Elon Musk cashes in $6.9 billion of Tesla stock, just in case

While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Which is why the raid at Mar-a-lago is so important. A guilty verdict can ban him from holding office
 
Upvote
23 (33 / -10)
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Let's hope like hell that yesterday's news of the FBI search portends criminal prosecution as soon as possible.

There are not many things one can receive the federal death penalty for in America. It's pretty well limited to treason (levying actual war is the standard), espionage (depends on the documents, this could be damning if he took foreign money and passed anything they can prove), and a handful of other cases like murdering a court officer or a witness (ordinary murder doesn't even rise to the level of the federal death penalty that I'm aware of).

If he's executed as a foreign agent, he can't run for President.


I know this is just a run-of-the-mill Arshole murder-fanasy, but arresting and executing political opponents is generally viewed poorly in the US (as well as the rest of the civilized world). It probably won't have the positive effect that you're dreaming of.
 
Upvote
41 (49 / -8)
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Belisarius

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While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

If he wins we will probably get the answer to the question "what happens when you elect a felon currently serving a 20 year sentence in prison to the highest office in the land?"

We already know the answer – they're barred from serving.

Edit: I'm wrong.
 
Upvote
5 (12 / -7)
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.
Everyone thought it was a sure Hillary win in 2016.
Trump came within 60k votes of winning in 2020.
He's competing against democrats, the pre-eminent losers of winnable elections.
Dems will be running either someone new, or a not-particularly-charismatic 82-year-old who has been presiding over mostly bad news for 2 years so far.

Trump will hopefully be old news (or R's with ambition will beat him in primaries), but it could happen. Or you might get DeSantis, who is Trump but with the actual capabilities of running government.

"mostly bad news"? In the past two weeks of Biden's presidency:

- inflation going down
- job numbers going up
- death of Ayman al-Zawahri
- passage of inflation reduction act (deficit reduction, green tax credits, 15% min tax on corporations, cheap drugs for seniors)
- passage of CHIPs act (American IC factories)
- veteran's health bill

Historians are now saying that Biden is the most productive president in his first two years in office since Clinton and Reagan.
 
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103 (109 / -6)

thekaj

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Was there more than one filing? The linked Form 4 only shows him selling 19,775 shares. If he sold $6.9 billion, that's more like around 8 million shares. I'm assuming that he sold them over multiple days, which would mean multiple Form 4s. Average volume of Tesla shares traded each day is about 30 million. So a dump of 8 million all at once would have been noticed.

Also, this doesn't necessarily indicate he's getting ready to buy Twitter. He could just as easily be liquidating to pay for a settlement where he walks away.
 
Upvote
26 (26 / 0)
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Let's hope like hell that yesterday's news of the FBI search portends criminal prosecution as soon as possible.

There are not many things one can receive the federal death penalty for in America. It's pretty well limited to treason (levying actual war is the standard), espionage (depends on the documents, this could be damning if he took foreign money and passed anything they can prove), and a handful of other cases like murdering a court officer or a witness (ordinary murder doesn't even rise to the level of the federal death penalty that I'm aware of).

If he's executed as a foreign agent, he can't run for President.


I know this is just a run-of-the-mill Arshole murder-fanasy, but arresting and executing political opponents is generally viewed poorly in the US (as well as the rest of the civilized world). It probably won't have the positive effect that you're dreaming of.

For starters, I agree with you.

It's viewed poorly because it generally doesn't work. It's an actual joke, although I left my /s off in haste. If you read back in my posting history, you'll note that I'm generally against revolutions. Statistically, the outcome is a dictatorship of some sort. Democracy is a rare and fragile thing, and requires constant work to maintain.

We should probably try to keep everything together, because it'd be nice to skip WWIII and get some backup humans going on other planets, maybe some space mining...
 
Upvote
18 (21 / -3)

DarthSlack

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While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Let's hope like hell that yesterday's news of the FBI search portends criminal prosecution as soon as possible.
Which one, Mara Lago, or in NY?

I know of the Mango-Lardo one, but what was the NY one?

There's the ongoing investigation in New York about whether he committed tax or bank fraud with inconsistent valuations of his assets.

