I think he wanted a 21-gun salute? Not sure if that will happen but there should be a crowd shouting "Loser".

I hope there are lawsuit servers and NY state law enforcement on hand.

I really do think that Trump won't ever get convicted or impacted too severely by the law. He's got tons of resources, probably a lot of disputable "grey areas", and can prolong it for ever.

The way to "hurt" Trump is to get to the kids & friends. That's what I would be doing if I was AG Hillary Clinton.

Bannon getting a pardon.

Perfect.

For those that don't remember Bannon was accused of fraud for stealing money from MAGA folks. The scam was part of a private build the wall by donations scam.

Nobody has less respect for MAGA followers than do MAGA leaders.

I guess he had another quarter left

I wonder if he's going to make any "piss off the left" pardons or will it just be pay to play.

So most of the pardons are for rich dudes who did a bunch of corrupt shit.

"former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick" now that's a name I've not heard in a long, long time...

lil fucking wayne...

seems like a lot of gun related pardons then...

But are white terrorists on it?

How about those that took over the Oregon state park? (granted i don't think they ever got arrested)

It's sweet that Guiliani (prob) won't get pardoned because of his involvement in the Capitol Hill insurrection. Trump is cautious in further PO Congress with the forthcoming Senate trial.

Unlike Guiliani (who I do not believe has served Trump well), Bannon I can appreciate. It was Bannon + Kelly Anne and a couple others that brought Trump to the forefront and then back to life to win 2016.

It's the one they erected outside the Capitol that had the noose.

This guy didn't get one, either.

Starting a viable political third party takes a ton of work and attention to detail. You have to navigate the election laws and procedures of 50 states and the federal government (many of which have been designed by the two parties to make things hard on third parties) as well as build out 50 state party infrastructures, etc.

Hard work and attention to detail are like Kryptonite for Trump.

And what kind of help would he get? He'd be trying to do that with leaders like Bannon who would be stealing from his voters and with foot soldiers who think that Bill Gates is putting microchips into vaccines. Not really the type of people who are going to understand or remember or care about Georgia's arcane signature collection deadlines. They are up for rallies and for storming the Capitol, because that stuff is fun for them. Like a tailgate. But work? Actual hard work? This is MAGA we are talking about.

He wants to be the head of his own party? Sure. I want to run a marathon in under 4 hours. Just because I want to do it does not mean that it will ever happen.

Trump got as far as he did only b/c the GOP powerbrokers let him. If he ever tries to formally oppose them, they will crush him. We'll have a lot of Rudy giving a press conference in front of an abandoned Dairy Queen explaining that this next lawsuit against the Board of Elections is sure to succeed if only the judge will listen to them.

My counter to that is many if not most states chairs for the GOP are Trumpist. There are people in many states that are already well connected and know the people needed to get ballot access. How many does he pull? How many money people does he get to join? He will definitely have a huge grass-roots money.

The presidential pardons and commutations are so interesting to me. The POTUS (no matter what party) campaigns and spends their time in office defending and protecting the criminal justice system and being super tough on crime. Then, in their last act in office, they say that the criminal justice system has committed a wrong that he now has to rectify. No, this conviction should not remain on this person's permanent record. No, it makes no sense to keep someone locked up for life for (insert crime here). Yes it is possible for someone to rehabilitate themselves. All arguments that if they made them during the campaign would make them super weak on crime in the eyes of some end up making them look compassionate in the eyes of those same people at the end.

Well knock me over with a feather. Trump just wished the next administration great success at his farewell thingy.

(No one cheered.)

Heh. "We will be back in some form."

I think "if you don't count the jobs we lost, we had the greatest jobs record ever" was my favorite bit.

Yes he did, but he was already setting up that its because of things he did in his administration that caused the success to happen.

I can say this here without risking "family friction" on Facebook: The 4 years of Hell are finally over! Even in his final speech he couldn't talk to the millions who voted against him.

