Last week, many of us expressed alarm over a statement by former President Trump that we might have to “terminate” constitutional rules in light of the release of the Twitter files. He has now denied saying that but repeats that the disclosures should mean that the election is “redone.” There are no constitutional Mulligans in presidential elections.
There is a legitimate demand for an investigation into this scandal and censorship that clearly had some impact on the close election.
However, while I have been a vocal critic of Twitter and the full mobilization of media, political, and corporate interests against Musk, any suggestion that constitutional rules could be terminated or suspended is both dangerous and demagogic.
For that reason, I was glad to see Trump walking back the statement but there remain deeply troubling aspects to the continued call for the election to be “redone.”
On Monday, Trump insisted that he does not want to “terminate” the Constitution:
“The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their other HOAXES & SCAMS.”
However, the earlier posting was unequivocal in stating that the Twitter disclosures “allows for the termination of all rules … even those found in the Constitution.”
As I stated at the time, there is no basis for termination or suspension of constitutional rules in such a case. Moreover, the misconduct of one company would never be accepted by a court as grounds for retroactively reevaluating a presidential election two years later.
Notably, there was ample evidence of raw fraud in states like Illinois that may have given Kennedy his victory over Nixon. However, the election was not “redone” in light of those allegations.
In his latest posting, Trump repeated that
“steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG…Simply put, if an election is irrefutably fraudulent, it should go to the rightful winner or, at a minimum, be redone … Where open and blatant fraud is involved, there should be no time limit for change!”
Putting aside the clarification on the call for termination of such rules, there is no basis upon which a court could order an election in 2020 to be “redone.” The implications of such a power are chilling. Such judicial intervention could be used by judges to “redo” future elections when they disapprove of a candidate or party. It is an invitation to judicial activism and would be destabilizing for our constitutional system as a whole.
It is unclear what Trump is now demanding. Should a court declare him the winner and order the start of a new four-year term — negating the 2024 election? Would the court order a vote in 2022 and then another vote in 2024? None of that is even remotely possible on a legal basis.
Moreover, before declaring that the election is to be “redone,” the court would have to not only find that the company engaged in election fraud but that such fraud was determinative or decisive in the election. How does it do that? There were a myriad of issues pushing voters that year. A court could not say with any sense of confidence that Twitter’s conduct determined the outcome.
My concern is that such postings create a false impression for citizens that such a “redo” is possible. It fuels extraconstitutional demands on our system. We have the oldest and most successful constitutional system in history because it is not subject to such improvisation or impulse.
Besides, there is a practical redo in the works. Trump is already running in 2024. We do not have to “undo” 2020 when the public will have a renewed chance to vote for Trump in 2024.
Mr. Turley is buying the MSM interpretation of what Pr. Trump said…….ergo—False base = False conclusion.
RALAND BRUNSON, Plaintiff, v. ALMA S. ADAMS, et al., Defendants
Last chance for the Supremes to rescue our republic, If they pass on this, I’ll have a funeral for The United States of America
“…[Trump] will have a renewed chance to vote for Trump in 2024…”
With demonstrable, widespread, systemic election fraud, voting is now completely performative.
It is sad to see Democrats, Rinos, globalists, et al, working to overthrow our America on a technicality and expecting good patriots to simply accept it. It is even more sad to see apologists like our esteemed host stand on some esoteric notion like “constitutional law” which our betters not only ignore, but actually loathe.
In the infamous words of Bush junior, [The Constitution] is just a g-d scrap of paper”.
I fear the worst for my progeny.
We know we in the US are living a 3rd Sh*thole Nation when there’s video out this month from the US/Mex border of a 10 & 14 yr old girls begging for someone to help return them to their families from which they claim they were kidnapped from & brought to the US for use in the Illegal Sex Trade that is being Allowed by people in positions of power. And they were being turned over to unrelated men in the US.
Maybe for Christmas the citizens can help stop the Azz Rapers of All those little boys & girls by The Biden/Obama/Demo/Rino Leadership are flooding our borders with! I think last yr was over 250,000 kids of the reported ones.
Hopefully people are able to call & leave a msg for those so called leaders & send a few buck bucks to:
https://vets4childrescue.org/
Thks!
So if the fraud can’t be found before an election is certified and a lawsuit can’t be filed until the election is certified then based on your logic after the election is certified it can’t be ordered by court to be redone…. Well thanks for explaining why the democrats will never stop cheating!!!
A contentious issue related to what you are talking about:
Supreme Court Hears Case That Could Empower State Legislatures, Not Judges, to Regulate Elections
https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-hears-case-that-could-empower-state-legislatures-not-judges-to-regulate-elections_4908390.html?utm_source=Morningbrief&src_src=Morningbrief&utm_campaign=mb-2022-12-08&src_cmp=mb-2022-12-08&utm_medium=email&est=THkGkY1PIbYHu8A5VqqznIbZJhb1nFQWwotMZnaulTaqo%2BGLffEahcDYIQ%3D%3D
I got this response in my email from Anonymous the Stupid but I think he is hiding again by having his replies removed from the blog.
However it was very interesting and enlightening. He shortened my link and said the following:
https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-hears-case-that-could-empower-state-legislatures-not-judges-to-regulate-elections_4908390.htm
That’s all you need to post, ‘doofus’.