And, to absolutely no one's surprise, Trump pleaded the Fifth today when he was in front of the NY grand jury.


"If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth?"
-- Donald J. Trump
 
Upvote
86 (88 / -2)

CraigJ ✅

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While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

If he wins we will probably get the answer to the question "what happens when you elect a felon currently serving a 20 year sentence in prison to the highest office in the land?"

We already know the answer – they're barred from serving.

I don't know where you're getting this information, but the U.S. Constitution does not prevent a felon from running for the office of the President or from being elected.

Please cite where you're getting the information that a felon is barred from holding the office of President.
 
Upvote
26 (30 / -4)

TheShark

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While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

If he wins we will probably get the answer to the question "what happens when you elect a felon currently serving a 20 year sentence in prison to the highest office in the land?"

I'm not holding my breath waiting for that conviction. Has Trump ever been held accountable for anything he's done at any point in his life? You might think so if you listen to his interminable whining about being treated "unfairly" but in reality life has given him a pass on everything. I'm not expecting that to change, as much as I would like to see it.
 
Upvote
36 (37 / -1)

Maxipad

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While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He lost by 7 million votes last time. He'd lose by more next time, if he isn't already in jail.

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

Unfortunately, a good chunk of those 7 million votes are meaningless courtesy of the electoral college (which, incidentally, was intended to prevent woefully incompetent but popular demagogues from taking power. that worked out well.).

How many EC votes did Biden get vs Trump's total?

I personally don't think he'll run since he'd have to start accounting for all the money he's taken in for his fake campaign (under campaign finance rules) the minute he officially files.

On top of that he'll probably be facing criminal prosecution due to things around the Jan. 6 stuff and this business of absconding with Classified documents that the DOJ just raided his home for. Garland is serious about this stuff and I guarantee that he wants to get Trump.

Ironically Trump signed the changes that made this a felony conviction with a longer sentencing guideline (up to 5 years) because he wanted to get Hillary a few years ago.
 
Upvote
27 (30 / -3)

madmax559

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While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He lost by 7 million votes last time. He'd lose by more next time, if he isn't already in jail.

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

The question will be if the senate starts interfering. I can't believe some of the republicans are openly making threats, when they win the midterms (I really hope not)

I don't think even Nixon stooped to such lows during his presidency.

Any regular person downloads any classified doc to their laptop & they get into trouble.
These clowns took them off-site & flushed them down a toilet.

For the sake of the country, it would be good to bar him from ever running for any office again.
 
Upvote
30 (34 / -4)
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

He lost by 7 million votes last time. He'd lose by more next time, if he isn't already in jail.

He may simply be disqualified from ever running if he gets convicted of removing classified documents which is what the Mar a Lago raid yesterday was about. It's an easy conviction and disqualifies him from ever holding office again.

Plus his teasing about a possible run is just a way to grift more money from his cult.

He lost by 7 million votes and yet came within 70,000 votes of winning. That's the American voting system for ya. And the repubs have been working hard at tilting the field even further in their favor.

Remember, even when Trump won in 2016, he lost the popular vote by 3 million, and Bush II lost the popular vote as well in 2000. The only time a Republican presidential candidate won the popular vote in this century was when Bush II got re-elected in 2004, and yet they've won the White House three times. And R's have similar systemic advantages in House and Senate.
 
Upvote
60 (61 / -1)

ranthog

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While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

If he wins we will probably get the answer to the question "what happens when you elect a felon currently serving a 20 year sentence in prison to the highest office in the land?"

We already know the answer – they're barred from serving.

I don't know where you're getting this information, but the U.S. Constitution does not prevent a felon from running for the office of the President or from being elected.

Please cite where you're getting the information that a felon is barred from holding the office of President.

I am guessing that they're thinking of the 14th amendment, as some of the most serious crimes he's committed would bar him from serving in any federal office, without congress voting to allow them to serve.

Section 3.
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.

So this is relevant to some of the felony investigations going on, but not all the felony investigations. You know most people you don't get this confused on because they don't have this many different criminal investigations going on against them at the same time.
 
Upvote
47 (48 / -1)

madmax559

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I don't know where you're getting this information, but the U.S. Constitution does not prevent a felon from running for the office of the President or from being elected.

