Things will almost certainly get better after the midterms. The question is how much better…
Currently, Republicans control everything. Supreme Court, Presidency, both houses of Congress. But it’s practically already written in stone that Dems will retake control of the House in the midterms, giving them at least control over half of Congress. And as long as they’ve got some semblance of a spine, they can use that to slow down and obstruct the Trump regime, making them less powerful and less effective at getting what they want. That’s basically the minimum we can expect out of the midterms. (And since the House has almost exclusive control over the budget, if the Dems actually have the balls to try it, they could cut the Trump regime’s funding entirely until their demands are met.)
But, potentially, it could get better than that. For starters, the higher their margin of control in the House gets, the more they can afford to ignore a few traitorous/spineless Dems and still exert some power/control without having to appease those assholes. It’s also entirely possible that Dems may take control of the Senate, which would give them the ability to deny court appointments and maybe actually get some meaningful legislation passed (though Trump could still veto that legislation unless they get some Republicans on board with it as well). Potentially, a big enough win in the midterms could even make impeachment and conviction/removal a viable option. Not only for Trump himself, but for a lot of his cronies and enablers, including a few Supreme Court justices who could easily be removed under corruption charges.
Is that last part likely to happen? Fuck no. Even if Dems sweep the midterms resoundingly, they won’t have enough of a majority in the Senate to complete an impeachment or pass veto-proof legislation without the cooperation of at least a few Republicans. But who knows? As the Epstein files release law showed, it’s actually possible to get the Republicans on board, sometimes, for some things. And maybe seeing their Trump-enabling brethren take a bloodbath in the prior election will make some of them more willing to stand up to Trump, to distance themselves from him.
No, the midterms absolutely will not ‘fix everything’ or even bring things ‘back to normal’. But they are almost certain to improve the political situation in the US, at least slightly. How much of an improvement we get will largely depend on how decisive the results are.
Well, the larger their majority, the more spineless Dems they can afford to have while still getting something meaningful done. But if their margins are thin, it only takes a few spineless/traitorous Dems to ruin everything.
True, true. A lot could also happen at the state level during these midterms … and though the federal stuff gets a lot of press and attention, state-level stuff often has more of an impact on people’s everyday lives.
Congress must immediately begin working to restructure SCOTUS and add at least 5 more justices in November. If they don’t, I have news for you: things won’t be getting better.
Adding more justices won’t have any appreciable effect until Trump is out of office.
Supreme Court justices have to be nominated by the President, then ratified by the Senate. And anyone Trump nominates would just make the problem worse, not better.
If you create 5 new Supreme Court justice seats, the best case scenario is that those seats go unfilled until there’s a Dem in the White House, because the Dem-controlled Senate keeps refusing all of Trump’s nominations. The best case scenario there is that nothing immediately changes.
If you want to address the problems in the Supreme Court, impeachment and removal of problematic justices is a much better way to go. That can take effect and rebalance the Court immediately, without needing any cooperation from the President. A few of them already have public information that paints them as blatantly guilty of accepting bribes, which is reason enough for removal. Also, every single one of them that voted to abolish Roe v. Wade lied about their intentions of doing so in their Senate confirmation hearings, which were taken under oath. Lying under oath during a Senate hearing is also a perfectly valid cause for impeachment and removal.
The trouble is in getting enough votes in the Senate to convict and remove, after the House votes to impeach. Even the best case midterm scenario for the Dems doesn’t give them enough Senate seats to have that much of a supermajority on their own. Even in the best case, they’ll still have to get at least a few Republicans on their side in order to complete these impeachments and actually make a difference.
Things will almost certainly get better after the midterms. The question is how much better…
Currently, Republicans control everything. Supreme Court, Presidency, both houses of Congress. But it’s practically already written in stone that Dems will retake control of the House in the midterms, giving them at least control over half of Congress. And as long as they’ve got some semblance of a spine, they can use that to slow down and obstruct the Trump regime, making them less powerful and less effective at getting what they want. That’s basically the minimum we can expect out of the midterms. (And since the House has almost exclusive control over the budget, if the Dems actually have the balls to try it, they could cut the Trump regime’s funding entirely until their demands are met.)
But, potentially, it could get better than that. For starters, the higher their margin of control in the House gets, the more they can afford to ignore a few traitorous/spineless Dems and still exert some power/control without having to appease those assholes. It’s also entirely possible that Dems may take control of the Senate, which would give them the ability to deny court appointments and maybe actually get some meaningful legislation passed (though Trump could still veto that legislation unless they get some Republicans on board with it as well). Potentially, a big enough win in the midterms could even make impeachment and conviction/removal a viable option. Not only for Trump himself, but for a lot of his cronies and enablers, including a few Supreme Court justices who could easily be removed under corruption charges.
Is that last part likely to happen? Fuck no. Even if Dems sweep the midterms resoundingly, they won’t have enough of a majority in the Senate to complete an impeachment or pass veto-proof legislation without the cooperation of at least a few Republicans. But who knows? As the Epstein files release law showed, it’s actually possible to get the Republicans on board, sometimes, for some things. And maybe seeing their Trump-enabling brethren take a bloodbath in the prior election will make some of them more willing to stand up to Trump, to distance themselves from him.
No, the midterms absolutely will not ‘fix everything’ or even bring things ‘back to normal’. But they are almost certain to improve the political situation in the US, at least slightly. How much of an improvement we get will largely depend on how decisive the results are.
Man, why you gotta dash my hopes like that?
Well, the larger their majority, the more spineless Dems they can afford to have while still getting something meaningful done. But if their margins are thin, it only takes a few spineless/traitorous Dems to ruin everything.
Flipping state houses in the South would also be a huge thing and that isn’t as talked about.
True, true. A lot could also happen at the state level during these midterms … and though the federal stuff gets a lot of press and attention, state-level stuff often has more of an impact on people’s everyday lives.
Congress must immediately begin working to restructure SCOTUS and add at least 5 more justices in November. If they don’t, I have news for you: things won’t be getting better.
Adding more justices won’t have any appreciable effect until Trump is out of office.
Supreme Court justices have to be nominated by the President, then ratified by the Senate. And anyone Trump nominates would just make the problem worse, not better.
If you create 5 new Supreme Court justice seats, the best case scenario is that those seats go unfilled until there’s a Dem in the White House, because the Dem-controlled Senate keeps refusing all of Trump’s nominations. The best case scenario there is that nothing immediately changes.
If you want to address the problems in the Supreme Court, impeachment and removal of problematic justices is a much better way to go. That can take effect and rebalance the Court immediately, without needing any cooperation from the President. A few of them already have public information that paints them as blatantly guilty of accepting bribes, which is reason enough for removal. Also, every single one of them that voted to abolish Roe v. Wade lied about their intentions of doing so in their Senate confirmation hearings, which were taken under oath. Lying under oath during a Senate hearing is also a perfectly valid cause for impeachment and removal.
The trouble is in getting enough votes in the Senate to convict and remove, after the House votes to impeach. Even the best case midterm scenario for the Dems doesn’t give them enough Senate seats to have that much of a supermajority on their own. Even in the best case, they’ll still have to get at least a few Republicans on their side in order to complete these impeachments and actually make a difference.