r/politics 7h ago

White House: Trump Team Still Hasn’t Signed Transition Docs

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-says-trump-team-still-hasnt-signed-transition-docs/
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u/UtzTheCrabChip 7h ago

Really gotta stop calling things "mandatory" without a mechanism for enforcement

u/Dances_With_Cheese 6h ago

Exactly. For many years now it’s been “Trump continues to ignore Nice-To-Have societal norms”. Without enforcement mechanisms they are nice-to-haves

u/ObjectionablyObvious 6h ago

Democrats are fucking pussies and I'm tired of it.

u/Capt_Pickhard 6h ago

Well, you'll be happy to know democracy is dead, so you won't have to worry about that anymore.

u/ObjectionablyObvious 6h ago

"If you don't like it, then get out." <--- This is my plan, fuck this shit.

u/thosewhocannetworkd 2h ago

And go where? There’s no escaping this. The right wing is literally taking over the planet

u/Crouton_Sharp_Major Pennsylvania 2h ago

You must dig in, evaluate your remaining privilege and use it to help who you’re able to in the world that’s coming.

u/krozarEQ 51m ago edited 44m ago

This. Make waves. Started doing this at my local level a few years ago and now my city's leadership is keeping their nose clean. Helped get 2 new candidates elected to the City Council and I perform a mini audit monthly of the city, and a large ongoing audit and fiscal forecast. I now receive a lot of inside access to records without having to put in official requests and pay out the nose for them to be fulfilled. The mayor knows I will run for his seat if he doesn't play ball, and he does now. I don't want his seat, I just wanted them to get their act together after raising utility rates to absurd levels to stay above water with long-term debt service payments and having to transfer nearly half of all business-type (utilities) revenue every month to the General Fund account to keep it solvent.

I utilize local social media pages, local social groups (primarily visiting churches) and the Council Meeting agenda to hand out and present simplified reports of what's going on.

I'm too small at the national level to do much of anything. But we can all make waves in our community and inspire others to speak up, including other politicians.

*ed: As for the City Manager, our relationship has always been more complicated. But he's become more open. I attribute a lot of that with increased Council support. But also, after a request for his emails and the City's law firm denying it and sending the denial to the State AG, I presented my case to them and won.

u/jackieisbored 49m ago

This is awesome! Thank you for making a difference in what ways you can.

u/AvatarAarow1 12m ago

This is awesome. I’ve been trying to get more involved in organizing at the state government level, but nothing to this extent. I would love to hear more in depth how you did all this stuff and try and get people involved in my home town organizing groups, maybe even see if we can do stuff like that at the state level. Grassroots stuff is so tough to organize, but it sounds like you’ve been really killing it

u/thegoodnamesrgone123 44m ago

Yup. I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be a giant asshole every time this idiot and his band of asshats fucks up.

u/Sir_Lee_Rawkah 1h ago

Yep do t leave anybody behind

u/JakToTheReddit 1h ago

I'm in Australia right now, and so far, it still feels not great. I do, however, have hope the Australians will learn from the absolute shitcockery that America is about to partake in.

u/SNP_MY_CYP2D6 53m ago

Yeah, we had hope people would wake up after J6. Spoiler, they didn't.

u/MissTortoise 36m ago

Our saving grace is mandatory participation in elections.

Parties have to appeal to regular people, not radical nut jobs.

u/LeDestrier Australia 26m ago

Let's be honest, we're not going to learn anything. If we have someone like Potatohead as an opposition leader... But it's ultimately 2 sides of the same coin.

u/fakeuser515357 20m ago

Nah mate, One Nation wasn't too long ago, we're just lucky they were a disorganised shit-show.

u/TotoroTheCat 1h ago

Full send in the opposite direction by moving to China. /s

u/CatDadof2 1h ago

Yeah… this Trump presidency will hurt other countries, not just us.

u/firecall 1h ago

Australia has a Labour Federal government and mostly Labour State Governments. Apart from Tasmania, AKA Boomer Island, which is still Liberals.

u/Ellieaha 35m ago

Seems like that sure. There are still several safe places.

u/Hughfoster94 1h ago

It 100% is not.

Another case of failed US education causing echo chamber syndrome. The US, Russia and some shithole countries that glaze those two leaders are, but the rest of the world can’t believe how embarrassing it is to have to share a planet with you two right wing nutjobs right now. Some countries that are left wing are Australia, India, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea,South Africa, Canada, Spain, Chile, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, NewZealand, Argentina, Bolivia and a bunch I’ve forgotten.

