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Eric Kyle Schichl's avatar

what I worry about the

Garcia case is this an end run around to have the president have the power of impoundment granted back to the presidents office. Think about it, the fastest way to get Mr. Garcia back is say we won't pay you until he is returned. to which trump might respond he can't because congress approved the money going to El Salvador and under the impoundment act of 1974 I can't do anything.

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Gigi's avatar

It's the " OOPS!!!" Administration, as Rachel Maddow put it 🙄

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acameron salon's avatar

CONSEQUENCES

I had the I had the pleasure of reading Abraham Lincoln’s speech, "The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions."

What comes to mind is Nature’s Way of (Preservation) through the lessons of applied and natural consequences.

I know the American People are much attached to their Government;--I know they would suffer much for its sake;--I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another. Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.

(“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”)

The guardrails you seek are already in place! But ignored! They’re called LAWS. What has happened is stated in the above paragraph: I repeat, (Yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.

There must be applied consequences, when the laws of our nation are violated, we are still a nation of laws, aren’t we?

Trump is a (34) time convicted felon, adjudicated sexual offender, seditionist and traitor, the big QUESTION, what consequences has he been made to suffer???? The answer is a BIG FAT NONE, ZERZ, NADA, ZILCH! He belongs in prison, not in the WH. Nothing will change in this country until the laws are enforced and taken seriously. They are not something to avoid or maligned, but should be embraced as they are, our (GAURDRAILS).

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Alyssa Denman's avatar

All federal level officers in all 3 branches must use a blind trust to manage all financial assets with limited meetings (annual or quarterly) with their fiduciary. If a pension or 401k with a menu of investment vehicles is good enough for us, it's good enough for them.

Expand the House into a parliamentary system that assigns half the representation to district votes and half to proportional allocation. (Eg, a small red state would have 8 representatives instead of 4. 4 of these would be elected by a majority vote of the districts as has been happening, and the other 4 seats would be apportioned by the proportional percentage won by each party. This might be 1-2 democrats and 2-3 republicans). Index increases in number of representatives in the House to population increases. Limit Senate tenure to 12 consecutive years.

Reaffirm by law the independent agencies. Reaffirm by law the Impoundment Act. Flesh out law around the emoluments clause.

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David Krupp's avatar

Hold demonstrations against Trump/Musk in front of the local offices of Republicans who can be beaten: SENATORS:John Husted-OH, Dan Sullivan-AL, Susan Collins-ME, John Cornyn-TX,

Joni Ernst-IA, Thom Tillis-NC.

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Beth's avatar

Won't someone please think of the penguins???

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Larry Bushard's avatar

1. Expand SCOTUS to 13 justices. 2. Pass the John Lewis VRA.

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AMR's avatar

How to rebuild guardrails:

1. Ranked choice voting with single primaries and no party affiliation on the ballot for all federal elections. This will push political players towards the middle and weaken the extremist fringes.

2. Constitutional amendment to limit the presidential pardon power by requiring Federal District or Supreme Court majority approval on the sole determination that it serves "the interest of justice".

3. Constitutional amendment or SCOTUS case law that allows a crime- fraud exception to presidential immunity (so official actions and motives *can* be considered in court in those cases).

4. Ban stock trading by elected officials - broad independently managed funds, only.

5. Voting with EITHER picture ID OR self identification and leaving an electronic thumbprint (throw the conspiricists a bone).

6. Elimination of all PACs and corporate campaign donations and limitation of private donations to $10K per candidate per election. Campaign dollars go into a managed fund, with all excess after the final election provided to the Federal (or state) government for debt reduction.

7. I might even go for 18-year term limits for SCOTUS.

8. Case law or constitutional amendment to bury forever the "unitary executive" theory. Clearly allow Congress to set up watchdog agencies (their responsibility for oversight) with leadership under Congressional (not Executive) control - true independent oversight.

It's a start.

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George Deely's avatar

We will have to wait until the mid terms because almost all of the republicans in the Senate and the house are terrified of Trump or they agree wholeheartedly with his plans. Hopefully we are safe until then but I do not really believe that

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Robyn Boyer's avatar

New laws and reforms aren't going to get it. At least not right now. These fools are hell bent on amassing as much power as humanly possible, through any means necessary. The only guardrails worth a shot are a two-thirds sweep of the House and Senate, impeach and remove. This would also apply to Vance and the Cabinet of Clowns. Sweep, sweep, sweep. Good riddance. Then the long, hard climb toward a better future, our global standing, a steady economy and restoring guardrails and forming new ones (major campaign finance reform, term limits for Congress and the Supremes, return of the Inspectors General.)

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Peter Enz's avatar

Honestly now if the government doesn’t believe in following the law why do we and if they aren’t going to give states and universities legislated funds why do we pay taxes? Just asking questions…

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Hannah Olufs's avatar

Nixon seriously asked if we "have the nukes ready". He thought it would be an ok thing to do. His Sec'y of State (fun boy Kissinger) politely explained that he shouldn't do that, Mr. President.

I don't even remember what country he was talking about. I just remember the clip.

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Emily Fine's avatar

Democratic rollouts shouldn’t even be mentioned in comparison. We are talking about the end of democracy and rule of law!! Destroying our country. No comparison

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Kathy's avatar

If Hegseth is forced to resign , will the rest of his friends (personal lawyer ) and family members have to resign from their Pentagon/Defense gigs?

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Peter Brownlee's avatar

The government of the United States is being run as if it were some crummy, ramshackle family business.

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kathi in va's avatar

The only reason there hasn’t been as much staff turnover and chaos this time is that he came in with the bottom of the barrel losers and “true believers”, none of whom would ever get CLOSE to the White House in a normal administration and therefore aren’t going to willingly leave.

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