For congress to remove Trump first the house needs to vote with a 50% majority to impeach Trump for “Treason, bribery, or high crimes” the house does get to decide if something Trump has done meets that bar.
Then the senate needs to decide to have a trial not a criminal or civil trial, but a trial to decide of Trump should be removed from office.
Then the house gets to present its case proving the crime, then if the senate votes with a 2/3rds majority to convict, Trump would e removed from office, and barred from any future government office. If convicted, VP Vance would become the president until the next election.
Impeachment is a remedial process, not a punitive one, it can only remove Trump from office it can’t punish him for his crimes, though he may face a separate criminal trial for the same crime at that point.
So, remember how a few months ago, the South Korean president and defense minister declared martial law and tried to openly stage a military coup?
I expect that to happen here. Congress won’t do shit about it - they’ll lean into it, because the “opposition” has all the backbone of a sea cucumber, and the GOP congresspersons have either drunk the kool-aid, or (like the “opposition”) have been scared into compliance.
And I expect the insurrection act to be invoked (which lets the president deputize more or less whoever he wants… so, proud boys et al will be the new brownshirts). And I don’t think many people understand how much of a real threat those wingnut militias are. They’ve got a LOT more guerrilla/resistance-cell-type organization than most realize. It’s one of the reasons I’m so deeply concerned about this whole shitshow. And one of his first act was to pardon a few thousand people, a lot of whom were involved in or sympathetic to those militias, so he’s got died-hard followers in that crowd. Like, “I won’t ever question your orders” die hard. He’s made himself into a very literal savior figure for them.
Their process is more complicated.
For congress to remove Trump first the house needs to vote with a 50% majority to impeach Trump for “Treason, bribery, or high crimes” the house does get to decide if something Trump has done meets that bar.
Then the senate needs to decide to have a trial not a criminal or civil trial, but a trial to decide of Trump should be removed from office.
Then the house gets to present its case proving the crime, then if the senate votes with a 2/3rds majority to convict, Trump would e removed from office, and barred from any future government office. If convicted, VP Vance would become the president until the next election.
Impeachment is a remedial process, not a punitive one, it can only remove Trump from office it can’t punish him for his crimes, though he may face a separate criminal trial for the same crime at that point.
So, remember how a few months ago, the South Korean president and defense minister declared martial law and tried to openly stage a military coup?
I expect that to happen here. Congress won’t do shit about it - they’ll lean into it, because the “opposition” has all the backbone of a sea cucumber, and the GOP congresspersons have either drunk the kool-aid, or (like the “opposition”) have been scared into compliance.
And I expect the insurrection act to be invoked (which lets the president deputize more or less whoever he wants… so, proud boys et al will be the new brownshirts). And I don’t think many people understand how much of a real threat those wingnut militias are. They’ve got a LOT more guerrilla/resistance-cell-type organization than most realize. It’s one of the reasons I’m so deeply concerned about this whole shitshow. And one of his first act was to pardon a few thousand people, a lot of whom were involved in or sympathetic to those militias, so he’s got died-hard followers in that crowd. Like, “I won’t ever question your orders” die hard. He’s made himself into a very literal savior figure for them.