BurtReynolds wrote:There is no chance Trump gets impeached by a Republican Congress, guys. I don't care if he kills someone. This ain't the 1900s.
I can see it happening, though I don't know how likely it is.
Suppose he does something blatantly corrupt/criminal that is hard to ignore. A GOP led Congress could impeach him and gain two things: First, a Mike Pence administration which would be much better for Paul Ryan and company, second, they could save face if the country as a whole turns on Trump due to whatever it is he did that lead to the impeachment.
After this election they wouldn't dare go against him, unless he turns out to be a closet democrat or something, but even then voters aren't likely to turn on him. Impeachment would be too damaging to the Republican brand. They'd lose congressional seats if they tried it, and besides, they already have everything they want.
The media could bitch about it all day, but they'll just spin it as more liberal lies.
Dublin cab driver : see Trump though. He doesn't hate foreigners. It's the women in his life. He'd divorce them and send them home only he's too cheap!
If we abolished the electoral college, what kind of impact would that have on third party candidates? I went third party in this election because I don't live in a swing state so it's not like I'm throwing it away. If we went by popular vote, and each vote "mattered", I wonder if that would be the kiss of death for third parties.
I'll be the one in the lobby in the green fuck me shirt. The green one.
I think our definitions of swings states is going to change soon, and people going with the third party vote are going to regret it when their state unexpectedly goes the other way.
Dscans wrote:If we abolished the electoral college, what kind of impact would that have on third party candidates? I went third party in this election because I don't live in a swing state so it's not like I'm throwing it away. If we went by popular vote, and each vote "mattered", I wonder if that would be the kiss of death for third parties.
Great question. Don't have an answer for you, but I'm happy you voted third party in a non-swing state -- I did the same. Blaming third-party supporters en masse is ludicrous; third-party voters in swing states are boneheads.
Prefential voting would be a good solution to that.
It will be interesting to see what the reaction will be long-term if the Democrats continue to win the popular vote and lose in the Electoral College. Currently, Clinton has about a 600,000 lead, and that's expected to grow. It won't change anything this time, but I don't know what would happen if Democrats start losing presidential electoral contests consistently with popular vote wins by a million or more.
BurtReynolds wrote:After this election they wouldn't dare go against him, unless he turns out to be a closet democrat or something, but even then voters aren't likely to turn on him. Impeachment would be too damaging to the Republican brand. They'd lose congressional seats if they tried it, and besides, they already have everything they want.
The media could bitch about it all day, but they'll just spin it as more liberal lies.
Nixon would not have resigned unless there was a real threat from Republican senators (Goldwater was a prominent one) that even they would vote to throw him out. There absolutely are scenarios for the GOP to abandon Trump, even if those scenarios are limited.
Dscans wrote:If we abolished the electoral college, what kind of impact would that have on third party candidates? I went third party in this election because I don't live in a swing state so it's not like I'm throwing it away. If we went by popular vote, and each vote "mattered", I wonder if that would be the kiss of death for third parties.
It depends on what you do if no one gets a majority. If a plurality popular vote is enough to win, then third party voting is still ineffective, and disastrous if you're third party voting from the far left or far right. You'd need a runoff rule, regular or instant, in order to make third party voting work.
digster wrote:It will be interesting to see what the reaction will be long-term if the Democrats continue to win the popular vote and lose in the Electoral College. Currently, Clinton has about a 600,000 lead, and that's expected to grow. It won't change anything this time, but I don't know what would happen if Democrats start losing presidential electoral contests consistently with popular vote wins by a million or more.
Clinton may very well win this popular vote by 1-2 million once all the votes come in from California.
The electoral college isn't going away any time soon. A constitutional amendment is of course unrealistic, and the interstate compact isn't going to grow with all the statehouses the GOP control. Only faint hope might be through ballot initiatives. That said, Democrats should absolutely add its abolition to its party platform, and consistently keep it there for the day if/when they do gain enough power.
The cold, hard truth (that I'm not entirely thrilled with) is that the Democrats are going to have to expand their coalition to include rural and suburban interests. Being a party dominated by cities isn't friendly to the rules of the Constitution.
Maybe they could make an amendment that if you win a certain % of the popular vote, cancels out the Electoral College. Or they turn it into a battle to the death
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BurtReynolds wrote:After this election they wouldn't dare go against him, unless he turns out to be a closet democrat or something, but even then voters aren't likely to turn on him. Impeachment would be too damaging to the Republican brand. They'd lose congressional seats if they tried it, and besides, they already have everything they want.
The media could bitch about it all day, but they'll just spin it as more liberal lies.
Nixon would not have resigned unless there was a real threat from Republican senators (Goldwater was a prominent one) that even they would vote to throw him out. There absolutely are scenarios for the GOP to abandon Trump, even if those scenarios are limited.
It's a very different time now. There is no way Nixon would resign or be impeached for what he did if he did it today (by his own party). That was minor compared to what politicians get away with now.
No president in this day and age gets impeached by their own party. The rules have changed massively since Nixon.
