Trump Versus Biden

[Hydra009]

You know, masks would've been a smart idea.  Turns out stupid people are really easy to track down.

[SGOS]

It will probably take 5 days for the president's cabinet to decide that they won't remove Trump from office,and then another 10 days for Congress to decide it's too late to do anything.  The end of his tenure is so close that it's too tempting to just avoid the whole mess.  In the absence of any constitutional or congressional remedies, Twitter and Facebook (while I'm reluctant to give them much credit) are probably the strongest safeguards we have in place right now to prevent Trump from doing further damage to the country.

I would prefer to see him removed and charged with inciting a mob at a minimum.  Our leaders need to send the message to America that such unbecoming presidential behavior will not be tolerated by future presidents or legislators.  Since that is unlikely to happen, isolation by the media may be all we have.  Beyond that we need the police and the military to contain this, but we should exhaust all non violent safety measures first.

Control or removal should be our first priority, followed by a strong punitive actions, and removal from society until he is judged no longer a threat.

[Cassia]

Let's see now...will Trump will pardon himself and his family?

[Unbeliever]

Wouldn't he have to admit wrongdoing for that? He'll never do that, I expect.

[SGOS]

Let's see now...will Trump will pardon himself and his family?

I'm sure he will try, but from what I've read, which is not much, I get the idea that constitutional scholars don't know.  There is a lot of stuff in the constitution that depends on good faith which is in short supply, putting a lot of the original ideals to the legal test.  I guess that is what the Supreme Court is for.  But really... Pardoning yourself??  Doesn't that put the president above the law?  To complicate it further, whether he is above the law is a current  debate, with some saying it is a legitimate debate.

[Hydra009]

DeVos resigns.  She was last seen following Harry Potter and Hermione into the Forbidden Forest.

[trdsf]

Wouldn't he have to admit wrongdoing for that? He'll never do that, I expect.

In principle, the act of accepting a Presidential pardon implicitly carries an admission of guilt, but there is no requirement that an explicit admission be made.  This was the decision laid down in section 28 of the Supreme Court decision in Burdick v United States in 1915:

This brings us to the differences between legislative immunity and a pardon. They are substantial. The latter carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it.

Nixon of course only gave a half-assed sort of acceptance of responsibility in accepting his pardon; I'm pretty sure neither Joe Arpaio nor Roger Stone made any sort of conciliatory statement when they got theirs.

A pardon must also be accepted by the recipient; it cannot be forced on someone.  Case in point, the posthumous pardon offered to Susan B Anthony which was rejected on her behalf by the director of the Susan B Anthony Museum.

[Blackleaf]

I'm sure Trump will try to pardon himself before he's even been charged with anything, and his brain dead hypocrites will be all for it. We'll have to wait and see what happens with that. As we've clearly seen, Republicans have no qualms about bending the rules in their favor. "Integrity" is not in their vocabulary.

[drunkenshoe]

I think my mom,lol, and SGOS are right about something. I kept thinking that this man is salesman and this thing is another bidding, action for him and he has the required psychopathic traits to ignore human life to get on with it... but yeah, more than that it looks like his mind is broken under the power of that chair and the hype the homicidal mass created behind him. Because there is no other explanation. It's either that or nobody has an idea what is actually going on, has gone down for the last 4 years. And in this case, yeah it is the former.

Which by the way, shows that he wasn't a good conman to begin with after all. Why not stepping down and prepare, get stronger for the next season? Because this means, this is infact all a fucking bluff in the end. 

What is it? Is he too scared and terrified? He is acting as if he has some unforseen card, a fifth ace ? in his hand and waiting to drop it. What am I missing?

[drunkenshoe]

Did you see this? (I saw in Colbert) This people are killing my natural compassion for the crazy and the stupid. Not that I don't have some of both. For anyone who thinks university education is not worth anything, this is one of the things you learn in a real one. You participate in a protest -no, not one of those regular ones- and get maced, get some bludgeoning here and there... And you get something from it, you know. About how the world turns?

Reporter: "Mam, what happened to you?"
Woman: "I got maced."
R:"What hapened, you were trying to go inside the Capitol?"
W:"Yeah, I made it like a foot inside and they pushed me out and they maced me."
R:"What's your name? Where are you from?"
W: "My name is Elizabeth. I'm from Knoxville, Tennessee."
R: "And why did you want to go in?"
W:"We are storming the Capitol, it is a revolution!"

It's a revolution. But she got maced?!

[GSOgymrat]

[drunkenshoe]

Please, let's very actively NOT think about that? I live in the Middle East, ya know?

[aitm]

Trump will turn around in a last act of defiance and pardon all the rioters.

[Mike Cl]

White Terror Has Always Been America’s Answer

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-terror-capitol-riots-america_n_5ff7802ac5b6644fa210a0a7

To suggest pro-Trump Capitol riots don’t “represent who we are” ignores the long history of white supremacy, racial violence and retaliation in this country.

The taking of the capital in DC underscores, for me, just how deeply racist this country is and has been.  It is much more so than I had imagined; all my life I had thought the racism was waning.  I don't think so.  It is very much alive and dangerous.  If the BLM had had that number in a peaceful demonstration, there would have been a much longer rollcall of the dead.  And there would have been 10 times the number of police and they would have been dressed in riot gear.  Instead the insurrectionists  were taking selfies with the cops.

[SGOS]

I think my mom,lol, and SGOS are right about something. I kept thinking that this man is salesman and this thing is another bidding, action for him and he has the required psychopathic traits to ignore human life to get on with it... but yeah, more than that it looks like his mind is broken under the power of that chair and the hype the homicidal mass created behind him.

Psychologists are ethically bound not to make a public diagnosis unless they have done a personal evaluation.  There is also the matter of doctor/patient confidentiality that holds them back.  God knows what Trump suffers from.  There is probably an array of disorders that make up his personality.  But as the most visible president I can remember, there are lots of traits he displays that tell us that (in your words) "his mind is broke."  I would bet $100 that an evaluation would identify him as a narcissistic sociopath, and probably lots of other things as well.  This diagnosis doesn't make him officially crazy as the DSM manual lists a lot of lesser personality disorders below the level of psychotic and schizophrenic.

Now narcissist doesn't sound that bad, right?  We picture a self centered preen constantly looking in a mirror and loving himself to the extreme, but a narcissist can also be a very dangerous person, capable of the most inhuman acts.

Throughout his term, we have watched his disorders exaggerate, probably due to the pressures of a new environment, which do not give him the imagined control over others that he expected.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5, 2013) indicates that a person with NPD possesses at least five of the following nine criteria, typically without possessing the commensurate personal qualities or accomplishments for which they demand respect and status:

Trump only needs 5 of these 9 traits, but it seems to me he has all nine.

Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g. exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).

Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.

Believes that they are "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions).

Requires excessive admiration.

Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with their expectations). 

Is interpersonally exploitative (i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve their own ends).

Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of them.

Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.