By that logic, we should then remove all barriers to run. If a convicted criminal can run, there's no reason a 28 year old with no criminal background can't.
Funny how convicted felons can have their voting rights taken away, but letting a person who tried to sabotage the voting system to win unfairly run for president again? Suuure!
Not only that, but it's a direct parallel to how the rich have so much more rights than the poor - and the worst part is this guy's fans ARE dirt poor, some may even be felons, who have no right to vote, some of which probably tried to vote illegally because "owning the libs is what matters"... because again, decentralisation, proper vote count, democratic and parliamentary process, this is all bullshit anyways, so let's just game the system!
Like you have to be a special kind of stupid - and I don't mean that in an ableist kind of way, but in a way that this needs to be studied by scientists, because of how absurdly brain-dead it really is.
Like here's a hint: if you set a political precedent where your guy can do it, what's to prevent the other guy from doing it? Does MAGA stand for "make America gullible again"?
It’s not that he actually believes this, it’s that the party’s base has determined that you can’t oppose Trump, so they need to find a reason why people should vote for them instead of Trump while not taking the position that Trump should be in jail.
It’s the usual mental gymnastics. Desantis is doing the exact same thing.
"That needs to be left to the American people" - but only for one day out of four years in a heavily gerrymandered system where big money has done everything to attempt to dissolve social networks in favor of acquiring and bombarding propaganda through local and mainstream media, and that's only before another four years of major corruption scandals with idiots who look the other way when given stupid conspiracy theories wear down the last vestiges of democracy in the US that are left.
I mean, of course he said that. He's trying to win a republican primary race right now. Would disagreeing with the overwhelming majority of the primary voting repub electorate be a good strategy for accomplishing that?
So Republicans are going to just gonna act like the 3rd section of the 14th amendment doesn't exist? And they think this is a winning strategy?
Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
He's already persona non grata with MAGA. That ship has sailed, Mike; it's over the fucking horizon, buddy. TBH, if he'd taken a hard stance and has been saying "yeah, bitch, that's right, I alone saved democracy and prevented a civil war*, die mad about it", I'd like him a lot more, I'd even consider him a serious contender for the GOP candidacy. But Mike can't seem to decide who he is. One day he wakes up and it's right back to simpering up to Trump and MAGA, and the next day he wakes up and lets MAGA know that he's got the world's biggest case of Ligma. Which is it, Mike, are you a crony with a spine that's weaker than Raditz, or are you a democracy saving, woman avoiding, sigma grinding badass?
*I know that Mike alone didn't save democracy, but, speaking as someone who's never voted Republican his whole life, it's undeniable that Mike played a crucial role in the outcome of J6. It's one of those few moments in history that really was balanced on the point of a knife and Pence did exactly the right thing by consistently refusing to play ball with these fucks.
The equation in my mind is, is this guy just trying to show that he’s a Republican team player, or does he actually think that some of Trump’s cult might vote for him if Trump isn’t on the ballot? Or maybe he’s holding on to a hope that if his former boss can stay out of jail long enough to get the nomination, that he might get his old job back?
Pence is being blamed for Trump not being successful in his coup, and his numbers show it. What else does Pence have? Roe V Wade? Voters are furious about that, too. Republicans are trying to save their asses on this overreach, too. Pence is on the wrong side of everything.
Maybe it's a sign.
Let's put everything up to a direct popular vote. Just direct democracy. Why does Congress get to overrule the "will of the American people" when it makes laws?
How does Mike Pence have any donors? I mean literally who would give him money? He's not even trying to win. Clearly he's not you don't try to win and then do this for your biggest opponent. I mean most of them aren't trying to win. This entire Republican primary is basically just a fundraising endeavor to furnish their own private lavish lifestyles.
The fact that Pence can turn around and start sucking off of Trump again, even after Trump literally tried to have him lynched for doing his job, shows how spineless the Republicans really are
I mean, if it was a convicted-for-shoplifting situation, and the person had completed the sentence, that would be one thing. But this? Even seeing it from halfway across the world, what happened was shocking.
This is a level of over-the-top milquetoast fence-sitting that only Mike Pence can achieve...
The Republicans are a fucking caricature of themselves, I swear.
Not related to the headline/article, I'd just like to comment on funniness the picture, from left to right: confused disbelief, dismissive disbelief, indignant disbelief. Much furrowing of brows, such concern.
Of course he said that because if Trump is disqualified because of J6, then so would also half the GOP's varsity team from Congress. I think if all of Trump's in-government co-conspirators (just to name a few, but not an exhaustive list: Meadows, Scott, Hawley, Boebert, Gaetz, Greene, etc.) were expelled and never allowed to return to government, I'm pretty sure at least half those seats would go to middle of the road Democrats (I mean at least Boebert's seat, minimum) and the GOP would lose their razor thin margin in the Senate.
I think this is one of the many major reasons Pence keeps towing this line for Trump.
Pence must have mob ops on him too. Roger stone we want to see the American mafia crumble. Quit being naive people there's more to politics... It's not just a few bad actors it's organized crime that'll do anything for power and control, while they place blame on petty criminals.
While Trump is obviously a POS and I'd love for him to be banned from running, not allowing anyone to run for office from prison would set a really dangerous precedent.
He is technically correct, the best kind of correct. If convicted of anything he is currently being tried for, he would remain legally able to run for president. Whether or not I morally agree with him running, the constitution doesn't concern itself much with my personal morals.
The fact that Pence can turn around and start sucking off of Trump again, even after Trump literally tried to have him lynched for doing his job, shows how spineless the Republicans really are
Say what you want about Pence but he's not going to claim something about the constitution that he doesn't believe is true, even if it helps him. That is like, his whole thing.
The fact that Pence can turn around and start sucking off of Trump again, even after Trump literally tried to have him lynched for doing his job, shows how spineless the Republicans really are
Unpopular opinion: I agree with Pence. If Trump can win the presidency, after everything, then this stupid country deserves everything he can dish out. The "American experiment" was a failure.
I say this knowing that in MAGA land, people like me will be swinging from lampposts. But at least I'll be spared Empress Ivanka leading us in the climate wars.