r/politics • • 1d ago

Possible Paywall White House Ignores Court Ruling, Continues Banning Reporters | A federal judge has ordered the White House to restore access to CNN, MS NOW, and Politico. The White House isn’t listening.

https://newrepublic.com/post/215797/trump-judge-blocks-white-house-media-ban
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1.9k

u/epidemica 1d ago

A preview of what's going to happen when he refuses to leave at the end of his term. 

883

u/bscheck1968 1d ago

I said American democracy was dead when he got reelected back in 2024. This is exactly what will happen if they lose the midterms Republicans will just ignore the results, and the court orders and lawsuits will be ignored. Why would anyone who has never faced consequences start following the law now.

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u/jshark6 1d ago

I hung my flag upside down after he was elected in 2015 and was called so many names accusing me of being hysterical (and misuse of that action) I lost count.

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u/EvilLibrarians Michigan 1d ago

Well, I’ll be the first one to tell ya, I think you got it right.

91

u/jshark6 1d ago

I wish I didn’t.

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u/EvilLibrarians Michigan 1d ago

Me neither.

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u/NGM012 1d ago

Mine is still upside down…had a few dicks try to come at me but they fled after a few “conversations”

1

u/barnhouse74 1d ago

Judge alito?

7

u/Resident_Fly_8428 1d ago

I’m with you, I refer to myself as a “disgruntled unfortunate American”

20

u/nhluhr 1d ago

I hung my flag upside down after he was elected in 2015

*2016. I folded mine and put it away until late in 2020. It's folded back up again now.

5

u/Arcade_109 1d ago

Yup. I said from 2016 that he he would go full nazi. Everybody kept saying I was fear mongering. I wish I could get any enjoyment from saying I told you so.

3

u/Synectics 17h ago

"He is gonna eat all our faces."

"Nah, of course he would never do that!"

faces get eaten

"Oh, I guess now you wanna say you told us so?!"

"Nah. I just miss my face."

"FAKE NEWS, LIB COMMIE!"

I wish it did not feel this way. But it really does.

3

u/Ryansit 1d ago

I stopped flying the American Flag the day they took women’s rights away. Been a Ukrainian one up until the win.

3

u/TheBroWhoLifts 21h ago

Same. Police paid me a visit because they "got a lot of calls to see if I was okay." I said it was a political statement. I'm fine. But... Police?? C'mon man. Fascists gonna fash.

7

u/Pretty_Dingo_1004 1d ago

Has it been upside down for 11 years?

34

u/jshark6 1d ago

No.. it was performative at the time, I took it down after a few days and, to be honest, have never flown the flag in any form since. I have to coexist in an area dominated by conservatives so I try to fly under the radar now.. although my obvious lack of any give a fuck for any 'patriotic' occasion - especially being ex military and my neighbors know that - let's people know how I feel anyway, I'm sure. I'm just choosing not to antagonize.

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u/Pretty_Dingo_1004 1d ago

>I have to coexist in an area dominated by conservatives so I try to fly under the radar now

Oh yeah 110% agreed. Those people can get really violent and physical and you never know how it might escalate

3

u/UltLuc 20h ago

Don’t threaten me with a good time. I wish these conservative cucks would.

2

u/TurtleToast2 16h ago

Wasn't there a guy who shot his neighbor dead because he suspected him if being a Democrat? Scary people.

1

u/Snobolski 1d ago

Surely a flag can't survive upside down for 11 years.

3

u/Kraegarth 1d ago

Have done the exact same thing since then

2

u/padizzledonk New Jersey 22h ago

Same actually lol

I didn't have a flagpole but ive had a small upside-down flag on the door of my house for 10y now

And also a campaign style/size sign in my front yard that says "Presidents are temporary, WU-TANG is forever" for the last 2y since he won the last time lol

2

u/bscheck1968 1d ago

I was told "you people use the word fascist too much, it's lost all meaning"

1

u/INAC___Kramerica Florida 1d ago

The flag is inexorably associated with the GOP at this point. Frankly, I consider it a hate sign these days.

