(06-05-2018, 01:21 AM)Labster Wrote: All of you end of America conspiracy theorists need to take a chill pill. In private, the Congressional chickens have made it clear that this is not a thing that could happen. The implication is pretty clear -- the President, by accepting a pardon, would be admitting that he committed a crime. There's not really anything much to do at that point, the impeachment trial would be based on the President's own confession, and no other evidence would be necessary, not even a list of charges.
Say what you will about the GOP House leadership, but the reason there is no movement for impeachment now is because a majority of congressional Democrats don't back it. To every thing there is a season, and believe me that winter is coming. But there is zero meaning in firing that broadside prematurely if we're in the middle of crushing it in the elections. You don't want to motivate the other side to come out and vote, either. There's also no meaning in victory if we get him kicked out of office and half the country thinks it was a liberal sham trial. Without overwhelming evidence, any impeachment victory would be pyrrhic. But the Special Counsel is making progress, one guilty plea at a time.
There's actually a pretty massive post-Mueller firing protest that's been organized, although we've come to be convinced that we won't need it. But you need a moment that's pretty universally beyond the pale. Everyone gets offended by different things -- personally the moment for me when I realized that Trump was a Complete Monster was when he reiterated that certain gang members were not people, but animals. (If you think you can justify this, please write in fanfiction form of your SI explaining this to Tsukino Usagi how this a perfectly normal thing.) But reading the responses above ... basically everyone would recognize the self-pardon as leading towards dictatorship, and mobilize immediately.
I am not speaking about impeachment. More about the refusal of the GOP senate to consider a Supreme Court appointment using the excuse that it was an election year so they would not do it even when it was the previous practice, the multiple holds on nominations to lower courts being honored by the Democrats even after it was clear that it was just done for the sake of throwing a spanner for shits and giggles.
There is a proverb that reads: "Do not be overly righteous, nor be a fool; why would you destroy yourself?" Their insistence on playing by the rules when it was already established that the GOP was just using them to abuse the system has brought a lot of frustration to people.
Regarding the end of the USA? History shows that every nation and empire has gone through periods like this before, and if the people are willing to learn the important lessons they come out stronger for it. If not, they turn to dust and ashes. The end? No. Changed? Oh, yes. (I have watched DS9's "Past Tense 1 & 2" just yesterday which may have influenced the previous paragraph.)
Usagi is a very forgiving person, and willing to establish an understanding through dialogue and empathy, more than most in some situations. But I think that she would appropriately deal with him once he's made clear that he is just another manifestation of Chaos.
“We can never undo what we have done. We can never go back in time. We write history with our decisions and our actions. But we also write history with our responses to those actions. We can leave the pain and the damage in our wake, unattended, or we can do the work of acknowledging and fixing, to whatever extent possible, the harm that we have caused.”
— On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg
— On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Danya Ruttenberg