What is amazing is my link worked and his led me to “page not found”. It’s quite descriptive of him, and tells us ATS isn’t worth much of anything. (I don’t bother shortening because for some reason it doesn’t always work)
ATS, you know a few things, but they don’t pertain to life or the blog. You need to reevaluate your life and return to your cave.
ATS keeps posting responses trying to lie his way to the truth, what a fool. He has yet another post, “Keep on posting your lengthy links…” etc. etc. etc. (this one was likely intentionally left for deletion. I can’t find it.)
You left out the L on your first post. It will not suddenly appear. Do you know why? Because you are a liar.
I agree, I listened to some oral arguments – IO do not know where the justices are going.
They seem hostile to both sides.
It is my view that legislature in the constitution means legislature – not state government, not governor.
But I highly doubt they are going that far. What appeared to be likely was Legislature means lawmaking – the legislature + governor.
I think that is wrong.
But I want to make it clear. I support what is called the ISL theory, because that is what the constitution says. and because there is historical precident for it. Prior to the civil war no state court interfered in federal election law.
All that said – this is a word game. There is absolutely no special reason that the legislature alone is the right choice.
The problem we are correcting is NOT that the right way to run elections is under the control of the legislature.
The problem is that in so many states courts and governors are politically corrupt and in domains that constitutionally are CLEARLY atleast primarily the responsibility of legislatures – the state executives are Unilaterally making up their own election law, and when they do not State courts do.
The problem is NOT that there should be no judicial review of election law. It is that courts are not doing judicial review they are legislating from the bench.
Another possible solution – which I do not think SCOTUS is considering is to decide that unlike all other state law making functions, the federal courts DO have the authority – only in the era of federal elections to intervene and over rule state courts on their interpretation of state laws.
I really do not like that either – but it is constitutionally viable. Federal elections are in the constitution the domain of Congress and State Legislatures. I think that can be argued to give federal courts judicial review of State Law Making ONLY in the area of elections.
But the real solution is to fix courts and to fix executives. This problem extends outside of the area of elections,
and it is NOT the domain of federal courts.
The Constitution was designed for the states to have more power. Corruption in one state wouldn’t have as substantial an impact as corruption applying to all states. Against the better judgment of many (and myself), we have permitted the federal government to grow so big that the Constitution is impotent in addressing this problem.
I recognize that it has come up many times before, but lesser problems are less complicated to solve than big ones, and this is a big one. In my mind, this question requires a Constitutional Amendment reflecting all the people’s opinions.
There is no answer. We knew from the start America’s success depended on a plentiful supply of morality.
We clearly have a problem.
ISL is an attempt to solve that problem, and as I said I actually beleive the court should follow the constitution as written.
But ISL is a bad aide, it does not solve the problem of legislating from the bench.
And making legislatures unanswerable to the courts just moves the problem elsewhere.
TODAY I trust the PA legislature more than the PA Supreme Court – mostly.
But it would be WRONG to say that the legislature should be free from oversight.
It is arguable – that as written the constitution puts elections into the hands of congress and state legislatures – so Congress is the check on State Legislature – and that also means federal courts.
But again – though this is what is written in the constitution, I am still reluctant to say the only oversite for the legislature should be the federal government.
But Svelaz errs, because he does nto grasp THERE IS A PROBLEM, and it is near certain SCOTUS will do something.
I would also suggest there are other ways to read the constitution than as ISL is.
The case is a redistricting case – but the issue is far larger – and that is why the attention.
One huge question being raised is that the legislature has no power to defend its own laws in court. That goes beyond election law.
The legislature passes a law, the governor signs it, and then the state impliments it contrary to the actual words of the law.
It is the AG that is supposed to defends the law, but what if he does not ?
Most of the election cases that Republicans have lost – private parties had to step in to defend the legislature.
Some Simple things Scotus could do without disrupting the status Quo too much, is give the legislature more voice.
i.e. Prevent the courts from constructing a remedy – i.e. they can strike down laws (or districts), but not replace them.
States SOS’s can certify elections – but the legislature on its own can rescind certification.
” it is near certain SCOTUS will do something.”
I think whatever decisions SCOTUS makes will be very narrow.
We cannot legislate morality, and as we have seen most of the left is willing to act without regard to morals. How does one solve a problem where people intentionally cause harm by acting immorally? Generally we lock them up in jails or mental institutions.
I beleive that SCOTUS Should adopt ISL – because that the constitution should be read as written.
BTW in the discussions that those here on the left have not been paying attention to – not only is the evidence that state courts NEVER acted in Federal elections until after the civil war surfacing, but it is also emerging that this was discusses in the constitutional conventions – though not with respect to courts, because the founders did not expect courts to get involved – but specifically with respect to governors. And the word legislature in the election provisions was intended to mean NOT The state but only the legislature – I would note that the constitution ALSO gave ONLY the legislature the power to pick senators, and only the legislature the power to pick electors. These were later changed by constitutional amendment.
That said adopting the original meaning is a band aide for the real problem. The real problem is that ANY portion of government the left gains control of, they make effectively the entirety of governance. The legislate from the courts when they control the courts, from the executive when they control the executive and from the legislature when they control that.
The biggest challenge we face – that SCOTUS may be able to address is restoring checks and balances, divided government and the specific domains of each branch of government.
ISL is NOT really an effort to do that. While it returns control of government to the legislature where it belongs, it undermines checks and balances.
In THIS case over redistricting – that does not matter – redistricting is a political case, there is no right way to create districts and there is no constitutional question – despite decades of courts trying to manufacture one.
