DC Unrest Megathread

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Apparently, the Electoral College certificates from the states were saved by a Senate aide before the thugs swarmed the chamber. President Biden should grant the Presidential Medal of Freedom to this hero.

The Dolly Madison of our time.

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So...how does this influence the 2022 midterms?

There was already reason to believe they would be different than normal, especially after these run-offs, but now? I’m just gonna go ahead and call it: I think the GOP will have the most pathetic performance for an opposition party in Congress in generations. Between this, the vaccine, the economy roaring back... It will in the best of worlds be the roaring 20s but with Democrats instead of Republicans dominating.

Devil's advocate: we just saw, on live TV, that a large number of Americans in fact support this kind of action.

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Keep the anti Christian rhetoric out of it.

Amen.  The incoming President who represents an alternative to President Trump is a Christian, as is one of the newly elected Democratic Senator who helped flip the Senate.

Not to mention, TENS of MILLIONS of law-abiding Americans who are sitting at home horrified by this, among them tens of millions of Democrats, liberals and Joe Biden voters.  Classless to take it there.

If the so-called "Christians" who stormed the Capitol today had actually read their Bibles, they might recall Jesus refusing to lead an armed uprising against the governing authorities even when his own disciples begged him to fight. Blasphemers and heretics, all of them.

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If the 25th was invoked? That makes Pence president for 14 days?

Acting president I think, but yes.

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If Hawley still objects after everything that happened today...

I believe the Senate should still object to bad certificates. Specifically the certificate making Josh Hawley a senator from Missouri.

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Can’t post the image, but agree entirely with George bush and his banana republic comments.

Remember how bad he was? He’s like Abe Lincoln and George Washington combined compared to this sh**thead

For years I've been arguing against those who said Trump was the worst president in history by pointing out that James Buchanan quietly supported efforts to arm rebel militants seeking to overthrow the U. S. government in his final days in office.

Well ...

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lol 30% of Republicans think they're patriots.

Very alarming, but I was happy to see 71% also called them criminals, extremists or worse.

I'm pretty sure you can apply more than one label. Realistically, only 20-25% of Republicans at best are calling them criminals, extremists etc.

It seems that the %s are the share of respondents who agreed a particular word describes these people. So indeed, only 26% think the perpetrators of an attempted coup are "extremists."

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Honestly I don't care to nor condone attacking Republicans who are standing against Trump and his rioters. People like Mitch have done a lot of bad, but it isn't about that stuff right now. Its about the fundamentals of democracy. We should accept all the help we get in defending it.

If they're still objecting to the certificates, they are actively propagating the narrative that led to these events. When it comes to people like Romney, I agree.

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I'm so glad this scumbag lost to Conor Lamb.

https://twitter.com/Redistrict/status/1346938310359396354?s=20

Imagine a scenario when 434 House members are evacuated and Rick Saccone stays to welcome them into the chamber.

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Have we ever had an acting President before?

Bush, Sr. and Cheney both served as acting president (Cheney twice) for less than a day while POTUS was under anesthesia and undergoing surgery —but that was planned. Prior to the 25th Amendment being passed, there were instances where the president was incapacitated and the VP or a member of the cabinet became de facto "acting president." We've never had a situation where the VP and the president were each claiming to be the head of state, which seems likely if the Cabinet actually goes through with this.

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Guy on MSNBC just said he gives no f—ks what other news outlets are telling their journalists they can say, then outright called this a “coup attempt” and “insurrection” and “sedition.”

CNN's been calling it an "insurrection" and "sedition" all night.

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Guy on MSNBC just said he gives no f—ks what other news outlets are telling their journalists they can say, then outright called this a “coup attempt” and “insurrection” and “sedition.”

CNN's been calling it an "insurrection" and "sedition" all night.

That's mild. They should rightfully be labelled "terrorists" or "traitors" or preferably both.

Oh, they have been.

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I was just checking in the live stream. Oh my God. Those Republicans are so petty. How can they have lived through an attempted fascist coup and still go on with that bullsh*t.

It's not pettiness, it's strategy. Those fascists put them in office.

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I've just been thinking about the last book in the Chronicles of Narnia, when the thugs who have instigated a coup d'état with foreign military support seek to legitimize their new regime by calling on the Great God Tash, believing that there is no such person —to their horror when he arrives in the flesh and devours them all. One imagines our dear friends Loeffler, Blackburn, Braun, and company must have felt much the same as those traitorous Narnians when they discovered their words do in fact have consequences.

