The Frankish Reich

The bandage this was sooo dumb. (Wearing a shoe your favored candidate wears is a little different than wearing a fake bandage) I was just a youngster in DC when Bill Clinton was elected. Street vendors were selling these little saxophone lapel pins - Clinton supporters were snapping them up to show their loyalty to the new man in charge. It was ... sooo dumb.

1. The ones that say the Executive Power is limited. The fact that you have a pen and a phone doesn't change that, Mr. Obama. 2. The ones that say the Vice President performs a ministerial function, counting the electoral votes submitted by official state certificates. 3. The ones that say protests are fine, but protests that significantly disrupt the business of Congress cross the line into illegality, and that sitting Presidents egging on such protesters have violated their oath of office. 4. The ones that say that Supreme Court justices ought to recuse from cases directly related to the activities and prodding of their spouses, Justice Thomas. 5. The ones that say that candidates are selected through a primary process, and that this should be respected unless the candidate with the most electoral votes is physically/mentally unable to serve. 6. The ones that say that sitting Presidents should be very careful to avoid prodding foreign powers to investigate their political opponents. 7. The ones that say that sitting Presidents and Attorney Generals should avoid having any prosecutorial discretion/decision-making in matters involving their political opponents or family members or close associates. Oh, and a special one for @JDHillFan - 8. The ones that say that people in elected office or appearing in a formal political setting (on the floor of Congress, giving a speech in your official capacity, at a political convention) ought to dress in a manner that is respectful of the forum and of the people they represent or seek to represent, (see "Business Attire"), Mr. Fetterman and Ms. Guilfoyle.

I wish AI were running the country. Hey, Dave Rubin: no Democrats care because no Democrats are stupid enough to pay attention to the Biden Is Dead nonsense.

Makes one wonder why you pore over my posts so closely. Take your time with this one. I'm off the clock and heading outside for a few hours. Meanwhile, ponder this: Kamala Harris's dating history, fair game or outside the lines?

Wow, maybe John McCain had a point!

Maybe it's like the Trump declassification thing. Biden thought about pardoning Hunter as the priest administered the last rites.

That was one of my best lines! Now who's the old fogey, huh?

Hey, I'm not the one ogling over those swimsuit photos. I also find Kimberly Guilfoyle repulsive, but I understand that some cisgendered men (Don Jr.) actually like the trans woman look. Nothing wrong with that.

Hey, as you've identified, I'm kind of an old fogey. Even using that term reveals me to be one. As such, I believe that professional women ought to look professional. Not dowdy. Professional. Attractive is really nice, but trashy isn't. Kim Guilfoyle, I'm looking at you. Averting my eyes lest they burn all week, but kind of in your general direction. Tulsi isn't trashy, but putting out swimsuit photos (these are NOT papparazzi telephoto lens deals) is not what someone who wants to be in public political life ought to do. So ... fair game.

You mean her pock-marked skin? Nevermind. https://lajolla.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-bikini-photos-cause-quite-a-stir/ Here's something to distract you. I feel like I'm GoBillsin Dallas.

Again, I'd say it's the norms. Not rules, regulation, statutes. No one contemplated the late candidate replacement thing. I mean, we heard about it with Trump in 2016 after Access Hollywood broke, but everyone seemed to agree that October was too late. But July? Well, nothing says they can't, and if the argument that "traditionally we've never done that" doesn't hold sway, I guess you just do it. I would like to see the states disengage from supporting the political parties by "saving" a ballot space for them as long as they send in a candidate name by a certain date.

Know your audience! https://www.newsweek.com/trump-fire-and-fury-smart-genius-obama-774169#:~:text=Trump clocked in around mid,nearly a sixth-grade level. Yes. You have zero information that he isn't.

While I'm glad that you read my posts so closely, I'm afraid you're wrong. I said that as an application of the university's policies, the decision was correct. Yes, childish. But part of Gabbard's whole shtick is "hot surfer girl military/congresswoman." I'm sure you've perused her publicity photos. Probably for longer than it took you to read my lengthy comments here. As I said, you present yourself in ways inconsistent with what I believe a congresswoman or political candidate should do by focusing on your appearance, I consider it fair game to poke fun at your appearance. Matt Gaetz, anyone?

If it was a coup, he wouldn't be President anymore.