Anyway, I beleive SCOTUS has some power to address some problems at the edges,
But one of the most fundimental things I think we need to do today probably requires amending the constitution, and that is to establish a legislative veto. That is the power of any chamber in a legislature or congress to by majority vote repeal any prior legislation in the event that chamber concludes that eitehr the executive or courts have altered it beyond their intents.
This is a simple up/down vote. There is no power to amend or modify. And the result of a no vote is the repeal of that legislative act, and a return to whatever preceded it.
As to what will the court do ? I am not sure. What has the least odds is doing nothing.
I am no sue that adopting ISL is not pretty high odds as it is the closets to a fix to the actual problem (it is not a fix), it is the most constitutional choice they can make, and all the smaller steps have significantly more problems.
There are already 3 guaranteed votes for ISL, and Two of the other current justices clerked for two of 4 justices that looked to resolve Bush/Gore via ISL in 2000.
I think it is almost guaranteed that even if the court does NOT go for ISL that there will be a 4 justice concurrence supporting ISL
My big problem with ISL is that it is not the actual fix for the problem. It is what the constitution says, and should be followed.
but it is a precedural rather than substanative correction.
I am inclined to adopt the ISL theory, but that doesn’t solve the problem. There are gray areas in the division of power, legislative and judiciary, federal and state. All can be corrupt.
Redistricting and voting are two different issues. The more complex these things become, the greater the chance of corruption. The left knows it is corrupt and realizes its victories arise from it, so they will be reluctant to change. That is true for many self-serving Republicans and diminishes the hope for change.
As an outsider, Trump was the best chance for change, but being an outsider threatened all insiders. That is why he faced so much hatred from his party. One can see that in the solid Republicans on this blog who look for honesty and competence. However, they can only show hatred for Trump without being able to verbalize why. One can debate Trump’s personality and private actions, but there is no substance for their extreme hatred.
Trump was a solution that the nation squandered. He had no chance of completing the job, but he was the one who could start it. Leadership and statesmanship are what we need, and we must put away our petty resentments.
ISL will not fix the problem. Statesmanship can.
I have no idea if Republicans will stick with Trump – though MAGA is republicanism for the foreseable future.
But the best examplar of my views on Trump is reflected by the bat$hit attacks on Elon Musk.
Suddenly Musk is indistinguishable from Trump – as far as those on the left, in the media, …. are concerned.
I ignore all the orange man bad, or hateful hating hater nonsense.
Everything being said of Trump will be said of any republican that gets in the left’s way.
Most of it – like the collusion delusion is logically absurd and does not hold up under even small scrutiny.
I await the cascade failure of the democratic party and the left.
I await the lie that causes most people to not merely say “that is a lie”, but “oh my god, you have lied to me about everything”.
We will get there – one person at a time.
“Suddenly Musk is indistinguishable from Trump “
Of course. That is the modus operandi from the left. However, with Trump, people were angered in advance by the leftist maneuvers. They will see Musk as a hero. Although the same thing occurred to Trump, many Trump haters cannot see that.
We have some Trump haters on the blog. Now that the press is after Musk day and night, do these same people go after Musk? Musk has how many kids from different marriages. Are they going after Musk because of his infidelity? Musk, like Trump, was closer to the Democrats before. Will the Trump haters go after Musk? No! their minds were polluted by the press, RINO Republicans, academia and Hollywood, and TV. Free will turns into mush as those entities made up the minds of many Trump haters
It matters little to me the personality of the man that leads as long as he accomplishes so in the right direction. I had this discussion with Estovir. No man is a Saint, and sometimes what appears to be the devil, turns out to be a Saint. Who knows who the next Bartolo Longo will be, and who is it who knows what path will bring him there? Can good come from evil? Yes, and I will accept good from anyone if it makes the world a better place.
We require unity, but too many fall into the trap of disunity. United we stand, divided we fall.
We should have won big this past election, but we failed. I thought we would not win big because we did not unite. Trump is not the problem, but McConnell is, along with those who think like him. Paul Ryan was a problem as well. Is Kevin McCarthy another Paul Ryan?
Trump, and all his failings, is a blessing to the Republicans and the nation. Too many lacks the humility to understand that no one living is perfect in their eyes.
My argument is not about Trump and Trump haters.
But it is directed right at Republicans.
If you think the problem in 2020 and 2022 is Trump you are delusional.
Until you figure out how to deal with a world in which the press, social media, the left, and democrats will SUCCESSFULLY paint anyone that opposes them as a NAZI, RACIST FASCIST, you will not win.
If the left can near instantly paint Musk as a NAZI, RACIST, FACIST – they can do so to anyone – to Romney, to McCain, to Sasse, to …..
There is good news.
If they do not destroy Musk and take back Twitter That is a deep blow.
It is a giant crack in the left’s media hedgemony.
There are 2 routes to the left’s collapse
The first is enough centrists get fed up with leftist propoganda and start watching Fox, Newsmax, using Truth, ….
The 2nd is that the left wing nut media starts reporting atleast some of the truth.
BOTH of these lead to democrats losing elections,
I have noted that though 2022 was a red fizzle – a very small number of votes would have flipped it to a red Tsunami.
I strongly suspect that whenever Republicans win – it will be a tidal wave.
I am deeply concerned about some of the games moderate republicans are playing right now.
My concern is that they will alienate far more republicans than any moderates they gain.