Pardon one Marc Rich and cause a firestorm. Pardon 50 Marc Riches and oh, well.

Trump/Bannon really figured out the process with their flood the zone with shit idea.

So I've not been following the pardons process too closely-do we think there are "secret" pardons we don't know anything about yet and how would they work?

So, going forward. Will there be a library? I guess if there's money he might build himself a shrine, but how many actual records might there be in such a place?

Also, does he get invited to the usual "all former presidents" get-togethers? I guess that might depend on the next week, but to what extent will the other guys tolerate him?

The law says that pardons should be public.

But most scholars think (and I agree) that the President's constitutional pardon power is broader than that, and that secret pardons are allowed. If you think about it, that power existed before there were any government record keeping laws.

The issue with them would be proving that they were issued. Let's say that the Feds indict Rudy for something that he did during the Trump administration. Then Rudy pulls a secret pardon out of his pocket.

There are two issues: (1) Is this real, or is it something that Rudy drew up himself last week? and (2) if it is real, is it valid?

As to number 2, I think that it would be valid if it were real.

As to number 1, that would be an issue of fact. You could get President Trump to testify that he issued it. Maybe there were other witnesses. Maybe a notary public.

There will probably be a highway. A highway to...

Florida Rep. Sabatini hopes to rename highway for President Trump

I didn't realize Brian Urlacher's brother was a convicted bookie. Now pardoned.

Is there no more fitting tribute than a highway for Florida Man that runs through a swamp?

SI

trump, "I'll be back in some form". It sounds like shitty Terminator fan fiction.

Yeah, it is not the most extravagant highway in the state for sure.

I really really hope that the governor of Michigan has a sense of humour and names a highway after Trump that goes to this town

Hell, Michigan - Wikipedia

today is the day that Trump finally becomes (ex) Presidential

Thank goodness. And just how great has it been since he was banned off of social media?!

Thanks for the explanation, that helps me understand the issue a lot

Damn near every day over the last four years the first thing I did in the morning was check the BBC News homepage hoping a certain evil shithead had shuffled off this mortal coil overnight. Alas, it never came but at least his horrible reign is over. Good riddance, fucktard!

It's finally officially over!!!!!

I wonder how this is all part of the QAnon plan

Can we lock this thread and pretend it never happened?

Oh! I saw that episode of Dallas where Bobby Ewing wakes up and it was all dream.

Can we take a moment right now to rejoice that Trump cannot tweet

I did that several days ago already

I just had to take a quick peak at Trump's and Biden's wikipedia pages, and whitehouse.gov, to let it soak in.

Let's close this bitch!

Goodbye and good riddance!!

Verse 2: Chris Gaines!

SI

Where should we post about criminal charges, business failings, morally repugnant activities of the Trump family, etc., here? Or new thread?

Just not in the Biden or the Coronavirus non-political threads please

I say here, since he is still getting impeached and that process isn't over yet. Then I would be more than happy to read through and post in the "Trump Headed to Prison" thread.

Had a similar question to be honest

I say keep it open until he shares the details of his healthcare plan and/or his tax audit ends.

March 4th was the original inauguration day per the constitution and since Trump has been so beholden to the original document and a fan of symbolism that's the date of The Awakening.

Well played China. I still hate your government but can't argue about your tit-for-tat.

China hits Trump officials with sanctions on their way out

Could you imagine if we had another month and a half of this shit?

omg the fucking best! He trolled obama on it all term. Now we don't have to put up with it

Lonely coup'er.

I guess we now know why Judge Jeanine was such a big fan. Good to be King.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/20/polit...and/index.html

How fitting is it that his final act is to pardon the ex of a Fox News host.

Not sure if this is accurate, but I read somewhere a couple of days ago that pardons are not official until received by the person being pardoned. That's why most presidents don't wait until the last minute to release pardons because the incoming president can stop them if they haven't been fully completed. I don't know if they waited to grant the pardons as late as they did or just released the list late, but surely a pardon like Pirro's could have been undone if Biden wanted to, given the last-minute circumstances.

