# 6 January 2021; A Day worth a Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 6, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770 "2021-01-06T04:30:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 50
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/983 "2021-01-07T02:28:02Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > How do these objections work? Can a single senator object. To all 50 states and therefore single handedly make this process take 100 hours? I believe it’s that one house objects, and must have someone from the other house agree to go along with them before they break to vote. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/984 "2021-01-07T02:28:59Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > So which cabinets members count when it comes to this? There are so many “acting” secretaries - are they official enough to cast a vote? The 25th amendment says (in part, bolding mine): > Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the **principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide** , transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. So…the cabinet heads unless otherwise specified by law. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/985 "2021-01-07T02:29:23Z")
I hope Hawley enjoys his time as a junior member of the Senate Committee on Swamps. Mitch is going to stick it to him but good in the next month or so, mark my words. The Turtle needs to take out his frustrations on someone! ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/986 "2021-01-07T02:29:32Z")
Sorry, Mitt, you’re right but you’re not going to talk these idiots out of what they believe in when they didn’t use logic to get there to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/987 "2021-01-07T02:29:57Z")
McConnell’s wife is considering resignation. I thought hawley was not going to object after Arizona. I figured that his speech would cover all his objections. He kept mentioning pa. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/988 "2021-01-07T02:30:23Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Crap - I keep thinking that gormless weenie is in the House, not the Senate. The little shit went to my high school as well - what an embarrassment. At least Tim Kaine is boring. Did he get bullied a lot in high school? ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/989 "2021-01-07T02:30:33Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > That said, most of the senators who said they will oppose the certification have walked it back and said they will certify. It only takes one, and I bet Cruz and Hawley still plan to object. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/990 "2021-01-07T02:31:00Z")
He’s not going to do shit. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/991 "2021-01-07T02:31:37Z")
He was 4 years behind me - I just found out he’s a fellow alum today. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/992 "2021-01-07T02:32:00Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > It only takes one, and I bet Cruz and Hawley still plan to object. Hawley just spoke and seemed non-committal. I think he’d like to still oppose but is taking a wait-and-see stance. Cruz…no idea. He is as craven as they come. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/993 "2021-01-07T02:32:51Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > McConnell’s wife is considering resignation. Is this a one-liner, or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Colossus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.colossus/32/9423_2.png) [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/994 "2021-01-07T02:33:48Z")
QUESTION: So there’s the pic circulating about the Capitol during the BLM protests with full-suited storm troopers six-feet apart covering every one of the steps up to the door. Then there’s the uncertainty of who can call the Nat’l Guard, since the DC mayor can’t (speculation it was Pence). Question is–obviously Trump has the authority to tell the goons to suit up and stand guard, and presumably it was his call during the BLM to have the storm troopers “show of force.” Would today’s lack of security have been his call today…? Who dropped the ball on stationing enough security troops around the perimeter? Did perhaps Trump say they didn’t need much security, or would the SS or capitol police make that call? Second question: Someone, I think Pelosi (today’s a hurricane of moving parts so I can’t cite) said something like “yeah we don’t have a plan in place for this. THIS is AMERICA. NO ONE storms the capitol in an armed coup. NO we did not have a plan in place. YES our computers were left unsecure!” It seems laid bare that most of American governance is a system of trust built on decorum and norms, and it’s apparent now that if someone doesn’t want to follow those rules and norms, there’s little mechanism to enforce anything. Just like there was no clear plan for what happened today. Could it also be the case that they’re not really prepared for an unhinged lunatic on this level, so they are operating outside the typical legislative norms to subvert a president’s power…? Like a soft 25th, or “let’s get shit back under control and we’ll sort the legality of this out later?” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/995 "2021-01-07T02:34:06Z")
They’ve been discussing it for about an hour and a half–adding the 12-14 minutes from the early session, and they are getting close to the 2-hour limit. Voting then, and that should be interesting…wonder if someone will call for a roll-call vote… ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/996 "2021-01-07T02:34:39Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Cruz…no idea. He is as craven as they come. Cruz’s “what-course-of-action-is-most-likely-to-make-me-President-ometer” must be spinning around like a propeller right now. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/997 "2021-01-07T02:35:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > > > thank christ that DC has strict gun control. > > > > imagine if these fascists all had AR 15s. > > I’m sure virtually all of them are from outside DC, and brought any weapons they have with them. > > DC laws could provide cause to charge them, but they wouldn’t have affected having them. it did affect them. when they protested in places like Michigans capital they all had weapons. it seems far fewer had guns in DC since they would be arrested on sight for that. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/998 "2021-01-07T02:35:25Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Is this a one-liner, or am I missing something? She’s the Secretary of Transportation. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/999 "2021-01-07T02:35:32Z")
McConnell’s wife is Sec. of Transportation Elaine Chao. She’s (reportedly) thinking of resigning the cabinet, not McConnell. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/1000 "2021-01-07T02:35:37Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Is this a one-liner, or am I missing something? His wife, Elaine Chao, is the Secretary of Transportation. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/1001 "2021-01-07T02:35:42Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Is this a one-liner, or am I missing something? She’s the Transportation Secretary. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770/1002 "2021-01-07T02:35:52Z")
There are reports of many people resigning, or seriously considering resigning at the point. McConnell‘s wife is the highest ranking person reported to thinking resignation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770.md?page=49) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-january-2021-a-day-worth-a-thread/929770.md?page=51)