We’d theoretically still have the judiciary but a second term would almost certainly test their boundaries and possibly make them irrelevant when they just flat out ignore them. Which is why anyone, on any end of the spectrum bitching about Biden for ANY reason should be ignored. Voice your concerns in a second term when we still live in a country where Presidents have term limits, you well intentioned dolts.
Not to mention that the LAST thing we want is Trump appointing more unqualified fanatics to lifetime federal judiciary appointments where they can help him erode our rule of law. He's already done SO MUCH damage with one term.
Why would Thomas resign before he had to? His grift works precisely because of the power of his gavel and that he's completely unaccountable. Harlan's not his friend, he's his benefactor. And Alito? He's finally getting implement the conservative hellscape he always wanted under his name, instead of having to take a back seat to Scalia as the "senior conservative judge". And like Clarence, the grift works precisely because they have the power of the gavel on the bench.
Besides, Clarence is now the longest serving SC justice in US history and his ego wants to stretch that record as far as possible. Only way either of them leave is in a casket.
Alito and Thomas might resign if Trump is reelected and the Republicans gain the Senate. If Trump can push thru two young Federalist approved Supreme Court Justices they’d have total control of the court for decades.
I don't think their egos would let them. Scalia died on the bench as did RBG. They're the ones setting the direction of the Court's conservative wing (not Roberts) and I don't think they would trust anyone else to do it while they're alive. I think we somewhat underestimate the egos these long-serving justices have.
I could see Thomas doing it because of all of his grifting, but both Sam & Clarence are having the time of their lives right now. I wouldn't worry too much.
Roberts is 68, Sotomator is 69, and Kagan is 63. Roberts could decide he's done with this bullshit, and Sonia is diabetic so a health change is statistically more perilous.
Sure, but if they can't see the clear difference between voting for someone who's imperfect, but still follows basic ya know, laws, vs the cheeto who encouraged an insurrection and has LITERALLY said he'll be a dictator, then they're kind of a lost cause anyway.
He's happy ignoring and funding the war crimes Israel is committing but sure, he's a 'law-abiding' guy.
And if those voters are a 'lost cause', so is Biden's chance of winning because those voters voted for him last time.
I think if the media is finally paying attention to the threat of Trump, they also need to focus on the very real possibility that Biden will lose no matter what. Then they need to focus on propping up local elections because that's where it really matters anyway.
You really think that if Trump triumphs Nationally that local elections will serve as some kind of bulwark? Sorry but that's magical thinking right there. But hey, when America descends into full on fascism with Trump enabled by all the levers of government doing exactly what he said he will, I guess those voters can comfort themselves that they voted their conscience, especially as all the shit they're complaining about in the Middle East will only get ramped up under a Trump presidency so their abstension won't change a god-damned thing.
Well Biden got elected and my state still descended into full-blown fascism. Local elections absolutely matter.
And if you don't think we are already there, I feel sorry for you. The entire illusion of choice with the 2-party system is fascism. The electoral college is fascism. We the people don't have an actual choice. It's decided for us. You get to pick between 2 mentally incapable old white men. Both of them extremely capable of committing atrocities. Both beholden to their corporate overlords and super pacs. Congratulations, what a choice.
Never said elections DON'T matter - just that in this instance, local elections won't save you if Trump is elected because if he does win there is virtually no chance that Democrats will have won enough local elections to act as a bulwark.
I've long maintained that the Democrats have excessively focused on the Presidential races to their detriment while the GOP was busy going after wins at every level all the way down to school board or water commissioner because it put them in control of the levers of power in a way that they can thwart a federal agenda. Much like the Dems not paying enough attention to the courts until it was too late. However, that was a multi-year (generational even) strategy by the Republicans, its not getting unwound in one election cycle. So while I agree its important, pretending you can shrug your shoulders at the Presidential election because in your eyes its two old white guys without grasping their fundamentally different approaches to the office is fundamentally naive.
And if you think the US has descended into full-blown fascism it just tells me you don't understand the meaning of the term.