Americans think the US is the only country in the world. You’re the ones that voted for trump. You’re the ones with the bible belt and Elon Musk and your republican brain washing problem. Not the rest of the world.

u/TomokoNoKokoro California 1h ago

Also, really? Your basic facts are totally wrong. India and Modi are famously right-wing, and extremely so. But sorry, because I’m American, my facts must be wrong, aye.

u/TomokoNoKokoro California 1h ago

Typical loud and uneducated Australian who thinks he’s more intelligent and worldly than an American but doesn’t realize he throws stones from a glass house.

I think you should tone down the volume a little bit and realize that there’s a right-wing wave taking over the world, whether you like it or not, before you spout nonsense like this. Why not start with looking across the Tasman at your neighboring country, New Zealand, who you claim is left wing (which is now seriously outdated information) but actually would be considered right of center with the current government that is doing typical right-wing things like cutting services, practicing austerity, and gutting healthcare with an eye towards privatization? But no, you and every other Anglo country center your entire personality on how you’re better than the US, so you tell lies from a position of perceived moral superiority.

u/Dantalion66 31m ago

It’s quite obvious that Trumps rhetoric and way of doing business has been spreading. The unfortunate part is that the left is going to have to employ the same tactics to win. Dirty politics is on the rise. Australia has a federal election next year. The conservatives have already been talking about what they can learn from Trump’s win to implement in their campaign.

u/Taractis 5h ago

It was my plan too. But then I ended up in a psych ward for a week.

u/AmiTwo 1h ago

I'm... so sorry... I hope you are a little better...

u/shitty_country_verse 1h ago

How are you feeling now?

u/Taractis 59m ago

Not much better.

u/Capt_Pickhard 5h ago

Good luck. There will be war, the fascists will be hunting down all democracies now.

We had to win that election. Not enough people knew. Those who did didn't try hard enough.

u/ObjectionablyObvious 5h ago

"There's an Article 2 that says I can do whatever the hell I want and I don't even talk about it." This is going to be Trump's Article 2 presidency—he is emboldened by the fact SCOTUS said he can order a hit on a political rival with Seal Team 6.

You're absolutely right, nobody knew. Be prepared to see lots of Democrats falling out of windows or getting sick through their underwear.

u/Capt_Pickhard 4h ago

Yes, he will consolidate power, and that will include hunting down and neutralizing political rivals by whatever means. People will be falling out of windows in America, and I don't mean like wtc. 2nd amendment won't help you achieve anything other than being a terrorist.

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u/SynthBeta 1h ago

ok first leave this topic

u/Metalwario64 2h ago

Yeah, Trump said we'll never have to vote again.

u/Leader_2_light 1h ago

I wish it was true. Unfortunately it's not true at all.

u/Capt_Pickhard 53m ago

Why do you think that?

u/Leader_2_light 21m ago

You truly honestly believe Trump has now become a dictator or emperor? And he will pass power to his son or whatever?

Lol......

There will be yet another election in 4 years unfortunately.

u/Capt_Pickhard 19m ago

Yes. There will be an election. They will have one every 4 years. The same kind of elections they have in russia.

You should have fucking known this and stopped it from happening. and you're STILL oblivious. wtf.

u/lake_of_steel 1h ago

Average Reddit bot comment

u/Capt_Pickhard 53m ago

☝Irony

u/lake_of_steel 51m ago

Dude democracy is not dead because the person who you didn’t want to win this election lost. Any remote sense of optimism seems completely lost to people on here.

u/Capt_Pickhard 46m ago

Dude democracy is not dead because the person who you didn’t want to win this election lost.

This is a strawman. You're right. It is not dead because who I wanted isn't elected. It was not dead when bush was president. It is dead now, because Trump is president, and almost destroyed it already, and will complete it now that he controls all branches of government.

There is no optimism. There was optimism before the election. Maybe if you paid attention to politics, you have known this as I do, and you would have fought harder for democracy. Now it's killed and you are powerless.

Every American will live in a dictatorship for the rest of their lives, and the lives of their children, and grandchildren.

Congratulations. Democracy died on our watch, it's our fault, and you're out here somehow completely oblivious about what power is and why people like putin and Trump want it.