And in the, 'Least Surprising News of 2021', category:

Report: Biden Admin Discovers Trump Had Zero Plans For COVID Vaccine Distribution

Much like his ACA replacement, nothing more than vaporware.

These syncopates will just say it was the states responsibility.

goalposts moved...

Exactly! They move more goalposts than U-Haul could dream of. I honestly think that all 50 states should charge trump and anyone else involved with murder and attempted murder charges. Not all states will do it because we know there's a few governors that still have their lips firmly planted on trumps taint.

Over the last four years, I had forgotten that we are not supposed to know what the President is thinking/feeling/doing every minute of every day.

BUT WHAT IS BIDEN THINKING ON THE CAN?!? LIKE RIGHT NOW?!?!

SI

It's a good feeling right now.

It's like near the end of the movie Damnation Alley, where the Earth shifts and sheds all the nuclear fallout from its atmosphere and everything is green and sunny and the sky is blue again, like those first few days of spring after the snow has finally gone away and everything is blooming.

That was exactly the reaction on this board a couple of weeks ago when I said Biden would improve the roll out

Interesting question in theory, but also, ehhhh why? Pirro is a bit of scumbag, but he wouldn't have stood out on that list except for the timing. Now if Trump had pardoned the Army guy who murdered families in Afghanistan, or people who were actively tied to the Capital insurrection I could see that.

Did Joe Exotic get pardoned?

Nope

so McConnell wants to give Trump more time to prepare. I think the left should allow this. I think it gives senators on the right an out. If they rush it through they can say they voted against removal because the Trump camp didn't have enough time. If they give them the time it makes it easier to claim they were given every opportunity to make the argument against impeachment and didn't do it.

plus is gives the Senate time to work on nominees and other early admin activities without getting bogged down with that right away.

of course, I still don't see mitch letting his group do anything that would actually punish trump. There wouldn't be any trial, same as before, if he were still in charge of the Senate.

It's been kinda nice not having any Trump news or see any pictures of him or his children the last few days...(Yes I spoiled it just now)

I think the GOP would love a long trial. Not only does it bog down legislation, but then it gives them an excuse as to why they can't work with Dems, "we spent four weeks..."

There's really no need for a long trial. Everything was public. That's not a secret witness somewhere to say it didn't happen.

Haven’t seen a mention of this, but I may have missed it.

Iran’s supreme leader makes online threats to attack golfing Trump

Do you think that if they were serious and managed to pull it off, it could actually unite the US?

Biden would have to take some sort of strong retaliatory action, and I don’t think too many Americans would be against it? Taking out an ex-President, even Trump, would lead to war.

:+1:

Absolutely. And it's such a relief to see regular press briefings. There's the expected side stepping of some questions but much, much better than all that other BS.

Yeah I've not seen the last couple, but I hope she is still ignoring the OAN reporter. :)

No.

There would a ton of people on the left cheering about it and that would incense those on the right, despite the fact they wanted to hang Mike Pence. Then those on the right would want nothing short of us nuking Iran. Literally nothing Biden could do would be enough for revenge.

It would be a nightmare.

:withstupid:

I don't see why it wouldn't be both. I wouldn't she'd a tear if they droned him in revenge, but I also wouldn't have a problem if we then, in the JohninMiddleGA parlance, turned Iran into glass in retaliation.

Assuming we can trace it back to them, the US will unite and take out Iran.

Some MSM is reporting momentum to confirm the impeachment is waning.

Doesn't matter, still go with the process and record the votes.

I heard the same on CNN and that a lot of them are using the excuse it is because of the process, not that he didn't commit impeachable offenses.

fucking cowards. It is amazing to me the GOP wants the shitstorm that he will create over the next 4 years.

The question was if it would unite the country. I feel the most likely scenario is the one I outlined above.

