Yes, this thread remains very boring, right?

There was a very good chance this was going to happen. It's lamentable and the people involved reprehensible, but why oh why was there not sufficient security prepared for this?

We know Trump's support is a minority and now they have lost all sympathy from many people, including Repblicans, who were still on the fence or simply ignoring the situation. As if there were any doubt, Trump's actions over the last days have ensured he will be remembered as the worst U.S. president of all-time. Sure, his supporters will cling on and contradict that, but in the decades to come when these people fade away, Trump's legacy will be set in stone.

Problematically, the U.S. has to find some way of correcting its course to calmer waters. While civil war remains a distant worry, it is still not outside the realm of possibility if this situation is allowed to fester.

Quote from Splinter

There are rumblings of Pence invoking the 25th and having him removed. I can't see that happening, unless Pence grows a pair.

Now that trump’s fury has been focused on pence (now even barring pence’s chief of staff from the West Wing), maybe pence will pretend to find a conscience and will finally do the right thing. However, pence alone can’t remove him from office: at least 8 of the current trump-appointed cabinet members would have to sign on.

He would retain the presidential title, but none of the presidential powers.

If Congress were able to impeach him and the Senate could stand up to remove him from office, then he would not be able to hold office in the future, ending his cult’s desire for a 2024 run.

One hour of comedy

Quote from Splinter

This is an eye opener

BBC News - Capitol riots: Who broke into the building?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/55572805

And this is the speech that lit the touch paper, if you can bear it.

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After watching the insurrection on tv and reportedly enjoying the destruction and the death threats to his own Vice President (complaining only that the mob looked “low class”), the president was warned by his lawyers that his incitement could put him in legal jeopardy. This led, hours later, to his reading a speech on camera proclaiming that “No follower of mine would resort to violence,” and other platitudes designed to make him appear uninvolved, non-complicit, presidential, but fooled only himself.

The BBC doesn’t usually lead with a sensational header, but did this time, leaving the reader to be relieved to learn this was a state government rather than the US govt.

Once past relief, though, this was a sad account of a horrifying low point in North Carolina’s history. A fascinating read.

One can always count on the Mosquito States to find new lows