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[Lord Shonus]

Johnson's genuinely tried hard to actually govern. It isn't his fault he's hobbled by somebody that even the far right deride as "Moscow Marjorie".

[Frumple]

Did he? It's a straight question, as far as I'd noticed he basically operated the same as the last one, right down to passing vital stuff at the wire with dem support and spending most of the rest of the time entertaining the whims of folks like MTG or various other extremists as much as he could get away with.

You can argue it's due to the situation inside the house majority largely being the same, but, like. He did choose the position, the party in question, etc. It absolutely is his fault he's yoked to the current GOP speakership, heh, and it wasn't some mystery how his party was going to act going forward. That contact is and was 100% voluntary.

How exactly would you expect the Speaker to act, considering the situation they are in, and the process that brought them to power?

Frankly? At a bare minimum direct and overt cooperation between whatever subset of the GOP he could get to work with him and the other near half of the chamber, like it's ended up being anyway except, y'know, months ago and without the time wasting. Pattern recognition shouldn't be as hard as it appears to be for one of the highest offices in the country (and isn't, which means the clownshow he'd have significant power to avoid is, y'know, intentional).

[Lord Shonus]

There's only so much you can do when it takes all of one person to demand you be thrown out, and your only protection against that is to align yourself with the ideological enemies of an important portion of your own side.

Johnson did a lot to make deals that should have been acceptable to his own party - Biden flat out gave in entirely on the border demands, for example - but kept failing to accomplish anything due to internal sabotage.

[anewaname]

Johnson may be getting things done with Dem support like McCarthy did, and getting attacked for it, but he is more dangerous, not as a leader but as a symbol.

He wears the guise of religious morality and good manners, so when he is attacked and continues to display good manners, it just improves his appearance of morality. But he was a major component of the attempt to delay and overturn the November 2020 election results, which makes his morality the same as Netanyahu's... like "Only the people of my religious community have souls that matter".

[Folly]

Yeah, Johnson is very much a snake-in-the-grass. He likes to go in front of cameras and talk about how he puts his personal beliefs aside to represent his people and do what is best for the country, making himself sound like an entirely rational icon of everything a politician should be. But his actions belie his words. He never actually makes any sincere or productive efforts to further any cause that does not align with his extreme religious views, and the furtherment of his personal security and power.

[Starver]

...on a certain New York trial: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68880206

The real kicker is in the last few paragraphs. And, in particular, what the very last paragraph says he subsequently did. He just don't care, do he?

[nenjin]

That's the thing about provocateurs. They will go right to line of consequences. Trump has been shown more deference and patience by his own opposition than I think anyone in my living memory.

[hector13]

I think it’s more simple than that. He’s hyper rich and is not used to the rules actually applying to him.

[nenjin]

The man has been grifting as soon as he had his own identity. He's been cheating on his real estate and taxes for decades. He knows the rules. He's just all in. Once you commit to the bit, there's no going back.

[Frumple]

Eh... he's also in his late seventies, unhealthy, almost certain wildly stressed. It's entirely possible he knew the rules at one point but that part of his brain's fried now.

[ChairmanPoo]

You know the rules and so do I

[MorleyDev]

So...if the Supreme Court for some reason rules that US Presidents are basically immune to criminal prosecution...then could Biden have Donald Trump assassinated then rely on the Democratic-majority Senate blocking impeachment?

Either I'm missing something or I feel like the insane conspiracy theorists aren't thinking this one through...

[Random_Dragon]

Rules for thee, not for me. The wannabe fascists are counting on the expectation that they can break whatever laws they please and then throw an absolute hissy fit if their opposition makes any attempt to return the favor. And that's on top of the fact they know that they're the only ones scummy enough to immediately want to resort to tactics like that.

[nenjin]

As has been said, every accusation is an admission of guilt.....

[anewaname]

So...if the Supreme Court for some reason rules that US Presidents are basically immune to criminal prosecution...then could Biden have Donald Trump assassinated then rely on the Democratic-majority Senate blocking impeachment?

Either I'm missing something or I feel like the insane conspiracy theorists aren't thinking this one through...

It is a component of the Scorpion and Turtle parable... When Scorpion asks for a ride across the river, he is also offering to trust Turtle, because Turtle could dive midway and leave Scorpion drowning. The only thing Scorpion offers Turtle is trust. This is the foundation for most Turtle and Scorpion games you see in life, mostly conman confidence and theft games, but also more murderous schemes.

So, in the immunity to criminal prosecution case, Scorpion is arguing that the rules should allow unlimited unlawful activity, trusting that Turtle will not use those powers against Scorpion, but you know what Scorpion is going to do as soon as Scorpion can...