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Biden Should Resign to Allow Harris to be Our 1st Female President > With SCOTUS-expanded Powers! [1]

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Date: 2024-11-12  

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Despite all the despair surrounding a Trump victory and the impending threats to our freedoms, economic security, species survival considering climate change, and oligarchic #RepubloFascism, there can be a pathway to preserving democracy if Democrats, and President Biden in particular, are willing to choose it.

What if President Biden were to resign within November, allowing Kamala Harris to be the first female president after all? It would be a fitting gift to America, breaking the glass ceiling for the highest office in the land, and give us a taste of what female leadership could look like.

But President Harris could do more than that. She’s a fighter and knows how to win. What if she were to approach the job in the same way that partisan schemers like Mitch McConnell would?

By lying, ignoring honor, weaponizing hypocrisy, and bending the rules, Republicans like McConnell have changed the game of politics. It’s like the hoop that they’re defending is the normal size, but the one that they’re shooting at is four inches wider.

Pardon the mixed metaphors, but what if Harris were to play that same kind of hardball? And given all the extra powers that the Supreme Court intended for Trump, what if Harris were to take them to the limit as well, but in her case not for greed or personal power but to shore up democracy, enshrine reproductive freedom, secure the fairness and accuracy of our election system, and so, so much more?

But how could she achieve all that in just weeks without full control of Congress?

Trump, Vance, their billionaire donors, and the creators of Project 2025 have shown us their path to scuttle democracy in favor of RepubloFascism where justice and freedom become merely quaint memories. By expanding presidential immunity, SCOTUS has already pulled down the barriers to prevent that.

What if Harris had the opportunity to put those barriers back up before Jan. 20, but in between have the most productive - and second shortest - presidency in history?

Here is my hope for how this all, and much more, could happen.

In the coming weeks, America welcomes President Harris to the Oval Office. Tim Walz is secured through the Senate to be her VP. And immediately a fierce defender of democracy, Stacey Abrams, is confirmed as her Attorney General.

Then AG Abrams indicts every “Sedition Caucus” member who voted against certification of electoral college votes on the charge of Seditious Conspiracy, and states that they are not eligible to hold office due to their breach of the 14th Amendment. Interim replacements can take their seats through special elections, and if found not guilty by a jury, these original Congress members can reclaim their seats.

However in the interim, Democrats will hold significant majorities. And that’s where the fun - and the justice - can begin. Harris and the Dems can put America on a preemptive course correct, pointing us towards freedom and justice for all - only this time including African Americans, women, and our LGBTQ+ community - because our respect for everyone’s individuality will also be enshrined into law. And the pursuit of happiness will not be focused only on the white land owners that the founding fathers wrote the Constitution for.

Let’s see what could be passed in eight to ten weeks:

The Freedom to Vote Act - or a beefed up version with more safeguards

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

a bill making illegal PAC and super PAC money being used in advertising in primaries. This is how both parties have silenced centrist and progressive candidates in the past.

a version of the Wealth Tax proposals currently under consideration

Supreme Court conduct reforms, establishing the same ethics standards that lower court judges have to adhere to

expand the Supreme Court to 13 justices, overcoming the stacked court that McConnell and Trump created. Then enshrine that number forever.

The Equal Rights Amendment for women, integrating reproductive freedom. Add in the notion of equality for all gender identities and same-sex marriage.

The Protection Against Presidential Power Act (PAPPA) is something that I dreamed up during the first Trump administration. Or Dems can take the No Kings Act by Chuck Schumer and expand it.

restrict a president’s ability to cancel investigations that involve him/her and coconspirators. And end the DOJ policy of not allowing investigation or indictment of a sitting president. Steps to prevent abuse of this would be required, however.

override the Chevron decision reversal by SCOTUS, restoring the sanctity of all federal agencies like the FDA and EPA. Also insulate their top positions from partisan or presidential whims.

pass the next fiscal year’s budget

end the debt ceiling debacle

secure America’s future as a leader in addressing the climate crisis

All that would be a good start. The Freedom to Vote ACT would require public not private funding for all state and federal campaigns. If significant lobbying and PAC reforms are part of this winter’s shoring up of democracy, billionaire and corporate influence on candidates and policy would be greatly reduced.