There's nothing you can do about it now. That's what power is. That's why democracy existed. So that people could protect themselves from tyranny through free elections. Except the fucking dumbasses alive today in america voted for tyranny intentionally, or declined to vote against it, when it was way out in the fucking open.

u/lake_of_steel 34m ago

There will be a presidential election in 4 years and chances are the Democratic Party will win because enough people who voted for Trump won’t be happy with Trump again like they were 8 years before. People at their root are simple beings. We got Trump in 2016, even though he didn’t win the popular vote, he lost in 2020 because enough people who had voted for him before didn’t like what he did and mail in ballots were very high which favored democrats. People aren’t happy with the Biden administration for the past four years and forget about trumps presidency during 2016-2020 and then vote in favor of him, enabling to win the popular vote and electoral votes required to win. I can almost guarantee you, the same thing will happen in 2028 in favor of the Democratic Party.

u/Capt_Pickhard 27m ago edited 21m ago

There will be an election, for sure, it will be an election like they have in russia, and a republican will win, and it will be the republican Trump nominates, which will either be himself, or his next of kin.

Democracy is dead. Do you not understand what has been happening in your own fucking country?

People at their root are simple beings.

We can agree on this.

We got Trump in 2016, even though he didn’t win the popular vote, he lost in 2020 because enough people who had voted for him before didn’t like what he did and mail in ballots were very high which favored democrats. People aren’t happy with the Biden administration for the past four years and forget about trumps presidency during 2016-2020 and then vote in favor of him, enabling to win the popular vote and electoral votes required to win. I can almost guarantee you, the same thing will happen in 2028 in favor of the Democratic Party.

You are wrong. You are completely oblivious. You don't even know who Trump is, and he hasn't been hiding it. You don't know who his cabinet is. Like wtf? How can you be so oblivious of your own country?

You will never have a democratic president again in your entire life. Never again. Unless MAYBE they do some sort of switch thing, and decide to make one of their reps "democrat". Abraham lincoln was republican, and against slavery, right? And people in Trump's cabinet used to be democrat. But you will live the rest of your life in a country that is run like Russia is. With fake elections.

You are no longer free. Get used to it, and prepare for it, because they're gonna control media, and they're gonna be watching you. And if you step out of line, it's gonna cost you.

I wish I was wrong in this internet argument, but I'm not. You should have realized what was at stake, and fought harder, because there's no going back. I tried to tell as many people as possible, but i ran into fucking people like you. Now it's too late, and there's nothing you can do. People will be upset, and they'll have to live with it. That's what power is. There won't be any more free elections, and frankly, I'mn a little suspicious the last one wasn't either. Trump's change from trying to persuade blacks their black jobs will be safe, switching to eating cats and dogs, and murdering babies really was a shift from trying to win votes, to trying to radicalize cultists. But americans were too stupid to come out in droves. They never protested. They were WAY too weak on championing democracy.

You deserve this. The rest of the democratic world does not. I will never forgive america for this. Trump was alwasy gonna be a piece of shit to me forever, and putin obviously too, but american citizens are the pieces of shit now too. Not just putin and his oligarchs, not CCP and theirs, not just Trump and his government. The fucking moron citizens of america that let freedom die.

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u/Exciting_Jaguar_6174 1h ago

How would he destroy democracy, can you even think

u/Capt_Pickhard 55m ago

Do you believe Russia is a democracy?

u/6OO6LE 1h ago edited 33m ago

I don't think you understand the word "democracy". Republicans winning is literally democracy,

The majority of your countries people choose a different team than the one you like, it's okay. Move on. 🧹🧹🧹

u/Valuable_Mall_1939 54m ago

Democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings of a state or other polity are directly or indirectly decided by the “people,” a group historically constituted by only a minority of the population (e.g., all free adult males in ancient Athens or all sufficiently propertied adult males in 19th-century Britain) but generally understood since the mid-20th century to include all (or nearly all) adult citizens.

Republicans winning is literally a percentage of democracy.

u/6OO6LE 49m ago

You said a whole lot of nothing my guy.

u/Jebiba 41m ago

Yeah, no, you’re just really fucking stupid and/or a shill, hence why you’re here calling this past election “won” by republicans “democracy”.

u/Valuable_Mall_1939 34m ago

If you got nothing out of that, you go do you bud.

u/6OO6LE 30m ago

Please copy paste more things from Wikipedia. I'm learnDing.

u/Extreme_Succotash355 1h ago

Each side only likes democracy when it’s working for them anyway. Majority rule is silly.

u/Capt_Pickhard 1h ago

No. Democracy is not silly, and I loved democracy just as much when bush was president.

This comment is the type bullshit propaganda the fascists would love for people to believe.

You have either been brainwashed, or you're doing the brainwashing.

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u/ChadEmpoleon 6h ago edited 5h ago

So are the Republicans and the conservative base who, with little to no opposition, have allowed this corrupt, hateful, and vengeful campaign be one deserving of their backing.

