“He’s completely different now, so we’re totally blameless in giving him free rein of our show in 2016 to spout his identical-sounding nonsense.”
You ain’t gonna wash the stink off your hands, Joe. You used trump for ratings and he used you to help him get to power and that’s how it happened.
IANAL, but as I understand it, the DOJ’s guidance (which I actually agree with and support) is that because the President’s authority extends over DOJ, as a practical matter it’s just sort of dumb and broken and dysfunctional for DOJ to attempt to exert authority over the President. It fundamentally disrupts the underlying concept of the unitary executive. If the President were relieved of authority over DOJ, the contradiction is lifted.
But he stole the toy.
Darn right
The a$$hole has been unhinged his whole life.
Yeah, buddy.
What we need is a special counsel law. In drafting the new version of the law, we should learn from the excesses of Ken Starr. A special counsel may have the power to seek an indictment of a sitting President, but the scope of the investigation has to be pretty limited.
We also need to be careful about the appointment of special counsels: Ken Starr was a very poor choice. Robert Mueller appears to have been a better choice. It’s sad, but good judgement and avoidance of partisan hacks can’t be legislated.
To say that this is not settled law would be an understatement.
Nor does the DOJ’s guidance address the question head-on.
(You’re right that, technically, he could still be President even if relieved of his “duties.”)
Until he ran into Nancy Pelosi.
Another reason to worry.
Per the 25th Amendment, upon its invocation the Vice President becomes Acting President, which implies that the incumbent President retains the title. One assumes that the privileges attached to the title remain.
If he were articled 25’d for mental incompetence, it would aid in his criminal defense. Or in lay terms, insanity defense. This would not help his kids or Jared, of course. But surely they know BenedictDonald would throw them under the bus to save his own sorry skin.
Great. Now we’ll get treated to the spectacle of a half dozen aides put on the spot in the Oval Office, having to attest in front of Donnie that he’s not demented.
There’s no Rosetta Stone for Trump’s gobbledegook.
Sure there is! Everything translates to “I am very good, and big. I won. You are small, and bad, and you lost.”
Trump’s constant confusion is one of his abiding “qualities.”
His cult followers seem to just flow with it, especially the bigots surrounding him. To them, there simply is no such thing as a Trump gaffe, he’s their great white hope and he can do no wrong.
“Investigate exploding white racism” and “spy on the Trump campaign” may be one and
the same thing by 2020.
In a contest of Mental Acumen between Pelosi and Trump; Trump is bringing a rusted pocket-knife to a Gun Fight.
As for [1], yes, but we should be aware that any (threat of) invocation can involve a negotiated deal, the terms of which aren’t clear a priori. (Even who gets to negotiate is not clear.)
As for [2], it’s even less clear.
Yes.
Call it a Rosetta pebble.
Do Acting Cabinet members get a vote? That alone seems dodgy. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons they’re acting.
Is this going to be the end game? Everyone jumps on the “dementia” bandwagon (instead of just impeaching him as a criminal and a traitor) with an agreement not to prosecute because he doesn’t have the mental capacity to stand trial? Not that I doubt that he may have dementia (along with his other mental deficiencies), and not that I don’t think the country wouldn’t be much better off removing him ASAP, whatever it takes. But the notion of him and his criminal family getting off scot-free is really disturbing. Not to mention that such a resolution could take the spotlight off of Mitch, Lindsey and their ilk…and they really need to be investigated (and ultimate strung-up).