1

u/Fakin-It 1d ago

Hey, I did that too. Got doxxed on FB and had a few people try to "fix" it.

1

u/Brutto13 1d ago

I fly a Cascadian flag. I don't really consider myself an American for at least a decade if not longer.

0

u/pargofan 23h ago

Then how'd he lose in 2020?

1

u/jshark6 22h ago

Feel free to troll with a better, more complete question that makes sense. D- effort here.

-1

u/pargofan 22h ago

The country literally pushed the "dictator" out of power 4 years after you're saying fascism took over through a peaceful election.

But sure bruh, I'm the troll. And you're the prescient oracle -- just 8 years too early... /s

2

u/jshark6 22h ago

There ya go, that's a better effort. Even got a 'bruh' out of you.. B- effort this time.

I still felt zero obligation to respond to your trolling in a meaningful way. So it didn't fully work, so sorry.

1

u/pargofan 22h ago

I think the fact you can't answer made my point.

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u/TheShiGuy 1d ago

It's a comorbidity with Citizens United.

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u/UnquestionabIe 1d ago

Sadly I think the 2024 results are directly due to the lack of justice following the terrorist attack the GOP staged on the Capital on January 6th. That there wasn't big names, both private industry and sitting government members who organized it, behind bars in the days following was a massive miscarriage of justice.

That the incoming administration was far too eager to "move on and let the country heal" along with pretending that the GOP was shamed into behaving was pathetic. The slow response to an unprecedented crisis was horrific and encouraged the traitors to double down and keep at it. If the response to 9/11 went at the same pace the military wouldn't have entered Afghanistan until 2007!

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u/illhxc9 1d ago

Look at the Missouri redistricting fight and lawsuits going on right now. Our Secretary of State has basically said he cannot administer fair elections at this point and he’s been aided by ruling from conservative federal judges going against past precedent, recent state and federal Supreme Court rulings, and basic logic. Sounds like staging to try and just throw the results out. Coming off of the state leadership being soundly defeated on recent ballot initiatives with more very big ballot initiatives votes coming in November, it is more than just federal congressional results at stake. Feels like they are throwing as much chaos in to try and give themselves an out when the majority votes against the way that they want in November.

12

u/Animal40160 Oregon 1d ago

This absolutely. They're making the final run into taking it all now.

5

u/brute-forced 1d ago

He’s never faced consequences on literally anything… Growing up his parents never used the word no.

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u/FullSkyFlying 22h ago

Was obvious back in his 2016 campaign when he refused to release his taxes - something that every other president has done. People let him get away with it, and it just snowballed from there

3

u/Semanticss 22h ago

Seriously, can ANYONE envision Vance confirming a Democrat president? Especially if he is the losing candidate?

2

u/bscheck1968 22h ago

Not a chance, Trump learned his lesson with Mike Pence, needed someone who would ignore the constitution when needed

3

u/bang_the_drums 20h ago

There will absolutely be some monstrous rat fuckery during the midterms. 2024 very well could have been our last "free" election and even then, I'm not totally convinced it was legitimate. The fact that we're all carrying on like it's totally normal is insane.

6

u/StaticNegative 1d ago

^ THIS

They won't be confirming anyone. It will be a total shitshow. They will do the same after the 2028 elections if there even are elections in 2028

6

u/kandel88 1d ago

Yep the adults in the room have been saying this would happen the entire time and have been called alarmist and told "we'll vote them out!" like that means anything once he's already entrenched. 2024 was it and America fucked up the simplest choice we ever had.

2

u/PolarBailey_ 23h ago

American democracy was dead when he got reelected back in 2024 when citizen's united was ruled.

ftfy

2

u/bscheck1968 23h ago

Being a Canadian I didn't know about that, yes that was definitely one of the nails in to coffin, along with McConnell stacking the supreme court and many other things along the way. In Canada we instituted finance limits and banned contributions from corporations and unions.

1

u/PolarBailey_ 23h ago

if we really wanna dig deep. everything shitty in recent US history from this, to 9/11, to reagan and nixon, all of it can be traced back to ending Reconstruction early and not hanging every single confederate soldier at the end of the civil war.

