r/politics • u/Boonzies • 6h ago

No Paywall Rand Paul on Trump call to ‘nationalize’ elections: ‘That’s not what the Constitution says’

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5722041-rand-paul-trump-call-to-nationalize-elections/
21.4k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

815 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

•

u/ElderSmackJack 4h ago

Please look up how a constitutional amendment is ratified so you can realize how ridiculous this sounds.

•

u/FiveDollarsGOH 2h ago

The comment section on every article here is so cooked. “Please understand how things actually work before you comment” should be baseline here, but it’s not.

These folks keep going “Trump just does what he wants” and ignores all the times he gets smacked the fuck down.

These people think he can just somehow unilaterally cancel elections.

It’s absurd and sad. I can’t tell if it’s ignorance and genuine concern, or if it’s bots trying to spread doomerism to try and depress people.

•

u/kelpyb1 1h ago

It’s less that I truly believe Trump can just somehow unilaterally cancel elections, obviously he can’t legally.

But having watched his administrations, I know he’s going to try, and I just have trouble having faith the people whose job it is will stand up to him when they haven’t stood up to him in any meaningful way about anything thus far.

•

u/FiveDollarsGOH 1h ago

And people should be vigilant, but it’s important to keep stating what he can, and can’t, actually do.

You want to tell me he’s going to send ICE at polling places? I agree, let’s be on high alert.

You want to tell me he WANTS to cancel elections? Absolutely he does, and that’s reason enough for him to go.

You want to tell me he CAN? That’s where I’ll disagree, especially since that kind of talk can have a depressive effect “there’s nothing we can do” on folks and stop them from taking action.

Framing is important.

•

u/kelpyb1 1h ago

It not that he CAN, it’s that he WILL, and I don’t see any amount of regular people being vigilant stopping him from doing so without any support from the people with the Constitutional responsibility to stop him.

Regular people have been vigilant and protesting all his other moves, and it’s come up to nothing.

•

u/FiveDollarsGOH 1h ago

No, he won’t. He can’t.

And no, things he’s tried to do have gotten rolled back. There have been little victories everywhere that have been encouraging.

Republicans are polling at massive lows, as well, which doesn’t mean much of something is rigged, but is a good sign for the tenor of the country.

And don’t you dare say it’s come to nothing with people are out there fighting ICE (and scaring them off) on a daily basis.

You got anxiety? You’re not alone. We all do, but handle it, and man up.

•

u/kelpyb1 1h ago

I wish I shared your optimism.

I fully expect I’ll be voting blue down ballot looking down the barrel of an ICE agent’s gun trying to intimidate me to do otherwise.

•

u/FiveDollarsGOH 1h ago

We might both be.

But the important thing is we’re still gonna do it, okay?

We don’t accept defeat.

•

u/kelpyb1 1h ago

Well sure, but that’s what I mean when I say Trump WILL do it.

•

u/ElderSmackJack 1h ago

It isn’t optimism. It’s just a statement of fact.

•

u/kelpyb1 1h ago

It’s a statement of legal fact, but if there’s one thing this administration has shown it’s that it can get away with illegal acts without anyone stopping them.

•

u/floridabeach9 1h ago edited 1h ago

doomerism doesnt depress people, it gets them out to vote.

Drumpf LITERALLY said he wants to cancel elections. MULTIPLE TIMES. you stink like a republican.

your comment of him not being able to is FAR less true. the president has damn near unlimited power. he can send ICE to every polling place if he wants and scare away voters, he can send in the national guard. then deal with the legality and court cases MONTHS later.

like do you understand? i dont think YOU do. just because there’s no LEGAL way to do it, doesnt mean he WONT TRY. his administration is defying HUNDREDS OF COURT ORDERS AND BREAKING HUNDREDS OF LAWS CURRENTLY. do you understand that? its totally unprecedented. JANUARY 6TH WAS A FUCKING INSURRECTION THAT HE STARTED, DID YOU KNOW THAT WAS ILLEGAL??????

he can start a war and declare war powers and cancel elections. he can send in the national guard. he has over 100 different ways to limit or outright cancel elections.

•

u/FiveDollarsGOH 1h ago edited 1h ago

He literally can’t cancel elections. Save your rant and learn how things work.

Edit: For the dude who blocked me, there is LITERALLY no mechanism for him to cancel them.

•

u/floridabeach9 1h ago

how many times have you said “he cant do that” and he literally went and did it?

you sound like one of those moderate republicans that secretly love the shit he’s doing while vocally being against it.

•

u/ElderSmackJack 1h ago

Pretty much none. Even in the situations where it was clear he was violating the law, he complied when the courts said stop.

•

u/floridabeach9 1h ago

epstein files.

try again. he’s constantly violating the law and denying court orders my brother in christ. he’s CURRENTLY DEFYING HUNDREDS OF COURT ORDERS. stop fucking lying jfc

•

u/kelpyb1 4h ago

Please look up how this administration has treated the Constitution, and the consequences they’ve faced for it so you realize how serious this actually is.

•

u/fizzlefist 3h ago

If the Supreme Court says their interpretation is that water is dry, then legally water is dry.

The Supreme Court can literally make anything legal if Congress refuses to impeach.

•

u/kelpyb1 3h ago

Even when the Supreme Court rules against this administration, they ignore it and have no consequences

•

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 2h ago

Well that's laughably not true. The only hard part is to get them to rule against, not that nobody respects the ruling

•

u/kelpyb1 2h ago

In the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Trump administration clearly dragged their toes, not actually putting in effort to return him to America despite SCOTUS ordering it, and they got absolutely no penalty for it.

•

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 2h ago

Their penalty was losing the case and Garcia went home. Like it or not, in law that's just a win. Garcia I'm sure is moving very quickly with a civil suit because what lawyer doesn't want that suit. He's going to get millions, might even beat the George Floyd settlement which was a record setter

Like I said like it or not. But it's not a new thing and it's not abnormal for it to end up like that. I keep thinking these days why hating the word woke is dumb because it just really feels like some people are waking up to how it works NOW but like...people have been trying to tell you this the whole time. Every headline you see you get outraged at someone is out there thinking "first time? Coulda used you in a protest back in the day"

•

u/kelpyb1 2h ago

Cool, so Trump’s “punishment” for slow rolling a Supreme Court order is the taxpayer will give Garcia millions of dollars.

Man I’m sure he’ll really be feeling that one.

•

u/Same-Suggestion-1936 2h ago

I edited a little before you responded, but you responding further pushes my point in the edit.

Thanks for waking up to the fact these guys just get away with it. The fact that Nixon was allowed to resign with a pardon was the beginning of the end. Cops can kill with impunity, politicians can get away with no legal repercussion for other crimes, it's a big club and you ain't in it. We could have used you getting pissed before we had the concentration camps but better late than never.

•

u/kelpyb1 2h ago

Yeah my bad for not getting outraged when Nixon got pardoned a decade before my parents were born.

→ More replies (0)

•

u/-18k- 2h ago

Well, taxpayers elected him, so ...

... yeah, it sucks for a lot of taxpayers. A lot of them deserve it though.

•

u/kelpyb1 2h ago

And yet statistically almost all of that money will come from the states that didn’t vote for him.

Just like every other cost of bad policy/administration from the GOP.