A lot of our local elections became warzones with crazy people BECAUSE Trump's election emboldened them. A second term will just make that worse.
And seriously? Two incapable white men? That choice means a LOT to a lot of people even if you personally don't give a crap. Biden v. Trump impacts the judges that get empaneled. It impacts gerrymandering cases that determine if we even get a CHANCE at fair elections in the future. It determines if things like Obamacare and even a CHANCE at abortion care stay in play. And that's before you get into the ramifications for the LGBTQ and minority communities under Trump v. Biden.
Trump had one term and we're still trying to dig out from under the damage he caused. He will harm so many more people with another. If you refuse to acknowledge a difference between the two and their real world effects on all of us because Biden can't pass your purity test, then I stand by my original comment. Lost cause, might as well ignore.
Agreed, you can't "ignore" them entirely since dimwits like that will end up deciding the election, but considering the bigger picture they don't need to be taken very seriously, because depsite their earnestness they're not serious people.
Though maybe we find a more polite way to say because they also tend to be very sensitive to their views being disregarded even when they're ludicrous. After all, much like those progressives who "don't vote" they probably thought long and hard about their decision not to vote for Biden because of that one thing they're mad about and instead save their energy for this mythological "perfect" progressive candidate who will show up any day now and save us, rather than confronting the reality that the election will happen whether or not they choose to participate and that there will only be 2 real candidates - the imperfect Joe,( who has accomplished a hell of lot more than he's given credit for despite having an outwardly hostile House Majority full of unserious morons and a razor thin Dem majority in the House that includes 2 members who are openly hostile to their own party because it plays better at home) and the insurrection fomenting ex-President who is openly bragging about how he will use all the levers of government to be a dictator on Day 1 for the express purpose of going after his enemies which very much include said Biden abstaining progressives.
Pro Tip for our Progressive friends: Susan Sarandon may be a lefty, but she's also straight, white, rich and famous - nothing Trump does will ultimately affect her (and she knows it), which is why voting for Jill Stein "out of principle" is easy for her to do. Following her path will not get the same result for the rest of you.
Pro tip- the people who won't be voting for Biden this round don't care about Susan Sarandon or Jill Stein. They care about their own tax dollars funding war crimes and genocide. They care that the president they elected is complicit in murdering their families in Gaza. They care that the hundreds of thousands of calls they've made to their representatives have gone ignored.
It's easy for you to point your finger at white progressives. But it's the marginalized communities that will determine the next election and the Biden administration has made it clear that, outside of getting their vote, they do not care about marginalized communities.
By the way, do you think Biden gets enough credit for deporting more people than any other president? Or continuing to build the border wall? What about approving the Willow Project or Cop City?
His reelection chances were toast even before Oct 7.
So that's it? You've decided you can't vote for Biden, so you'll toss a protest vote in the fire that is a third party candidate and hope Trump doesn't get elected? How does Trump getting elected fix ANY of the issues you just listed?
You can disagree with some Biden's policies and actions all you want- but come voting time what will you actually DO? And what outcome will your action or lack of action realistically support?
Tucker Carlson being seriously floated as a VP pick is hilarious considering the guy has been relegated to blogging and filming interviews on X no one outside the blue checks is watching. But Stephen Miller as the Attorney General literally makes my blood run cold.
It's notable that Miller is one of the few people TFG has never whined about, attacked, or even talked about. He must have excellent lunatic whispering skills, probably bc he is 100% dedicated to transforming the U.S. into a violent white nationalist paradise.
He would give Henry Kissinger a run for his money with how terrible he'd be. Now that Kissinger is finally rotting in hell I suppose parts of america does desire a replacement for his special brand of awfulness in our state departnent.
I think he'd be worse since he would have Kissinger to model himself against but with fewer restraints. Though I think he is fundamentally less competent than Kissinger so if he falls short it would be a function of incompetence not lack of malice.
That the media has pivoted from the horse race drama of the election and toward the threat that a second Trump term poses kind of follows the old adage that "if it bleeds, it leads."