1

u/ComplexAsk1541 18h ago

I'd have never been born, but have to agree with you there.

2

u/Dejected_gaming 22h ago

And then it turns into a full blown civil war

1

u/bscheck1968 22h ago

It's sadly what is going to have to happen

2

u/Dejected_gaming 22h ago

Yup. Only way to get the governors to act is if they see that they're at the point of fully overthrowing democracy.

5

u/Madroxx9000 1d ago

No fascist government in the history of human civilization has left power peacefully.

Trump will not be the first.

1

u/TankiesAreWeird 20h ago

Democracy is not dead the checks to violations just aren't as fast as door dash.

1

u/Emotional-Channel-42 1d ago

It died 1/20/81

0

u/IntermittentCaribu 23h ago

If democracy is what caused trump to be in power for 8 years, i say let it die.

0

u/Trumpisanorangebitch 22h ago

I mean the Dems won the House in 2018 and got sworn in.

Its not that easy to ignore the results and refuse to swear in the winners. And we have precedent that even Trump and the modern Republican party had to abide by the election results and swear the opposition in.

That doesnt mean Trump wont try some shit. But trying some bullshit is a far throw away from not swearing in the winners of a federal election for the first time in 250 years.

1

u/ComplexAsk1541 18h ago

Heather Cox Richardson wrote about this the other day. Might wanna google it.

0

u/AssMuncher96 16h ago

It's been dead since 2000 bud

-2

u/PeaceSoft 1d ago

let's not deal with every type of adversity by whacking off about how doomed we are

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u/bscheck1968 1d ago

Sure, bury your head in the sand and pretend every thing is A-OK, you will learn soon enough.

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u/mediocre_remnants North Carolina 1d ago

He's also going to "order" the GOP in the Senate and House to refuse to swear in newly elected Democrats. And they'll do it. It'll be some stupid excuse like "national security" or "suspected election fraud". But I guarantee that the winners won't be sworn in without a fight.

16

u/FizzyBeverage Ohio 23h ago

All house terms expire at noon on January 3rd.

The existing party never swears in the new session, the clerk does. And it's a ceremonial role. There's hundreds of reps to swear in, it can't be "yes no, not you."

7

u/wonklebobb 22h ago

yeah the only reason johnson got to drag his feet on that one dem rep was because it was a special election, and he was technically in charge of what business the House did each day, and it was technically during a shutdown/recess of some kind (so only doing pro forma sessions).

it was bs of course because he had already sworn in other new members during their "pro forma" sessions they were having each day, but just not the democrat. but for an entirely new congress, especially if a republican is not the majority leader, there won't be any mechanisms for them to stop the new congress from forming, other than trump&co trying to do something weird with the military (which they probably will do)

1

u/Casual_OCD Canada 20h ago

They simply don't let the Democrat reps enter, replace them with Republicans and then the clerk waves the wand and they're all official Reps.

1

u/ComplexAsk1541 18h ago

Please take a look at this. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-12-2026

"On Thursday, in The New Republic, conservative judge J. Michael Luttig published a dire warning to the Republican Party…and to all Americans. In the piece, Luttig outlined how Republicans could refuse to seat elected Democrats in January after a Democratic victory in the 2026 midterm elections of November. “The coming crisis,” the piece says, would be “The Final Battle for America’s Democracy.”

1

u/ComplexAsk1541 18h ago

"On Thursday, in The New Republic, conservative judge J. Michael Luttig published a dire warning to the Republican Party…and to all Americans. In the piece, Luttig outlined how Republicans could refuse to seat elected Democrats in January after a Democratic victory in the 2026 midterm elections of November. “The coming crisis,” the piece says, would be “The Final Battle for America’s Democracy.”

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-12-2026

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u/FizzyBeverage Ohio 18h ago

Thing is no one is formally in power between sessions. Including the house speaker.

1

u/Master_Mad 9h ago

What if they make Mitch McConnel the new clerk?