How could so much be done in such a short time? It would take all hands on deck with only the smallest holiday break. Apart from the budget, most elements are ready to go being previously considered.

Then, on Jan. 6th, Trump will be confirmed as the next president. Or not, if he’s also awaiting trial on Seditious Conspiracy and subject to the 14th Amendment because of that. If so, then Vance will be confirmed.

But once he takes office President Vance, and/or president via proxy Peter Thiel, wouldn’t be able to execute their Project 2025 dreams. The guardrails would be in place ending presidential overreach, and many Republicans in Congress will not yet be seated. Their interim replacements would not yet be voted into office, either.

And there could be another twist to this. Isn’t Elon Musk acting as a undeclared foreign agent helping Putin and Trump put the pinch on the Ukranian president? AG Abrams should get right on that BEFORE Donald gets inaugurated.

So Trump or Vance would have no favorable Congress initially to do their dirty work. Blanket pardons wouldn’t necessarily re-qualify Sedition Caucus members as cleared from 14th Amendment restrictions, only ending their threat of incarceration, right?

And better still, the thresholds for impeachment would be very low with so many Republicans missing. Trump would certainly violate the emoluments clause quickly. And Vance doesn’t seem like a guy who takes reigning in seriously.

Perhaps Hakeem Jeffries would be President 49. Or maybe Kamala could be installed as Speaker of the House just in time to regain the Oval.

As you can tell, I’m a glass-1/8th-full kind of guy. But isn’t this path plausible considering the SCOTUS decision and the 14th Amendment breaches on the Congressional record? Besides, imagine all the suffering that could be avoided.

There is a middle ground on this, where the extremes noted above don’t get fully played out but democracy could be saved in its current form. If the first part happens, Harris could release ALL evidence on every pending federal case against Trump with only grand jury member and witness names redacted. Even the Mueller investigation evidence could be released.

When the full breadth of Trump’s travesties in and out of office are out in the public’s eye, all it would take would be a couple of GOP House members to show a spine and some integrity and vote for the No Kings Act. Some smart politicians who take the long view will see that the Trump era of the GOP will collapse, and all who’ve clung to it so long will see their careers as toxic and un-defendable at their next election. Only those that stand against Trumpism at this pivotal moment will have the credibility to claim roles as reformers.

Of course, Speaker Johnson wouldn’t allow this to come to a vote. But with things so close even now in the House, all AG Abrams would need to indict would be a half dozen Republicans. And so, so many played along in #TheBigLie while knowing full well that it was an invalid attempt at flipping the 2020 election. Subpoenas for phone records could confirm that via text messages. Kicking a few off the floor would see Jeffries as Speaker until the next Congress convenes at a minimum.

Although the whole laundry list of reforms might be possible, a Plan B might be to only pass the key ones that would be hard for Trump to overturn in late January.

With the No Kings Act, SCOTUS ethics reforms, the ERA, and the two main voting bills on the books when he takes office, perhaps Trump’s malevolent nature will be curbed to some degree at least domestically.

Without any of these preemptive interventions, however, Trump/Vance/Thiel could do all the things that Project 2025 lays out and more. In the coming months there would be the most horrendous case of buyer’s remorse as millions lose their healthcare insurance due to pre-existing conditions, see inflation skyrocket with the Trump tariff plan, and see women have to carry to term babies conceived through rape or incest.

And when 2026 rolls around, a #BlueWave would be nearly doubled by tens of millions of formerly non-engaged voters who realized too late that they were played the fool to enrich the already wealthy.

But if Trump has his way, there might not BE midterm elections or another presidential election in 2028.

And if it gets to that point, expect Trump to come for the guns of all his former supporters; 2nd Amendment be damned. Like everything else, the 2nd Amendment was just a tool used to keep the lemmings in line.

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