Hey, I can dream, can’t I?
I didn’t say that, but I also seriously doubt that most of our professional military would actually have loyalty to Trump the person, vs. the Constitution and elected President.
If things came to to be that the election legitimacy was murky enough, I suspect the active-duty military would sit it out- in that case, it would punt to Congress, right?
At any rate, I haven’t seen anything yet to imply that the military has any particular love for Trump, and anecdotally, most of the former (a mix of old-timers and recently separated within 3-5 years Army and USMC) military people I know are pretty disgusted by his lying and general lack of integrity.
The Senate would, as I understand it. They already have the responsibility to choose if no candidate gets more than 270 electoral votes.
I suppose what you’re saying is what happens if someone gets more than 270, but the other guy still pitches a fit and claims fraud, etc…?
That’s a good question- I’d think there would probably be some sort of Congressional/SCOTUS intervention sort of like there was in 2000, with that Bush v. Gore hanging chad business. After all, just because the presidency would be in question, that doesn’t mean the other two branches of the Government aren’t working fine. Again, I suspect the military would just sit by, as their allegiance is to the Constitution, not the President.
Presumably, the Supreme Court. That was basically the question in Bush v Gore.
If the election is in question, the issues get sorted out in court - provided the court does not wimp out, like they did with gerrymandering. If too many decline to listen to the court, the republic is over.
If the control of the country comes down to two sides coming to armed standoff using assorted apparatus of government, then democracy has already lost and it’s time to start planting bananas wherever the climate permits. The overwhelmingly distinct feature of US democracy was that in a time of monarchs and tyrants, they created and persevered (so far) with a form of government where the administration was chosen fresh every 4 to 8 years by the white land-owning men, and the previous ruler and his minions gracefully stepped down and ceded power. This is something many countries today have not mastered.
The reason democracy worked was because the reasonable factions were confident that come the next election, if they could convince enough voters, they would have their chance to govern.
Sure, toss the election issue to SCOTUS. They’ll get around to by 2030 maybe.
I honestly think he will abscond to Moscow the moment he loses. He knows he’s going to prison on State charges.
Actually, the House (or a distorted version of it) decides the Presidency in the event of no candidate getting a majority in the EC. The Senate decides the Vice-Presidency.
Nonsense. They chose W in 2000 right quick. I assume they will choose Trump since they are thoroughly in the pockets of the Republican party.
To correct an error above, it is not the senate the rules in the case of a dispute. A joint session of the house and senate count the ballots. And if no one has a majority of the votes, then the house chooses but with each state getting just one vote.
What I am wondering about is whether Trump could be arrested for trespassing if he refuses to vacate the White House.
My own guess is that he doesn’t have the balls to refuse to leave. Any thought that the military would support Trump is absurd. They mostly hate him.
But doesn’t the President appoint the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or maybe all of the Chiefs of Staff? (Someone fight my iggorance here, please.) Can’t he just put “his man/men” in there, as he has done with the Supreme Court? Has he already?
Who would the JCofS support? Would they issue orders to their troops who to support? Would the troops follow those orders? If not, is that insubordination if not outright mutiny?
This idea has been rolling around in my head as well.
Now I doubt he would be of much value to Putin. But maybe he has a little information that is worth something.
Having a former President of the US in some puppet position in the Kremlin would be a bit problematic.
I imagine if push comes to shove some Secret Service personnel would restrain DJT while a medico gives him an injection. Once it takes effect and after his vitals are checked he’d be strapped into a gurney and wheeled into a van withOUT any ambulance markings parked at a loading door of the White House and off to an undisclosed secure location.
I have, both directly and indirectly. We have US Army people we routinely talk to, and I know a guy who didn’t reup in the Marines because of all the trump nuts.
No way for me to tell how large of a percentage it is, but they are there.
Based on insider reports, the SS hates Trump. He’s a pain to work with, doesn’t follow security guidelines, yells at anybody for any slight real or imaginary, etc. Plus all his golfing trips have hurt their budget leaving them less money to cover other things.
The Secret Service will make sure he goes.
In 2016 there was no rumbling from the military about “taking care of Hillary” who they generally had more issues with than Biden or Bernie. They won’t go rogue if Trump loses.
It’s traditional for the Chief Justice to swear in the President under normal changes of administrations. If Roberts swears in the new person and the other Justices don’t protest in large numbers, then that’s the new Prez.
All of the top military positions require Senate confirmation, I believe that the law says that Senate confirmation is specifically required for all appointments to three-star or above position. So, even if Trump wanted to appoint total patsies to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he would have the check of Senate confirmation.
Nah. He’ll just label them “Acting Whatever.” That’s his goal (to the extent that he is capable of planning, which is to say, not much)-- to make all the senior administrators into “Acting,” so he never has to get confirmation on anything.
And, at any rate, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is the highest ranking officer, but not actually in command of anything in particular. The actual fighting forces are handled by the commanders of the eleven Unified Combatant Commands, i.e. USCENTCOM, USEURCOM, USNORTHCOM, etc… who report directly to the Secretary of Defense.
So Trump could order Gen. Milley to have the troops do all sorts of stuff, but he doesn’t have the operational command authority to actually command the units to do anything. He can, I believe, do stuff like change the structure of the Army, or the uniforms, or to accept gay people, but he can’t directly order say… the 1st Cavalry Division to move out of Fort Hood and go do something. Trump would have to go through Esper, and then there’d need to be some shifting, as in peacetime, the units are under the command of US Army Forces Command, unless they’re actively deployed somewhere.
Sentenced to just four years??? Unbelievable…
Please let it be shirtless Joe. I think he would really like to kick Trump’s rump anyway. He should give him a wedgie on the way out for good measure.
Everyone is writing posts as though this would take place very suddenly right before and right after 12 noon on January 20th. When he is voted out of office he will have months to to prepare.
He owns half of Congress and the majority of the Supreme Court.
The logical thing to do would immediately arrest the incoming President and charge them with sedition and or treason claiming they are attempting to overthrow his government.
He could have them arrested and the ensuing legal fight would last far beyond January 20th.
It is not that he will refuse to leave - it is that he will make it impossible for the incoming President to be inaugurated.
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