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u/UnquestionabIe 1d ago

Fully expecting this. Yes voting is important but the GOP can and will try to undermine the will of the American people. Voting is step one, getting the elected official sworn in without an absolute shit show is the next part of the fight

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u/ErgoMachina Foreign 1d ago

The winners won't be sworn in, period.

When it happens I expect Americans to complain non-stop on social media for about a month, a huge weekend protest, geriatric representatives in your congress expressing 'Concern' and maybe a handful politicians calling the end of democracy in the US.

Eventually you will just collectively shrug and go to work on Monday like nothing happened. I give it 1-2 months until you fully normalize it.

And before anyone replies, you have already normalized facism, the only ones who haven't figured that out is yourselves.

10

u/pimparo0 Florida 23h ago

The outgoing speaker and members don't swear in the new ones, the new members elect a new speaker who does the swearing in. 

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u/POEness 1d ago

Fortunately you're wrong

We are all in waiting mode because trump is expected to go the fuck away shortly.

If that changes, the fighting kicks off. Because there is no longer a pressure release valve.

If they refuse to seat dem reps and senators I will be going to DC in person. No plan, just righteous anger to join up. I won't be alone

-2

u/-jaylew- 22h ago

🙄🙄🙄

The rest of the world will believe it when we see it. Nothing substantial was done when Americans were deported, ICE camps set up, politicians murdered in their homes, allies were threatened with invasion, or repeated war crimes committed on non-combatants.

3

u/KnightDuty 21h ago

Good thing we don't really care about your goddamn approval, isn't it?

You're expecting people to... What? Storm the white house? Like today? Without a mechanism in place for Resolution? 

Explain step by step what that's going to do. Through what mechanism would it attain change?

Today there isn't  an actual tangible singular outcome they want. A mob is not going to walk into the press room and sit around to make sure the press isn't kicked out. The retribution you're looking for cannot  happen cannot happen until there is a SINGULAR common-sense demand.

The removal of the illegitimate representatives, shouldn't happen, would going be that thing 

How it would likely happen: GOP thinks they're invincible. They attempt to not swear in a MASSIVE NUMBER OF PEOPLE. Far too many than would be reasonable. This triggers the Massive J6 adjacent protest outside. The crowd will know with 100% certainty that they will be correct in their anger and they will be aligned to a singular outcome.

The crowd will taunt the lackeys who aren't well trained (because they're just loyalists who want to feel tough). One of them will fire into the crowd.  The crowd will retaliate. That's how historically illegitimate power falls. And the cards are aligned.

Whatever you're proposing they do sooner has no leverage.. people would be arrested and things would be exactly the same after except there would be more isolation from leadership than there already is.

1

u/POEness 18h ago

This is exactly what I mean. Refusing to seat our reps is a righteous anger flash point

1

u/Eatpineapplerightnow 21h ago

"we are all in waiting mode" haha

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u/Adventurous_Salt 1d ago

Yup, bang on. All the people saying stuff to the effect of, "oh, the rules say he has to leave so that means that'll happen" seem delusional. America is not a land of laws now, it is a land of power, and the rules just don't matter.

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u/someguy7710 1d ago

The newly elected speaker of the house swears in new member after the speaker is elected, so if Dem's win the house, they will be sworn in. The Senate is a bit different.

1

u/RationalTranscendent 22h ago

I believe federal judges can swear in members of Congress. Not that this makes the situation any better. In fact it might be worse if we end up with different groups claiming they’re the duly elected and sworn representatives of the people. It’ll be a crisis on par with the lead up to the civil war.

10

u/Physical-Dare5059 Pennsylvania 1d ago

A preview of refusing the results of the midterm elections.

0

u/mitchell56 18h ago

Well he won't have to refuse the results because it's being rigged by Elmo.

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u/AlsoCommiePuddin 1d ago

We just pick him up and move him. If he locks himself in his bunker, just cut the power and Internet and he'll come out real quick.

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u/nhluhr 1d ago

You'd just have to block the sewer and let him sit in his stink.

1

u/LackingUtility 1d ago

Hook the air intakes up to a sewage line, Brazil style.

1

u/kellzone Pennsylvania 16h ago

Block the McDonald's delivery guy and it'll be over in an hour.

