Trump and democracy

[Bentley Bullet]

I was gonna say they have to look out for the odd Fairy but I'd have been ravaged by the Snowflakes!

[Filo]

Well, I?ve tried my hardest to get Pit head baths soap in there, but its beat me 😂

[Bentley Bullet]

Didn't they use Miners Coal Tar soap?

[idler]

Isn't miners soap for the under 21s?😳

[BillyStubbsTears]

Judging by the size of him, I assume Trump is a carb'holic.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Judging by the size of him, I assume Trump is a carb'holic.

and Simple.

If only he'd been more of a Dove as President.

[SydneyRover]

he has hope in his soul

[Donnywolf]

At least with Trump gone we get a glimpse of Sunlight at last

[ravenrover]

Wonder if they have bubbles in The Pen?

[scawsby steve]

Trump's been giving Biden supporters some dirty Lux.

OK, I'll f*ck off.

[Bentley Bullet]

I've heard Trump's been signed up by one of the TV soaps to make a Camay'o appearance.

[Bentley Bullet]

Trump's Aunty's daughter works at Buckingham Palace and she's sent him a gift of some tanned animal skin to cheer him up following his defeat. Apparently, it's very rare to get hold of Cussons Imperial Leather nowadays.

[belton rover]

I reckon he will get a nivea chance in 4 years.

[Janso]

I don't think anyone will carexcept his family.

[Campsall rover]

These jokes are not clean enough for this site. 

[BillyStubbsTears]

So, we come to the endgame of Trump's Presidency.

I said months ago that it would be a frightening time as he faced up to the humiliation of losing and being turfed out.

See this.

https://mobile.twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1341488498700894214

That's not some mad lefty complaining about Trump. It is a lifelong stalwart of the Republican party. A member of the administration under George HW Bush.

Look at tweets 9-11 in that thread in particular.

He's referring there to the fact that in 1974, as Nixon was facing his ruin, the Secretary of State for Defence Schlesinger contacted military top brass and instructed them to speak to him before doing anything if Nixon suddenly gave them an order. Because he was so worried about Nixon's mental health.

Bill Kristol, the lifelong Republican stalwart and well-connected insider is today saying that senior military leaders are having "unprecedented discussions. More sober and weight than those in 1974". And he points out in that thread that there isn't a sensible Secretary of Defence in post today.

Like Kristol says, hopefully this comes to nothing. But it is inconceivable that Trump is just going to meekly pass the baton. And the closer we get to him being turfed out in 4 weeks time, the more the stakes rise.

[Janso]

Armed pro-Trump protestors from Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer were trying to break into the Oregon Capitol Building the other day, at one point the police had barricaded themselves inside and someone who was there said one of the armed group claimed to have seen a Chinese fella and this was why they didn't want them getting in.

Nowt to do wi being armed, then.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Penny finally drops for Mike Pence.

https://mobile.twitter.com/thehill/status/1341468875007930368

[Donnywolf]

Trump rumoured to be planning a virtual "second Inauguration" to vie with Joe Bidens real and legal one

[BillyStubbsTears]

Wow.
Two weeks before being escorted from the WH, Trump has committed a federal crime. He's been recorded instructing election officials in Georgia to "find" enough votes to overturn Biden's victory there.

In any functioning democracy, he would end his days behind bars for that.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Meanwhile, I know some folk in here think it's been OTT to talk of what Trump might unleash to try to stay in power.

Think on this. Ten (some of them very right wing Republicans like Cheney and Rumsfeld) former Secretaries of State for Defense have published a letter today in which they decry the idea of using the armed forces to resolve electoral disputes.

https://mobile.twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1345857646461640709

And of course, Trump has, since losing the Election, stripped out all the professionals at the top of the Department of Defense and replaced them with his own dedicated supporters.

This could still be the most dangerous fortnight of this century.

EDIT. Not just ANY 10 former Secretaries of State for Defense. Every single one that is still alive.

[BillyStubbsTears]

The nervous guessing among some observers is that Trump is going to use his rally in Georgia tomorrow to try to get right-wing paramilitaries on the street, then invoke the Insurrection Act to send the military out into cities.

Let's hope this truly is OTT imagination. But I wouldn't put anything beyond such a maniac and career criminal facing ruin.

[Donnywolf]

It really beggars belief that he can act in the way he has been doing

I find it just strange that he can in the face of real votes cast by real people say those votes are illegal without it seems a shred of credible evidence.

He is imvho making himself look stupid and dragging the USA into a place of humiliation. Is there no one to take him on one side and say "look Sir - you lost - get over it" ? There ought to be.

The USA - the great seekers of Democracy - advocating it - encouraging it - and in some cases "installing it" reduced to a shambles by The Incredible Sulk .

[BillyStubbsTears]

Wolf.
The problem.is the dysfunctional nature of the right wing of the Republican party.

It hasn't been what we think of as a normal liberal democracy party for 20 years. It exists to serve some very powerful bankrolled and it will literally stop at nothing to secure power.

Trump is just the (current) logical conclusion of that process. But it'll get worse. There's a whole generation of would-be Trumps coming up, including 12 Senators and 100 Congressmen who this week are going to refuse to validate Biden's victory. They are then going to hammer on the myth that The Establishment stole this election from Trump and one of them hopes to surf to the WH in 2024 on that very dangerous wave.

That's assuming America survives the next fortnight.

[Not Now Kato]

This could prove interesting....
 
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/donald-trump-could-be-planning-turnberry-trip-as-scots-airport-told-to-expect-a-high-flyer-the-day-before-joe-bidens-inauguration/
 

[ravenrover]

Will he go into isolation I wonder?

[SydneyRover]

Maybe it's time for the US to look at the length of the 'lame duck' period as it leaves them vulnerable to trump-like actors and foreign powers. With modern voting systems and communication it shouldn't really take two and half months to sort it.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Apparently the lame duck period comes from the 1700s, when it would take weeks for the new President's men to get to Washington on there wagons and set up the new administration. Retaining it in the modern times is supposed to be a symbol of the trust and bi-partisan nature of American politics that they can expect the outgoing President to have an orderly handover. That gets blown out of the water when you have a narcissistic, sociopathic maniac as the outgoing President.

[SydneyRover]

Looking very good for the Dems with Warnocks declared a winner and Ossoff increasing his lead, just have to wait for the protests and challenges I guess.

[BillyStubbsTears]

This is massive. An absolute game changer for US politics over the next few years.