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Trump's Lame Duck Extravaganza

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Posts

  • ZibblsnrtZibblsnrt Registered User regular
    -Loki- wrote: »
    chrisnl wrote: »
    Wait the Dems are actually going to win both runoffs? Did I somehow get transported out of the evil mirror dimension into the good dimension without noticing?

    I think someone had a single genie wish left.

    "And for my third wish: revenge."

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    ElJeffe wrote: »
    If nothing else, this gives us the cabinet Biden wants and two years of sane judicial appointments, including a SCOTUS appointment, most likely.

    And even if we can't push through m4a, we can safeguard and expand the ACA, and kill the attacks on it.

    This is very good. We're not getting a stacked SCOTUS and two new states and a Green New Deal, but it's good.

    I think DC statehood is probably still doable.

    The big question is if they can get all the Dems onboard for nuking the filibuster. I'm thinking probably not given the margins we're seeing right now, both in the Senate and in the votes for the Senate.

  • TarantioTarantio Registered User regular
    Assuming Warnock and Ossof win, as seems to be the case, the next major issue in the Senate will be setting the Senate rules for the coming session.

    As the senate rules currently stand, any bill needs to pass a cloture vote by a supermajority of 60 votes to move forward.

    If that rule doesn't change, only one bill per year will pass. But a simple majority in the Senate can change the rules to just about anything.

    "Precedent" and "norms" have kept that rule in place for a long time and through a lot of abuse, though it's been removed for judicial nominees recently.

    Interestingly, Republicans could have removed it back in 2017 and hypothetically gotten a lot more done with their control of all branches of government, but they didn't really have any legislative goals they all agreed on other than tax cuts and judges (see: the failed vote to repeal the ACA) and they wanted to keep the rule around for the next time they lost the Senate.

  • JaysonFourJaysonFour Classy Monster Kitteh Registered User regular
    Disrupter wrote: »
    Is there any reason to fear the fact this could cause Mitch and the Gop to back trumps coup now to maintain the VP and therefore the senate?

    None. They're going to piss and moan and bitch and whine and throw a whole hell of a lot of tantrums, but there's absolutely nothing they can do that doesn't end with a Democratic president in two weeks.

    They can't pull anything with challenging the electors because the House will tell them to get fucked, Biden wins. They pull anything with multiple electors, the House packs up and goes home and we get President Speaker-of-the-House.

    That's why they're out there fighting amongst each other online and in DC- because their little minds are blown that their Manchildian Candidate could fuck them this severely, and they need to find something and someone to blame that's not Trump himself- even though they could have coasted through this election if he'd just managed to keep his goddamned mouth shut and lose gracefully.

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    I can has cheezburger, yes?
  • MillMill Registered User regular
    As mentioned earlier, big thing is we see votes on shit because McConnell's thing was making sure his shit caucus never had to put their name on fucking America over. Even if the filibuster sticks around, which seems likely, if democrats force actual votes on ending debate, that still leaves the GOP stuck with a vote record. If someone is say pissed off by a lack of financial aid for covid related matters, they aren't going to give the GOP any more slack when it's members argue that they technically didn't vote to deny aid, just voted to keep their bullshit bloviating continuing in a way that prevented a vote on the mater. To that individual, that is effectively the same thing as voting against what they wanted.

    Also cabinet and judges won't be a shit show for confirmation for at least two years because Mitch can't just stonewall it out of spite, since the fucker is no longer in charge of the agenda.

    IMO I think we do get DC statehood at a minimum and possible PR. Like I have a hunch that neither Manchin or Collins is exactly wild about a setup where votes hinge on how they vote. Even though both are from different parties, they both more or less prefer a setup where they can break ranks with the party on certain issues and not be held as the single vote that doomed the bill. The current setup is likely to setup them up in plenty of such scenarios. So they might not object to the idea of giving DC statehood because that would be two more Senators that move them away from being deciding voting on just about everything.

    I'd also be surprised if the filibuster was left untouched. My guess is that they do chip away at it further. Honestly, I could see statehood votes and votes on certain bills made either immune to the filibuster or have a setup where the filibuster can just be suspended without a supermajority.

    As for McConnell's fate, I suspect it's still up in the air because how badly he gets thrashed by his colleagues is going to come down to what the democrats opt to do. If they do things to weaken the GOP position, but shutting down some of the bullshit plays, they might leave him in as minority leader because it'll make it easier to chuck his ass later. If they are going to be on the receiving end for at least two years, I don't see many keen on having the job. If democrats do the stupid, I could see moves to dispose him because now is likely the best shot to knock him out of the leadership. In that scenario, if he gets to be leader, he'll be able to campaign for having the spot back, if the GOP retakes the senate in 2022 because he prevent the democrats from doing anything.

  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    Honestly, I think PR has a better chance at being a state than DC. PR is just a standard territory becoming a state, while D.C. is it's own little hotbed of legal weirdness.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    edited January 2021
    Honestly, I think PR has a better chance at being a state than DC. PR is just a standard territory becoming a state, while D.C. is it's own little hotbed of legal weirdness.

    Other way around imo. AFAIK DC very vocally wants to be a state in a very unambiguous way. It's also just easier in that DC is not any different then the rest of the continental US. PR is a lot more divided on the issue (though the Yes side did just win the last vote on the issue afaik) and has issues from the hurricane(s) and their economy and all that stuff.

    shryke on
  • DonnictonDonnicton Registered User regular
    Honestly, I think PR has a better chance at being a state than DC. PR is just a standard territory becoming a state, while D.C. is it's own little hotbed of legal weirdness.

