The Next Two Months will be Bloody, Brutal, Chaotic & Devastating...BUT!
They will be like drops in the Ocean compared to the Rivers, Seas, & Oceans of Blood that will be shed throughout the Rest of this exceptionally Bleak, DOOM-y 21st Century! 😉
So, comparatively speaking, the next two months will be like a Warm, Spring Breeze! 🥰
Really good explanation; thanks for publishing it.
This reminds me of how much our system relies on people acting in good faith and just going along with the usual way of doing things. If every word of every clause of every governing document is open to interpretation and litigation, then the whole system starts to fall apart, and the will to power guts the social contract. It seems in recent years that Democrats have awakened to that possibility and are willing to run with it as far as it can go.
Under the two assumptions, which themselves hold a number of assumption, let this teller build his sand castles for a moment:
The house of the evil overlords is divided.
The majority of such evil organisations are robber baron type villians who happily take coin of the true believers of Evil.
Now, obviously key barons are also kept in check by blackmail of the vilest actions you can imagine.
The question is, the house divided, and foreign powers existing, what are the odds of key barons even beyond the internal division being flipped by places like China or Russia?
See, this teller reckons that everyone and their dog has a finger in this pie, but while the aims of the evil overlords and Trump look clear, what of the foreign powers involved?
What flavour of chaos is preferred?
Or will any of them actually sincerely back a 'make America great again' sentiment?
No doubt in this teller's mind that China and Russia don't wish to play empire, but that doesn't preclude stirring the USA into a further mess.
There's likely absurdities like triple or quadruple agents in this unholy slop!
A robber baron is more than happy to take bribes from all quarters but with the ravens coming to roost...
Who will he think will save his hide?
There's an intelligent fellow that thinks that with a need to have the common man die in their wars, the evil overlords need a pivot to Trump.
The robber barons typically don't care about that kind of stuff and the true believers are clearly not competent enough these days.
Still we shall see.
Assassinating Trump after he becomes president and blaming Iran is an option idiots are stupid enough to consider.
Thank you for the excellent synopsis of the key milestone points in the coming months. It will be interesting if Trump wins the Electoral College vote just how willing the “by any means necessary” crowd will be to take it to the brink. Like every legacy institution in the 21st century, voting integrity management, has burned through all of its historical social capital credibility since the Bush/Gore election of 2000 right through to the color revolution of 2020.
Your explication of these issues is great - and legitimately scary [but Holloween is over]. Perhaps some sort of decision tree/ flow diagram might also augment your prose description (as though you don't have enough to do).
From what I think I know right now, I am currently on the side of the argument that the President is not constitutionally an "officer of the United States" [for purposes of the 14th amendment] because he is elected [nationally], not appointed, and is instead subject to impeachment by the Congress if there were real [if only political] justification to remove him from office.
Your tale of woe does cause me to hold that view with less certainty than I might have previously.
This is an amazing article. Thank you for this lucid and cogent explanation of current law and the current state of play. It amazes me how few Americans understand how their government works and don’t take the time to learn.
It is really pretty sad that even middle school and high school students "graduate" without a decent understanding of, and exposure to, the core principles of our founding, and the history and civics lessons that should accompany them. If they got that, then I would be willing to let them also engage in this analysis and its cascade of potential maliciousness. Also, mastering the distinctions between theory and practice can be difficult or awkward to learn. I am still trying to absorb some of that. Especially the aspects of lobbyist influcence, regulatory capture, and the spread of government largess to a whole boatload of NGO's and contractors and subcontractors who can and do continue to promote a politicized version of their "mission".
It is great that TOW had performed this analysis from 2020 and updated it now for 2024. I think I am followng it pretty closely because I have been exposed to various commentary about these various acts, etc., although not the details of how they might be judged to be unconsititutional.
But I am a retiree with "plenty" of time on my hands and an inclination to explore political and selected legal issues. The average citizen does not have the time or ability to do so, even if they wished to do so. I certainly did not until retirement. Perhaps we need to give our fellow citizens some respit from blame, but only a little.
You're misunderstanding what is actually going on. Government makes itself deliberately opaque to those it governs, for obvious reasons. If people start to learn, the government makes changes to render the new knowledge obsolete. This is not a failure of the people. It is a deliberate attack on them
Very good explanation, except for the part where Trump sues congress claiming 3 USC 15 is unconstitutional. 3 USC 15 probably is unconstitutional, but mainly in the sense that 3 USC 15 tells congress what it's own internal rules are, and nobody gets to tell a sitting congress what it's own internal rules should be, except for the current sitting congress. no plaintiffs, not executive branch members, and not judges.