This. I hate Trump as much as the next guy, but if a foreign entity took him out it would be united with both left and right that this could not go unpunished. There is no way we can allow countries assassinate American political figures without extreme consequences. The extreme left might balk, but I would say an aggression resolution or possibly even a declaration of war would get 70-75% approval through congress.

The Republicans could make it a long trial. I imagine they will call many many witnesses just to drag it out as long as possible to try to gring the government to a halt. They will use it to try and prove election fraud, democratic bias of Trump, possibly try and litigate Hunter Biden if they can. If the Dems try to stop them, then they ran a with-trial that was one sided and didn't care about facts.

I promise you, unless there is strong Republican support for conviction the GOP is going to make the a circus.

It complicates things if done in the physical United States, and Iran would never do that, but if some entity managed to snatch him while he was overseas promoting the opening of a Trump Plaza somehwere.....Eh. I'm sure there's be plenty of anger, but if it could be separated from an actual intrusion made upon U.S. soil and was confined to Trump himself, I wonder how many of us would really care to the extent of being angry on a personal level. I certainty wouldn't shed a tear or rally around him. It's an interesting question.

What happens if somebody blows up a Trump property overseas? I'm certain there would be GOP voices calling for war.

Hey, remember that time that the US was complicit in the savage assassination of a political opponent of Saudi Arabia (who happened to be a US resident), then said what a swell guy the Sheik was, and how he probably had absolutely nothing to do with it (he did)?

And how funny would it be if the R's insisted on tons of witnesses and insisted on 'all voices being heard' when they couldn't even bring themselves to have any during the first impeachment.

God forgive me for saying so, but him being gone for good is what would be best for America, even if it makes him a martyr.

Was really rooting for COVID to have done that but he got bailed out by having access to advanced healthcare options.

at least him being gone from twitter is LIKE him being gone for good...

for now it's a win

I don't consider myself to be terribly political...and I can't say I hate Trump as much as I just sort of despise him (meaning, it's not like an active, burning thing but more of a just dismissive disregard for him and anything he stands for)...but I'd have a hard time getting upset if someone took him out.

It's like...I know intellectually that there should be consequences if a foreign government went after a former president, but going to war over it and sacrificing the lives of American soldiers on his behalf seems like a step too far. Maybe some drone strikes of military/government targets and economic sanctions. But even then, my heart wouldn't be in it.

(This is predicated on the latter scenario where it happens outside of the US. A foreign government assassinates any American *on* US soil...well, we'd need to flatten them just on principle.)

To JPhillips' scenario: I don't think the US has any stake if a foreign government blows up an international Trump property. Maybe make a bellicose statement to the UN or whatever, but the justice burden would fall on the country in which the attack took place, since it would be an attack on their soil. I don't want to get into a world where property owned by a US citizen or US-based corporation becomes de-facto American soil that our nation or military is obligated to defend.

I think Birx is trying to rehabilitate her image and likely jealous of how well Fauci has been accepted into the Biden administration.

No doubt she was in a tough spot. And do think she & Fauci were doing the darn best they could early to mid last year. I can see the truth to "I stayed and served to help America vs Trump".

I don't know all the political happenings between her and Fauci, others in Trumps coronavirus team, CDC etc. but can't help feel she got short changed when she was trying to do the best she could.

Sorry. I just don’t buy this. This is America, she wasn’t going to be imprisoned or sent to the gulag for telling the truth to the public.

Sure she would have lost her job but if you lose your professional integrity that easily you probably don’t belong in that position anyways.

It's one thing to refuse to publically contradict the President, but it's much different when you go on TV to praise the President and claim he reads all the scientific literature and is uniquely well informed.

I did not see the interview and I probably won't rush to watch the interview. I have seen the piece where she said that someone was present graphs that she did not create. Did she take any responsibility for the words that came out of her mouth during the briefings and for any of the policies that came from groups that she led?