Things That Will Not Happen Before 2020 [View all]

[MineralMan]

I've seen a lot of proposals on DU for what should be done about the fact that Donald Trump managed to become President. While some of them make sense, others simply don't. So, here's a list of things that have been suggested, but that are not possible, and that will not be possible before the next Presidential election. Let's move past these and look for things that can be done:

1. Reform the Electoral College System - That requires a constitutional amendment and there is zero chance of that happening.

2. Redo the 2016 Election Since It Was Illegitimate - Impossible. No mechanism exists for such a thing.

3. Impeach Donald Trump - Very unlikely, given the current Republican control of both houses of Congress. The 2/3 Senate vote required to remove a President is even more unlikely.

4. Have Hand-Counted Paper Ballots in All 50 States - Not possible. Voting is a state function, and most states are not at all interested in such a thing, since they depend on elections for Republicans to maintain power. No state with a Republican majority legislature or Governor will even consider this.

5. Set up a Recall Process for Presidential Elections - See number 1. A constitutional amendment would be needed.

6. Arrest and Imprison Donald Trump and His Cabinet - Virtually impossible, actually, since the President can pardon his cabinet members and be pardoned by the new Vice President if removed from office. Besides, what agency has the power to arrest a President? See the Constitution again.

7. Elect the Next President by Popular Vote - Again, see number 1. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016. Donald Trump is in the White House.

8. Rise up and Demonstrate against Trump - OK. Good idea, but that will not remove him from office, no matter how many people protest. Remember that Constitution thing. If 3 million people rise up, that's still less than 1% of the population.

9. Have a Revolution, Dammit! - Well, see #8. How many people do you have lined up to fight in this revolution?

10. Have the Military Take Control - WTF? Really? How is that an improvement, aside from it being completely unconstitutional.

11. Get the Supreme Court to Remove the President - The SCOTUS can't do anything like that. They're limited to deciding constitutional questions, and have zero authority over the President in terms of his holding office.

12. Start a Nationwide Petition Campaign to Remove the President - See numbers 1, 8, 9 and 11. Impossible.

So, what CAN we do? That's easy. All we have to do is to make sure that every registered Democrat goes to the polls and votes in 2018 and 2020. Every last freaking one of them. Like the 40% of registered Democrats who didn't vote in the Georgia sixth congressional district, which caused the Democrat, Ossoff, to lose the special election recently. Had they shown up, he'd have won in a landslide, voter suppression or not. That is what we can do, and that's pretty much all we can do.

We, the voters, are the final checks and balances in the United States. But we have to freaking vote! You can help by working your ass off to get voters to the polls right where you are. In your precinct, district, county and state. Do that and we cannot lose. Do not do that and Republicans can win once again.

Thanks for reading this. It's my opinion on this Sunday afternoon.