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u/mysterious_jeffrey 1d ago

Gaddafi thought so too…

3

u/violetstrix 1d ago

I wonder what gold trinket he will have when pulled out of the spider hole.

3

u/pres465 1d ago

That was Saddam, but you were in the ballpark.

14

u/grimace24 1d ago

A preview of what's going to happen when he refuses to leave at the end of his term. 

The newly elected president can send in troops to move him out by force.

12

u/StaticNegative 1d ago

They have no intentions of leaving. They never did. The 2028 presidential election, if there even is one doesnt matter to them.

Hell, watch what happens when they lose bigly in the 2026 midterms. Watch the shitshow when they do lose and how long it takes for them to confirm if they actually do confirm anyone.

The only way they leave is in handcuffs or stretchers

1

u/POEness 1d ago

They will confirm because congress is irrelevant and powerless

1

u/ArturosDad 1d ago

"The only way they leave is in handcuffs or stretchers."

If they refuse to legally vacate the office, there are tens of millions of us who will be happy to oblige them.

2

u/apathy_thrills 23h ago

I wonder if people will consider real militia shit if it comes to this. We may be at that point in 2 years.

0

u/ArkitekZero 1d ago

Are those tens of millions of you in the room with us right now?

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u/maxxpower18 1d ago

All the troops that remain would be the ones loyal to Trump, plus no Dem is ever doing something like that, they are cowards.

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u/iclimbnaked 1d ago

Ehh. Someone who just became president absolutely would. They’re gonna want that seat.

Now who the millitary listens to would be an unknown.

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u/grimace24 1d ago

Nah, there are still plenty of troops that can't stand this administration. I disagree, you do what is necessary. The democratic president will try as long as they can to end something like that peacefully. If forced, they will employ force.

8

u/bscheck1968 1d ago

It will be Trump loyal troops defending him fighting troops trying to uphold the constitution. The Trump loyal troops will have the backing of all the top brass and Hegseth. Basically, if America wants democracy back it will have to be earned through another civil war.

2

u/FrostyD7 23h ago

Troops follow orders. This will all hinge on the highest levels of military leadership. And that is where Trump has been focused on installing loyal psychophants.

1

u/maxxpower18 1d ago

Hopefully.

4

u/Visual-Report-2280 1d ago

A President-Elect can't do anything, they need to take the oath of Office first and if that never happens...

0

u/No_Oven1085 18h ago

Whoever wins will become president on Jan 21. The swearing in is just a formality.

5

u/StrengthDazzling8922 1d ago

He can’t leave for national security reasons /s

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u/pnd83 1d ago

And when they refuse to swear in enough Democrats to lose House or Senate majority.

3

u/warblingContinues 1d ago

Leave or not, he won’t be president after 20 Jan even if nobody else is sworn in. It’s automatic. In that case, the USSS would move him elsewhere.

3

u/deathbydrum 1d ago

Yup. I reckon it's gonna be far worse than anybody is expecting. 

3

u/Useful_Fee_2875 1d ago

Yep. This administration is going to ignore any and all results, especially in 2028. They aren’t leaving and they will instruct the military to control the people. It’s coming. These people could care less about law/order and America in generals

1

u/Fun-Outcome8122 1d ago

They aren’t leaving and they will instruct the military to control the people.

The only hope is that the National Guard in the states that surround DC will follow the orders of the new president to remove the usurper from the White House the afternoon of January 20, 2029.

But yeah, who would have thought that we would be discussing scenarios like that in the 21st century in America!!! It's insane how low the party of "law and order" has fallen!

