Rachel Maddow had interesting news on friday evening: that there is an article of impeachment — for inciting insurrection — circulating among Democrats, and that the House is likely to skip the preliminaries and go straight to a floor. An impeachment is not required to go through committee; it can go straight to a vote. I consider that a really great idea.
And i think there’s a way to build on that in a manner which is just about giving me ~shivers~ right now.
Some (mostly on the Right) have been arguing that it’s pointless to impeach him at this late date, but most of us can probably agree that precedent is important for us to take back as we see this clownshow nightmare coming to a close. Do we just let this shit go?
Of course, we all know that the senate isn’t likely to come through with a conviction. Why bother? Maddow also mentioned that McConnell has, in fact, stated that he would not even begin preparations for a trial until 19 January. [Update: one hour after Joe Biden is inaugurated as the next president.] That’s not a very appealing prospect but let’s put a pin in that.1
However, Rachel reminds us, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be tried after he’s left office. Especially as the senate would be voting upon whether he is ever to be allowed to run for office again. So, a late trial isn’t all that unappealing if the bastard has already strung out his White House occupation to the bitter end.
Perhaps, his being out of office might be enough to put some spine in enough senators to convict him. Maybe, but i’m not optimistic. But, something else that Rachel suggested was that some twenty senators or so could simply not show up to vote. That the two-thirds majority only pertains to those who are in attendance at the trial.2 So, there’s that. The cowards in the Senate can “go into quarantine”.
1. Soon-to-be-Speaker Schumer might take McConnell aside to warn him that, rather than maintain his leadership position, albeit in the minority, he could be ignominiously ejected from the senate altogether.
Ask yourself: Could Schumer scare up a two-thirds vote to have the Grim Reaper expelled from the senate? (Never mind the reason; we don’t need one.) I think that even Joe Manchin would vote for that, among Democrats. Romney. Lisa Murkowski is pretty pissed off these days. The bloodthirsty treason caucus would gleefully go along with that.
Chuck Schumer could really put the screws to McConnell right now, so don’t count out a trial before the 20th.
2. Lawrence Tribe says, “yep!” He also points out that it’s futile to assume that the Senate will not do its duty.
Who dares wins.
But i want to focus on impeaching him. Now. Beginning this weekend, if possible. I’d very much like to remove him immediately because this situation is terrifying. But we can at least mitigate some damage, if not hasten his departure.
… except in cases of impeachment. Full stop.
Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of The Constitution of the United States of America:
The President … shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
Do you see where i’m going with this?
A lot of fretting has occurred over whether a President — this gonorrhea jack-o’-lantern, no less — can grant a pardon to themself. And maybe that’s going to have to be litigated up to SCOTUS someday. But, maybe not this day. Maybe we do not need to waste that fascinating litigation on this dismally loathesome so-called president. Maybe he’s not that special.
If 45 is impeached in the House, he.has.been.impeached and any pardon that he grants himself wrt to that article of impeachment, so passed, is suddenly worthless.
There would be absolutely no need to litigate anything regarding his immunity. His self-pardon is a joke. Fucker can be charged and convicted afterwards!
Why stop there? Make all of his pardons worthless.
- the criminal response to the pandemic!
- caged children
- TrumpOrg financial crimes
- what he was up to with Roger Stone
- what he was up to with Michael Flynn
- what he was up to with Paul Manafort
- Helsinki, ffs
- Ukraine again because
- … i’m drawing blanks! so help me, i’m drawing blanks! my mind will never be the same after this
- this, all of it
Have staff churn out articles of impeachment over the next week. Vote on dozens a day. Work in shifts. I got some groceries, some peanut butter Crowd-source the motherfucker. Impeach him via tweet: just thread-unroll and boom!
Who needs witnesses for an impeachment? Who needs deliberation? Mitch?
Remember that early laughable stunt with the reams of paper purported to be his business affairs? That’s what i want to see on Speaker Pelosi’s desk!
Overwhelming impeachment shock & awe.
No witnesses. No deliberations. Just the tearful bawling of Republican traitors. Next!
Speaking of Stone, Manafort, and Flynn: Could the Justice Department then retroactively deny their pardons? That might be a fun thing to litigate.
Regardless, they stop 45 from pardoning himself for any of their crimes to which he had a part in. Plus the countless others. Imagine the sulking: “Everyone gets a pardon but me.”
Each impeachment leaves him liable to prosecution, and there is no way to appeal it. None. Zip.
Impeach all the motherfucking things!
~ ~ ~
Now, it’s going to get a little bit hinky here. We’re not done yet, and this might go somewhat s w o o p y for you all of a sudden. Just … hold onto something and ride through the spins for a sec.
~ ~ ~
Maddow also brought up the suggestion that he might be induced to resign in return for being pardoned *poof* of all of those very numerous crimes and misdemeanors.
I’d like to explore that a moment to close up this post.
wait — wut?
But you said there would be schadenfreude!
Yeah, hold on.
The number of articles voted through by the House is approaching three figures and it’s only Thursday. The Republicans gingerly approach him with a plan: He resigns, and Pence immediately pardons him for every one of them, and the Dems agree to cut the utilities to AOC’s office.
He cannot be prosecuted for any of it. He can flee with his head held high.
He agrees to entertain the idea.
Four seconds later, he demands, of course, that the pardons be drawn up ahead of time. And signed! He’s not stupid, right? He demands to read have Cipollone pore over every pardon to be sure he’s covered against what all’s in that great — and building — stack of articles. He’s shrewd, right?
He’d want to be absolutely sure that he’s getting those signed pardons before actually resigning, right? Would any of you expect anything less from that criminal scumbag? He’d insist on having that covered, right?
But the pardons cannot be signed by Pence while he is still President.
He has a dilemma.
Do you think he does everything — up to, and including, flinging actual fucking apeshit around the room — to guarantee that he gets those signed pardons …
but, ultimately takes a deep wheeze and grabs for that quickly-disappearing brass ring?
I do. I think he knows by then that it’s his very last chance.
Our hero agrees to resign for the good of the nation, and also in return for the Vice President’s word that he will immediately sign that great stack of pardons on the Resolute Desk. This one — where your pen come on ...
[Fade out on a table overburdened by stacks of documents, not unlike that same laughable early stunt with the reams of blank paper insultingly purported to be his business affairs.]
[Sombre Frontline trumpet music.]
By all reports, Mike Pence was in can fucking descent on Tuesday.
Not only did that fucker send a mob — cover, for actual fucking assassins — to string him up in public, but his own wife and child were present at the Capitol. Knowing this, i now believe the rumour that he’d refused to leave the Capitol when evacuated from the chamber. I’d assumed that he was taken to Fort McNair with the other leaders. The Secret Service had whisked him downstairs, and wanted to keep going, but his wife and child were still up there somewhere.
This isn’t about hero worship, but raw human emotion.
If you’ve missed any of the journalism discussing Pence this week, go look for it. We still don’t have much from him directly, but some people have had some remarkable things to say about what has been going on behind the curtain of government and national security during this emergency of epic proportions. Shit has been real non-stop since Tuesday and bits and pieces have been coming to light. Pence is not a happy trooper.
White House denizens have said that Trump has been hollering about Pence continuously and with shocking venom. That he screamed at Pence to his face in the Oval Office. He pressured his propagandists to put the word out that Pence might not be any good, after all.
And then he set a fucking mob on him, to tear him to literal shreds, live on Newsmax.
Do you think Pence leaves him flapping in the breeze? I do. And i hope somebody is recording it.
Was that six? I lost count.
