US politics: Everything in moderation, including moderation

[DireWolfSpirit]

Trump doesn't possess the mental acuity to perform the duties of Speaker.

He would be some sort of Sino...aka....Speaker in name only!

[Wilbur]

25 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Trump doesn't possess the mental acuity to perform the duties of Speaker.

He would be some sort of Sino...aka....Speaker in name only!

And thus the first RINO SINO.

[Fragile Bird]

52 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

That’s the only way to get Trump into the line of succession.  And there is nothing, Constitutionally, that requires the Speaker to be a member of the House.  

Gaetz is such a lickspittle toady.

What? The Speaker of the House doesn't have to be a member? Why?

Is that the same for the Senate?

[IheartIheartTesla]

The US Senate doesn't have a speaker. The next in line of succession after the House Speaker is the President pro tempore of the Senate (traditionally the most senior member of the majority party) who I believe has to be a sitting Senator. The  VP presides over the Senate, and is of course not a senator.

Edit: As to the reason, who knows. This is how the Constitution lays it out and no one has sought to change it since.

[Fez]

9 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

Edit: As to the reason, who knows. This is how the Constitution lays it out and no one has sought to change it since.

I always assumed it was just a simple oversight that none of the founders caught at the time. And if they did notice it after the fact never bothered to talk about since they were still under the assumption that the constitution wasn't anything special and would get replaced/have major updates in a couple decades anyway.

Regardless, it never used to be an issue until a few years ago when political fantasy football started talking about it in various contexts.

[Mindwalker]

Explosive Report Finds Cuomo Sexually Harassed Multiple Women and Retaliated Against at Least One Victim

The behavior included unwelcome and nonconsensual touching of “intimate body parts,” as well as repeated sexualized comments.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/3/2043573/-Independent-investigation-finds-New-York-Gov-Andrew-Cuomo-is-a-sexually-harassing-abusive-creep

Full AG report: https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2021.08.03_nyag_-_investigative_report.pdf

[Maithanet]

40 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

And thus the first RINO SINO.

Tell that to my gynecologist, he's a white rhino with a bit of a drinking problem.  A true Albino Wino Rhino Gyno.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

28 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

Explosive Report Finds Cuomo Sexually Harassed Multiple Women and Retaliated Against at Least One Victim

The behavior included unwelcome and nonconsensual touching of “intimate body parts,” as well as repeated sexualized comments.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/8/3/2043573/-Independent-investigation-finds-New-York-Gov-Andrew-Cuomo-is-a-sexually-harassing-abusive-creep

Full AG report: https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2021.08.03_nyag_-_investigative_report.pdf

Will Cuomo resign?

[Jaxom 1974]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Trump probably doesn’t want to be Speaker, hence why yesterday I joked they’d settle for Ivanka. But regardless, their hypothetical margin would be razor thin and a few holdouts could knock all three in leadership out of the running. The questions is then who could possibly step up? Speaker Tucker Carlson? It’s just as likely as any other House Republican.

Putting Trump as Speaker in 2022, assuming the majority swings, is only placeholding, as the play is to then impeach the President and VP. It's posturing, and shouldn't be allowed. So vote, people. Vote!

[Mindwalker]

3 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Will Cuomo resign?

Dunno... He just came out and said it's all a lie. Maybe they'll impeach him.

 

Any news on the Nina Turner race?

[Maithanet]

1 minute ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

Putting Trump as Speaker in 2022, assuming the majority swings, is only placeholding, as the play is to then impeach the President and VP. It's posturing, and shouldn't be allowed. So vote, people. Vote!

Well, there's no scenario where the Republicans go from 50 to 67 seats in the Senate in 2022 such that such a plan could work.  I would actually be more worried about some crazy person/group trying to assassinate Trump back into office.  Although it would require a pretty colossal conspiracy to successfully pull that off. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

5 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Will Cuomo resign?

Looks unlikely.

2 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Gaetz is such a lickspittle toady.

Who cares what Gaetz says, he'd do. He'll hopefully be behind bars at that point. On a totally unrelated note, are you looking forward to meet whatever guy your daughter brings home from college?

 

j/k your daughter hopefully has better sense to bring such a creep home.

[DMC]

Trump has ‘zero desire’ to be speaker of House, spokesman says.  Funniest part about this chatter?  It was in large part encouraged simply because Kevin McCarthy made a slip of the tongue:

Quote

On Friday, McCarthy inadvertently encouraged such chatter when he told Fox News: “You know, I’ve talked to President Trump many times, he tells me he wants to be speaker, and I think he should be president.”

A spokesperson later said the California representative had meant to say Trump thought McCarthy should be speaker.

All this chatter that the Republicans wouldn't be able to settle on a Speaker to get to 218 votes is similarly trivial.  Gaetz may be fundraising on the promise he'll vote for Trump as speaker, but if he was the 218th vote required and the rest of the conference had settled on McCarthy, he'd vote for McCarthy.  Seems like almost every cycle these days there's "rumors" the presumed Speaker will have difficulty getting to 218, and its always a bunch of hooey.  Hooey I say!

