Even if the policy doesn't change much (how much power does the president actually have - I thought it was mostly under the remit of the governors), having someone who isn't behaving like a total pillock should send out better a message that the situation is serious.

Sounds like a good description of yourself.

I think it's still early days and we will see what happens to Biden when the honeymoon is over on the dem side and the hurt subdues on the gop side.

If only Twitter could have banned Trump back in 2019, Covid would never have broken out in the first place.

The next impeachment ritual should be against Twitter.

If you think about sore losers who haven't gotten over 2016 who are mainly characterized by obstructionism, are they capable to win gracefully? And were the impeachment efforts over somebody who had a day left in the office, a proof of winning well? People are not dumb...

Do you actually take pleasure in instigating and perpetuating arguments on Internet forums? Is that how you derive a sense of power, or are you just bored?

I will be blocking you now. As I've already learned, that's the only rational way to deal with some people on this forum.

Take care.

The GOP used to be the party of conservative values, fiscal prudence, law and order.
Now it is the party of fact-free conspiracy theories, achieving goals by violent illegal means (Capitol insurrection) and the opposite of fiscal prudence.
The US national debt has increased by almost 40% since Trump took office - when President Trump took office in January 2017, the national debt stood at $19.9 trillion. Today, the national debt reached a new high of $27.8 trillion. Obama increased the national debt by $8.6 trillion in eight years, Trump managed that level of increase in only four years.

Great point there!

Trump must be going through the worst withdrawal symptoms of any president in history.

It doesn‘t really matter if he had 1 more day in office, or a year. If he was responsible for inciting an insurrection, it would make sense to prosecute. That‘s got very little to do with winning well. It does beg the question, however whether the best legal vehicle for this is the impeachment route.

The donkeys only control both chambers on paper. The actual split in the senate is 50-50, and VP Harris only casts a vote to break a tie. Many important pieces of legislation used to require at least 60 votes to pass, but the stupid Dems introduced the "nuclear option" during Obama's years. That allows narrowly worded legislation to pass with 51 votes, and importantly for the Rs under Trump - allowed supreme court seats to be filled with a simple majority.

Congress was dysfunctional before Obama. Newt Gingrich likes to take credit for upending the idea that working across the aisle is good.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...elcome/570832/

It is still possible that Trump will have to have his day in court to face such charges.

Many of the rioters have made their defence that they were following Trump's directives.

Yeah. Newt. Absolute scum.

It is a fact that under Trump the GOP lost the House, the Senate, and the White House.

I agree the US government is dysfunctional, I see no solution in the future. It is unimaginable that they have reached such a dysfunctional level today.
US politics is down in this quagmire where facts are no longer relevant, now it is all about who can spin the most convincing story and collect a quorum of supporters regardless of reality; reality in this scenario is now a matter of perception.

The best analysis of the last 4 years and the election and aftermath that I have seen. Frank Luntz is a GOP pollster who has an incredible grasp of the inner emotional state of Republican voters.

I don't agree with all he says, but it is a great piece.

Do watch when you have an hour!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT3h...ature=youtu.be

But of course they do. Most of the time in a very subtle way. Like practicing casual racism of which they accuse others for almost no reason. It's hilarious and ironic to see amogles going down that path.

Ignore list seems to function for me, in general. But I simply avoid getting into debates with a few people here. Have tried quite a few times and know very well which is the course of the discussion and that we don't see eye to eye on too many things. I know their opinions by now. I try to respect or better said tolerate everyone just the way they are and I can't do that if I continue to argue.
So, let's choose out partners of discussion more carefully. Everyone wins.

Thanks. It was imperative to know that...

Probably the wrong thread but anyway despite all the Trump and GOP rhetoric about the Russian collusion hoax &&& there was only one criminal charge.

Difficult to ignore the ex-President.

Seems the lead lawyer in his impeachment defense team and four other lawyers have jumped ship.

Allegedly the exodus is due to disagreements over the defense strategy. The team members wanted to focus on the legality of the impeachment, while Trump insisted on pushing narratives of election fraud.

Due to the severe US penalties for lawyers who claim fraud in court without evidence then no sane lawyer will take that path.

Edit: No other attorneys have announced they are working on Trump's impeachment defense, so no lawyers two weeks before trial!

Doesn't matter. There are not enough votes to convict anyhow. He could bring that porn star and the crazy Qanon rep as defense attorneys.

Of course, just underlines how appalling is today's GOP.

There is a theory that the GOP's move to deny insurrection and endorse conspiracy theories will cause the GOP to lose centrist swing voters, unfortunately, Trump's 74 million votes point the other way.

As an example of Biden's difficult path, it is claimed some 20 million vaccine doses have disappeared due to poor documentation.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) has tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday afternoon after receiving a second dose of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine. We know the vaccine is not 100% effective but Biden could do without such high-profile news. New US cases and hospitalisations are turning down nicely.