It's working on me, though. I'm fucking terrified.
He was literally making their lives less safe by constantly targeting them under his presidency, so I don't understand how it's only now that they are getting the hint that a second term might be a bad idea. And frankly, it's still not remotely enough. They've prioritized clicks, ratings and placating the far right by puff pieces and both sideism over telling the real truth for 8 fucking years (I mean, it's not even been a week since the WaPo editorial board decided to chastise liberal women for not submitting themselves to marrying conservative men); and if he wins, they will bear a lot of the responsibility for what happens, alongside the GOP.
When we talk about guardrails "holding" in his first term, it's a very small comfort - since those guardrail "barely" held- Pence actually contemplated the notion of not doing his constitutional duty to certify the count and had to be talked out of it. No one in GOP leadership has openly and formally backed off the "stolen election" theory and the few GOPers that did have already been purged from the House. Trump has spent the last 4 years stewing in anger and a desire for vengeance egged on by unscrupulous sycophants. He has decided that absolute loyalty is the sole criteria for admission into his world so the idea that any of the guardrails would hold in a Trump second term is magical wishful thinking at best. He knows enough about the machinery of government now to know exactly what he has to do rid himself of anyone who might oppose him in office. And yes, he's absolutely coming for the media, so they should be terrified.
Even now, his "opponents" in the primary other than Christie, still can't bring themselves to offer even mild criticism, as is the case with the House and Senate. Counting on the Supreme Court as the last bulwark of democracy and rule of law is a fool's errand at this point.
To put in bluntly, America is f**ked if he wins again.
Yeah much like the pirate code in Pirates of the Caribbean, turns out those guardrails are a lot closer to suggestions when someone chooses to just....ignore them.
If there is one thing we've learned in Trump's time in office, said "check and balances" and democratic norms that are fundamental to American democracy have always been reliant on the belief in good faith actors, whatever their political persuasion. When that goes away, the guardrails are very shaky indeed.
This is why it is vital for the Democrats to keep the Senate. Like 100% absolutely a must. We can't rely on any "rational Republican" Senators to block nominees for cabinet positions or new judges. Even though Turtle Face has actually expressed disgust at what it would mean, we can't rely on him to ever do the right thing and if he does, he won't be the majority leader for long.
At what point does the military decide they can no longer obey orders from the Commander-In-Chief? The top brass already know he's a lunatic but will they be willing to ignore any direct orders?
The danger of putting The Ketchup Hurler back into the Oval Office seems so painfully obvious -- like you'll burn yourself if you stick your hand in flames type of common sense. And yet, in the name of getting people who don't care to pay attention, we have to nod along while Liz Cheney and Cassidy Hutchinson collect flowers on their book tours and slobber over each other, as though they're speaking bold truths. We've reached the point where we're expected to give shout outs to shitty people who are sounding alarm bells and we're supposed to feel good about it, is what I'm saying. Well, I'm nodding and keeping my mouth shut, but it still rankles me. It's perverse.
Nationally, this may be true, but in Iowa, it's All Horse Race, All The Time still. Because local media here desperately need the cash they get from the circus every 4 years.
It shouldn't take threats against oneself for someone to fucking finally pay attention to what's going to happen to everyone else.
I was glad to hear MSNBC actually use the word fascist to describe trump/MAGA/the GOP for the first time a week or two ago.
About time. And every single media outlet should be calling MAGA fascism, because it is. There's no mistaking it for anything else at this point. Not calling it what it is is negligence at best, and a conscious choice to deceive your viewers/readers at worst.
We’d theoretically still have the judiciary but a second term would almost certainly test their boundaries and possibly make them irrelevant when they just flat out ignore them. Which is why anyone, on any end of the spectrum bitching about Biden for ANY reason should be ignored. Voice your concerns in a second term when we still live in a country where Presidents have term limits, you well intentioned dolts.
Not to mention that the LAST thing we want is Trump appointing more unqualified fanatics to lifetime federal judiciary appointments where they can help him erode our rule of law. He's already done SO MUCH damage with one term.
