Twenty Fifth Amendment
 

What more madness will Trump create in the next two weeks? Pence appears to have discovered a pair of balls, and I think it's 25th Amendment time. Like immediately. It takes the VP and a majority of the Cabinet to remove the President, and while Donald has put an increasing number of his own pals into cabinet positions lately, I believe most of them are "acting" - not confirmed - and I assume (not certain) that their votes don't count. The 25th Amendment is all that stands between us and a madman.

... who may be more delusional than before he contracted Covid-19.

Such cases have been reported.

I was calling for the 25th Amendment starting 25 days before Biden is sworn in, since that's how much time the amendment buys us before the president can be reinstated. The beauty is that it would only take a few signatures on a piece of paper and it would take effect immediately.

The 25th Amendment is the only thing left for the GOP if they want to maintain any respect as a political party. I'm sure it won't happen but if they began the procedure tomorrow and worked to carry it through it may restore a little respect to the party. They have to cut their ties to the white racist underclass and rebuild or they have no hope of being anything but a party of ignorance and embarrassment.

If they start the process right this minute it can be completed five minutes later. Let's call it fifteen minutes in case there's a slow typist on duty. But it won't happen, I agree.

A few days ago, I would have thought it impossible that anyone whose conscience still allowed them to serve in Trump's cabinet at this point would do what's good for the country rather than what's good for Trump. But the more that what's good for Trump varies from what's good for their own careers, the more likely they'll be to turn on him.

This was an eye-opener for me:

Pence, Not Trump, Gave Order to Activate National Guard: Report

I never saw this coming, either:

Twitter Locks Trump's Account, Warns Of 'Permanent Suspension' If Violations Continue

Six of the twelve Senators who had said they would oppose certification of the Electoral College ballot results--including Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, who did not win re-election yesterday--changed their tune:

The House rejected that objection, too:

I imagine the rest of the challenged results will go pretty much the same way now, and we can finally put this election to bed.

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Yup. Quickly, effectively removes him from office for 25 days. More than enough time. Enough. Get it done.

Then begin criminal proceedings.
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In his resignation, Michael Mulvaney added that Trump was "not the same as he was eight months ago."

Throwing paper towels, buying Greenland, and defrauding people who donated to help veterans, clearly wasn’t enough.

These people doing the "right" thing are, as Julie suggested, just doing it because it so happens to coincide with their self-interest. If you didn't know McConnell before, you would have thought he was some sort of statesman based on his recent speeches, but when you learn that he had been Trump's chief enabler and beneficiary for four years, and Trump was only in a position to try to steal the election and set a band of violent thugs into Congress because of people like McConnell who refused to face up to the obvious truth of what Trump was all along, his deathbed conversion loses a bit of its righteousness.

And Pence? He had no choice. And let's not forget that he wants to run for president himself in 2024, and he would rather not compete for the nomination against his old boss. With Trump bound to turn against him in any event when they both want the nomination in 2024, there was no reason for Pence not to do the "right" thing now. This is also why I think any idea that Trump would resign long enough to receive a Pence pardon is unrealistic. Pence doesn't want Trump pardoned at all. He wants Trump to spend the next four years trying to stay out of jail, not campaigning. (All these people resigning because of high-minded principles during the last two weeks of the administration need to be asked why they didn't have any principles before. Did Trump do nothing offensive until he suddenly acted completely out of character and tried to pull a coup?).

And then there's Barr, who said today, “The president’s conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters.”

As if Barr himself had nothing to do with making Trump think he could get away with anything. As if it only started "yesterday" and he's completely shocked that Trump acted so out of character.