Republicans will own US moderates the moment the credibility of the left, media, social media collapses.
Moderate republicans are NOT going to successfully buy them.
The future of the GOP is MAGA – for atleast a decade.
No republican – not DeSantis, not Cruz, not …. will recover lost Trump voters anytime soon, if they feel betrayed by Republicans.
Trump’s most important asset is that he can be trusted. He did not stab voters in the back.
Moderate republicans are very important to the GOP, though they are a minority, they are the people who can win certain states.
But they must also recognize that most republican voters for good reason do not trust them.
“If you think the problem in 2020 and 2022 is Trump you are delusional.”
I think you are directing your comment at others, not me, for I have long said similar things. We cannot forget the signs “Kill Bush” or the claims Ronald Reagan was stupid. The left always attempts character assassination and mistruths because they have little else to offer.
“There are 2 routes to the left’s collapse
The first is enough centrists get fed up with leftist propoganda and start watching Fox, Newsmax, using Truth, ….
The 2nd is that the left wing nut media starts reporting atleast some of the truth.”
John, part of the left’s power is ingrained in our system of government. The self-serving part of Adam Smith has permitted Republicans and Democrats to drink fine wine at the seat of the Republic. They do not wish to go back to drinking the wines left for the commoners. Their interests are making themselves supreme, a significant part of leftist thinking.
We knew about the problems with the news media, SM, the FBI, etc. Our legislators did nothing, and these entities protected them.
“The future of the GOP is MAGA – for atleast a decade.”
I agree. Why do people focus entirely on Trump rather than MAGA? He was instrumental in pushing MAGA forward, but people focus on the negatives of Trump, not the importance of MAGA. Previous rejections of Trump were a rejection of MAGA.
There is an explosion of hate speech on Twitter today.
No. it is not Neo-Nazi’s.
Elon posted “My Pronouns are Prosecute/Faucci”
And the left thoroughly exploded. My feed is almost entirely left wing nuts saying horribly things about Musk.
Anyone that beleives anything is changing just because Trump is not the GOP candidate does not live in the real world.
I also think the most critical contest of 2024 is happening right now on Twitter.
If the left does not destroy musk, if they do not restore their prior ability to control speech – particularly political speech,
they are in deep schiff and it is likely that slowly the rest of the media will have to follow.
Conversely if they succeed – Welcome to 1984.
Today we are seeing 2 minutes of hate – the extended version – with Elon Musk playing Emanuel Goldstein.
“There is an explosion of hate speech on Twitter today. No. it is not Neo-Nazi’s.”
John, I do not know how your comment fits into my response. This statement is the second time in this mini-thread.
“Anyone that beleives anything is changing just because Trump is not the GOP candidate does not live in the real world.”
I assume your point is that MAGA survives with or without Trump at the helm.
You state, “The future of the GOP is MAGA – for atleast a decade.”
I agreed while saying, “Why do people focus entirely on Trump rather than MAGA? He was instrumental in pushing MAGA forward, but people focus on the negatives of Trump, not the importance of MAGA. Previous rejections of Trump were a rejection of MAGA.”
First, I am not MAGA, I am libertarian. That does not mean I am opposed to everything or many things MAGA,
But my claim that the further of the GOP is MAGA is an observation from the outside, not a claim of what the GOP should be.
Nor am I specifically looking to debate MAGA with you.
For the time being, it is critical for the non-MAGA GOP to accept that, the GOP today is MAGA, and quit trying to undermine that.
For likely atleast a decade that battle is over.
There needs to be some kind of true between the MAGA and non-MAGA forces in the GOP.
The neverTrumpers – which is really neverMAGA needs to backdown and accept that the direction of the GOP is MAGA.
They do not need to support that, but they need to stop undermining it.
There is some discussion right bow of a cabal of something like 10 GOP moderate Senators allowing the democrats to ram through a bunch of stuff in the lame duck that will handicap republicans in 2023.
That would be a huge mistake. It would justify the dominant MAGA forces in the GOP to take the position that if you are going to undermine us, then you have no place in the GOP.
Conversely the MAGA side needs to end its war on RINO’s. There are many states that republicans can win that are just not MAGA states.
“First, I am not MAGA, I am libertarian. That does not mean I am opposed to everything or many things MAGA,”
I know you are libertarian, but MAGA has become something recognizable that many people support. My comment deals with people focusing on Trump, the man, instead of MAGA, the policy. We need to debate policy, not the color of Trump’s hair. For the most part, MAGA moves the Republican Party in the right direction.
“Conversely the MAGA side needs to end its war on RINO’s. ”
I read this and then thought back to your comment: “Nor am I specifically looking to debate MAGA with you.”
Your statement strikes me that ending the war requires knowing how they differ. MAGA appears a bit more populist, looking out for today’s families. Maybe there should be more discussion on the differences between MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans where it doesn’t involve Trump.
I am more libertarian than MAGA, but for the present, it helps break the direction we are going and moves us in a more libertarian direction.
Just read some other election trend data. That increasingly suggests that 2022 is still part of a Red Trend and the “red fizzle” is really an anomally of all close election falling one way, which you can either take as a strong indicator of fraud – given the same things happened in 2020,
Or a reflecting that while things are trending red, the abrupt mass adoption of mailin voting has given the Democrats a boost, that republicans must deal with, but that is NOT a trend.