I’m worried Alito and Thomas would resign (aged 73 and 75, respectively) and we’d end up with two new young extreme conservative justices.
Why would Thomas resign before he had to? His grift works precisely because of the power of his gavel and that he's completely unaccountable. Harlan's not his friend, he's his benefactor. And Alito? He's finally getting implement the conservative hellscape he always wanted under his name, instead of having to take a back seat to Scalia as the "senior conservative judge". And like Clarence, the grift works precisely because they have the power of the gavel on the bench.
Besides, Clarence is now the longest serving SC justice in US history and his ego wants to stretch that record as far as possible. Only way either of them leave is in a casket.
Alito and Thomas might resign if Trump is reelected and the Republicans gain the Senate. If Trump can push thru two young Federalist approved Supreme Court Justices they’d have total control of the court for decades.
I don't think their egos would let them. Scalia died on the bench as did RBG. They're the ones setting the direction of the Court's conservative wing (not Roberts) and I don't think they would trust anyone else to do it while they're alive. I think we somewhat underestimate the egos these long-serving justices have.
I agree with this assessment. Though I do wonder if someone with deeper pockets than trump could convince them to go. thomas at least.
Thomas does seem to like his sugar daddies....
I could see Thomas doing it because of all of his grifting, but both Sam & Clarence are having the time of their lives right now. I wouldn't worry too much.
Roberts is 68, Sotomator is 69, and Kagan is 63. Roberts could decide he's done with this bullshit, and Sonia is diabetic so a health change is statistically more perilous.
Ignore people critical of Biden? That's not a great tactic in convincing them to vote for him.
Sure, but if they can't see the clear difference between voting for someone who's imperfect, but still follows basic ya know, laws, vs the cheeto who encouraged an insurrection and has LITERALLY said he'll be a dictator, then they're kind of a lost cause anyway.
He's happy ignoring and funding the war crimes Israel is committing but sure, he's a 'law-abiding' guy.
And if those voters are a 'lost cause', so is Biden's chance of winning because those voters voted for him last time.
I think if the media is finally paying attention to the threat of Trump, they also need to focus on the very real possibility that Biden will lose no matter what. Then they need to focus on propping up local elections because that's where it really matters anyway.
You really think that if Trump triumphs Nationally that local elections will serve as some kind of bulwark? Sorry but that's magical thinking right there. But hey, when America descends into full on fascism with Trump enabled by all the levers of government doing exactly what he said he will, I guess those voters can comfort themselves that they voted their conscience, especially as all the shit they're complaining about in the Middle East will only get ramped up under a Trump presidency so their abstension won't change a god-damned thing.
Well Biden got elected and my state still descended into full-blown fascism. Local elections absolutely matter.
And if you don't think we are already there, I feel sorry for you. The entire illusion of choice with the 2-party system is fascism. The electoral college is fascism. We the people don't have an actual choice. It's decided for us. You get to pick between 2 mentally incapable old white men. Both of them extremely capable of committing atrocities. Both beholden to their corporate overlords and super pacs. Congratulations, what a choice.
Never said elections DON'T matter - just that in this instance, local elections won't save you if Trump is elected because if he does win there is virtually no chance that Democrats will have won enough local elections to act as a bulwark.
I've long maintained that the Democrats have excessively focused on the Presidential races to their detriment while the GOP was busy going after wins at every level all the way down to school board or water commissioner because it put them in control of the levers of power in a way that they can thwart a federal agenda. Much like the Dems not paying enough attention to the courts until it was too late. However, that was a multi-year (generational even) strategy by the Republicans, its not getting unwound in one election cycle. So while I agree its important, pretending you can shrug your shoulders at the Presidential election because in your eyes its two old white guys without grasping their fundamentally different approaches to the office is fundamentally naive.
And if you think the US has descended into full-blown fascism it just tells me you don't understand the meaning of the term.
