would paint their presidential nominee in a poor light, and it was Democrats that attempted to pass pro-abortion legislation so evil–permitting abortion for all 9 months of pregnancy–that hobbled their ability to obtain any GOP votes at all.
Democrats are the party that seeks to remake the economy, culture, and society from the top down, with input from academics and corporate executives who have little care for the struggles of real Americans. When Biden says he wants to build the nation from the bottom up and the middle out, he means from the top down and crushing the middle entirely.
They want to reconstruct our food supplies to reduce the kind of fertilizer that farmers use to turn our inhospitable world into a bountiful one. They want to eliminate the fossil fuels that have decreased global poverty and increased wealth for middle class Americans across the country. They literally want to remove our cars from the road and have us replace them with excessively priced vehicles that rely on an electric grid that cannot sustain the weight of American use.
Yet they call their opponents fascist. They call conservatives, who have taken up the mantle of free speech, liberty, equality in education, parental rights, and individual freedom, fascists.
For Biden and his Democrats, there is no right of Americans to live by their own design. Not going along with the Democrats pro-abortion, pro-groomer, pro-corporate, pro-authoritarian, pro-censorship approach is called fascist.
But we know who the real fascists are: they are the ones who shut down our businesses, our schools and our churches, the ones who belittled our concerns for our elderly parents and grandparents, the ones who even now seek strength in oppression.”
https://humanevents.com/2022/08/31/libby-emmons-biden-is-the-semi-fascist-he-is-looking-for/
Colonel Haiku (8049f2) — 9/1/2022 @ 5:24 pmBiden just declared war on half the country. So much for constitutional norms.
NJRob (4f3cc4) — 9/1/2022 @ 6:26 pmNo, he’s trying to nationalize the midterms over Donald Trump and his bogeymen. Never mind that the Trumpian Threat is a bunch of poor lawyers and those J6 participants not in jail.
This is “squirrel!” writ large.
Never mind that your live savings is 60% of what it was last year. Never mind the inflation that has eggs triple-priced and red meat too expensive to buy. Gas prices MAY come down to where it is only a dollar or two more expensive than it was when Biden gutted our energy independence. Never mind the Cold War he’s started with China. Never mind the 2 million illegal immigrants trying to get in THIS YEAR. Never mind that you have to check your bank before you can take the kids to McDonald’s.
Just be glad that sex-change operations for your sons will be free. Oh, wait, the school didn’t tell you?
It’s all about Trump. Something that only Trump likes.
Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 9/1/2022 @ 6:34 pm“It’s all about Trump. Something that only Trump likes.”
You’ve chosen to ignore the fact that the dementia-riddled former lifeguard declared war on – as has been said – over half the country. This is a speech no American president should ever give
Colonel Haiku (8049f2) — 9/1/2022 @ 6:53 pmPut aside for now whether he declared war on anyone. I’d just like to see the math on “over half the country.”
lurker (cd7cd4) — 9/1/2022 @ 7:48 pm@14 I am not a never trumper. I voted third party in 2016 and was happy clinton was not going to get the presidency. In 2020 I again voted third party though I had to right in third party. If biden hadn’t won by 43,000 votes in 3 states az, ga. and wi. AOC would become president in 2024.
asset (0ef0ee) — 9/2/2022 @ 1:38 amHe did mention Trump three times, always paired with \”MAGA Republicans”. Two times “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans” One time “Judge Michael Luttig has called Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans…”
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 9/2/2022 @ 6:35 amThenNew York Times transcript contains an error:
Not “on when side” buut “when one side” as confirmed by te=he official White House transcript.
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 9/2/2022 @ 7:17 amNJRob (4f3cc4) — 9/1/2022 @ 6:26 pm
No he didn’t: Not even half the Republicans:
As for the constitution:
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 9/2/2022 @ 7:33 amA form of the word norm: On norms:
Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 9/2/2022 @ 7:34 am@2
I’ve thought long and hard what I want in my President.
In the past, I had this idyllic notion that Presidents ought to be this venerate statesman who works really hard to be the kind of leader that we all should aspire to…
Alas, in my lifetime, every President has disappointed me for one reason or another and it’s why I really don’t care about personality anymore.
I’m fully cognizant that the kind of people who deigns to become President are political creatures in their own right, who’s not doing this for altruistic “for the people” reasons. They’re doing this for personal power and access to wealth and influence. As such, my perspective that we need to find someone who can win and advance my preferred policies. Anything else is secondary.
To Charlie’s point though: I agree with every bit he says about Congress holding the Executives accountable. But, we the people, must elect better people who’s willing to take that step – and depending on your views, fortunately or unfortunately, it’s going to take bombastic/populist candidates to push that envelope imo.
whembly (b770f8) — 9/2/2022 @ 7:57 am@5
You’re joking…right?
whembly (b770f8) — 9/2/2022 @ 7:58 amThere was some confusion about which networks had carried the speech. Someone on the radio this moring thought only Fox (Channel 5 in New York) had not carried the speech, but neither CBS, NBC or ABC did either, at least on their regular channels. CBS broadcast an episode of “Young Sheldon.”
Sammy Finkelman (418659) — 9/2/2022 @ 8:50 amYou ignore the fact that, by attempting to overturn an election, repeatedly lying about the results, and refusing to ensure a peaceful transfer of power (until a day after the melee at the Capitol), Trump declared war on the entire nation. If Trump hadn’t done any of these things, Biden wouldn’t have been able to make the assertions that he did. Trump owns this.
Dana (1225fc) — 9/4/2022 @ 12:26 pm