    Given how hard Trump fucked over PR during his term(including once asking his aides whether they could just sell it) up until he tried to use it to buy the hispanic vote in September, I might not be so sure of that nowadays unless they'd be VERY willing to look the other way for Biden's sake.

  • MillMill Registered User regular
    Decision Desk is calling the race for Ossoff. That's game!

    Also good riddance to Senate Majority Mitch McConnell, now if he would just fuck off out of the public sphere altogether, that would be great.

  • JragghenJragghen Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    Honestly, I think PR has a better chance at being a state than DC. PR is just a standard territory becoming a state, while D.C. is it's own little hotbed of legal weirdness.

    Other way around imo. AFAIK DC very vocally wants to be a state in a very unambiguous way. It's also just easier in that DC is not any different then the rest of the continental US. PR is a lot more divided on the issue (though the Yes side did just win the last vote on the issue afaik) and has issues from the hurricane(s) and their economy and all that stuff.

    DC has to deal with article 1 section 8 and the 23rd amendment.

    I'm not entirely sure it would pass constitutional challenge with the bill proposed, tbh, and even if it did, it would also mean what was left as DC still gets 3 EV for like.... The president, vp, and those who live in those buildings.

    It's by far the more difficult legal hurdle.

  • NobeardNobeard North Carolina: Failed StateRegistered User regular
    I am so very happy that Jimmy Carter gets to see this.

  • Atlas in ChainsAtlas in Chains Registered User regular
    I want to get a Georgia peach tattoo, what a wonderful gift they've given us!

  • RaijuRaiju Shoganai JapanRegistered User regular
    Democracy. Made in Georgia.

  • Phoenix-DPhoenix-D Registered User regular
    moniker wrote: »
    Xantomas wrote: »
    Trump and his cultists are already tweeting about Democrats stealing the election in the middle of the night with "magically appearing" votes again. Because they don't understand counting apparently. It's so fucking stupid.

    The joy and relief I feel at the idea of the Republicans losing the senate is tempered by the reality that Dems will only have 2 years to actually do something to help this fucked up country before the Republicans probably take Congress back.

    But still, Trump lost and his movement is destroying itself. The nightmare is almost over.

    2022 is going to be interesting since the redistricting should be vastly less gerrymandered than 2012 was.

    Assuming the maps get done in time..

  • SpaffySpaffy Fuck the Zero Registered User regular
    Holy shit what a treat to wake up to. Had to check I wasn't dreaming...!

    ALRIGHT FINE I GOT AN AVATAR
    Steam: adamjnet
  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited January 2021
    Donnicton wrote: »
    Honestly, I think PR has a better chance at being a state than DC. PR is just a standard territory becoming a state, while D.C. is it's own little hotbed of legal weirdness.

    Given how hard Trump fucked over PR during his term(including once asking his aides whether they could just sell it) up until he tried to use it to buy the hispanic vote in September, I might not be so sure of that nowadays unless they'd be VERY willing to look the other way for Biden's sake.

    They voted for statehood this year, I thought?

    EDIT: Yup. https://ballotpedia.org/Puerto_Rico_Statehood_Referendum_(2020)

    52.34% yes, 47.66% no.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • The Dude With HerpesThe Dude With Herpes Lehi, UTRegistered User regular
    I don't know the ins and outs of googles dark magics with predictive text...

    But out of the hundred or so tabs I have open, about 3 of them have anything remotely to do with this election and one of them is this forum. So while I know it is partly about my own activity, but also what is trending and is common.

    So anyway.

    I typed in "When w" into the search/address bar and it immediately spat out: "when will georgia senators be sworn in"

    Which was funny and spooky at the same time. "when w" could be almost literally anything. But it still managed to get what I was going to type in exactly. :rotate:

    I suspect a lot of people are wondering the same thing!

    The answer, by the way, is that counties have until the 15th to certify, and the state has until the 22nd. Raffensperger's office has said that if everything is in order, the election can be certified as soon as the counties are certified; but there's no reason to believe that tomorrow won't have an inundation of lawsuits and challenges that will have to be dealt with. Presumably they'll be dismissed in short order like every single one relating to the general, but who knows? So when will Ossoff (hopefully) and Warnock (definitely) actually be in the Senate? Theoretically as early as Thursday but that's almost impossible. I'd imagine given how stupid everything is right now, to just assume that it'll be the 23rd. Perdue is already out, but because of the nature of Loeffler's appointment, she remains in her seat until she is replaced, leaving the Senate at 48/50 until then. I kinda have a pit in my stomach about what might be attempted in the interim, but absolutely nothing coming from the Senate is making it through the House, so that's some reassurance?

    Moments like this remind me how impossibly fucking stupid so much of the procedure and set-up of American government is. And how much dumber than even that, it is, that it is unlikely to meaningfully change, even when it so clearly painfully obviously needs to right now.

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  • MillMill Registered User regular
    Oh, in case people forgot about it and I know I did. This outcome likely increases the likelihood that the Equal Rights Amendment gets ratified. I'm pretty sure Biden was going to nix Trump's BS that was enacted to keep it from being ratified after Virginia voted for ratification early last year. With full control of Congress and the WH, the democrats can knock down some potential hurdles if republicans keep fighting it.

  • Bloods EndBloods End Blade of Tyshalle Punch dimensionRegistered User regular
    I want to get a Georgia peach tattoo, what a wonderful gift they've given us!

    People are just gonna assume you are into butt stuff!

  • AbsalonAbsalon Lands of Always WinterRegistered User regular
    Big hands for Justice Breyer everyone, but he has to am-scray immediately on the 21st.

  • BogartBogart Streetwise Hercules Registered User, Moderator mod
    I made a new thread for people to talk about the last two weeks of this piece of shit's Presidency.

This discussion has been closed.