Raising social involvement, self awareness and self improvement topics, because our communities are the sum of our personal beliefs, behaviors, action or inaction. Only "we" can improve our family, work place, school, city, country, etc.
Do people who support Trump believe Trump? I have always kind of assumed they didn't, that what Trump says is seen as a reflection of attitude, not statements of fact, but I could easily be wrong about that. I just heard Vance talk about how the 5000 dollar payment should be thought of as a dividend. The American government has been losing money for years, and is incredibly deep in debt. Are there companies anywhere in such circumstances which pay dividends?--Hiram
Trump should be impeached for bribing voters, but no one takes anything he says seriously. Will this attitude apply to Vance as well? He does have a law degree ( from Yale I believe.) Can he also get away with supporting crazy or illegal policy ideas? Laurie
I don't think the Supreme Court realized that when they made the president exempt from criminal law, that they were giving him absolute power. When the president contemplates any course of action, he has to deal with two issues. Is it legal and is it politically possible. The first question has been definitively resolved. Anything the president does is legal. Nothing he does can be prosecuted. The second question is whether there is a political barrier. Because impeachment is off the table for political reasons, and because there is no danger of prosecution, the president can do anything he wants. That is the political and legal advice he is being given. In the Spider man movies, the watchwords are "With great power comes great responsibility". I assume the Supreme Court justices don't go to movies because they missed that lesson. It made arguable sense for the Court to make the president exempt from criminal law. What they missed is that in doing that, they had to find some other means of holding him responsible for his actions. But that didn't happen to be on the court's docket on that day, so it never happened. We are now seeing the results.==Hiram
For impeachment, a two thirds vote in the senate is required, and in these times, I think that is impossible. The thing about power is that if you make it absolute, you have to make it limited. I think this might sound contradictory possibly because it is, but let me try analogy. In chess, a player has absolute power over his pieces. But what they can do is limited by the rules of the game. We have given the president absolute power over the executive which in my view is a reasonable way to look at the constitution, but we don't have a way of limiting that power. As a practical matter, the president can do anything he wants, surely a result that would have appalled the founders.==Hiram
A question I have often asked is whether impeachment is ministerial or mandatory. If the president commits a high crime or misdemeanor under the laws of impeachment, is Congress required to remove him from office? Or is it discretionary?==Hiram
Do people who support Trump believe Trump? I have always kind of assumed they didn't, that what Trump says is seen as a reflection of attitude, not statements of fact, but I could easily be wrong about that.
ReplyDeleteI just heard Vance talk about how the 5000 dollar payment should be thought of as a dividend. The American government has been losing money for years, and is incredibly deep in debt. Are there companies anywhere in such circumstances which pay dividends?--Hiram
There are enough suckers out there. I mean they voted for his again. :-(
ReplyDeleteTrump should be impeached for bribing voters, but no one takes anything he says seriously. Will this attitude apply to Vance as well? He does have a law degree ( from Yale I believe.) Can he also get away with supporting crazy or illegal policy ideas? Laurie
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Supreme Court realized that when they made the president exempt from criminal law, that they were giving him absolute power. When the president contemplates any course of action, he has to deal with two issues. Is it legal and is it politically possible. The first question has been definitively resolved. Anything the president does is legal. Nothing he does can be prosecuted. The second question is whether there is a political barrier. Because impeachment is off the table for political reasons, and because there is no danger of prosecution, the president can do anything he wants. That is the political and legal advice he is being given.
ReplyDeleteIn the Spider man movies, the watchwords are "With great power comes great responsibility". I assume the Supreme Court justices don't go to movies because they missed that lesson. It made arguable sense for the Court to make the president exempt from criminal law. What they missed is that in doing that, they had to find some other means of holding him responsible for his actions. But that didn't happen to be on the court's docket on that day, so it never happened. We are now seeing the results.==Hiram
Laurie, I suppose it will depend on who controls Congress? And if he can win over the Trump MAGA zealots?
ReplyDeleteFor impeachment, a two thirds vote in the senate is required, and in these times, I think that is impossible. The thing about power is that if you make it absolute, you have to make it limited. I think this might sound contradictory possibly because it is, but let me try analogy. In chess, a player has absolute power over his pieces. But what they can do is limited by the rules of the game. We have given the president absolute power over the executive which in my view is a reasonable way to look at the constitution, but we don't have a way of limiting that power. As a practical matter, the president can do anything he wants, surely a result that would have appalled the founders.==Hiram
ReplyDeleteA question I have often asked is whether impeachment is ministerial or mandatory. If the president commits a high crime or misdemeanor under the laws of impeachment, is Congress required to remove him from office? Or is it discretionary?==Hiram
ReplyDeleteApparently discretionary...
ReplyDelete