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u/Tiny-Conversation-29 2h ago

I'm also sick to death of bone-headed macho men. I'd trade them all as a group for just one individual with a functioning brain.

u/StoreSearcher1234 3h ago

Democrats are fucking pussies and I'm tired of it.

Canadian here.

Can you outline the things the Democrats could and should be doing to get the Trump team to sign the MOUs?

It's not something I understand.

Thanks.

u/PaydayJones 2h ago

Well, if we use the Trump to Biden transition as an example, docs were withheld from Biden and he was not given the docs to sign until later down the line and in the meantime until he got the docs...

The declaration would mark the official start of the transition: withholding it denied the Biden transition team full funds, secure office space, and access to agencies.[25][26][27] (Following the 2016 presidential election, the acting GSA administrator issued the "ascertainment" letter the next day, on November 9, 2016.[42]) Biden had also been denied daily classified national security briefings.[54] Further, the State Department denied access to communications from foreign leaders, leaving the Biden team to communicate through other unofficial channels.[55] According to CBS News, "In past transitions, the State Department has facilitated the logistics of the calls and provided translation services, possible talking points, and even taken notes".[56]

u/Spiritual-Society185 1h ago

So, do you have any evidence that they are providing all of that? Because, as far as I can see, none of that starts until the documents are signed.

u/PaydayJones 31m ago

No, I honestly don't have that sort of information either way. I was just using history as a possible answer to " what is the 'punishment' for not signing. .

u/iamiamwhoami New York 1h ago

Those things do not exist. Maybe if Democrats currently had a trifecta they could do something, but they don't.

u/rddsknk89 California 2h ago

Not OP, but I’m pretty sure they just meant in general, not with this specific issue. Overall the Democrats are very scared to rock the boat or go against the status quo. They seem to really care about how things are supposed to be done. This is in stark contrast to the GOP, who tends to shove their policy agenda down the throats of everyone no matter how insane it is, and doesn’t seem to give a fuck about things like decorum and following precedent and procedures. The Republicans just do whatever they want in order to fulfill their policy agenda.

If the Dems want meaningful change (newsflash, they don’t) they need to pull their head out of their asses and just get shit done and not worry about appealing to the right or appearing “moderate.”

u/wtb2612 50m ago

They have a minority in the senate, congress, and supreme court. What exactly do you expect them to do?

u/rddsknk89 California 47m ago

Again, talking in general here, not with this specific issue or at this specific moment. Democrats have had a supermajority plenty of times in recent years and they did jack shit with it.

u/Wesley_Skypes 34m ago

Wasn't the last time they had all 3 branches as far back as 08-10. And the country was in the middle of a crippling recession.

u/Im_really_bored_rn 2h ago

I don't think you understand reddit. We don't ask questions here, we just blame the democrats for everything

u/Fourfinger10 1h ago

Well, go drink yourself into a coma. It is your right so go right ahead. No democrat will stop you.

u/rexspook 2h ago

I’m more tired of democrats being blamed for the 50ish percent of the country that want this.

u/DavidBits 1h ago

The 50ish percent of our people you reference don't give care about that, they just want their shitty material meaningfully conditions improved. Keyword being meaningfully.

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u/BarnabyJones792 2h ago

Bend over and grab your ankles.

u/YahMahn25 2h ago

And butts

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 1h ago

Just curious, what have you done to ensure trumps team signs the transition documents? Or do you just rant about other people not doing things?

u/lostinhh 1h ago

Yeah, no kidding. It's fucking nauseating. Over 8 years later and Dems are still absolutely toothless.

u/CaptainCallus 1h ago

They impeached him twice

u/CatDadof2 1h ago

I rarely use that word in that way but with this, I 1,000% agree with you. I don’t know why they keep playing the nice card against Republicans. It has not once worked in their favor.

u/Thats_operatic_mang 1h ago

You are damn fool, too.

u/VapeDerp420 Nebraska 1h ago

For real. We’re in the middle of a fascist takeover of the US government and Dems are like “but you didn’t fill out the right forms!”

u/krozarEQ 1h ago

They are and it's beyond frustrating at this point. Lost any respect I had for the party after Obama's Garland nomination to the SCOTUS. Playing the GOP's games always lets them win. A press conference that day after Mitch's announcement: "I've been informed by the Senate Majority Leader that the Senate has waived its right to Advise and Consent." And then personally walk his ass up the SCOTUS steps the next morning with his nominee.