There was a precipitous drop in under 30 voting from 2020 to 2022. If that is an actual trend democrats are in serious trouble because it means the benefits from jumping to mailin voting are transitory. That the couch potatos are going back to the couches.
This is my 3rd reply, but it is also my main point – which is that the Musk nonsense is proving a theme I have been pounding for a long time.
Trump is irrelevant to the left. They hate anyone that is in their way.
I would note that MAGA is also irrelevant to the left.
The political division in this country today is brutal. But it is NOT between some specific right wing ideology and the left.
It is between the left and anyone and anything that gets in its way.
The left uses nearly exactly the same attacks on everyone.
That is why the democratic party is in trouble.
That is why Gabbard left, why Sienema left.
I have more problems with MacCarthy than Ryan.
I think Ryan is wrong about some things – just as I think Trump is wrong.
But I think Ryan is a decent person, and mostly I think he was a good speaker.
Though I think that ultimately he really did not want to be speaker.
MacCarthy and McConnell contributed to the fizzle.
I do not know that had they acted properly they could have flipped the results.
I strongly suspect that is the case.
What I did not realize leading to the election was that there was a huge split in the GOP leadership.
Trump was out doing his damnest to establish himself as the undisputed leader of the GOP.
There is zero doubt he worked his ass off to get his candidates elected.
But he fell short of delivering the Tsunami – only barely short, but with something like 50 races decided by less than 1% and all going the wrong way, small shortfalls are huge.
Meanwhile MacCarthy and McConnell were directing all non-Trump related funding to mostly safe incumbent seats.
and/or to holy wars with Trump candidates.
McConnell as an example should have stayed out of the Alaska senate race.
A republican was going to win no matter what.
“I have more problems with MacCarthy than Ryan.
I think Ryan is wrong about some things – just as I think Trump is wrong. But I think Ryan is a decent person, and mostly I think he was a good speaker.”
I think Ryan damaged the MAGA movement. I don’t care about his personality. I care about what he did and more importantly, what he didn’t do or did, behind the scenes.
I can’t quantify how much in lack step McCarthy was with McConnell’s actions, which, I believe, hurt Republicans. I haven’t seen satisfactory rule changes for House Republicans under the presumed McCarthy leadership, a bad sign.
McConnell should have been gone long ago.
I don’t think you have to worry that Trump has gone off the deep end. Imagine being him and everything you do is microscopically worked over with a leftist fine tooth comb. Let him get some frustrations out now. By the time serious campaigning starts he will click on and should lose his old rhetoric. He needs to get in shape for fighting the RINOs on his own side, let alone the Democrats. If I was him I would get my mind cleared, get in the best physical shape possible for his age and go out there and whip the younger whippersnappers into shape!
If republicans expect to win in 2024 – they need to get their act together and they need to stop feuding.
They need to stop feuding with Trump, and Trump needs to stop feuding with them.
“Rino’s” need to cease doing stupid things that undercut republicans and empower the left.
MAGA republicans need to stop trying to kill off all non-MAGA republicans.
All need to accept that MAGA is the GOP platform nationwide and it is a winning platform.
But MAGA republicans need to understand it is NOT going to win in ever state and ever district.
Republicans need to NOT do the stupid things democrats have and drive people like Seinema and Tulsi Gabbard and a long list of others out of the party.
There are a few Republicans that it is fine to say good riddance too. The GOP of today is decidedly ANTI neocon. If your politics as a neocon are more important that the rest of your republican values – LEAVE.
There is room in the GOP for disagreemnt, there is not room for people who will allow disagreement over one political postion – even their own most important position to drive them to sabotage the party.
Neocons have wielded a fair amount of power within the GOP but they have always had an uneasy relationship to the CORE republican value which has been a STRONG national defense, with a Strong resistance to getting into conflicts that are not CLEARLY in our national interests.
The interventionists have been smeared accross both parties in the past, it is time to let democrats have the Neocons.
I think McConnell and MacCarthy shoudl go – but that is not happening, and attempts to do so damage the GOP, and the future.
Hopefully McConnel and MacCarthy do not repeat the mistakes of 2022 in 2024.
The GOP has to come to terms with Trump. Republcans can not win in 2024 unless Trump is doing what he has done every two years since 2016 and running rallies all over the place. Republicans can not win without the money Trump brings in.
If Trump is dead set on being the GOP presidential candidate in 2024 – that is what is going to happen, and fighting that will only harm the party.
If republicans think they can persuade Trump to allow someone else to top the ticket AND retain his full throat-ed involvement in 2024 – that is great. But the odds of that are zilch.
Eventually Republicans are going to have to figure out how to earn Trump’s voters without Trump. But a fight for the 2024 nomination will NOT accomplish that.
Republicans must start the 2024 campaign NOW, and they must do so unified NOW. One of the significant problems with 2022 is nasty GOP primaries – often late primaries left winning candidates no time to unify the supporters of other candidates.
Another problem was the Parties abandonment of SOME disfavored Trump candidates.
A house divided against itself can not stand.
Republicans are likely to have far greater advantages in 2024 than in 2022.
Twitter no longer censoring republicans will be a huge deal. It is also highly likely that we are past the peak censorship moment and other platforms will slowly embrace more free speech.
The bast economic prediction I have seen is 3qtrs of mild recession in early 2023 followed by inflation at 6-7% through 2024.
That is NOT a winning economy for democrats.