Please cite where you're getting the information that a felon is barred from holding the office of President.

https://constitution.findlaw.com/amendm ... ion15.html

What Is the Disqualification Clause?

Fourteenth Amendment, Section 3:​

"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."
 
Upvote
22 (28 / -6)

Maxipad

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Was there more than one filing? The linked Form 4 only shows him selling 19,775 shares. If he sold $6.9 billion, that's more like around 8 million shares. I'm assuming that he sold them over multiple days, which would mean multiple Form 4s. Average volume of Tesla shares traded each day is about 30 million. So a dump of 8 million all at once would have been noticed.

Also, this doesn't necessarily indicate he's getting ready to buy Twitter. He could just as easily be liquidating to pay for a settlement where he walks away.

He said it's in case he has to buy Twitter and to prevent a fire sale that would drive the stock price down. Check the Guardian report on it, IIRC.
 
Upvote
8 (9 / -1)

IncorrigibleTroll

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Let's hope like hell that yesterday's news of the FBI search portends criminal prosecution as soon as possible.
Which one, Mara Lago, or in NY?

I know of the Mango-Lardo one, but what was the NY one?

There's the ongoing investigation in New York about whether he committed tax or bank fraud with inconsistent valuations of his assets.

And, to absolutely no one's surprise, Trump pleaded the Fifth today when he was in front of the NY grand jury.


"If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth?"
-- Donald J. Trump

Normally that's true, but nobody at all in the entire history of this country has ever been as viciously persecuted as poor ol' Donny T. He has no choice but to take the Fifth because of all of those deep state antifa people.
 
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43 (44 / -1)
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madmax559

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What may happen is that, there may be a financial tie-in with Deutsche Bank, that was fined for money laundering & ties with the Russian mob (There was a whole podcast on this a couple of years ago)

They were the only bank that would finance Trump & this may have allowed the Russians to gain leverage in an indirect way

If any classified docs were off-site & viewed by foreign agents etc, then we have a very serious security breach going on & this investigation was doing the right thing with the raid.
 
Upvote
21 (25 / -4)

DarthSlack

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Let's hope like hell that yesterday's news of the FBI search portends criminal prosecution as soon as possible.
Which one, Mara Lago, or in NY?

I know of the Mango-Lardo one, but what was the NY one?

There's the ongoing investigation in New York about whether he committed tax or bank fraud with inconsistent valuations of his assets.

And, to absolutely no one's surprise, Trump pleaded the Fifth today when he was in front of the NY grand jury.


"If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth?"
-- Donald J. Trump

Normally that's true, but nobody at all in the entire history of this country has ever been as viciously persecuted as poor ol' Donny T. He has no choice but to take the Fifth because of all of those deep state antifa people.

Well, that and if he did truthfully answer the questions put to him he'd be on the next express train to the nearest state pen.
 
Upvote
13 (14 / -1)
I am guessing that they're thinking of the 14th amendment, as some of the most serious crimes he's committed would bar him from serving in any federal office, without congress voting to allow them to serve.

Section 3.
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.

So this is relevant to some of the felony investigations going on, but not all the felony investigations. You know most people you don't get this confused on because they don't have this many different criminal investigations going on against them at the same time.


Bold mine. Does anyone know if that's a direct reference to the President or are they talking about the people elected to the Electoral College. Because I'm thinking it's preventing criminals from being in the Electoral College and isn't about the President.

The part that prevents a traitor is the "hold any office" part. The electors can legally be anyone who *isn't* holding an office. Xi can be one.
 
Upvote
8 (9 / -1)

DarthSlack

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I am guessing that they're thinking of the 14th amendment, as some of the most serious crimes he's committed would bar him from serving in any federal office, without congress voting to allow them to serve.

Section 3.
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.

So this is relevant to some of the felony investigations going on, but not all the felony investigations. You know most people you don't get this confused on because they don't have this many different criminal investigations going on against them at the same time.


Bold mine. Does anyone know if that's a direct reference to the President or are they talking about the people elected to the Electoral College. Because I'm thinking it's preventing criminals from being in the Electoral College and isn't about the President.

The part that prevents a traitor is the "hold any office" part. The electors can legally be anyone who *isn't* holding an office. Xi can be one.