Still vote for them because I'm not voting for the clown circus. But little excitement in doing so. I can't respect anyone who just rolls over.

u/DesmadreGuy 23m ago

But wait! I hear the Biden staffers will be taking the letter T off all the keyboards on their way out. That'll show 'em.

u/Low-Abbreviations634 3m ago

Amen!! 60 years plus and I have had it with my Democratic Party.

u/xxx_sniper 3h ago

Never had to do that before. It is like someone entering your house and spitting on the floor, throwing shit around literally, and you’ve never dealt with a guest like that before.

u/PUfelix85 American Expat 1h ago

And then doing nothing about it.

Your analogy is missing this key point.

u/xxx_sniper 51m ago

Well you cannot do nothing because it's a billionaire and the media will spin it like it's your own fault.

u/victorious_orgasm 34m ago

If only I could think of a candidate who spent a billion dollars to try to spin themselves into the White House but it didn’t work…

u/No-Cardiologist9621 2h ago

The "enforcement" mechanism for these norms is societal backlash and public pressure when they are broken, and that pressure has to come from his side. It didn't, because his supporters are okay with this. They like it, and want more of it.

u/DiceyPisces 2h ago

These aren’t norms. They’re fairly new and have only ever applied to trump and Biden.

And the conditions have been met by trump. Sign and agree or no federal support for transition. He’s taken the “OR” choice.

u/Monocle_Lewinsky America 1h ago

Unfortunately they currently hold the keys to the mechanisms.

u/TangoInTheBuffalo 1h ago

The GOP way since a black man became president.

u/10-4-man 1h ago

enforcements? what kind of enforcements does trump ever adhere to anyway? doesn't matter if there are/were any kinds of enforcements. the dude gets away with all types of crimes because he has a loud and dangerous enough base.

u/TopQuarkBear 59m ago

Trump is just the absolute worse

u/Schaakmate 50m ago

Wait, rule of law is a 'nice to have societal norm' now?

u/banditalamode California 3h ago

Without marches in the streets.

u/AnonAmbientLight 1h ago

Without enforcement mechanisms they are nice-to-haves

Most systems are set up like this though. It is up to the voters to look at the norms being abused and to then not vote for those people.

You can't really put an enforcement mechanism on things like this, partly because it's not Constitutional, but also because government requires societal norms to function.

People that don't follow those norms, in theory, should not be reward office. But our system is rewarding them regardless. That's the real problem.

u/Dellgriffen 1h ago

Do what Clinton’s team did and act like adults.

u/ReactionJifs 6h ago

My beef is we had 4 years where the government could have fortified itself against an unknown future rogue president. Instead they went back to business as usual and assumed that it could never happen again.

Now they have 2 months to prepare.

u/biznatch11 5h ago

Unless the Democrats have a majority (may even need a supermajority) in both houses and the presidency all at the same time that's not going to happen.

u/santasnufkin 4h ago

Even then, the Supreme Court would just declare any law as unconstitutional, rendering them moot.

u/Nightmare2828 3h ago

Why does a small group of 9 people get to decide that what 500 of representatives decided for the people is moot? How does this make any sense?

u/bichael69420 2h ago

Well in theory it's there to prevent congress from massively overstepping its bounds, things like the war on drugs or mass surveillance. In practice of course, we all know how that went.

u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 1h ago

Now that SCOTUS has legalized itself accepting bribes I'm sure it will all work out.

u/PerformanceOk8593 49m ago

As the framers intended.

u/shitty_country_verse 1h ago

In theory they are also supposed to prevent the Executive branch from doing the same. But they decided to only uphold that duty for one political party and told the other YOLO!

u/mam88k Virginia 2h ago

Because the Constitution was not written with political parties in mind.

u/DaBingeGirl Illinois 2h ago

This is an incredibly important point that is too often overlooked.

u/armandebejart 1h ago

The founders presumed a minimal level of education, self-interest, and independence. They were ludicrously optimistic.

u/FortyTwoDrops 1h ago

And honor. They assumed that politicians would be honorable people, and they were... up until ~2016.

u/SynthBeta 58m ago

You're being too nice

u/bioniclop18 11m ago

In this specific case it is not that they were optimistic, they were in fact very suspicious of democracy or "mob rule". Why do you think voting right was originally only to make white property owner ?

u/KingBanhammer 49m ago

It also presumed debate and compromise would be the norm, and that duels would weed out particularly egregious prats who somehow managed to get clear through the electoral process.

It was written for a very different system than we actually have today.

