Democrats Introduce Bill To Block Trump From Holding Office - Farron Balanced

[TexasTowelie]

A group of 40 Democrats in the House have introduced legislation that would officially bar Donald Trump from ever holding office again under the 14th Amendment. That Amendment says that anyone that participates in, or supports in any way, an insurrection against the government cannot hold any public office. This could actually succeed, but there are things Congress would need to do first, as Farron Cousins explains.

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*This transcript was auto-generated. Please excuse any typos.

A group of 40 house Democrats read, uh, led by Democratic representative David, uh, uh, Cini from Rhode Island, have crafted legislation that would officially and effectively block Donald Trump from ever holding a public office here in the United States ever again for all of eternity. Under the 14th Amendment. The legislation specifically points to interviews of witnesses who say that Donald Trump supported the insurrection of January 6th, 2021. They also point to all of the overwhelming evidence showing that Donald Trump attempted to overturn the results of that election, effectively trying to overthrow the democratically elected incoming government of the United States. As these Democrats point out in that piece of legislation under the 14th Amendment, uh, it bars anybody who participated in an insurrection, who encouraged an insurrection, who supported an insurrection, you can't ever hold office again. They say that all this evidence they have about Trump proves he did these things, therefore, barred forever.

I support this legislation, but there's something that has to happen first. The problem that these Democrats have, and this is something I addressed probably about a year ago, is that nobody has officially declared what took place that day. In insurrection, we have heard it called an insurrection. We've heard it called a rebellion. We've heard it called the Capitol Riot. We've heard it called Storming of the Capitol. We've heard it called all of these things. But until there is a firm legal definition placed on the events of that day, it's all subject to whoever's interpreting this. And in this particular instance, if they passed the legislation as it is right now, the courts could overturn it and say, you make great points. Donald Trump supported this. However, it's not an insurrection. We, the court does not, do not define it as an insurrection. Therefore, no, none of the capitol rioters have been charged with an insurrection or with treason. And that's also a big thing. If we had had individuals that had been charged with that or that pleaded guilty to it, it would lend more credence to it being legally considered an insurrection. And the reason I'm pointing out this distinction again is because you could get this in front of a judge. If they pass this legislation, the judge could say it's not an insurrection. I think it was just a riot. I think it was just a protest. I think it was just a group of morons doing what morons do.

So what needs to happen first? And you know, we're, we're racing the clock here, Democrats, cuz you got like a week, Congress needs to create a formal declaration officially proclaiming that the events of January 6th were in fact an insurrection. Now I said that, like I mentioned, maybe it was a year ago, maybe just six months ago, I don't know, I don't remember when I said it, but I did say that Congress needed to make this formal declaration or the White House needs to do it. Congress has the authority by the way to do that. You know, we can declare this day is this thing, so Congress can do it. And if it is an act of Congress, yo gotta come to a vote. Democrats have the majority. They could make that happen legally defining officially and effectively that the events of that day warrant insurrection. If they do that, then this legislation they have proposed suddenly would stand up to scrutiny in court. But if they do not do that, which by the way, you could also add that to this piece of legislation. So there's that route as well. But lacking that, unfortunately this legislation is not going to pass the muster with our overwhelmingly conservative controlled courts. I support this legislation. You make that little bitty tweak and suddenly you're onto something. But if you don't do that, it ain't gonna work.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Shouldn't be allowed to run for office again

Nip it in the bud

[Gaugamela]

2. Senate Republicans would block such a resolution. They know that the same

strategy could be used against members of Congress. If the White House were to make a declaration that J6 was an insurrection, and that declaration were used to ban a political opponent from office, it would look like a garden variety third-world coup, like Bolsonaro putting Lula in jail. It would set a dangerous precedent, and the Republicans would be the first to abuse it. Moreover, after the Civil War Congress struck a compromise allowing confederate officers to once again hold office, so the Republicans could simply repeal any such legislation. IMHO, the only way to bar Trump from office would be to convict him in a court of law of a crime that carries that penalty.

[republianmushroom]

3. another attempted feel good law