54 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

The next in line of succession after the House Speaker is the President pro tempore of the Senate (traditionally the most senior member of the majority party) who I believe has to be a sitting Senator.

As far as I can tell, there's nothing in the Constitution or the various Senate resolutions and rules that regulate the office's election and duties that specifically states the president pro tempore has to be a Senator either.  Here's a CRS report on the office's history if anyone else is interested (although I suspect I'm in the distinct minority on that).  Fun fact - there's technically an office of Deputy President Pro Tempore:

Quote

On January 10, 1977, the Senate adopted S.Res. 17, a resolution creating an office of Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate.66 The office was created to honor Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, a Democratic Party stalwart, who had served as both Vice President and was a presidential candidate in 1968. Humphrey served in the Senate from 1949 to 1964 and from 1971 until his death in January 1978.

The resolution provided that "any Member of the Senate who has held the Office of President of the United States or Vice President of the United States shall be a Deputy President pro tempore."67 Although the resolution did not specifically enumerate the duties and responsibilities of the new office, the Deputy President pro tempore was subsequently provided a staff,68 given a salary increase to the level of the majority leader, and—in the event of the absence of the Vice President and the President pro tempore—authorized to preside over the Senate and sign bills as well as resolutions without a specific authorization from the President pro tempore.69

Senator Humphrey served as Deputy President pro tempore from January 5, 1977, until his death on January 13, 1978.70 The position was next filled by Senator George Mitchell, Democrat of Maine, who was appointed at the start of the 100th Congress. The elected President pro tempore for the 100th Congress was Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi, the most senior Democratic Senator. Senate leaders were concerned that Senator Stennis's poor health might prevent him from fulfilling some of the responsibilities of the office, particularly the President pro tempore's principal responsibility for presiding over the Senate. Senator Mitchell was appointed to assure that a presiding officer would be available all times.71 Senator Mitchell served as Deputy President pro tempore from 1987 until he was elected majority leader for the 101st Congress on November 29, 1988.72 The position has not been filled since that date.

 

8 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

Any news on the Nina Turner race?

Little early in the day for results!

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

17 minutes ago, Mindwalker said:

Dunno... He just came out and said it's all a lie. Maybe they'll impeach him.

 

Any news on the Nina Turner race?

Does he have an explanation for why the NYAG would make such a finding if it had no legs?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

13 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Looks unlikely.

Who cares what Gaetz says, he'd do. He'll hopefully be behind bars at that point. On a totally unrelated note, are you looking forward to meet whatever guy your daughter brings home from college?

 

j/k your daughter hopefully has better sense to bring such a creep home.

She’s already seeing a young man.  He’s quite nice.  

[Mindwalker]

16 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Does he have an explanation for why the NYAG would make such a finding if it had no legs?

I haven't watched it yet. Angry black woman maybe? (Not in so many words ofc.)

Thrish James supposedly has certain political ambitions of her own, so that could be used against her, I suppose.

 

Cuomo seems to govern like a mafia boss (not saying this because he's Italian) ... I mean, apparently everyone in NY knew what he did to women and also that he threatened and bullied everyone in his way...

 

And there's also his nursing home problem, plus the way he dealt with Covid, but the media have pretty much made him Jesus in this regard.

[Mindwalker]

27 minutes ago, DMC said:

Little early in the day for results!

Yeah, I keep forgetting how far behind you guys are!

[DireWolfSpirit]

1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

And thus the first RINO SINO.

I know.........

 

[DMC]

33 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Does he have an explanation for why the NYAG would make such a finding if it had no legs?

He's been laying the groundwork for a bit by questioning the "independence" of the investigation and James' motives.  In contrast to the confidence in it he emphasized when the investigation was first opened:

Quote

The chair of the New York Assembly's judiciary committee, Charles Lavine, wrote a letter to Cuomo last week warning his office to stop disparaging the investigators. At the time, Cuomo's spokesperson, Rich Azzopardi, had been implying on social media that James' investigation was motivated by a desire to run for governor.

"It is obvious that attempts to demean the Attorney General serve as well to undermine the investigation and send profoundly negative signals to witnesses," Lavine wrote.

Throughout the spring, as he faced calls for his resignation, Cuomo had taken a different approach, praising James and her team and urging the public to wait for the results of the investigation before judging his conduct.

"Let the Attorney General do her job," he said in March. "She's very good. She's very competent. And that will be due process and then we'll have the facts."

 

[Ormond]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Trump probably doesn’t want to be Speaker, hence why yesterday I joked they’d settle for Ivanka. But regardless, their hypothetical margin would be razor thin and a few holdouts could knock all three in leadership out of the running. The questions is then who could possibly step up? Speaker Tucker Carlson? It’s just as likely as any other House Republican.

Trump would not want to be Speaker if it requires any real work. But if the Republicans would elect him Speaker, couldn't they reassign almost all of the present duties of the Speaker to the Majority Leader and make the position more of a figurehead one?