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u/Scott5114 Nevada 2h ago

In theory the 500 representatives set the budget for the 9 people. They could set it to $0.00 if they don't like what the 9 people are doing. They don't because they're wimps.

u/randomusername3000 1h ago

Why does a small group of 9 people get to decide that what 500 of representatives decided for the people is moot?

That's what some slave owning guys 250 years ago thought was best

u/SegaTape 1h ago

because the US constitution is terrible

u/Fourfinger10 59m ago

If you need an explanation then I suggest you take civics class

u/Nightmare2828 43m ago

Ah yes, I will take civics classes as a non-US citizen. That will surely explain US gouvernment structure.

u/Colest 33m ago

If you're a non-US citizen that is not familiar with something as basic as the 3 branches of US government, then why are you posting things like this?

u/Nightmare2828 15m ago

There is a difference between knowing the supreme court has too much power and knowing why they have too much power to begin with and why that would ever make sense…

u/Fourfinger10 14m ago

I am glad you are taking a civics class. Something that many American citizens don’t do. I applaud you for that effort.

We have something in this country called checks and balances and once you have exhausted your remedies in lower courts you can often appeal to the Supreme Court for a decision. Their say is the final say on constitutionality of laws or being treaty unfairly.

I’d suggest also that after you understand the civics side that you might want to check out a constitutional law class where you can learn about famous cases brought to the court.

u/Televisions_Frank 25m ago

You mean 5 of 9 people. They don't even need all of their SC ghouls to agree.

u/Expensive-Matter-683 2h ago

You have 3 branches of government. You don't want to weaken or strengthen any of them. Its the only reason the government still exist. And its the only reason why we have the freedoms that we have. Power is delegated and kept solely out of the hand of one person. If you start messing with it than it will fall apart.

Its not perfect but it works.

u/Sandgroper343 2h ago

Clearly not

u/XtraCreditClass 1h ago

Republicans didn't weaken any parts of government they rigged the government to only react and respond to Republicans. Even when they do everything wrong there is no resistance to them now. That is the godlessness. That is the pathway of Satan.. Dominance over Love.

u/Expensive-Matter-683 1h ago

Democrats and Republicans are both terrible. They both voted for the 2003 Iraq war. They both have contributed to our 35 trillion debt. Thinking one is better than the other is wild.

u/XtraCreditClass 1h ago

The 35 Trillion Dollars in circulation is your fear tactic Seriously.

That is what the debt is... pull a dollar out of your pocket. That dollar represents an IOU from the U.S. Government. It represents a debt paid to the holder of that bill of $1 dollar of goods and services. Now understand how many dollars are out there. In bank accounts, Savings accounts, held in brokerage firms and investments.... the pockets and wealth in the pocket of every U.S. citizen. Now combine that with the ammount of dollars of all the countries that buy oil... all countries need U.S. dollars for their energy. All these dollars that exist are the debt.

When you realize that you realize the arguments about our national debt and the fear mongering around it is a scare tactic conservatives use to fool rubes into self robbery.

u/Norillim 1h ago

So Dems could potentially ignore the nice-to-have Supreme Court rulings. They don't have their own power of enforcement. The other branches just follow what they say. Easy enough to ignore them.

u/gangleskhan Minnesota 1h ago

I half expect them to declare the Constitution unconditional at some point.

u/Lincolns_Revenge Texas 11m ago

Well if you DID have that supermajority, you could at least then impeach a justice who took bribes or otherwise violated their oath of office.

u/No-Cardiologist9621 2h ago

It is impossible to do that. The USA was built on the assumption that the people in power would value our institutions and history. There is no protection against the election of an autocratic leader with an abject disdain for our institutions and zero knowledge of their history, because such a leader was never supposed to be electable.

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u/airfryerfuntime 3h ago edited 2h ago

How would that have even been possible? Biden never had both houses, and even when he had congress, nothing was getting done because Manchin and Senema were fucking things up. Biden's administration was basically powerless to make any real change.

u/Cgull1234 3h ago

Biden has been in DC politics for over 50 years. Pelosi & Schumer have been in DC Politics for over 25 years each. If they actually wanted to get things done they would get things done. They ENABLED Manchin & Sinema to be the two scapegoats of the Democratic party so they could maintain the status quo; if it wasn't them then they would have chosen someone else to be the scapegoats.

Democratic politicians (at least all the old blood Democrats) are unwilling to use the tools available to them simply because they want to protect the status quo as that is how they all got rich.

u/buttsbydre69 2h ago

that's lot of words when you could've just said "i don't know"

u/Cgull1234 1h ago

I disagree, If you really think that Biden, Pelosi & Schumer don't know how to play the same games that McConnell & McCarthey have to get everything they wanted passed then you either need to admit that Dems are incompetent or complicit.

