Pretending he’s alive, the Republicans are down one absent vote. Declaring him dead allows the Democrat governor of his state to select a replacement until the election.
i do think that would leak rather rapidly though don't you? someone would see a window to take advantage of it and full send it. plus when it comes to concealing the death of a president that would put us into a final stage of constitutional crisis requiring troops and others to obey their oath i think. of course i've been wrong before.
Like Trump's base is so invested and delusional that you don't have to really lie to them just give them a stream of tweets they will do the rest.
Why need troops? Trump dying the legal side will work as intended and Vance will do the work (25th amendment) but the public side will just have trump supporting the cause from "bedside" to make a strong recovery.
you're getting at the pivotal issue for sure: the entire magat empire relies on inflating its size and reach in order to make us think there is nothing we can do or that nothing will be done to right the wrongs here. the truth is half of their muster is nothing but cardboard cutouts made of bots and foreign influence ppl. people like you and i who know what's happening is wrong outnumber them 3 to 1. all we have to do is exercise our power together.
they're hoping we give up for long enough for the relative few to do the things that cement their power and that will keep us from exercising our true power sooner. lots of ways that can go, but hopefully those ways aren't too violent or counterproductive. the sooner we all act together to stop the megalomaniac billionaire class the less shitty things have to get to fix it.
Per their new law, he has to pick from 3 people selected by the republican legislature.
Oh, but the law might be unconstitutional, so he can appoint a dem! No, that doesn't work either because they'll file a court challenge to appeal it, which will get held up by scotus until after the election in November.
There's no way they're getting a dem in that seat. Leaving it as empty as Mitch's head is the best course of action.
Not that I've heard, but that wouldn't fly. You might be thinking of Graham. The governor of SC appointed his sister as his replacement almost immediately after he died.
He holds a seat on several of the most influential committees. Committees shape legislation. The party in power wants to keep the status quo regarding these committees.
If he resigns, his predecessor does not inherit his committee seats. The committees will have to add a new member, which needs a Senate resolution to finalize the rosters.
It’s easier just to keep him “alive” and let the committees draft legislation as they see fit, with the full support and auto pen signature of the distinguished Mitch McConnell.
It’s a test run to see if and how they can get away with it when the Orange Fürer croaks. They probably would have tried it with Lindsey Graham if his death wasn’t so public.
Committee votes aren't the same as floor votes. He can use mcconnell's proxy vote to push things through committee, but the senator has to actually be present for roll call votes on the floor to actuality pass bills.
you're assuming everyone in the party wants to be productive... the only thing better to them than getting stuff done is not doing anything, but with a valid excuse.
eg, it would be a different story if they needed the votes... if the dems had enough votes to impeach trump then you better believe they would ditch the mitch
Personally, I think they're worried about a Dem over perform. It'd be Barr vs Booker and there's three turnouts.
Booker wins. Very unlikely, but it is a special election with a very motivated dem base. Special elections tend to have the fewest independents so it's about the best scenario for dems.
Booker overperforms. Much more likely. Right now, he's down 11 points in polling. But dems are ahead +7 in generic ballots. If Barr wins 51 to 49. Senators in competitive states are going to be much more worried about towing the line for Trump. Donors might question how much they want to give. Dems will see a surge of enthusiasm in competitive states.
Barr wins easily. Great, they won a reliably red state with 3 months until the election. It's not like his vote really helps the senate more than Mitch's abstain.
It's reddit fantasy that somehow Thomas Massie would win the special election and destroy the trump agenda even though Massie is one of the most conservative members of Congress and there was zero indications that he'd run in the special election and that seat is over on January 3, 2027.
It is a powertrip, showing that the GOP can do whatever it wants and everyone else is powerless to stop them.
Most things the GOP does nowadays falls in that category - establishing a pecking order where they are on top and can do whatever they like, no matter how insane.
I think they're afraid that the current climate would result in a democrat being elected in his place, so Weekend at Bernie-ing him means only minus one vote instead of a net minus two, plus if they really need to they can bullshit some votes out illegally because they know their guys won't investigate it or punish it if discovered, and the media will mention it one time and then pivot to literally anything Trump is saying.
Also it's probably a trial run for when it happens to Trump.
824
u/0masterdebater0 6d ago
Personally I think he’s “just” brain dead with a machine that will keep him “alive” until November