A lot of our local elections became warzones with crazy people BECAUSE Trump's election emboldened them. A second term will just make that worse.
And seriously? Two incapable white men? That choice means a LOT to a lot of people even if you personally don't give a crap. Biden v. Trump impacts the judges that get empaneled. It impacts gerrymandering cases that determine if we even get a CHANCE at fair elections in the future. It determines if things like Obamacare and even a CHANCE at abortion care stay in play. And that's before you get into the ramifications for the LGBTQ and minority communities under Trump v. Biden.
Trump had one term and we're still trying to dig out from under the damage he caused. He will harm so many more people with another. If you refuse to acknowledge a difference between the two and their real world effects on all of us because Biden can't pass your purity test, then I stand by my original comment. Lost cause, might as well ignore.
Agreed, you can't "ignore" them entirely since dimwits like that will end up deciding the election, but considering the bigger picture they don't need to be taken very seriously, because depsite their earnestness they're not serious people.
Though maybe we find a more polite way to say because they also tend to be very sensitive to their views being disregarded even when they're ludicrous. After all, much like those progressives who "don't vote" they probably thought long and hard about their decision not to vote for Biden because of that one thing they're mad about and instead save their energy for this mythological "perfect" progressive candidate who will show up any day now and save us, rather than confronting the reality that the election will happen whether or not they choose to participate and that there will only be 2 real candidates - the imperfect Joe,( who has accomplished a hell of lot more than he's given credit for despite having an outwardly hostile House Majority full of unserious morons and a razor thin Dem majority in the House that includes 2 members who are openly hostile to their own party because it plays better at home) and the insurrection fomenting ex-President who is openly bragging about how he will use all the levers of government to be a dictator on Day 1 for the express purpose of going after his enemies which very much include said Biden abstaining progressives.
Pro Tip for our Progressive friends: Susan Sarandon may be a lefty, but she's also straight, white, rich and famous - nothing Trump does will ultimately affect her (and she knows it), which is why voting for Jill Stein "out of principle" is easy for her to do. Following her path will not get the same result for the rest of you.
Pro tip- the people who won't be voting for Biden this round don't care about Susan Sarandon or Jill Stein. They care about their own tax dollars funding war crimes and genocide. They care that the president they elected is complicit in murdering their families in Gaza. They care that the hundreds of thousands of calls they've made to their representatives have gone ignored.
It's easy for you to point your finger at white progressives. But it's the marginalized communities that will determine the next election and the Biden administration has made it clear that, outside of getting their vote, they do not care about marginalized communities.
By the way, do you think Biden gets enough credit for deporting more people than any other president? Or continuing to build the border wall? What about approving the Willow Project or Cop City?
His reelection chances were toast even before Oct 7.
So that's it? You've decided you can't vote for Biden, so you'll toss a protest vote in the fire that is a third party candidate and hope Trump doesn't get elected? How does Trump getting elected fix ANY of the issues you just listed?
You can disagree with some Biden's policies and actions all you want- but come voting time what will you actually DO? And what outcome will your action or lack of action realistically support?
I don't know how old you are but this is some real Poli-Sci 101 type analysis. Go spend some time in the real world my friend.
Tucker Carlson being seriously floated as a VP pick is hilarious considering the guy has been relegated to blogging and filming interviews on X no one outside the blue checks is watching. But Stephen Miller as the Attorney General literally makes my blood run cold.
It's notable that Miller is one of the few people TFG has never whined about, attacked, or even talked about. He must have excellent lunatic whispering skills, probably bc he is 100% dedicated to transforming the U.S. into a violent white nationalist paradise.
Miller = Wormtongue, maybe
Stephen Miller makes my blood run cold, and I'm a necromancer whose blood turned to sand millennia ago.
He would give Henry Kissinger a run for his money with how terrible he'd be. Now that Kissinger is finally rotting in hell I suppose parts of america does desire a replacement for his special brand of awfulness in our state departnent.
I think he'd be worse since he would have Kissinger to model himself against but with fewer restraints. Though I think he is fundamentally less competent than Kissinger so if he falls short it would be a function of incompetence not lack of malice.
