Ah. I wasn't aware of that. It still sucks, but maybe for the folks who are left and still protected by the union some malicious compliance is in order.

it's comically hard to be fired unless you're a political appointee.

Didn't they change the rules to count many more jobs as political appointees without protections right at the end of Trump's term, only to have Biden change it back? Trump is definitely doing that again.

These companies are huge, and know how to lobby the government. It seems to be the wrong industry to piss off.

A judge has a better chance of doing that and being somewhat protected from the wrath of Trump's vindictive government.

Alternatively, he could find a judge willing to publish every single one, unredacted.

The 14th amendment approach did have some legitimate issues with it. If it worked, then I am convinced Abbott would have invoked some bullshit "Biden is creating an invasion at the border" excuse to remove Biden from the ballot. That's why the decision ended up unanimous.

The 22nd amendment's text is a whole lot clearer, and far less subject to interpretation. I can see a State saying "I don't even need the Supreme Court to weigh in on this one". And if it does come up with some tortured logic, I can see a State telling it to go to hell, because the one thing it can't focus do is rewrite the Constitution.

Maybe you're right. But if the fix were really in, Rick Scott would have been the majority leader.

The States can and will. Recall that there were a few states that tried to take Trump off the ballot this time around, that case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled that states couldn't use that specific clause to keep Trump off the ballot. Furthermore, that decision was unanimous, although the Liberal judges released their own opinion saying that they disagreed with some aspects of the decision.

It will be a lot harder for even this court to weasel it's way around the language in that amendment. And it will get there quickly. The minute Trump announces another candidacy every state that is not totally MAGA will immediately refuse to put him on any ballot due to his ineligibility.

Don't be so sure. These Senators know how much power they have, and their 6 year terms guarantee that the ones elected this year will have to deal with life in the next Administration, whatever that happens to be.

I think Trump is expecting Gabbard's and Gaetz's nominations to fail in the hopes that he can get the Fox News guy in charge of the Pentagon. There seems to be a lot of jockeying around regarding the military, that scares me more than what Gaetz can do at the head of a department that despises him.

Yeah, I agree. This was a bad idea. The text is quite clear that no person shall be elected to be President more than twice. Simply introducing it as a "clarification" will give the impression that clarification is necessary. It's not.

Republicans can't do anything to fix this (legally) other than to amend the Constitution. Let's see what illegal shit they try, though.

Tomorrow. There had been a House Ethics Committee investigation into his antics, which was just wrapping up. But that committee can only investigate House members, so now that he isn't anymore they may not be able to release that report.

He is in the unique position that his political career may actually improve after resigning a House seat but getting his nomination torpedoed by the Senate. He can make a living off listing off his grievances on Conservative talk shows, biding his time for the 2028 Presidential Nomination.

Fuck, I'm old.

I think the new Majority Leader still respects Romney, though. He (and the head of whatever committee gets to approve this nomination) are now in a pickle. They know the harm that she will do to the country, but have also promised to get Der Gröpenführer's picks through quickly. I wouldn't want to be them.

So he's basically a real-life Gilderoy Lockheart, teaching Defense Against the Woke Arts.

The only way to stop the nomination is for a Republican sentator on the relevant committee to vote no, or for 4 Republican Senators to vote no if it leaves committee. What are the odds of that?

He resigned from Congress because the ethics investigation was about to finish. This might have all been a ploy to manufacture a reason for Gaetz to leave early, and then the report gets squashed.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/11/13/politics/house-ethics-committee-report-gaetz-investigation

Then, if the Senate does not confirm the nomination, it gives Trump more grievances to air.

The Senate absolutely can stop her, if they choose to. They probably won't.

"I'm willing to grind through it and do it the old-fashioned way,"

If they attempted to block or obstruct hearings, he was keeping his options open.

Thune won the Senate Majority Leader post, and he seems like he's not gonna press the "Recess" button to let Trump put in all his appointments without Senate confirmation, at least as long as Democrats don't try to outright block any nominations. I think that's probably the best deal we till get on that.

https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/11/13/south-dakota-senator-john-thune-says-recess-appointments-still-an-option-for-trump-cabinet/76265376007/

So that means we will actually get hearings on this one (and Matt Gaetz), which will be fun to watch. We'll see if they manage to get 50 Republicans behind those two. They might not.

You're thinking of Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada. Rubio was born in Miami.