Further regardless of 2022 election results – democrats are very unpopular, their policies do not work, that is going to get worse int he next two years. I am already seeing the tenor in house hearing change.
There is not a problem democrats have right now that is not going to be worse. That is not good for the american people, but very good for republicans.
Most of the things that worked in democrats favor will either be unchanged or less effective in 2024.
It is near certain the republican favorable minority gains will continue.
Absent doing something really stupid, Abortion will not be an issue in 2024.
But the inability of single women to make a living will be.
Democrats will continue to have the mangled laws and massive mailin advantage that makes it possible to get under 30 couch potatoes to vote.
But it remains to be seen whether they will vote in the same numbers in 2024 as 2022.
Republicans actually won the popular vote in 2022.
A few red states are likely to flip purple or even blue, but several blue states are going red.
Republicans need to figure out how to deal with the “anyone who is not a democrat is a threat to civilization” nonsense.
But I think it is wearing thin, and it must eventually. I though it had past its peak in 2022 – but I was wrong.
I would further note much of what helped democrats in 2022 is either One time things, or gains that are not trends.
The election corruption that helped democrats in 2020 and 2022 – are unfortunately givens in 2024 – but they are also fixed gains, not trends.
Republicans are far more likely to gain voters in the next 2 years than Dems.
Morality is the fundimetal basis of law and government.
Free will is what separates humans from all other animals,
All morality derives from free will.
There is no such thing as a moral or immoral cat or Dog, or any other creature.
Whatever drives there actions it is not morality.
Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden is about the human discovery of morality – of the knowledge of good and evil.
Science has no explanation for free will, there is no moral center in the brain.
I do not know when men discovered free will, but they certainly were aware of it by the time they started recording history.
Most of us think of Morality as a religious construct – it exists in all religions, but even philosophy has found it unavoidable.
There are only four foundational philosophical structures that are possible and 2 of those require free will, and the others do not match reality.
Wherever you start – religion or philosophy – you end up with free will in humans as the fundamental defining attribute of humanity.
Morality is why something are right and some are wrong. Right and wrong is determined by violation of free will.
Everything that is wrong is a violation of someone’s free will, nearly all violations of free will are wrong.
Not only can we legislate morality, but all legitimate legislation is about morality.
This does not mean that all morality must drive law.
Morality divides into positive and negative morality.
Thou shalt not vs. Do unto others.
Frankly I am not even sure that they are the same. I will call positive morality charity and reserve the label morality for negative morality.
This is all important because – though sometimes wrong religious morality is alteast anchored in the same moral framework.
While one of the reasons that socialism and communism and the modern left more broadly are such as disaster is their morality is unanchored to anything.
60 years ago we were certain that the population bomb would destroy the world. This drove a variety of policies accross the world, population control, abortion, even the disconnect between sex and reproduction. The left created moral claims based on the premise that rising population was bad. Much of the world now has declining populations, and world population will peak soon at about 11B people and then start to decline.
Unlike rising population declining population actually has very real and strong negative consequences.
China the country that most aggressively imposed population control policies is not embracing population growth policies. At this time those are not yet significantly coercive. but with near certainty they will be.
While I do not expect this soon – I fully expect that in time as the problems with declining global populations become more evident that the left will reverse on many moral values and homosexuality and trans sexuality will become evil again.
My point is not about homosexuality – but that because the left’s morality is without a foundation it is unstable and can turn in any direction.
The only foundation of law and government is morality.
But everything that claims to be morality is not morality.
All morality is about free will and when it is and is not legitimate and justifiable to restrict it.
Free will is a different subject. Some might posit that there is no such thing as free will. The human body has regulators that push the individual to perform specific actions to survive.
Some do posit there is no such thing as free will.
But that proposition comes with consequences.
That is core to most of my arguments.
The proposition is legitimate no matter what the core of your argument.
It is legitimate – but it is inconsistent with perceived reality. For it to be true either we are all in the matrix dreaming, or every single free choice we think we are making is programmed and we should all quit thinking about the choices we make because that thought is unproductive and futile.
It is possible, but unlikely that actual reality and perceived reality are different and distorted in exactly the same way for all of us.
“It is legitimate – but it is inconsistent with perceived reality. For it to be true …”
Survival mechanisms are built into our DNA that prevent aspects of free will. Those aspects lead to choices affected by those forces.
There is no an inherent conflict between survival and free will.
The apex preditor on earth is man. The dominant mammal is man.
The only creater with significant free will is man.
Without free will, there appears to be an upper limit to the success of mammals.
“There is no an inherent conflict between survival and free will. ”
John, how does that alter my comment, “There is no an inherent conflict between survival and free will”?
Another thought. SCOTUS has been moving towards a “political questions” doctrine. i.e. some questions are not legal questions and therefore not reviewable by the court. I beleive that is at or near where they are on redistricting.
There is no objectively right way, no constitutionally correct way to create congressional districts.
I think SCOTUS could removed redistricting from the domain of state courts as a political question and a federal question in federal elections.
But I do not think that reasoning would apply to election laws – those are not political questions.
Trump’s word choices were troubling, and the 2020 election is not getting a redo.
But the Point is correct. It is inarguable that what occured was WRONG.
Most of the main stream media, democrats and even respected Constitutional scholars are acting in an overwrought response to what Trump said. Saying there should be a redo, is not the same as overthrowing the Constitution (the overwrought response). Let’s face it, the Constitution allows Trump to call for a redo, it’s called Free Speech. The remedy to unliked speech is more speech in opposition. Let the man have his say and the American Public will determine in 2024 who leads the Country. Stop wringing our hands at every thing Trump says.