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https://twitter.com/RaquelNPhoto/status/1347010671087546368

Just horrifying.

What is wrong with this country?

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Post removed by moderator

Four people are dead.

edit: also, this: https://twitter.com/RaquelNPhoto/status/1347010671087546368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%...

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Hispanics down in Florida must have hated watching another radical socialist attack unfold.

*National Socialist

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Also, Democrats condemned CHAZ and condemned the riots.  Democratic mayors and governors deployed police and the national guard to attack rioters and defend businesses.  Meanwhile half of the Republican Party approves of the riots, and their conspiracy theory was validated by a majority of the Republican House caucus just hours after the attack!

Imagine if, after 9/11, a majority of House Democrats had voted in favor of demolishing the World Trade Center, and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton called for a special commission to investigate if jet fuel melts steel beams.

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Not sure if this has been posted yet; it seems it was deleted and then reposted:

https://twitter.com/RepDianaDeGette/status/1347334507985309696

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I want to know what Trump said in the parts of that video that were clearly cut out.

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The video is actually very good. He should have recorded this video on November 6 or 7 when it became clear that he had lost the election.

He should resign now to avoid being impeached and Pence should pardon him.

God's how in God's name can you say he deserves pardoned? Is this just a way of pardoning your own conscience for supporting this neo-Nazi?

No. It's just an embarrassment to the country to have a former President prosecuted for crimes and possibly convicted.

Yeah, the country’s totally fine now, but if he goes to jail we’ll be embarrassed.

Ford spared the country from Nixon's arrest and indictment, and since then public faith in institutions has just skyrocketed!

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The video is actually very good. He should have recorded this video on November 6 or 7 when it became clear that he had lost the election.

He should resign now to avoid being impeached and Pence should pardon him.

God's how in God's name can you say he deserves pardoned? Is this just a way of pardoning your own conscience for supporting this neo-Nazi?

No. It's just an embarrassment to the country to have a former President prosecuted for crimes and possibly convicted.

Yeah, the country’s totally fine now, but if he goes to jail we’ll be embarrassed.

Ford spared the country from Nixon's arrest and indictment, and since then public faith in institutions has just skyrocketed!

Ford did the right thing and nothing in the present or in the past since he took office can change this.

Ford is low-key responsible for where we are right now, but there's enough going on in this thread without debating history too.

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[snip]

What's done is done. In an idea world, the politicians who spread the wicked lies and inflamed the passions that led to the armed assault on our Capitol yesterday would confess their sins and remove themselves from public life. They are responsible for what happened —and that includes not only Trump, but the likes of Cruz and Hawley who even after the terrible harvest of their words awas known, still persisted with their false and insidious claims —and they must be held accountable, if not by their consciences, then by the voters.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't expect honest conservatives to suddenly support for AOC or Bernie Sanders. Maybe if this were France (or Louisiana or California) and our general elections were a one-or-the-other choice —but they aren't. If you truly believe that what happened today is unacceptable, however, then I do expect you to support a third party if you cannot bring yourself to vote for the Democrats. I would expect the same of myself if a Democratic president had just urged his supporters to march on the Capitol to prevent the seating of a Republican president. Voting to reelect politicians who attack our democracy, is at some level an endorsement of their actions, because you are making it possible for them to continue those attacks. The past is in the past; but after yesterday, they can be no misunderstanding what these individuals are about —and if you vote for them, you are voting for this to happen again.

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FBI Washington field office beginning their investigation with well over 50+ photos of persons of interest. Wray is pulling no punches:

https://twitter.com/FBIWFO/status/1347407275300954112

What’s with the black bars

It's so their friends and relatives can get used to seeing them behind them.

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https://twitter.com/seattlepi/status/1347660852850270210

What are chances that they actually resign or that the Senate expel them by 2/3?

Must be pretty close to nonexistent.

I'll predict now that the outcome will be a vote of censure against Hawley at least.  Less sure about Cruz.

That definitely seems plausible.

Yeah, a censure seems both the most appropriate and likely move in this case.

Most likely, yes. Most appropriate however would be sedition charges.

Sedition charges imo would make sense for Hawley for moving the Pennsylvania objection even after the attack, but for Cruz they would be much harder to sustain legally or morally. My own stance is that Cruz should be censured, Hawley expelled, and every member of the House who put forward the Pennsylvania objection censured.

I don't know if there is a meaningful difference morally between moving the objection and voting to sustain it, but there might be a legal distinction —I'm not aware.