Hacker News Reader

Comment by ashtonkem | Hacker News Reader

Or impeach & convict. He’s a threat to the republic, and he has to go.

Convict takes 2/3. DC falling is more likely than the miracle that has republicans crossing party lines to alienate their monstrous base.

Both sides have monstrous bases. Have you already forgotten the summer riots?

It sucks.

I am sick and fucking tired of both sides-ism.

No. You're sick of seeing the one side you support being in the wrong and doing exactly what you despise in the opposite side. It makes one sick and fucking tired indeed.

Can you please provide examples of the liberal side trying to violently overturn the results of an election, or the liberal side murdering people in the streets like at Charlottesville or more recently in Kenosha?

No that hasn't been done by the left before as far as I know. What i know though is that last summer the BLM protests were burning buildings and looting business, if that's not violence I have no clue what the hell is.

Sorry so just to be clear, the left hasn't been "doing exactly what [I] despise in the opposite side" which is to say literally murdering people?

This is what sibling commenter meant by stop with the both-sidesism. Smashing up a Target and murdering a person are not the same thing. You're apologizing for murderers, congratulations.

Gimme a call when the left attempts to overthrow the legitimate government of the United States of America with force. Until then, don’t presume to know how I feel.

That's stupid. No impeachment process could ever finish on time.

It can be done in 30min if they want. Impeachment goes how congress wants it to, the only part of the process set in stone is the voting requirements.

Edit: oh and the 25th amendment would allow trump to object and be effectively tried in the senate. That amendment is really designed more for “the president is in a coma” than for “the president is currently trying to overthrow the government”.

If you rush impeachment, you will obliterate any productivity you sought for impeachment. The same is true for elections in that these aren't just procedural events, they are soul-defining events for a democracy, and the loss of credibility would be losing what matters most.

Another Mueller would take forever to prepare a case for the American people.

The republic is at stake and armed rioters have broken into the capital. To let the president do this and do nothing is to give up more credibility. It is to admit that the legislature is incapable of even providing for its own physical security, let alone the needs of their constituents.

I keep seeing "armed rioters" but have not seen any evidence. Could you point me to it?

I have heard reports of gunfire being exchanged through the door to the House: https://twitter.com/MEPFuller/status/1346905489561579532.

Surely that would qualify as "armed", and the "rioter" I would hope should be self-evident.

The gunfire was probably of the unarmed woman getting shot and killed: https://twitter.com/ALQadiPAL/status/1346960691278848000.

Highly doubt that it was an armed protester shooting.

> Highly doubt that it was an armed protester shooting.

Did you get that from the same place that you got the idea that the election was stolen?

No, I got it from the evidence an unarmed woman was shot and killed while the faces at the door where the "shooting" by the "armed rioters" allegedly took place were unharmed. Where did you get the idea that I believe the election was stolen? From the comment where I said "Now if we get to day three of this crap with no signs of it letting up, the National Guard unable to control the situation, and Trump actively supporting them, definitely throw him out."?

> Highly doubt that it was an armed protester shooting.

Seems more likely than an unarmed protestor shooting?

At least one gun was seized.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/06/us/washington-dc-pro...

If hundreds rioting and looting in multiple cities for multiple days for liberal causes only qualifies for "mostly peaceful protesters, this qualifies a "peaceful protesters" still.

Evidence, please. I lived in a major US city, have a friend there who's a senior-level libertarian cleaning state trooper, and he told me the protests he knew about personally were peaceful. Nor did I see violent rioters myself.

Where were the peaceful ones? BLM was a protest movement of something like 12M people, huge protests were covered extensively with no violence whatsoever. This was a mob that pushed down gates and forced entry into the capitol building. There was no "peaceful" component that I could see.

* Man pointing an AR-15: https://twitter.com/JasonRCharter/status/1346988230101528579

* Man carrying a Glock and zipties: https://twitter.com/JasonRCharter/status/1347030226845446144...

Man with AR-15 was police.

Man carrying a Glock? I don't see anything resembling a gun except on his hat.

On his right hip, it’s incredibly clear.

Rushing impeachment makes sense if it is totally clear for all involved that impeachment needs to happen.

Ideally it should be clear to everyone in Congress, yet...

From what I understand, impeachment can also bar an individual from public office again.

I'm not clear on whether that means the vote could extend past January 20th and the end result is that it goes on his permanent record.

There's no reason why it would need to take more than a few minutes.

It's not going to happen, but not due to time constraints.

Usually as part of the impeachment vote, the Senate also decides if the President should be banned from holding office ever again. This would prevent a 2024 run by 45.

President Johnson was impeached 3 days after the offense for which he was impeached, the senate then voted on the removal 8 days after that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Andrew_Johnson

Impeachment trial does not need to end when his term does. They can still bar him from any future office and show that the rule of law matters.

Wouldn't that cause him to be an even greater threat? It would "justify" an escalation.

Do you believe Trump has some super dangerous card to play when he's about to be removed from office? Because impeachment or not, I think he's about to be removed from office.

It is not about Trump himself, but his supporters. If they are taking his election loss like this, how do you suppose they would take forceful removal from office?

You can't let their threats of violence prevent continued function of the US government

At least thousands of armchair revolutionaries will finally have their pet theories on the efficacy of the Second Amendment put to the test.

Unnecessarily and forcefully removing Trump from office prior to Biden's inauguration will only decrease the ability of the US government to function. After a few hours and only a feeble attempt to control the situation? It could be the final whimper of disgruntled Trump supporters who go home the next day. Now if we get to day three of this crap with no signs of it letting up, the National Guard unable to control the situation, and Trump actively supporting them, definitely throw him out.

They are already convinced that they're removing him forcefully from the office.

Well, he has a football...

I've played down the threat of Trump over the years. Mostly because the idea that a coup was possible was kind of laughable. That sort of attitude has given him and his supporters space to sort of play coup. As in they could say whatever they wanted because everyone, including those saying it, thought nothing would come of it.

But this is the end of play time. It's a real world consequence. And a shocking one at that. It was a violent attempt to take over the seat of power and prevent the democratic transfer of power.

It's not a play coup anymore. Trump and his supporters are an attempting an honest to goodness actual coup. He needs to face consequences. IMHO, impeachment isn't enough. More like he can peacefully hand over power or Jan 20th 12:01 PM put him on a plane to Guantanamo until such time it's safe to try him for treason.

We’re talking about someone who conjures justifications out of thin air. He doesn’t need anyone to believe him

Can't impeach if the capital isn't secure.

I am sure they can convene in a bunker somewhere

Or over zoom like everybody else?

nation state deep fake has entered the call

I am sitting here feeling awful and anxious about this. Thank a for the laugh. :-)

Just has to be delivered to those officials. Where ever they are.

I wrote my Representative and Senators an hour ago to urge them to impeach/convict respectively.

The bar for when incitement to violence loses its constitutionally-protected status is "incitement to imminent lawless act" (from Brandenburg v Ohio). Trump's speech earlier today probably qualifies as passing that bar. That is clearly an impeachable offense.

Ilhan Omar is apparently already writing up Articles of Impeachment: https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1346934098384793606

Reply on news.ycombinator.com