YES! Unclutxh your pearls, Turley.
There is not going to be a redo, and Trump’s language was inarticulate.
But the Point was spot on. This was a colossal FU in myriads of ways. 2022 is no better. It should be self evident that if nothing else Democrats 2020 Covid driven destruction of election laws has made elections and untrustworthy disaster.
People have good reason to doubt the dozens of 2022 races that were razor close – and ALL won by democrats.
Much the same as 2020. Flipping a coin and it coming up heads 40 straight times – is not believable.
The Twitter files are a big deal – but they also are incredibly useful as they vindicate the Democrats cheated claim.
We can debate the legality of what the twitter files expose.
There is zero doubt the conduct is immoral – cheating. fraud.
Legal Fraud ? Maybe, but Fraud nonetheless.
Trump meant and most republicans meant and still do that 2020 (and 2022) were flipped by lawless changes to elections, and probably by actual ballot fraud.
Rassmussen has CONSISTENTLY found that 59% of those polled think that democrats cheated in 2020 and that flipped the election.
That does nto make clear what “cheated” means – but there is still a strong majority that beleive democrats conduct was immoral if not illegal.
Also the NV and especially the AZ 2022 elections stink to high heaven – people may not know what went wrong – but they do not like it.
Broadly people are not happy with the way our elections are conducted. They do not trust them.
All of this capped by the twitter files revaluation is allowing Republicans to claim vindication on the “2020 was a stolen election”
Claim.
The J6 committee wasted alot of time on a single event – they never looked at The media memory holing the Hunter Biden story.
This also undermines the J6 narative – protestors have something to be angry about – not only voter fraud, but being silenced.
Communism has come to America in the form of liberalism just as predicted ……it’s all over but the crying now folks.
America had a good run but nothing lasts forever
It was sad even watching the RNC tool michael steele intimate that freedom of speech is not absolute . The prog left in Amerika already has said aloud that they intend to limit whatever speech they declare seditious and or “harmful , hateful” buy their and only their definitions. As Jim notes , it was a good run for this American Republic…we are now on the slope to despotism of mobocracy and one party tyranny.
By 2050 they’re only be a vestigial United States of America… it’ll only be a region in a larger world government and no longer will America have a high standard of living.
There’s no coming back there’s no way we can come back
The hypocrisy from the left is off the charts ….. who can’t remember the 2020 election were Democrats States through aside the constitution for covid and the election.
Implemented many many illegal and unconstitutional demands.
Or what about Nancy Pelosi shredding the Constitution saying members could vote for other members members could stay home and have other members vote for them that’s not in the Constitution but you see how leftists can shred the Constitution whenever they see fit
They are stealing election, YOU KNOW IT Jonathan, so we are now a Banana Republic. Soo, they will be worse than Hitler ever thought pf being because they hate God.
If you want to read a much more informed position on trumps position go here
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/12/05/president-trump-was-correct-about-the-constitution-and-elections-kari-lakes-lawsuit-shows-why/
Also here
https://twitter.com/russvought/status/1600642057902628870
Apparently, Mr. Turley, even with his legal background, doesn’t understand “Fraud Vitiates Everything.” There was ostensibly election fraud, in the 2020 Presidential Election, on a massive scale. The evidence is overwhelming, by I get it, I get it, Mr. Turley has to tow the democrat line.
Part of the problem IS “Election Fraud”, but only part, and not for the reasons we think. If Blowhard in Chief Trump and the rest of the “Chicken Littles” are going to continue doing what they do, then, of course, there will be no real investigation or address of real grievances in any court. Personally I suspect there has been numerical error on a very small scale, but no fraud. If there HAS been real and verifiable vote fraud, then we have a real problem… and that will not be solved by the courts or the Constitution, for fraudsters (and worse) do not care about the constitution, fair elections, etc. Remember, our Revolution wasn’t prosecuted because some nice friends in England respected justice, or the vote. If the outside chance DeSantis is elected in ’24, and he is as “patriotic” as we hope him to be, then maybe he will focus more on National Law Enforcement (reform), election integrity (reform) and “by-the-book” governance. But, I’m afraid that is a big ask and wish. It seems these days, that we have chosen to be more sadistic, masochistic, or destructive, than we are patriotic. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least that Vegas is making book on Kim Kardashian as POTUS in 2028, or… something.
Gary, you come off like a typical, angry, Lincoln Project, blowhard yourself. Your blind hatred for a man who did more for EVERYBODY, in his four years as President, is indicative of a man hates just for the sake of hating. Just like a typical radical extremist left wing lickspittle, democrat. You refuse to acknowledge the overwhelming, plethora of evidence that proves the 2020 Presidential election was indeed stolen. And don’t get me started what with zerobama stealing both the 2008 and 2012 elections. Or should I say he was put in the White House by our corrupt letter agencies.
Disappointed and sometimes angry yes. But everything else you said was childish and absolutely wrong… but you knew that, so no comment.
non sequitur
Agree 100%, Ben F.
Secure border, no war participation, energy independent, bringing China and the middle east to heel, getting out of the disastrous cult-climate nonsense, Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, getting NATO to pay up and stop whining, etc., etc Gary is just another nanny-state punk who wants Big Brother to hold his hand with one while they pick our pockets with the other.