So, if the current congress SAYS that it's own internal rules for counting electoral votes will be 3 USC 15, even though it knows that the command that congress MUST use 3 USC 15 is unconstitutional... there's really nobody else in the country who has any power to tell congress that they must not do that, or that their actions don't count if they do it that way.
There have been previous court cases about whether or not congress can conduct impeachment trials of federal judges anyway it likes, or whether or not congress can define a recess anyway it likes, and the answer always comes back that, yeah, Congress has sole power to define it's internal rules anyway it likes.
I'm a time traveller from November 6, and Trump is President-Elect.
I read this before the election, and thought both then and now that Dr Woe has written a very good piece, and I'm still puzzled why none of his more woeful scenarios have played out.
A few hours into the voting, Trump complained about some fraudulent practices in PA, and later on, several states dragged out the count into the early hours of the morning. Which is nothing compared to November 3-7, 2020.
Harris acted like Hillary in 2016, disappearing and refusing to speak to the press or her supporters. She phoned Trump to concede about as late as decorum would allow, but didn't question the legitimacy of the result. Since Trump won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College vote, there's no point in her attacking the EC as an illegitimate institution (in the way that Hillary did). Harris actually said that she must accept the result because her first loyalty is to the Constitution (I'm not saying I believe that, but it's interesting that she chose to say it).
If she knows of any "insurrection" gambit for disqualifying Trump before inauguration, she must have acting skills that far outstrip her abilities in anything else at all. Likewise, if she knows of any assurance from, say, the Iranians, that they'll "take care" of the President-Elect.
THANKS so much for putting this all together, I tend to agree with your final analysis, there's gonna be "trubble at mill" (Yorkshire, England expression) next week...
DON'T WORRY Pater! 😊
The Next Two Months will be Bloody, Brutal, Chaotic & Devastating...BUT!
They will be like drops in the Ocean compared to the Rivers, Seas, & Oceans of Blood that will be shed throughout the Rest of this exceptionally Bleak, DOOM-y 21st Century! 😉
So, comparatively speaking, the next two months will be like a Warm, Spring Breeze! 🥰
One of your most depressing posts yet.
Really good explanation; thanks for publishing it.
This reminds me of how much our system relies on people acting in good faith and just going along with the usual way of doing things. If every word of every clause of every governing document is open to interpretation and litigation, then the whole system starts to fall apart, and the will to power guts the social contract. It seems in recent years that Democrats have awakened to that possibility and are willing to run with it as far as it can go.
Now I feel thoroughly depressed.
On a completely unrelated note, hanging on the Tree is prohibited, we still need it for other purposes.
A point worth considering.
Under the two assumptions, which themselves hold a number of assumption, let this teller build his sand castles for a moment:
The house of the evil overlords is divided.
The majority of such evil organisations are robber baron type villians who happily take coin of the true believers of Evil.
Now, obviously key barons are also kept in check by blackmail of the vilest actions you can imagine.
The question is, the house divided, and foreign powers existing, what are the odds of key barons even beyond the internal division being flipped by places like China or Russia?
See, this teller reckons that everyone and their dog has a finger in this pie, but while the aims of the evil overlords and Trump look clear, what of the foreign powers involved?
What flavour of chaos is preferred?
Or will any of them actually sincerely back a 'make America great again' sentiment?
No doubt in this teller's mind that China and Russia don't wish to play empire, but that doesn't preclude stirring the USA into a further mess.
There's likely absurdities like triple or quadruple agents in this unholy slop!
A robber baron is more than happy to take bribes from all quarters but with the ravens coming to roost...
Who will he think will save his hide?
There's an intelligent fellow that thinks that with a need to have the common man die in their wars, the evil overlords need a pivot to Trump.
The robber barons typically don't care about that kind of stuff and the true believers are clearly not competent enough these days.
Still we shall see.
Assassinating Trump after he becomes president and blaming Iran is an option idiots are stupid enough to consider.
Interesting times.
Thank you for the excellent synopsis of the key milestone points in the coming months. It will be interesting if Trump wins the Electoral College vote just how willing the “by any means necessary” crowd will be to take it to the brink. Like every legacy institution in the 21st century, voting integrity management, has burned through all of its historical social capital credibility since the Bush/Gore election of 2000 right through to the color revolution of 2020.