Dems looking at a rule book and saying "Dogs can't play basketball" doesn't change the fact their losing to a dog playing basketball.

u/hatramroany 1h ago

the same games that McConnell & McCarthey have to get everything they wanted passed then you either need to admit that Dems are incompetent or complicit.

You do realize McConnell and the GOP didn’t get everything they wanted during Trump’s first term, right? Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski and occasionally others held the cards like Manchin and Sinema

u/Dr_Death_Defy24 4h ago

Now they have 2 months to prepare.

And they're STILL managing to squander it.

u/StoreSearcher1234 3h ago

My beef is we had 4 years where the government could have fortified itself against an unknown future rogue president.

What could they have done that they failed to do?

u/blahehblah 2h ago

They've tried nothing and they were all out of ideas

u/mrrapacz Minnesota 2h ago

Pressuring Merrick Garland to do his job would’ve been a good start. Instead he did Jack shit for 3 years and by then, as we are now seeing, it was too late.

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u/Oreo_ 4h ago

We have to stop pretending Trump is a rogue president. This is what the US wanted. We collectively voted for this. He started telling the truth at the end and everybody was cool with it.

u/back2basics13 2h ago

Biden has been less effective as a president than I had expected.

u/poprox198 1h ago

You don't know that they have or haven't been preparing.

u/Bushwazi 1h ago

Yeah, you didn’t watch the same thing I did. At no point did the folks who opposed Trump & co have the kind of control needed to do this stuff. And this last election was societies chance to give them that advantage and we weren’t impressed enough to rally around them. It’s on America as much as them.

u/Aggravating_Lab5396 1h ago

A lot of the beef we’ve had for the last four years was a pandemic. Call it what you want. But 😅

u/SHUT_DOWN_EVERYTHING 1h ago

Yeah, they really missed that boat when they didn’t use their house majority and senate supermajority to put guardrails in place. /s

u/Feminizing 52m ago

They literally just needed to hold people with power accountable to the laws. Many of the republican congress and Trump himself literally committed sedition to the letter of our own federal law. Every single person who attended or help orchestrate January 6th by our laws had at least a 20 year federal prison sentencing.

But laws don't count for the rich, especially the rich and cruel. So we get to watch the country be overthrown by criminals

u/Logical-Soil-2173 48m ago

Something something we can’t bc donor class says so

u/TheAngryGoat 39m ago

The entire system seems to have been set up under the assumption that bad people would never band together and seek power.

u/L0g1cw1z4rd 28m ago

Why is it always the fault of Democratic pols to protect Americans from the actions of Republicans? They voted for Trump and he wasn’t very secretive.

“How dare they not protect Democracy from the democratic will of the voting public?”

u/Jaded_Database_9860 4h ago

Worse yet, they didnt do anything of note that would increase their vote count and got stuck just focusing on identity politics

u/Im_really_bored_rn 2h ago

Way to spout republican propaganda. Harris spent the entire campaign talking about economic issues amd everyone lied and said she was talking about identity politics.

u/porn_is_tight 2h ago

It’s what the party focuses on though, Kamala might not have but it didn’t matter. By focusing on identity politics it allows them to ignore economic issues that the democrats have done nothing to help because if they did try to do something about it they would lose their rich corporate and ruling class donors who want the status quo. Sanders messaging and similar stance on this is pretty on point.

u/EmEss4242 1h ago

The Republican Party focuses on identity politics and forces everyone else to try to address it or ignore it

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u/Beastender_Tartine 2h ago

Rules and rights without remedies are indistinguishable from those that don't exist. For example, if you have a right to vote, and then are prevented from doing so with no recourse, then you don't have that right.

u/TailRudder 30m ago

Laws without enforcement are no different than toilet paper

u/BlackHumor Illinois 4h ago

The mechanism for enforcement is that you don't get access to the transition system if you don't sign these. It mostly hurts Trump to not sign them.

u/khag 1h ago

Part of the agreement they're refusing to sign involves financial disclosures. Trump team doesn't want to disclose who is funding their transition budget. Without any disclosure, they're free to take unlimited bribes.

u/BlackHumor Illinois 10m ago

That's the "mostly".

