What are the Democrats' options?

[kentuck]

They can impeach Monday morning and send it to the Senate requesting immediate consideration. It is urgent.

Or they could censure Trump which would be nothing more than a slap on the wrist?

Or they could sit idly by and hope everything goes well thru the inauguration of Joe Biden?

What other options do they have?

[still_one]

1. They should censure and impeach both

[kentuck]

2. That is about all they can do without the help of the Senate.

But they should go ahead and do it, in my opinion.

[OnDoutside]

3. I wasn't a fan of the first impeachment, but I do think a statement must be made this time by

impeaching him a second time. It obviously won't go anywhere in the Senate, and Biden won't want a Senate trial only starting in his term (as McConnell is trying to do).

One thing that McConnell would hope (and I think Democrats MUST avoid) is that Dems put up a motion disbarring Trump from any future run for Public Office. Republicans would LOVE this, as they can get rid of Trump, blame Democrats and spend the next 4 years whitewashing history. It's important that Trump continues to hang around their necks like a bad stink.

My suggestion is

Impeach him, but do not send the Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate blaming McConnell for not taking them up in a timely fashion.

[onenote]

4. If the impeachment resolution isn't sent to the Senate, how do we successfully blame McConnell

for not taking them up.

He's said he won't take them up, so if we want to blame him, why wouldn't we send them over.

[kentuck]

6. We may find out that the Minority Leader does not have as much control over his caucus as he thinks?

This was no trivial incident.

[onenote]

7. Doubtful. Even if there are 17 Repub Senators willing to convict

which is highly doubtful notwithstanding what George Conway is claiming, there are 50 Republican Senators and I guarantee that a majority don't want to have to vote on a Trump impeachment.

[kentuck]

8. I'm not so sure about that.

Those that were hiding, fearful for their lives, will not be so quick to forgive, in my opinion.

[onenote]

9. Impeaching Trump won't erase whatever fear they felt

Not having to vote on it is the safest route for most republican senators.

[kentuck]

11. Maybe they are just trying to keep his mind occupied in order to keep him out of mischief?

This coup attempt is not over.

[OnDoutside]

17. Because if you send them over and he only starts the process at 11am

on Jan 20th, he's laying a booby trap for Democrats to waste time into their Senate control when they should be working on more vital matters.

They could impeach, not send it over, and then vow to appoint a special counsel with wide ranging powers and remit to investigate all Trump and Republican criminality.

[JonLP24]

14. The impeachment should have been done for obstructing justice

In the Russia investigation. The whistleblower forced Congress hand to impeach him but it should have actually happened sooner.

Impeachment is the only remedy for Presidential lawbreaking.

[OnDoutside]

16. I don't disagree with the reasoning WHY it was done, the issue was that

there was no good faith engagement by the Republicans, and resulted in the Senate showtrial McConnell manipulated the process. I'm more concerned that this doesn't end up hurting or deflecting attention away from the job of work the Democrats need to do from the off, something McConnell has clearly calculated by saying he would only take it up on January 19. He's forcing Democrats to waste time when they need to be focused on Covid etc.

At the most, impeach him quickly and then quickly blame McConnell for not taking it up.

[kentuck]

18. wasting time?

So it's not that important?

[OnDoutside]

20. Compared to 350,000 deaths, organising supports for the millions of

Unemployed, homeless, destitute and making sure 330 million people get vaccinated ? Correct, it's not remotely as important as those things. And I'll go further, it would be playing into Republican hands, deflecting attention away, to having effectively a shitshow where he would already have finished his term as president, so you would be removing someone who is no longer in the position, just for bloodlust revenge.

I have no problems getting much deserved revenge as long as you can be clever about it. The best way is to empower a Special Counsel which would ratfuck not only Trump, his family but more importantly his enablers in the Republican Party. That can work in parallel with the vital work Biden needs to do over the next 12 months before they get nervous and start looking at the 2022 midterms. Nothing would give McConnell greater pleasure and hope than if Democrats waste time.