Your explication of these issues is great - and legitimately scary [but Holloween is over]. Perhaps some sort of decision tree/ flow diagram might also augment your prose description (as though you don't have enough to do).
From what I think I know right now, I am currently on the side of the argument that the President is not constitutionally an "officer of the United States" [for purposes of the 14th amendment] because he is elected [nationally], not appointed, and is instead subject to impeachment by the Congress if there were real [if only political] justification to remove him from office.
Your tale of woe does cause me to hold that view with less certainty than I might have previously.
I concur with you that he is not, but I worry that the other view might prevail due to political reasons.
This is an amazing article. Thank you for this lucid and cogent explanation of current law and the current state of play. It amazes me how few Americans understand how their government works and don’t take the time to learn.
It is really pretty sad that even middle school and high school students "graduate" without a decent understanding of, and exposure to, the core principles of our founding, and the history and civics lessons that should accompany them. If they got that, then I would be willing to let them also engage in this analysis and its cascade of potential maliciousness. Also, mastering the distinctions between theory and practice can be difficult or awkward to learn. I am still trying to absorb some of that. Especially the aspects of lobbyist influcence, regulatory capture, and the spread of government largess to a whole boatload of NGO's and contractors and subcontractors who can and do continue to promote a politicized version of their "mission".
It is great that TOW had performed this analysis from 2020 and updated it now for 2024. I think I am followng it pretty closely because I have been exposed to various commentary about these various acts, etc., although not the details of how they might be judged to be unconsititutional.
But I am a retiree with "plenty" of time on my hands and an inclination to explore political and selected legal issues. The average citizen does not have the time or ability to do so, even if they wished to do so. I certainly did not until retirement. Perhaps we need to give our fellow citizens some respit from blame, but only a little.
It’s being played out in front of us in real time—quite an education.
You're misunderstanding what is actually going on. Government makes itself deliberately opaque to those it governs, for obvious reasons. If people start to learn, the government makes changes to render the new knowledge obsolete. This is not a failure of the people. It is a deliberate attack on them
Well, that’s a right chucklefuck.
Good to see the 2020 articles are back from the dead.
Updated for the contemporary doom!
Wow, those 19th century elections sure were something... :)
Very good explanation, except for the part where Trump sues congress claiming 3 USC 15 is unconstitutional. 3 USC 15 probably is unconstitutional, but mainly in the sense that 3 USC 15 tells congress what it's own internal rules are, and nobody gets to tell a sitting congress what it's own internal rules should be, except for the current sitting congress. no plaintiffs, not executive branch members, and not judges.
So, if the current congress SAYS that it's own internal rules for counting electoral votes will be 3 USC 15, even though it knows that the command that congress MUST use 3 USC 15 is unconstitutional... there's really nobody else in the country who has any power to tell congress that they must not do that, or that their actions don't count if they do it that way.
There have been previous court cases about whether or not congress can conduct impeachment trials of federal judges anyway it likes, or whether or not congress can define a recess anyway it likes, and the answer always comes back that, yeah, Congress has sole power to define it's internal rules anyway it likes.
Good point!
I'm a time traveller from November 6, and Trump is President-Elect.
I read this before the election, and thought both then and now that Dr Woe has written a very good piece, and I'm still puzzled why none of his more woeful scenarios have played out.
A few hours into the voting, Trump complained about some fraudulent practices in PA, and later on, several states dragged out the count into the early hours of the morning. Which is nothing compared to November 3-7, 2020.
Harris acted like Hillary in 2016, disappearing and refusing to speak to the press or her supporters. She phoned Trump to concede about as late as decorum would allow, but didn't question the legitimacy of the result. Since Trump won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College vote, there's no point in her attacking the EC as an illegitimate institution (in the way that Hillary did). Harris actually said that she must accept the result because her first loyalty is to the Constitution (I'm not saying I believe that, but it's interesting that she chose to say it).
If she knows of any "insurrection" gambit for disqualifying Trump before inauguration, she must have acting skills that far outstrip her abilities in anything else at all. Likewise, if she knows of any assurance from, say, the Iranians, that they'll "take care" of the President-Elect.
WOE WOE WOE!
wow im really getting in to the halloween spirit
Looks like 1873 was not a good year.
THANKS so much for putting this all together, I tend to agree with your final analysis, there's gonna be "trubble at mill" (Yorkshire, England expression) next week...