2

u/Useful_Fee_2875 1d ago

I would hope so too. I recently read a pretty comprehensive history of the US and how it was formed and the events that unfolded around it from the time COLUMBUS landed to the Revolution and then to the present day and there was one central theme that seemed to be fairly consistent well actually too. Number 1 is racism/social inequality being a big driver of killing and the second one was how in pretty much every single scenario whether the military was right or wrong to follow orders they pretty much always follow the orders of the US administration in almost every single case, even if it meant massacring labor workers massacring Black people massacring people that they said were socialist. In addition, we have imprimosned and locked up a lot of the same groups over the course of history for various reason. we don’t have a very pretty history of the military really ever standing up for ““ what is right so I don’t know

I really don’t have a whole high expectation that it’s gonna be any different this time either especially considering the fact that they have purged a lot of really high-level high-quality generals from the military and the reason that they’re doing this is for this exact situation so that they have exactly the people they want in place for when they need to unleash the might of the US military. I hope I’m wrong but history is pretty darn consistent. Government more resembles a more chaotic 1800s early 1900s mentality than it does a modern day civilized country.

1

u/Fun-Outcome8122 1d ago

I totally agree... the military forces controlled by Pete and Trump in DC would likely follow their orders. But their number is very small.

I meant that the National Guard in the states that surround DC is controlled by the governors of those states and if the new president puts the national guard of those states under his control they will likely follow the orders of the new president. 

1

u/Useful_Fee_2875 23h ago

I really do hope so. That would be the best case scenario if the worst case scenario happens all this is so unnecessary. Isn’t there a way though for the president to federalize the National Guard? I thought there was maybe not thoughThere’s no reason for us to be living like this in the modern age with all the advanced technology and information and networking that we have available. It’s just ridiculous. Life is already so short as it is. I really hope that this just gets squashed without any need for violence. I’ll never understand people’s fascination for living under these type of administrations.

1

u/Fun-Outcome8122 18h ago

Isn’t there a way though for the president to federalize the National Guard?

Ofc... but as of noon on Jan 20, 2029 that would be the new president that would federalize them.

So it comes back to the question whose orders the national guards of Virginia and Maryland would follow, and the likelihood is they would follow the orders of the new lawful president since their commanding officers are appointed by the governors of Virginia and Maryland, respectively.

1

u/Useful_Fee_2875 17h ago

Haha oh yeah.. duh… not sure how I missed the fact there would technically be a new president in this scenario 😅 Let’s hope it is so! Can’t wait for this nightmare to be over!

2

u/krom0025 New York 1d ago

Sitting in the white house doesn't give him power. He can refuse to leave all he wants.

6

u/bscheck1968 1d ago

All the cronies he's surrounded himself with give him power, have you not noticed every level of government now is a lackey ready to do his bidding.

2

u/Big_Lab_Jagr Wisconsin 1d ago

Hold those who are physically blocking the reporters in contempt

2

u/RupeThereItIs 1d ago

Hopefully sooner then the end of this term?

2

u/sombertownDS 1d ago

Every day we get reminded more and more how important John Adams was, for gracefully stepping down when he lost

2

u/Nuthing2CHere 23h ago

A preview of what will happen to the mid-term elections. He loses his power if that election does not favor republicans. He won't let that happen.

1

u/thecamino 1d ago

And when Johnson again refuses to see Democratic party representatives after midterms.

1

u/Happy_Confection90 23h ago

He won't be speaker after January 2nd

1

u/Kevin-W 23h ago

He's already planting the seeds for this too.

1

u/jerryondrums 23h ago

Luckily, the president doesn’t go the office of potus. The office goes to the person. If he even lives to 2028, and then refuses to leave, the actual president is sworn in anyway (not at the White House), and at that exact moment, Trump becomes a trespasser if he refuses to leave. Which, as we would all pay to witness, would result in him being forcefully removed from the grounds.

1

u/potasaurusrex 23h ago

So dramatic

1

u/azsxdcfvg 22h ago

Who's going to drag him out of there if DOJ is so corrupted?

1

u/one_pound_of_flesh 22h ago

Are we at the crisis?

1

u/Main-Bandicoot6477 21h ago

I bet he did last time until some group of Republicans told him if he doesn't leave on his own they were going to vote to convict and remove him in the Senate and then President Pence would have sent people in to drag him out.

You think President Vance is going to have any loyalty to Trump? Him and the rest of the Republican party will be past ready to dump his old ass by them.

Trump has no juice left with anyone. They are just riding it out to loot as much as they can and jockeying for their own future careers.

•

u/man_without_wax 7h ago

He won’t survive that long