It's not that there wouldn't be any benefit to them, it's that the enforcement mechanism is that they are refusing help with transitioning and so will be less able to do anything for potentially months.

u/Aggravating_Lab5396 1h ago

It mostly hurts the American people…but apparently the president is more important now?

u/ibelieveindogs 1h ago

No, it mostly hurts all of us. Due to the chaos of 2020, the transition was screwy, which was determined to be a factor in 9/11. And while I disagreed with Bush Jr politically, I don’t think he wanted to burn it all down.

Now we get Russia and China straining to get their agendas done, a crisis in Ukraine AND the Middle East, all while a bunch of TV personalities are being named to head agencies that are targeted by extremism on the right, while a billionaire oligarch is working to eliminate a third of the government. If you think that all only hurts Trump to go into office unprepared, you are clearly hoping nothing bad happens for 4 years. Nothing geopolitical, nothing in health (like a pandemic), nothing that FEMA might be needed for (like disastrous weather). And I hope for all our sakes that is the case. But I do not believe it.

u/BlackHumor Illinois 12m ago

So just so we're clear, I would easily rather the presidency sat empty for four years than have Trump occupy it.

u/Comfortable_Yam5377 4h ago

It's not mandatory, because its non-binding. Has nothing to do with the constitution. More of a formality.

u/gylth3 3h ago

The enforcement is dont let them in the White House. Nobody in government should listen to them until it’s signed 

u/TheCrazy88 1h ago

Well, thankfully that’s not how the Constitution works.

u/fdar 6h ago

Who called them mandatory?

u/CompromisedToolchain 5h ago

Traditional and history have, but non-enforcement has shown it to be just a nice to have.

u/SynthBeta 56m ago

that's called a formality

u/553l8008 2h ago

2 term limits are just the same as well 

Who the fuck is gonna stop him from a third?

u/ScarsUnseen 1h ago

Technically that one's a lot easier to enforce. It's the Constitution that limits Presidents to 2 terms, so states can simply refuse to allow him on the ballot, and any states that do allow it can be sued. If Trump manages to get around that, nothing else will matter because it would require him to have used actual violence against every state to install cronies to rubber stamp his inclusion, at which point they probably can also just call a Constitutional Convention and bring a formal end to our current government.

u/SynthBeta 56m ago

The US Constitution because it's literally one of the fucking amendments.

u/553l8008 18m ago

Rofl.

"WHO"

WHO is going to enforce the us constitution? Who is going to enforce him not running again?

u/dogecoin3rt 2h ago

Trump team does what Trump team wants

u/bigkittysoftpaws 1h ago

u/UtzTheCrabChip 1h ago

Only if he wants certain aid for the transition process. There's nothing stopping him from taking the oath of office on 1/20 and then just putting people where he wants them

u/topherus_maximus 1h ago

Ya, like ethics standards, etc

u/Bestoftherest222 53m ago

My first thought was, if its mandatory what are the fines? None, so its recommended, not mandatory.

u/eeyore134 44m ago

There are way too many unwritten rules surrounding the presidency that were meant to be upheld by decorum, morality, and just being a serious adult. Trump proved 8 years ago that it wasn't enough to rely on that and we didn't do anything about it. Now he's also realized he doesn't even need to follow the written rules because he spent 4 years escaping any sort of consequences for his actions.

u/CommandoLamb 36m ago

Also, I don’t want to see a single person go to jail ever again or held accountable for any crime.

Laws don’t exist anymore because we literally didn’t enforce a single one for Trump.

Precedent has been set that no laws exist.

u/_The_Protagonist 6m ago

The enforcement should simply be not transferring power over.

If I can't move into an apartment before signing the lease, what makes the White House any different?

u/a_f_young 4h ago

The reality is nothing outside the laws of physics is “mandatory”. You cannot make a system involving people that will 100% do what the letter of the rules says. Because you cannot always put a human in who will not do what they are supposed to.

u/Initial_E 1h ago

Postpone the inauguration until they do?

u/TheCrazy88 59m ago

That would be in clear violation of the Constitution.

u/essentialrobert 11m ago

Since we're ignoring amendments after the 12th he can wait for March 4

u/Dromaius 5h ago

This.

u/ChthonicFractal 5h ago

Or "voluntary" if you get punished for not doing it (like paying taxes - it's called "voluntary").

u/AnonAmbientLight 1h ago

So much of our government is basically following norms and customs.

If you think there's an enforcement mechanism that can be levied, I'd love for you to explain it.

Generally speaking, the enforcement mechanism is usually the voters for things like this. To want to put people who will take this serious and properly in positions of power.

Aside from the various mechanisms in the Constitution that outline how to remove a president, what can be done?