Summary
Donald Trump has publicly involved himself in the race for Senate Majority Leader, insisting that any Republican candidate for the role must support his demand for recess appointments, allowing him to bypass Senate confirmation for cabinet positions.
Trump’s statement on Truth Social emphasized the need for rapid appointments to avoid delays. GOP candidate Sen. Rick Scott endorsed Trump’s call, while opponent Sen. John Thune criticized it as a violation of the separation of powers.
Trump also calls on Democrats to halt judicial nominations during the lame duck session.
Believe it or not, this is a good thing. This is a recognition that Trump realizes he can’t just do whatever he wants. He needs the Senate to voluntarily give up oversight of Cabinet appointments. And Senators are not normally ones who will voluntarily give up power.
Rick Scott looks like he is about to, though. So who wins this one will make a huge difference regarding how much damage Trump will do. The Majority Leader is elected by Senate Republicans only, so we will have to see whether a majority of them choose to neuter a key Constitutional power they have just because Trump asked them to.
And make no mistake, Trump is getting his appointments regardless. This is all about whether they can skip the hearings, where Democrats can ask uncomfortable questions that might make his appointments look bad.
This is a recognition that Trump realizes he can’t just do whatever he wants.
For now.
I read the situation differently then OP. Either Trump learned from the pass (unlikely) or now people are telling him the correct ways to subvert democracy… He didn’t have those people before, and now they are giving him plays before he is even in office.
I see your angle, but it’s not good. This is just the heritage foundation and power hungry around him telling him he needs to go through the process to lay a “defensible” legal path. He says they need to do it, instead of him unilaterally just doing it by decree. So they do it, and if/when challenged up to the Supreme Court, they just say all the boxes were checked, technically legal, moving on.
He’ll do that dance, initially at least, for them to support the “is he being presidential today?!!!” BS narrative that they couldn’t stop drooling over last time. He’ll eventually collapse and regress, but this time when mask comes off all the way (or more like skin peels off of his face, as the mask has been off) he has absolutely nothing left to lose. Things are going to get dark.
Congress has been ceding power to the President for decades.
This is a recognition that Trump realizes he can’t just do whatever he wants.
Trump will do whatever he wants, and he’s going to take the easiest path to doing it. If the Senate doesn’t want to give up oversight of cabinet appointments, he’ll just ignore the Senate and make whatever appointments he wants. Anything else would require someone to insist that he can’t do that, and there will be nobody to do that.
Then what? The DoJ isn’t going to do anything about it, because Trump will just tell them not to. Even if DoJ did somehow try to do something about it, it would either be a slow walk for show, or interminable delays by Trump, et al. Even if it eventually goes to trial, the judiciary and SCOTUS have a mandate to shield Trump from consequences at any cost.
All the while, they’ll just charge forward with the unconfirmed appointments, do more crimes, lather, rinse, repeat.
President Biden / Chuck Schumer: appoint and confirm every fucking Federal judge you can. Now. This week.
They won’t. They’re not going to do anything but hand everything to Trump on a silver platter.
while opponent Sen. John Thune criticized it as a violation of the separation of powers.
Oh you sweet summer child, you still think Trump gives a shit about such things.
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Let me put it this way: he doesn’t give a shit and neither do most of the rest of the Republican party.
Thune’s a rare exception.
Not most. Every single republican amd every person who stayed home is just fine with a person who tried to overthrow the government 4 years ago retaking the presidency. They’re all traitors.
Don’t forget 3rd party voters.
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For your sake, I hope you’re right. We’re not sticking around to find out.
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Again, for your sake, I hope you’re right.
We’re all Americans at the end of the day
Yes, that’s what I’m afraid of.
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When you leaving?
Before the end of January. I have the good fortune of dual citizenship.
Good luck, I’m hoping that I can get a worker’s visa through my employer to move to the UK myself.
Care to list some of the others? I could use some contextualization, cause this feels pretty fucking bad.
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,”
Then they aren’t CONFIRMED, fascist cunt.
Obligatory fuck you to the voters and influencers.
Reading about how democracies fall is always a fascinating endeavor. Living through it not so much.
Best Part? When they are removed after years of fighting, they will always pop up again if not exterminated “Nürmberg Style”.
If you are at that point give us a call, we may have refreshed our old Nazi execution processes again until then.
Sincerely the Germans.
(If we didn’t refresh, well,… )
You’re assuming that it’ll play out the same as last time, and that they haven’t had 80 years to come up with better plans.
Yepp… I am quite sure this will be the main type of governing for the next 30-50 years world wide.
Democratic Nations have no “edge” to show for compared with totalitarian regimes (like China). Of course there are many but they are not “popularily visible” like art and other critical disruptions to bring a society forward. But as of now: Only money counts, and here no edge is given to the tired 1D voters.
Scotus about to rule that pro forma sessions are not considered a legit session and therefore the the chamber is considered adjourned, allowing recess apointments.
Pro forma sessions shouldn’t be considered legit IMO. Of course they’d only be doing this to support Trump, but let’s not pretend like those sessions were ever anything but a political disgrace.
There shouldn’t be a need for pro forma sessions in this era. The rule regarding no more than 3 days of adjournment is because back then, congress was considered a part time job, while the president was a full time job. So the president need to be able to make recess appointments because the government need to function even if congress is on vacation. In the modern world, with near instantaneous communications, this rule is unnecessary. Congress can take a 4 day break or even a week break, and vote to confirm appointments via virtual meet if they wanted to.
I mean the electoral college thatvote in December is in a way already kinda a pro forma session when you think about it. The electors used to actually vote, now they just rubber stamp what the people in their state actually voted for, and if the popular vote inter state compact passes, its even more of a pro forma session. Like the president would technically be elected by the electoral college, while actually its de facto a popular vote. The electoral college would never really go away since 37 states agreeing is almost impossible. Just like this congressional pro forma sessions, since changing the text of the constitution is too much of a hassle.
It was luck that last time he had no fucking clue what he was doing. He still doesn’t, but this time he’s listening to people that see how useful he is in their goals to upend the entire country.
This time he’s just a place holder until they get Vance. I expect them to 25th him within months of inauguration.
If they wait for just over two years to 25th him, they can theoretically get 10 years out of Vance without changing (or ignoring) the constitution.
Nah. I think they will throw him under the bus got a while. Make everything sound like Trump did it, then 25th him a year or two in.
Yeah, just keep giving up power to Trump, GOP. He hardly needs you right now to do whatever he wants.