What you suspect is irrelevant, there has never been any crime in all of history with more accumulated evidence of the crime (voterfraud) than the 2020 election/fraudulent election of joe voterfraud biden.
YOur argument doesn’t even rise to the level of “specious.”
Why are you still here ?
Why would anyone want to hear what you have to say about anything ?
You have been lying, you have been and still are defending those who not just lied, not just suppressed the truth but silenced those trying to speak the truth.
I can not think of an anything that was not also a crime that would be more immoral.
You Biden, DNC, Democrats, the media, Social media have burned your credibility to the ground.
You are not merely liars you are destroyers of the truth, and destroyers of those who tell the truth.
Why should anyone trust you about anything ?
Why should anyone beleive you about anything ?
Why should you be beleived about election fraud ? About J6 ? About MAL ?
Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus
Falsus in omnibus, falsus in omnibus
Next up……Skull & Bones war monger Ron DeSantis?
If DeSantis is truly a Skull-and-Bones kinda fellow, then he WILL be the next Pres., and we WILL be screwed.
All for you being screwed… but Trump still has the reigns!
Oh please.
Look at DeSantis’s track record running FL during and post COVID and point out what he did wrong? BTW, the economic recovery that Biden takes credit for, was lead by Red States reopening. CA and NY were dead last as they clinged to their various lockdown mandates. And they are both losing taxpayers as they flee to open, free Red States.
War monger? The Dems just voted to keep unaudited monies and war material to the Ukraine.
The Trumpification of DeSantis begins.
I would remind everybody I have warned about this – even before Covid.
There is not really anything special about Trump as far as the way the media and the left treats him,
Any Republican that is a threat to them will be a far right extremist hateful hating hater.
If we means lefties – absolutely.
But there is not an elected republican in this country – including dog catchers that would not be an improvement over Biden.
You will be screwed. America will do just fine.
John Say,
As I have noted on this blog a number of times, I am a registered Independent.
I find myself agreeing with more of the Republican platform than the Democrat one by far.
Long time Democrat, Bill Maher noted,
“I keep saying to the liberals: you know what, if what you’re doing sounds like an ‘Onion’ headline…stop.”
For example, when asked to define a woman, the response was,
“I’m not a biologist. I’m a judge.”
That reads like a Onion headline.
Well, there were no “rules” for termination of the Articles of Confederation either, but that hardly stopped them. You do what you gotta do. The constitution (with its tolerance of the administrative state as well as the objectionable mandates related to “public accommodation,” an obscene violation of the both the right to property as well as the right to free association, bears little resemblance to what the Founders bequeathed. Getting rid of the constitution may not be that bad an idea, all in all. Since our constitutional rights are not provided BY the constitution (they are given by God), but only acknowledged and guaranteed, all that would go away in ‘terminating’ the constitution would be the powers of government that oppresses us along with the entire administrative state, intelligence cabal as well as the military/industrial/media complex. Starting over might be just the right medicine.
Until a remedy is found for liberal’s application of situational ethics in election integrity is found we are done as a republic. I am so sick of seeing headline after headline of someone cheating or lying in elections without any punishment and, more importantly, plugging the holes in our election process. The Republicans are not the answer – especially in their current iteration – but a return to moral as laid out in the 10 commandments. I echo what Bob Dole stated during a debate with Clinton, “Where is the outrage?”.
Could Mr. Trump have been referring to Article V of the US Constitution, as a remedy, by a convention to propose amendments called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures?
Has anyone even asked that question?
I haven’t heard that, but it seems pretty obvious to me that that was what he meant.
If Mr. Trump is guilty of anything, it’s not being accurate enough in his speech.
Let the left wing media who is free of that sin cast the first stone.
So he didn’t explicitly invoke that Article but I believe that is an avenue that the country could (and quite possibly should) take. That WOULD be a legal avenue to suspending the Federal Government while the Constitution is being amended. What that WOULDN’T do, to invoke Article V, is to suspend the US Constitution. It would merely return control of the Federal system, and all the retained rights intact, to the State legislatures.
Stop fighting the last one and look toward the next one.
You don’t have a “next one” until you correct the issues from the “last one.”.
You state” We have the oldest and most successful constitutional system in history because it is not subject to such improvisation or impulse.” Sorry, but if it is proven (which i think it has been) that the election was fraudulent, you go back and fix it. You don’t move forward like nothing happened and say “next time” That is rewarding the crime. Fixit already.
Lawyers ONLY care about the law. They don’t care about its practical implications or the real grievances of the people.
Lawyers broke this country.
They cannot be counted on to fix it.
Correction. “We HAD”
“Besides, there is a practical redo in the works. Trump is already running in 2024. We do not have to “undo” 2020 when the public will have a renewed chance to vote for Trump in 2024.'”
If you don’t fix the 2020 fraud, what makes you think there won’t be just as much (if not more) fraud in 2024? If it worked once…
2022 was just the practice run for 2024
2020 was rife with fraud and criminal activity across the nation to install Herr Biden and his puppeteers into power. Trump is advocating for the most peaceful and civil solution to this crime. Sadly since the Judiciary has failed the citizens of the republic, trust has been lost. Soon the 3rd Box will be opened, and the Balkanization of the former USA will begin. There will be savagery and blood spilled on both sides, but the communists and their allies in tyranny (BLM, Antifa, Democrats, bureaucrats, etc.) will be eradicated.