MineralMan (88,561 posts)
Looking for improbable ways to keep Trump out of office is a waste of time.
Since the election, a number of posts have appeared on DU that propose some way of preventing Donald Trump from becoming President. Most of those posts are based on an incorrect understanding of things as basic as the Constitution. Let's look at a few of them:
1. A Presidential Candidate Cannot Be Impeached - Only a sitting President can be impeached, and only for actions while serving as President. Given the Republican control of both houses of Congress, impeachment after he takes office is highly unlikely, unless he shoots someone dead in the Oval Office. Any past criminal activities are irrelevant.
2. The 25th Amendment Cannot Prevent Him from Taking Office - Like impeachment, this amendment only applies to sitting Presidents, not Presidents-elect. Further it would require the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet to declare that sitting President to be unfit to continue in the office. It was created for situations where the President becomes disabled in some way, not for removing Presidents who are not liked. Consider, too, how likely it would be for a Cabinet selected by the President to declare the man who chose them to be unfit.
3. Recalls in Three States Might Reverse the Election Outcome - While this is technically possible, it is unlikely in the extreme. Statewide recounts occasionally shift the results by a few hundred votes, but almost never by tens of thousands. Further, a recount simply recounts the votes AS CAST. It does not involve investigation into voting irregularities, suppression, or any other shenanigans. Those would require a lengthy investigation, but would not prevent a President-elect from taking office, nor remove a sitting President. It might change how future elections were handled, but will not lead to a removal of a sitting President.
4. Something Irregular Might Be Discovered after the Inauguration to Reverse the Election - A sitting President can only be removed from office through impeachment and conviction or according to the terms of the 25th Amendment. Both are addressed above. Even if there was wholesale election fraud, once the President takes the oath of office, the means of removing a President remain the same.
5. Electors Might Change Their Votes and Reverse the Outcome - This will most assuredly not happen. It's possible that one or two electors will be unfaithful, but there is not a chance that enough will to change the outcome. That is not how things work. It's just not.
6. Donald Trump Might Not Get 270 Electoral Votes for Some Other Reason - That would not matter, and is so unlikely that it's almost unimaginable. Even if it did, it would throw the election into the House of Representatives. If that happened, Donald Trump would win there, too. It's a seriously flawed thing to pin one's hopes upon.
Really, the only way Donald Trump will not be inaugurated will be if the recalls in WI, MI, and PA result in flipping the vote totals. All three of those states. I would not put any money on that happening. The probability of that set of circumstances approaches zero.
dumbcat (1,102 posts)
1. "That is not how things work. It's just not."
Right. That's what we said about the possibility of Trump being elected. "That is not how things work. It's just not."
Enough faithless electors to flip the election IS possible. Very,very unlikely, but possible.
Stop listening to fools, then. Plenty of people declared their determination to see Trump elected and they refused to waver in their support even as you chimps piled on.
Hoyt (27,979 posts)
6. I'm moving on, so to speak. Trump won and all the conspiracy theories, whining, etc., aren't
going to change that. Frankly, I think we look like whining Birthers or something similar with all the votes were hacked junk, electors should switch, the recount will be a sham, etc.
When Hoyt becomes your voice of reason your cause is well and truly ****ed.
NightWatcher (30,464 posts)
10. We need to securing the infrastructure that we'll need during our Resistance
The Police State will hit the ground running on Day One.
All of this woulda coulda shoulda was needed before the election. We will have trump on Jan 22. His minions and evil geniuses will control every aspect of the government.
We must prepare for Resistance.
HipChick (13,604 posts)
13. We must prepare for keeping communication channels like DU running
as part of The Resistance..
I expect his minions to monitoring anything non-Pro Orange Hitler..
Yes, but only for the entertainment value.
bigtree (65,221 posts)
15. no, that's just not true
...politics isn't static.
The right political moment to attack Trump's presidency isn't waiting somewhere after January 20, it's now. ANY effort to dethrone Trump needs to gain traction,. That effort will take repeated advocacy from now until the water breaks.
IF something is uncovered in the next 50 days that is so vile and so disqualifying as to capture the political wind, our political system is flexible enough to bend to the public's revulsion.
I find these posts dampening expectations of so many frustrated, but active folks to be the height of political dithering. We should be doing something more than tut-tutting motivated Democrats.
Lint Head (12,973 posts)
27. There is a thing or two that could be done to prevent
this dictatorial pig from taking office but they are unthinkable.
cilla4progress (5,796 posts)
37. I am
calling - DOJ, President, my Senators
emailing - same + WI Senator Tammy Baldwin, Nordstrom (see "Million Snowflakes" on FB...telling Nordstrom I will not shop there so long as they carry Ivanka Trump's prodcuts)
signing and forwarding petitions
donating to the recount
donating to ACLU
posting the above on FB
wearing safety pin
attending rallies
Pass your muster?
cilla4progress (5,796 posts)
39. OK, you bet.
I am up at 3 am some mornings with this on my mind. I have decided that my response to this travesty is to work in every way available to me to stop or derail it. I'm not giving up and plan to use any / all means necessary, short of violence. This includes non-violent demonstrations and strikes (check out orangeflu.com), as well as the aforesaid means.
I am somewhat fortunate in that I am close to the end of my working life witha grown child, though there are still constraints - financial, practical, "political."
Thanks.
Turbineguy (21,668 posts)
33. Our best option is that
Putin finds out that he can't control Trump.
treestar (65,748 posts)
47. this is why we lose
What do you think Rs would be doing in this situation? How about a meeting to agree to block everything and make him a one termer?
You lose because you're incompetent bigots and nobody wants to hang out with you let alone allow you to govern their lives.
Gothmog (33,398 posts)
50. Once the electoral college votes, then it is impossible to stop trump
Faithless electors are not likely but I was pleased to see that Prof. Tribe and Lisa Bloom will defend these faithless electors
treestar (65,748 posts)
60. The Republicans would never do this
Never say a thing like it. Nothing negative is a "waste of time." And they seem to be rewarded for it. We would have said of Hillary's emails there is nothing there, waste of time to investigate.
Even if it does not change the outcome, it can undermine the Orange Toxin and make his supporters upset and insecure. They deserve every bit of that. And to see the extent of the opposition to him. If we drop all the recounts, they see us a weak, accepting they are in charge and believe me they will take charge.
Haven't we learned anything? Quit being reasonable and worrying about looking bad. It doesn't win.
We didn't try to overturn the elections of 2008 or 2012 despite what we knew the jug-eared misfit was doing and would do.
So...**** you, you hypocrite.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028311563