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you.
 
Upvote
1 (2 / -1)

Belisarius

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While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

"Not wanting him to run" isn't the same as "won't vote for him".

If he wins we will probably get the answer to the question "what happens when you elect a felon currently serving a 20 year sentence in prison to the highest office in the land?"

We already know the answer – they're barred from serving.

I don't know where you're getting this information, but the U.S. Constitution does not prevent a felon from running for the office of the President or from being elected.

Please cite where you're getting the information that a felon is barred from holding the office of President.

You're correct – my mistake. Thanks for the correction.
 
Upvote
7 (10 / -3)

IncorrigibleTroll

Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
9,228
Which one, Mara Lago, or in NY?

I know of the Mango-Lardo one, but what was the NY one?

There's the ongoing investigation in New York about whether he committed tax or bank fraud with inconsistent valuations of his assets.

And, to absolutely no one's surprise, Trump pleaded the Fifth today when he was in front of the NY grand jury.


"If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth?"
-- Donald J. Trump

Normally that's true, but nobody at all in the entire history of this country has ever been as viciously persecuted as poor ol' Donny T. He has no choice but to take the Fifth because of all of those deep state antifa people.

Well, that and if he did truthfully answer the questions put to him he'd be on the next express train to the nearest state pen.

Even though all of his beautiful answers were perfect? This just tells you how everyone is out to get him.
 
Upvote
16 (17 / -1)

ranthog

Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
13,602
I am guessing that they're thinking of the 14th amendment, as some of the most serious crimes he's committed would bar him from serving in any federal office, without congress voting to allow them to serve.

Section 3.
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.

So this is relevant to some of the felony investigations going on, but not all the felony investigations. You know most people you don't get this confused on because they don't have this many different criminal investigations going on against them at the same time.


Bold mine. Does anyone know if that's a direct reference to the President or are they talking about the people elected to the Electoral College. Because I'm thinking it's preventing criminals from being in the Electoral College and isn't about the President.

The part that would cover the President.

or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States

The President holds civil office in the federal government. He is also the head of the military as well.
 
Upvote
20 (21 / -1)

madmax559

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Was there more than one filing? The linked Form 4 only shows him selling 19,775 shares. If he sold $6.9 billion, that's more like around 8 million shares. I'm assuming that he sold them over multiple days, which would mean multiple Form 4s. Average volume of Tesla shares traded each day is about 30 million. So a dump of 8 million all at once would have been noticed.

Also, this doesn't necessarily indicate he's getting ready to buy Twitter. He could just as easily be liquidating to pay for a settlement where he walks away.


Yep, over a period of days/weeks

I think there is a requirement that you can't sell a large amount to prevent market volatility and sales are report on the above forms

Market is back up now for most tech stocks
 
Upvote
4 (7 / -3)

JohnDeL

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WRT Trump, it would be amusing if he were re-elected only to discover that the President can only pardon people for federal crimes, not state ones. (It would be far more a using, and safer, if he were not re-elected.)

Heading back to the main theme of our symposium, it does make sense for Elon to sell shares in Tesla right now. I just hope that after the shareholder vote on September 133, he realizes that the only way out is to pay a substantial penalty and does so. Failing that, I hope that once he takes over Twitter, the folks who keep it running resign en masse, leaving him with nothing but upper management and no way to actually keep the company going.
 
Upvote
18 (19 / -1)

ranthog

Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
13,602
I am guessing that they're thinking of the 14th amendment, as some of the most serious crimes he's committed would bar him from serving in any federal office, without congress voting to allow them to serve.

Section 3.
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.

So this is relevant to some of the felony investigations going on, but not all the felony investigations. You know most people you don't get this confused on because they don't have this many different criminal investigations going on against them at the same time.


Bold mine. Does anyone know if that's a direct reference to the President or are they talking about the people elected to the Electoral College. Because I'm thinking it's preventing criminals from being in the Electoral College and isn't about the President.

The part that prevents a traitor is the "hold any office" part. The electors can legally be anyone who *isn't* holding an office. Xi can be one.
Section 3 of the 14th amendment also includes the electors in the electoral college in the list of people barred.
or elector of President and Vice-President
 
Upvote
10 (12 / -2)
I am guessing that they're thinking of the 14th amendment, as some of the most serious crimes he's committed would bar him from serving in any federal office, without congress voting to allow them to serve.

