Trump supporters storm the Capitol Building

[BiggerBoat]

Here’s a brief but satisfying perp walk.

Chad Hedrick (WSAZChadHedrick)

[grahamiam]

It was posted by some OAN “reporter” as well, for some reason. Maybe to show they didn’t all break-in? Is that location and entrance isolated from the house and senate chambers so a misdirect?

[Menzo]

Yeah, that’s good for the soul.

We should keep in mind that most of these idiots will walk with minor consequences. They’re white and if they have no priors they’ll likely get a fine and probation.

[triggercut]

@Nightgaunt

Oh yeah, I forgot that this was another part of my frustration today! Pelosi yesterday: “Pence, start 25A or we’ll impeach!” Today: “Trump, resign or we’ll impeach!” Later: “We’ll start on Monday.”

Look, I’m not sure what you imagine impeachment takes, but I can assure you and jpinard that it isn’t Michael Scott standing up and yelling “I Declare Bankruptcy!”

Articles are essentially like bills. They’ve got to be pretty precise on language, because they’re going to be presented like a charging document to the Senate. Sloppy, performative nonsense has little value. They’ll be easily waved away by the senate. They’ll be ripped to shreds by Republicans in the House.

Finally, you’re drawing up multiple articles. One of which is likely a prohibition to prevent Trump from running for office ever again. This once again requires precise wording and citation.

It also requires a Senate to be in session to consider. Mitch McConnell has adjourned the Senate until January 19th. Would he reconvene early to consider impeachment articles? Maybe. But probably not.

So.

The House Democrats have been moving on three fronts that we know about since early Thursday morning (all at once, too; they can multi-task):

1. Drawing up articles of impeachment and collecting co-sponsors
2. Pressuring the White House cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment
3. Pressuring Senate Republicans to exert pressure on Trump to resign voluntarily.

Impeachment was and is always going to be the longest route to removing a president. The Constitution has built that in as a feature: it typically should be difficult to overturn the will of millions of voters and remove a sitting president. The process to impeach has a number of gates built in and slow-walks present. Included in those are debate in the House (which House Republicans who are very much Trump allies will use the slow the process to a crawl) and a full trial in the senate that allows the President the opportunity to defend himself.

So. Disabuse yourself of the notion that impeachment articles filed at 6:01 am on Thursday morning were going to result in President Trump’s removal via this avenue. That was never going to happen.

What has been happening is that while congress has been moving on all three fronts to remove the president, they’ve been leveraging each of these against one another as “Leave, or we continue.” So far, it really hasn’t budged Trump. No surprise to us, certainly no surprise to Democrats in the House.

What happens next is likely articles being filed and a post-presidency impeachment that at best prevents Trump from running for office ever again.

[Papageno]

@Rward

@Tortilla

And then we can all be in bed by 11 because we are old

WE’RE NOT OLD!!!

I’m 37!

(I wish – back then I hadn’t yet acquired my superpower of invisibility to even remotely attractive women. ;-) )

[Calelari]

I’ve read elsewhere from some folks that would know due to having official bidness in the building, that one of the entrances - possibly the one it that video, I can’t tell due to the different angle - the mob used was a side door that is kept locked due to their not being personnel to guard it. So someone inside opened.

[ShivaX]

@strategy

Again - I don’t think it’s necessarily the individual cops here who are at fault - for all we know, they’ve been given orders to let the protesters in rather than risk their lives.

So cops who’s only job is to protect the Capitol, gave up without a fight?

And we pay half a billion dollars a year for that?

Sorry, I’m blaming every one of them, their leadership and the entire institution. Especially since we have footage of other members of the same organization fighting people and trying to stop them. One of them was killed in the process. That says no “orders from above” to me.

They can prove me wrong (and I welcome them to try so we know WTF happened), but they get zero, even negative benefit of the doubt from me.

[wahoo]

OAN/Federalist are saying the rioters weren’t told they couldn’t enter capitol. setting up defense.

[ShivaX]

I wasn’t told I couldn’t be in the bank vault. And then I stole a bunch of money.
Not guilty, your Honor.

[Menzo]

@wahoo

OAN/Federalist are saying the rioters weren’t told they couldn’t enter capitol. setting up defense.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

[Woolen_Horde]

Gary Whitta (garywhitta)

[BiggerBoat]

Jesus. Hardest I’ve laughed all week. A low bar, admittedly.

Sarah Cooper (sarahcpr)

[Pyperkub]

@pyrhic

@Soma

Am I the only one thinking that this riot will be good for American democracy in the long run? That nobody is in any illusion about the threat of authoritarianism in US now (as opposed to “they are just protesters” or “a coup couldn’t happening in Amercia”) so Trump and anyone blowing his kind of trumpet will have no mainstream support ever again?

Because before yesterday, you can still see the US divided down the middle on 20th Jan. Now you have to be very far-right to be still supporting Trump or thinking storming the US Capitol is the right thing.

I guess i’m with you. I’m not so certain that in the long run the outcome will be good for democracy, because i think there’s a lot of ways this can impact people/thinking and the longer the timeline is, the harder it is to see whether it’s ‘good’ or ‘bad’. But i think in the short term, there were some positive impacts.

Positives:
Democracy held
Prominent Republicans were publicly forced to choose a side
Diminishment of EC shenanigans
There’s now clear evidence of the potential danger a radical right poses
There is now irrefutable proof of a policing double-standard
(is?) there now proof that there is a schism between police and government
There is now irrefutable proof that not all MAGAs are patriots or “good/decent” people…but
Even in the shithole of a trumpist/MAGA rally there are still some people who will stand up for other people

The question is going to be what are we going to do with all this. We found out we have the potential for a Chernobyl disaster, but i fear we won’t have the resolve to do the things that must be done to prevent it…

Also:

Cover for those who may receive questionable orders from a deranged president and need to uphold the Constitution over (currently) lawful orders

A method of challenging incoming pardonpalooza pardons designed to Obstruct Justice.

[Matt_W]

@BiggerBoat

Here’s a brief but satisfying perp walk.

[Perky_Goth]

@wahoo

OAN/Federalist are saying the rioters weren’t told they couldn’t enter capitol.

Defenders of Law And Order don’t know what either means. Shock.

[ShivaX]

You know she had yelled at him about this before he went and is just furious that she was right.

[Thrag]

That was worth turning the sound on for. Grandma is not happy with Agolf Twitler and his Reichstag Failure.

[ShivaX]

Igor Bobic (igorbobic)

[charmtrap]

Yeah, at least she put the blame where it mostly belongs.

[BiggerBoat]

Yeah. She’s laying that Appalachian sarcasm on thick.