I will grant you this: the norm about potential criminal investigations of a sitting president was broken by Newt and the Republicans vs. the Clintons. And since turnabout is fair play in politics, the Democrats did the same thing with Trump. (I will note that the Trump-Russia investigation was at least tied to electoral politics, whereas the Clinton-Whitewater thing wasn't.) In retrospect, the impeachment over the Ukraine matter was a mistake. I thought it was warranted at the time since it struck me (and still does) as a clear abuse of power. But strategically (particularly since he would never be impeached/removed from office) an error. The post-January 6 impeachment was necessary and appropriate, and it is shameful that Republican Senators did not vote in favor of impeachment. But that one exposed a flaw in the constitution: what do you do when the President commits a high crime or misdemeanor in the waning days of his presidency? Now with the Supreme Court's decision piling on, the answer is: nothing. He gets away with it if his party's Senators hold the line. January 6 was, again, not about the riot/"insurrection." It was about a radical reading of the powers of the Vice President to reject properly-certified electoral results from the states. The riot was about intimidating Mike Pence to do something he thought was beyond his powers. Good on Mike Pence. It really would have worked for Trump if Pence had done Trump's bidding. The only other check was the Supreme Court, and Lord knows what they'd have done. It was based on a cynical deliberate misreading of the VP's powers, which in turn was based on unproven (still to this date unproven) allegations of voter fraud. That Mike Pence didn't let this happen should be celebrated, not condemned. He allowed a critical norm to remain in place. But you see what I'm saying. That in turn made it easier for the Democratic leaders to think outside the box, to look for a loophole of their own. And they found it. The primaries are, at their core, beauty contests. Those electors can switch to someone else if the pressure is sufficient and if there's time before the party certifies a candidate. I'm sure there were old school lawyers and Democratic leaders who said, "but we can't do that; that's contrary to everyone's understanding of how this process works, and it will lead to the same kind of pressures in the future, for us and for our opponents." That is a conservative view. It didn't hold. Don't be so quick to tear down those fences for immediate political gain.

Good to see that 140 Trumpies are wasting their time producing a 900 page document that will never be read. I mean, of course it won't be read by Trump, who can't even read a 3-pager. But a lot of it will be implemented. No doubt about that.

Oh, I'm the one starting topics like "transsurrection." Jews? I've never made fun of Jews. I have called out the ultra-orthodox in a way that the majority of Israelis do. As for women's appearances (and men's for that matter): only when they try to present themselves as hot/glamorous in a way unbefitting a political candidate. And that includes you, Matt Gaetz. The one-handed crack does tell me that she actually bakes.

Markets say "meh" to Biden death rumors.

Oh, I'm sorry. I should stop myself from leaping to the conclusion that a document produced by 140 former Trump staffers in any way represents the views of a second Trump Administration.

Hey, I know what we should do now; let's make fun of blind people!

You mean the 81 million who voted for Biden-Harris?

JD Vance in Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis - economic disruption and ill-considered government programs have created a culture of dependency in white rural/small town America. Because of this, my people have lost their work ethic and the sit around waiting for welfare/disability payments drinking too much Mountain Dew, getting drunk, having babies out of wedlock, and getting addicted to drugs. JD Vance on the campaign trail: Look at me, I'm proud of my Mountain Dew-swilling people! (But it's a Diet. I want you to know that)

Was it a coup when LBJ withdrew from the presidential race? Was it a "coup" when Nixon resigned? Was it a "coup" when Spiro Agnew resigned, allowing Ford to be appointed VP, which in turn allowed unelected Ford to ascend to the Presidency when Nixon resigned? Or were these the orderly processes set forth by the constitution and statutes? This country is just like a West African state! Coup! Coup! Coup!

Fair point. I don't believe Trump knows the details of this 900 page colossus. (We already know that Trump is not a policy details guy.) But he obviously knows about the project, and some of his key advisors - people everyone knows would be part of the Trump 47 White House - are also key participants in Project 2025. It is perfectly fair to say that this is where people in the MAGA movement are trying to move the government, and that these people believe Trump has either endorsed those ideas or is predisposed to adopt them. Saying he knows nothing about it? That's a lie. https://abcnews.go.com/US/pro-trump-group-asks-removed-project-2025-advisory/story?id=111896330 Stephen Miller's group suddenly asked to be removed from the Project 2025 advisory board in an attempt at having plausible deniability.

But Biden hasn't resigned. So it can't be a coup, can it. Only a metaphorical coup, Mr. Sean Davis. Run with that. They metaphorically deposed the president!