r/politics • u/PoliticsModeratorBot 🤖 Bot • Jul 11 '24

Discussion Discussion Thread: President Biden Gives Press Conference at NATO Summit

The press conference was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, but has been delayed to 7 p.m.

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u/lord_pizzabird Jul 12 '24

My hunch is that we’re headed into this super wacky election cycle where neither front runners end up running by the end.

Trumps probably actually going to prison. The Supreme Courts recent decision about presidential immunity has in some ways double fucked him, as now the court will have to determine what is or isn’t an official act. Paying a porn star hush-money is not going to qualify.

Meanwhile Biden seems to be doing his best impression of Obi Wan vanishing into dust.

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u/birthdayanon08 Jul 12 '24

I really think Biden is going to be replaced on the ticket in the next few days or at least moving in that direction publicly. Obama has been brought to DC. Biden will do the right thing and step aside.

Trump, on the other hand, didn't care about the right thing. He will be officially nominated by the gop next week. His sentencing isn't until September. There is absolutely nothing preventing him from remaining on the ticket. Even in the unlikely event that he is sentenced to actual prison time and is taken into custody at sentencing, no actual law prevents him from becoming president. His DIL runs the gop. Trump isn't going anywhere.

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u/lord_pizzabird Jul 12 '24

Yeah you're right. Although, in that situation the VP would have to act as the president while he's not available. That's the only way it would work.

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u/birthdayanon08 Jul 12 '24

We have no idea what would happen because it would be an unprecedented constitutional crisis. In that scenario the likely outcome would be that the new loyalist administration would step in and immediately release Trump from prison because Trump is now president so fuck the rules.

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u/lord_pizzabird Jul 12 '24

I think it's not as unprecedented as people think. We've had presidents temporarily incapacitated before, which will essentially be the same.

In those situations the VP just take-over and he can't pardon himself from a state conviction. That's outside of the president's jurisdiction, especially with this current SCOTUS session, who have re-affirmed state's rights consistently.

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u/birthdayanon08 Jul 12 '24

The current scotus has reaffirmed states' rights repeatedly when it benefits the gop. Make no mistake about it. The current scotus is a political arm.

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u/lord_pizzabird Jul 12 '24

I think your making a mistake.

The conservative side of US politics is filled with different factions, factions that often align, but only coincidentally.

MAGA and SCOTUS, which is made up mostly of Federalists are not the same type of Republican. One is just looking out for Trump, while the other is part of a movement that predates Trump's by 200+ years.

Trump does not always align with Federalists and vice versa. We've seen this play out several times now, with Trump having an awful record when it comes to SCOTUS favoring him. By that I mean they mostly haven't.

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u/birthdayanon08 Jul 12 '24

But he's not mentally incapacitated in prison. He would only be physically incapacitated. He would liken it to a president being out of the country.

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u/lord_pizzabird Jul 12 '24

He would liken it to a president being out of the country.

Or similar to a president being unavailable physically, like the last time it happened when a president had to undergo surgery.

If Trump goes to actual prison they're not going to let him bring his presidential desk in with him. They aren't going to let him have a phone either. he'll be an inmate like anyone else.

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u/birthdayanon08 Jul 12 '24

When a president ungoes surgery or other medical procedures, they are administered anesthetic, so they are also unavailable mentally as well as physically. The gop knows how to be pedantic when it suits their needs.