[ananda]

5. Pelosi also said that the 25th Amendment was not off the table..

in her interview with Lesley Stahl.

[onenote]

10. That's up to Pence, so I think it is off the table.

[OnDoutside]

21. Exactly. I know what she meant but the reality is that Pence isn't

going there.

[radius777]

12. Trump must be impeached and force Repubs to vote

to show where they stand. As more and more facts come out I think at least 20 Repub Senators may vote for it - they themselves were targeted by the MAGA rioters and will be in the future if they don't stomp this out of their party and prevent Trump from ever running again for any office. Trump would be the only president in history to be convicted. There has to be a price to pay for an attempted coup. If no price is paid Trump and his movement will only feel emboldened. Biden seems (according to reports) to want to avoid impeachment and just wants Trump to 'go away'. This will never happen on its own; we must confront Trump/Trumpism to make it go away.

[onenote]

15. The Repub strategy:

No vote on impeachment before January 20.

After January 20, a sufficient number of Republicans vote against conviction claiming that Trump cannot be impeached after he leaves office.

Whether that is true or not is an unresolved question. It has only come up once, back in 1876, when a majority (but less than 2/3) of the Senate rejected a motion to dismiss the impeachment of an official who resigned. The same group of Senators that disagreed on whether the Senate had jurisdiction voted against conviction. The same thing will happen here.

[radius777]

19. We'll see, but as pressure builds things may change.

Getting them on the record matters as much as anything, to see what side of history they'll stand on, and what their party stands for as we go forward. Clearly there are two wings in the party and we need that split to break open so somehow that party reforms itself. This is their chance to flush Trump away (by barring him from ever running for office again, which would also diminish his base, as he would not be able to fundraise off of it) and I'm sure Dems would play up that angle to them.

[beachbumbob]

13. ?? Option? Hopefor next 11 daysto go by with out further incidents as NOTHING else they can

do at this point outside of McConnell taking action is 99% assured not to happen

BUT, Pelosi, Schumer can say we work with Garland on the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate for all activities including SEDITION. The GOP will push back with everything as it clearly invovles sitting members of congress


That word MEANS SOMETHING

[OnDoutside]

23. 100% agree.

[SmartVoter22]

22. Refuse all co-sharing in the 117th Congress

A tie Senate usually employs rules to share power with the minority.

Not this time, the Dems should play 'Mitch Obstruction' to the fullest. Mitch did block a SCOTUS nomination, refused hundreds of votes and bills from the Dems during the laat two Congressional sessions and refused Senators from debate at almost every opportunity he had.

--End the fillibuster, to destroy every Trump regulation and restore all to a pre-Trump state.
--Refuse the GOPs every choice of committee seating, to force ineffective GOP Senators on the important committee.
--Change the rules, in the Senate to force every House bill gets an up or down vote within one week of passage in the House.
--Enforce ethics and finance rules with the severest of sanctions, including censure and removal from office.

And...Provide the House & Senate clerks with funds to provide complete and transparent access to all transcripts, that are not actual national security related items that require secrecy. Set rules to what is actually national security, the GOPs would claim a pork project for an airport had to be super secret, so Inhofe could land his personal plane close to his house.
Have the clerks provide a daily press briefing to update on all Congressional actions. Open up the processes, so voters can learn how a nation state operates and become more inquisitive of how things work, instead of 'nothing to see here.'

Let the GOP work very hard; to be heard, to debate and to be recognized just like Mitch and the GOP has done since Gingrich started that offensive set of obstruction rules.

[beachbumbob]

24. end the filibuster NOT possible without more democratic senators as right now

they would NOT be able to pass that under a rule change. It would backfire in 2022 or 2024 if democrats lose the senate. As long as Schumer is in control, no need for rule change for house bills and unwise to do so as payback in 2022 or 2024 could force a democrat senate to HAVE TO VOTE ON ALL GOP HOUSE BASE BILLS if GOP wins the house back.

there is very little options at this point an the biggest is public opinion and we democrats suck at messaging