Section 3.
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.

So this is relevant to some of the felony investigations going on, but not all the felony investigations. You know most people you don't get this confused on because they don't have this many different criminal investigations going on against them at the same time.


Bold mine. Does anyone know if that's a direct reference to the President or are they talking about the people elected to the Electoral College. Because I'm thinking it's preventing criminals from being in the Electoral College and isn't about the President.

The part that prevents a traitor is the "hold any office" part. The electors can legally be anyone who *isn't* holding an office. Xi can be one.
Section 3 of the 14th amendment also includes the electors in the electoral college in the list of people barred.
or elector of President and Vice-President

Right, but I don't think anyone is worried about Trump being designated an elector by Florida. And while we have no federal popular vote, states generally do direct, under state law, how their electors have to vote.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_ ... te_Compact
 
Upvote
7 (9 / -2)

Maxipad

Ars Tribunus Militum
2,689
I am guessing that they're thinking of the 14th amendment, as some of the most serious crimes he's committed would bar him from serving in any federal office, without congress voting to allow them to serve.

Section 3.
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.

So this is relevant to some of the felony investigations going on, but not all the felony investigations. You know most people you don't get this confused on because they don't have this many different criminal investigations going on against them at the same time.


Bold mine. Does anyone know if that's a direct reference to the President or are they talking about the people elected to the Electoral College. Because I'm thinking it's preventing criminals from being in the Electoral College and isn't about the President.

The part that prevents a traitor is the "hold any office" part. The electors can legally be anyone who *isn't* holding an office. Xi can be one.
Section 3 of the 14th amendment also includes the electors in the electoral college in the list of people barred.
or elector of President and Vice-President

Thanks to everyone who's helping to clarify this.

I've been looking for my original source regarding this but it's on another site amongst many articles and it may take me quite a while to find it. I believe those of you above are correct and it relates to the sedition business. I'll keep checking as I get a chance.
 
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Nihilus

Ars Scholae Palatinae
890
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Let's hope like hell that yesterday's news of the FBI search portends criminal prosecution as soon as possible.

There are not many things one can receive the federal death penalty for in America. It's pretty well limited to treason (levying actual war is the standard), espionage (depends on the documents, this could be damning if he took foreign money and passed anything they can prove), and a handful of other cases like murdering a court officer or a witness (ordinary murder doesn't even rise to the level of the federal death penalty that I'm aware of).

If he's executed as a foreign agent, he can't run for President.


I know this is just a run-of-the-mill Arshole murder-fanasy, but arresting and executing political opponents is generally viewed poorly in the US (as well as the rest of the civilized world). It probably won't have the positive effect that you're dreaming of.
I would just highlight that in most of the civilised world this is viewed poorly because we do not elect (outright) criminals to the position of head of state. In places like Afghanistan, Laos or Belarus however there would probably be quite some celebration if the heads of state were to be arrested.

I say this only because there is a world of difference between using the courts as a tool of political oppression and ensuring that all are subject to the rule of law. Politicians engaging in criminal activity without repercussion is also viewed rather poorly by the rest of the civilised world, let alone potentially re-electing said criminals.
 
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ranthog

Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
13,602
I am guessing that they're thinking of the 14th amendment, as some of the most serious crimes he's committed would bar him from serving in any federal office, without congress voting to allow them to serve.

Section 3.
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.

So this is relevant to some of the felony investigations going on, but not all the felony investigations. You know most people you don't get this confused on because they don't have this many different criminal investigations going on against them at the same time.


Bold mine. Does anyone know if that's a direct reference to the President or are they talking about the people elected to the Electoral College. Because I'm thinking it's preventing criminals from being in the Electoral College and isn't about the President.

The part that prevents a traitor is the "hold any office" part. The electors can legally be anyone who *isn't* holding an office. Xi can be one.
Section 3 of the 14th amendment also includes the electors in the electoral college in the list of people barred.
or elector of President and Vice-President

Right, but I don't think anyone is worried about Trump being designated an elector by Florida. And while we have no federal popular vote, states generally do direct, under state law, how their electors have to vote.
Right now the chances of the Republican party nominating an elector found guilty of a crime at 1/6 seems pretty damn high whether or not Trump is running in 2024.

