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Speaker Trump? Sure, why not?

An idea being floated in rightwing circles is that Trump is elected to Congress in 2022, the GOP recaptures the House, and he becomes Speaker.

Sure, why not? There’s no piece of that which is illegal or implausible. Trump is eligible to run for Congress, likely will be elected if does, the GOP has a good shot at retaking the House in the midterms, and there’s no reason why a Republican House majority couldn’t elect him Speaker.

And I wouldn’t have a problem with it, and neither should you, if that power is fairly won and legitimately used (i.e., for governing), even though I might disagree with the policies that emerge from a GOP-controlled House presided over by Speaker Trump.

But in rightwing fantasizing, this is what would follow: “Then you become the speaker of the House, lead the impeachment of Biden and start criminal investigations against Biden. You’ll wipe him out for this last two years.”

They could do that, too. The Constitution doesn’t prevent it. The courts won’t interfere.

But we won’t have a country, or a government that serves our people and can defend us against foreign adversaries, if Republicans keep trying to tear down our system of government.

No Democrat in America was happy that Trump won the 2016 election, but they accepted it. A handful of Democratic House members immediately called for impeaching him. But remember, Speaker Pelosi would have nothing to do with that, until Trump engaged in conduct arguably (I would say very strongly) warranting impeachment and removal. There is no Constitutional basis for impeaching someone simply because they defeated your side in an election (something those overzealous Democrats should be reminded of, too).

As for “criminal investigations,” where does that come from? Congress has no power to prosecute people. To me, this demonstrates a lack of high-school-civics level understanding of how our government is structured, and the division of labor between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Also, you will recall that Trump’s position was a sitting president can’t be investigated or prosecuted. But this aspect is easy enough to rationalize; in Republican minds, this “rule” only applies to Republicans. When it comes to Democrats, their only rule is there are no rules.

The Constitution is just words on paper. By itself, it can’t protect us from tyranny. It’s a contract that depends on the willingness of all parties to abide by its terms. If we don’t, we’ll no longer be a democracy, and there will only be the law of the jungle. We have a good thing going in this country; but our freedom, prosperity, and safety are fragile, and that’s how we could lose it.

If Republicans win the House in 2022, elect Trump to Congress, and make him Speaker, we should accept that result, because that’s our system. I think there’s very little chance it would produce anything resembling constructive governing, but that’s an altogether different issue. That’s just one more of the many reasons for not voting for any Republican, for any office, at this particular point in history.

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  1. Mark Adams #
    1

    When Republicans take the House in 2022 the impeachment of President Biden is a given. The Democrats failed to just look in the mirror, and forgot that payback is a bitch. With that already in the cards does running for the House and becoming speaker really give Trump any advantages he won’t already have in 2024? While it is not outside the realm of possibility it is rather silly. Only one former President has run for the House and won a seat in it, and at no time did he become speaker of the house. If Trump were to win a seat in the House there is no guarantee he would become speaker. There are other ambitious men and women in the House.
    Ummm we don’t exactly abide by the Constitution under the original contract. Some things just did not work as envisioned. It gave us a republic and not a democracy. In many respects the Constitution is anti democratic. Senators were not elected by the people and I don’t know if having Senators elected by the people has really resulted in a real win for democracy or for the fortunes of our nation. We don’t abide by some things in the contract. We did a census and originally and for over 100 years that meant Congress would add (or subtract) the total number of House members. The House was meant to be the most democratic part of our government yet its membership is frozen. The Constitution has balances and having the House frozen means balance has been lost. It also means a lot of people are not truly represented and have no voice in the House. Some of them are minorities, some women, but mainly they are ordinary people who lead ordinary lives on Main Street.
    The founders certainly meant to make it difficult for the nation to go to war, wage war, and do violence in the world. We have shunted aside much of those protections. This may threaten our well being far more than the Russian’s or Chinese. There is much of our foreign policy that is no different whether the occupant of the Presidency is a Biden or a Trump. While Trump was certainly willing to use our nation’s tools he was much much more constrained in actually using those tools. It is odd that President Putin is telling President Biden the search, charging and punishment of the Capital rioters is over the top. The Chinese are saying the same thing. Sure there are international politics involved, but the administration and Congress still have the long knives out for these people and want blood. They may get the blood, but maybe those who practice tyranny can recognize tyranny in others. Certainly they get to tell us to bugger off if we do what they do. What is worse Putin sometimes actually uses a bit of mercy from time to time. It keeps his enemies guessing, and polishes his humanity, when he is not posing on horseback.

  2. Roger Rabbit #
    2

    So you’re saying we’re our own worst enemy? Hard to disagree with you there. That’s the theme of this article.
    The Constitution was crafted to form a nation from 13 disparate colonies. To do that, concessions were made to slavery. Inevitably the Constitution evolved, by both amendment and reinterpretation, to keep up with a changing society. There is, however, a common thread through it all: We all agree to be governed under this system, win or lose. That’s what makes us a nation. The Civil War was an exception. Now, Republicans want another exception: They won’t accept elections they don’t win. That, like secession, will tear this country apart. It could happen. All I’m saying is, if it does, it will hurt all of us; like the Civil War, it’s a path to self-destruction.
    Finally, Trump’s abuses of power and impeachable offenses were real and actionable. The GOP lost credibility by defending him, lost even more credibility by embracing his election lies, and seeking “payback” by impeaching Biden for the “crime” of winning the election will simply deepen the existing doubts about their ability to govern and frighten away even more voters.