DC Unrest Megathread

[Alben Barkley]

Let this be a lesson to anyone who couldn’t stomach voting for Hillary.

I hope that wonderful woman is watching all this and “cackling.”

No one will be more vindicated by history than her.

[Alben Barkley]

You know what? Screw the GOP. Screw it until it gets it's act together.

No offence to good Republicans on here.

Screw it forever more like. Last indisputably great Republican president was literally the first, Lincoln. It’s been all downhill from there, and at exponential rates since Nixon and Reagan.

They deserve to go to the dustbin of history just like their predecessors the Federalists, Whigs, Know Nothings, etc.

[Alben Barkley]

The GOP is effectively being divided between Lawful Evil (Pence, McConnell) and Chaotic Evil (Trump, Cruz) wings before our eyes.

[Alben Barkley]

Bill Maher is going to be the most smug motherf—ker in the world when he comes back on the air.

But you know what? He’s earned it. That man saw Trump’s psyche more clearly than anyone, earlier than anyone. He knew there was no way in hell Trump would ever leave peacefully and said it a million times over the past four years. Even I thought he was going too far, that Trump was ultimately more bluster than anything. But Maher stood steadfast to his prediction and deserves credit for calling it before anyone else.

[Alben Barkley]

BASED Ralph Northam has totally made up for that whole yearbook thing now. He said “Jurisdiction? LOL no, my National Guard is marching on DC anyway.”

Can’t believe the Governor of Virginia who apparently maybe once dressed up as a Klansman is now the based defender of American democracy for ordering state troops into DC, but here we are.

[Alben Barkley]

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.

[Alben Barkley]

Sergeant at Arms says the Capitol is secure and certification will soon resume.

If Hawley or Cruz or any of those other little s—ts still object after this...

I’d just think long and hard if I were them. Their party has already been ripped to shreds over this. How much deeper do they want to dig their own graves?

[Alben Barkley]

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.

The million man march didn’t mean a sizable part of the electorate was black nationalists. I suspect these actions will be STRONGLY condemned by the public at large. Will be interesting to see if Trump has the lowest approval rating ever for an outgoing president; usually they get a bump as their terms end.

[Alben Barkley]

Weird, I was told the “American Carnage” would stop with Trump and that he would restore “Law and Order.”

[Alben Barkley]

Anyone still wanna argue that Andrew F—King Jackson or something was a worse president?

I offer now as the time to make that claim.

[Alben Barkley]

So apparently Pence is the one who called in the National Guard, not Traitor Trump.

Was this a “Dick Cheney takes charge on 9/11” situation? Or did they secretly invoke the 25th Amendment or something???

[Alben Barkley]

Please take the religious discussion OUT of this thread.  It is a derailment.  I will report every subsequent post by either side on that discussion.

I'm about to just give up and lock it, It's like some of you want me to ban you.

This thread is too important to lock, come on.

[Alben Barkley]

We have a Wikipedia page, now. It's currently titled "2021 United States Capitol protests." We'll see how long that lasts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_United_States_Capitol_protests

We'll have to see if this ever gets renamed "2021 United States Capitol riots."

How about “2021 United States Capitol terrorist attacks”

[Alben Barkley]

Well, at least maybe they’ll have a good idea for a new Die Hard movie, set in DC with John McClane trapped in the Capitol saving Congressmen as radical right-wing terrorists take over the building.

Too bad they already wasted the title “Live Free or Die Hard.”

[Alben Barkley]

I hope they just do an up and down vote on impeachment TONIGHT, skip all the debate and everything. Play the tape of the Georgia call, the video of him inciting this, then just say: “Support this or no?”

Then see what McConnell and company do.

[Alben Barkley]

Trump’s whole video statement was a dogwhistle saying “I totally don’t support violence or anything but...” with a wink and nudge.

Then his Tweet was even more clear about his intentions.

[Alben Barkley]

I believe I’ve mentioned here before that I lived in DC for a bit while going to grad school. And I remember whenever I walked by a place like the Capitol thinking, “Man, I live in the safest city in the world.” Cops everywhere, barricades everywhere, military presence known to be nearby at all times.

Apparently that was all just an illusion...

[Alben Barkley]

Today has been terrible for Trump on Twitter. First Pence ghosts him and now his account has been locked.

[Alben Barkley]

https://twitter.com/BTnewsroom/status/1346927735499796480

Defund the Police.

This is why we needed the military to come in.

It’s sad but true now that the military is now more opposed to their own Commander-in-Chief and dedicated to supporting the rights of civilians than the cops are.

[Alben Barkley]

Is it fair to say Hawley and Cruz are screwed as far as 2024?

I’d like to think so but it is the GOP so...

[Alben Barkley]

Chief of Staff to the First Lady has resigned:

https://twitter.com/KateBennett_DC/status/1346976842159427586?s=20

Is this really what it took though? 4 years of this and they actually had to violently storm the capitol for people to say “OK, I’m out?”

[Alben Barkley]

From the NBC News liveblog:

Rand Paul: No more objections expected to Electoral College count

No more objections are expected as lawmakers expect to continue the certification process for the Electoral College votes Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told reporters.

Both chambers of Congress were in the midst of debate on a GOP objection to the Arizona results when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, forcing members of the House and Senate to flee for safety.

Legislators will vote to close debate after they resume, but Paul said he does not anticipate anymore objections to the process. Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, along with other Republican lawmakers, previously threatened to object to election results in some states citing baseless claims of fraud.

I saw another tweet how Hawley is still planning on objecting to Pennsylvania.

https://twitter.com/declanpgarvey/status/1346976246941454337?s=20

I can’t believe I’m actually hoping Rand Paul is right about something.

[Alben Barkley]

If the 25th isn’t invoked, then impeach and convict.  If impeachment doesn’t happen, then criminal charges need to be brought to him.

They cannot let him just get away with this.

None of this is either/or. They can knock him out now with 25th Amendment, then impeach and convict, THEN try him criminally!

However for now it kinda seems like the 25th has been all but informally invoked; the National Guard answered to Pence, and it seems everyone is just ignoring Trump. This seems more realistic to me: Invoke no formal powers to remove him, but also don’t let him actually do anything.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t get extremely vindictive and call for a nuclear strike or something in a narcissistic rage (if I can’t be president, the whole world deserves to burn!). And if so, hopefully it’s like how when SecDef ordered the Joint Chiefs to ignore Nixon’s orders during Watergate.

[Alben Barkley]

This country is beyond saving, holy sh-t

Those numbers actually look better than I thought? It's the Republican Party that's clearly beyond saving.

Yeah plus a majority wants Trump removed from office immediately which is nice.

[Alben Barkley]

Bernie Sanders is right. No need to impeach Trump. Let him leave office on schedule. He's already going to be a disgrace.

I thought Bernie would be right in this case but apparently not. Treason and terrorism must be punished as severely and swiftly as possible. Bad precedents cannot be set.