Edit: Yes it would be really fucking stupid of them to do so. Will they do it? I'd probably give you 10 to 1 odds that at least one elector on the republican slate is an insurrectionist.
 
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Oldmanalex

Ars Legatus Legionis
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Subscriptor++
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.

When Trump ran the first time, my exact thought was" Trump will never get elected."


Well, he did lose by margins of 3 million and 7 million votes. If voting counted for anything he would have handily lost both elections, but for that to occur we would have to live in an actual democracy.
 
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29 (30 / -1)

Maxipad

Ars Tribunus Militum
2,689
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.
Everyone thought it was a sure Hillary win in 2016.
Trump came within 60k votes of winning in 2020.
He's competing against democrats, the pre-eminent losers of winnable elections.
Dems will be running either someone new, or a not-particularly-charismatic 82-year-old who has been presiding over mostly bad news for 2 years so far.

Trump will hopefully be old news (or R's with ambition will beat him in primaries), but it could happen. Or you might get DeSantis, who is Trump but with the actual capabilities of running government.

"mostly bad news"? In the past two weeks of Biden's presidency:

- inflation going down
- job numbers going up
- death of Ayman al-Zawahri
- passage of inflation reduction act (deficit reduction, green tax credits, 15% min tax on corporations, cheap drugs for seniors)
- passage of CHIPs act (American IC factories)
- veteran's health bill

Historians are now saying that Biden is the most productive president in his first two years in office since Clinton and Reagan.

Biden's actually been crushing it but the MSM can't get any ratings from that so they've been going with the doom and gloom to keep ratings up. And he inherited a dumpster fire from Trump.

Keep people scared and riled up to keep'em watching (see Fox News).

Can you imagine Trump standing up to Putin? Ukraine would be completely lost by now.
 
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50 (52 / -2)

Nalyd

Ars Tribunus Militum
2,818
Subscriptor
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.
Everyone thought it was a sure Hillary win in 2016.
Trump came within 60k votes of winning in 2020.
He's competing against democrats, the pre-eminent losers of winnable elections.
Dems will be running either someone new, or a not-particularly-charismatic 82-year-old who has been presiding over mostly bad news for 2 years so far.

Trump will hopefully be old news (or R's with ambition will beat him in primaries), but it could happen. Or you might get DeSantis, who is Trump but with the actual capabilities of running government.

"mostly bad news"? In the past two weeks of Biden's presidency:

- inflation going down
- job numbers going up
- death of Ayman al-Zawahri
- passage of inflation reduction act (deficit reduction, green tax credits, 15% min tax on corporations, cheap drugs for seniors)
- passage of CHIPs act (American IC factories)
- veteran's health bill

Historians are now saying that Biden is the most productive president in his first two years in office since Clinton and Reagan.

Yeah I've never gotten all the doom and gloom about Biden. He's only been president for a year and a half. The administration has handled the Ukraine situation as well as anyone could, IMO. His speech on guns after Uvalde was quite moving. Yeah the fed was a little slow on inflation but at the same time, inflation was an anticipated outcome of the pandemic stimulus started (rightly) under Trump. Now they are trying to land the plane on price stability, without causing a recession, while maintaining record workforce participation, and at the moment it seems to be working - it's a big ship to steer. Yeah, he's old. So what?

Of course a lot of anti-Biden sentiment is just coming from butthurt fascists, morons, and other deplorables (too soon?). ETA: You also hear it from some progressives who will gladly make the perfect the enemy of the good.
 
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Baumi

Ars Tribunus Militum
2,383
While the agreement was made - I really don't want Elon owning Twitter and The Donald getting his megaphone back in time for 2024. If he's elected again (or cheats to reverse another loss), its over for democracy in the U.S..

Trump will never get elected again. Even half of all R's polled don't want to run him now. His "campaign" is just another cynical grift.
According to some sources, his last campaign wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a cynical grift, either. Sometimes a scam can be more successful than its perpetrator imagines.
 
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28 (29 / -1)