That the media has pivoted from the horse race drama of the election and toward the threat that a second Trump term poses kind of follows the old adage that "if it bleeds, it leads."
It's working on me, though. I'm fucking terrified.
He was literally making their lives less safe by constantly targeting them under his presidency, so I don't understand how it's only now that they are getting the hint that a second term might be a bad idea. And frankly, it's still not remotely enough. They've prioritized clicks, ratings and placating the far right by puff pieces and both sideism over telling the real truth for 8 fucking years (I mean, it's not even been a week since the WaPo editorial board decided to chastise liberal women for not submitting themselves to marrying conservative men); and if he wins, they will bear a lot of the responsibility for what happens, alongside the GOP.
When we talk about guardrails "holding" in his first term, it's a very small comfort - since those guardrail "barely" held- Pence actually contemplated the notion of not doing his constitutional duty to certify the count and had to be talked out of it. No one in GOP leadership has openly and formally backed off the "stolen election" theory and the few GOPers that did have already been purged from the House. Trump has spent the last 4 years stewing in anger and a desire for vengeance egged on by unscrupulous sycophants. He has decided that absolute loyalty is the sole criteria for admission into his world so the idea that any of the guardrails would hold in a Trump second term is magical wishful thinking at best. He knows enough about the machinery of government now to know exactly what he has to do rid himself of anyone who might oppose him in office. And yes, he's absolutely coming for the media, so they should be terrified.
Even now, his "opponents" in the primary other than Christie, still can't bring themselves to offer even mild criticism, as is the case with the House and Senate. Counting on the Supreme Court as the last bulwark of democracy and rule of law is a fool's errand at this point.
To put in bluntly, America is f**ked if he wins again.
Yeah much like the pirate code in Pirates of the Caribbean, turns out those guardrails are a lot closer to suggestions when someone chooses to just....ignore them.
If there is one thing we've learned in Trump's time in office, said "check and balances" and democratic norms that are fundamental to American democracy have always been reliant on the belief in good faith actors, whatever their political persuasion. When that goes away, the guardrails are very shaky indeed.
This is why it is vital for the Democrats to keep the Senate. Like 100% absolutely a must. We can't rely on any "rational Republican" Senators to block nominees for cabinet positions or new judges. Even though Turtle Face has actually expressed disgust at what it would mean, we can't rely on him to ever do the right thing and if he does, he won't be the majority leader for long.
At what point does the military decide they can no longer obey orders from the Commander-In-Chief? The top brass already know he's a lunatic but will they be willing to ignore any direct orders?
The fact that it's a legitimately serious question is frightening
I really like that you misspelled Gutfeld!'s last name.
The danger of putting The Ketchup Hurler back into the Oval Office seems so painfully obvious -- like you'll burn yourself if you stick your hand in flames type of common sense. And yet, in the name of getting people who don't care to pay attention, we have to nod along while Liz Cheney and Cassidy Hutchinson collect flowers on their book tours and slobber over each other, as though they're speaking bold truths. We've reached the point where we're expected to give shout outs to shitty people who are sounding alarm bells and we're supposed to feel good about it, is what I'm saying. Well, I'm nodding and keeping my mouth shut, but it still rankles me. It's perverse.
Nationally, this may be true, but in Iowa, it's All Horse Race, All The Time still. Because local media here desperately need the cash they get from the circus every 4 years.
It shouldn't take threats against oneself for someone to fucking finally pay attention to what's going to happen to everyone else.
I was glad to hear MSNBC actually use the word fascist to describe trump/MAGA/the GOP for the first time a week or two ago.
About time. And every single media outlet should be calling MAGA fascism, because it is. There's no mistaking it for anything else at this point. Not calling it what it is is negligence at best, and a conscious choice to deceive your viewers/readers at worst.
(A) TFG is exactly the threat to everything as outlined here.
(B) Outvoting his supporters is not the only solution to averting his taking power.