Who's next?

Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
edited April 4 in Purgatory
I remember starting a similar thread in Trump's first term at about the same time, just when the mid terms were coming up. Trump realizes his winning team is losing, and he makes changes.

This time around he first cans Kristi Noem--look at the mess she has gotten herself in.

Then he cans Pam Bondi--Epstein files and her lack of progress in going after his perceived enemies.

Whose next?

Will it be Tulsi Gabbard

or

Kash Patel?

My money is on Pete Hegseth because the war is not going so well.

The dream team is falling apart. It has become a nightmare.

Who is next.

Comments

  • Why not pull the 25th Amendment on him and do the job properly? Does anyone believe he is still capable of functioning as president?
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    Why not pull the 25th Amendment on him and do the job properly? Does anyone believe he is still capable of functioning as president?

    That still may happen, though I do not think it will happen until after the mid terms.

    Under the 25th even if the cabinet declares the president incapacitated, he can still appeal to the congress to reinstate him. After the new congress is seated, assuming the majority are Democrats in both houses, he could not hope to be reinstated.

    Thus, he has to pad the cabinet with as many of his loyalists as he can.

    But it would be sweet if they boot him.

  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    Under the 25th even if the cabinet declares the president incapacitated, he can still appeal to the congress to reinstate him. After the new congress is seated, assuming the majority are Democrats in both houses, he could not hope to be reinstated.
    He could definitely hope to.

    He doesn’t appeal to Congress to reinstate him exactly. If he submits a written declaration to Congress that he is under no disability from executing the duties of his office, then he is automatically reinstated unless the vice-president and a majority of the cabinet, within four days, submit their own written declaration that he is unable to execute the duties of his office. If that happens, and if Congress does not vote by 2/3 majorities in both Houses that he is unable to execute the duties of his office, he would automatically be reinstated to office.

    So it’s not enough for Democrats to have majorities in each chamber. (And I can see reasons related to the 2028 elections why some Democrats would be leery of voting for removal.)

    Of course, I think it’s theoretical to start with. I simply can’t imagine Trump’s cabinet acting to remove him, especially knowing that Congress would be very unlikely to back them up.


  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    edited April 4
    Karoline Leavitt might be next. Trump told her she is doing a terrible job. He thinks she is the reason why he is having bad publicity. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/04/donald-trump-tells-karoline-leavitt-shes-doing-a-terrible-job.html
  • Should we be tempted read anything into the fact that the women who are being fired habitually wear crosses on their necklaces?
  • Barnabas62Barnabas62 Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Hegseth is the fall guy for a bad outcome of the Iran conflict.

    Leavitt is the fall person for unpopularity in the media and polls.

    I’m not sure who else might fall first. But it looks like one of them.

    Personally, I hope it’s Hegseth. Both dreadful and incompetent.

  • Jane RJane R Shipmate
    It's only worth hoping for if you believe that the supply of dreadful incompetent thugs will eventually give out.
  • Barnabas62Barnabas62 Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    A matter of degree?
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    For what it is worth I think he will try and get a new Vice President. The VP seems to have his eyes on the top job
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    I think he will throw Hegseth under a bus, and then try to use him as a scapegoat as to why the Iranian situation is not his mess and he should be able to walk away from the bloody mess he has created.
  • EnochEnoch Shipmate
    Hugal wrote: »
    For what it is worth I think he will try and get a new Vice President. The VP seems to have his eyes on the top job
    Can he do that? Unlike the all the rest of his rabble, hasn't the Vice President been elected by the will of the sovereign people who hold these truths to be self-evident etc. etc. etc. ?

    I don't know that much about the US's constitution, but is there any way the boss can get rid of a Vice President he doesn't like, other than by death or impeachment - though I suppose the first of these can always be arranged.


  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Should we be tempted read anything into the fact that the women who are being fired habitually wear crosses on their necklaces?

    No, simply because it would be unusual for their male counterparts to wear jewellery even if it's religious jewellery - it's not because they're more religious.
  • I've had my money on Vance ousting Trump at some point, either by a 'big reveal' connected to the Epstein Files or whatever Putin 'has' on him but things seem to be more complicated than that.

    I suppose it could still happen.
  • I can't see why Vance would bother trying to oust Trump. As things stand, he is a shoo-in for the Republican nomination. If Trump can get his way at stealing elections by reducing voting, that's just going to benefit Vance even more. If Trump crashes, Vance can wash his hands and say "it was nothing to do with me".

    I can see few benefits for Vance in trying to oust Trump and a lot of potential downsides - especially if he failed.

    Vance has got where he is by not having any discernible views and by watching which way the wind is blowing and following that. This is why he flipped from being very critical of Trump to being a devoted follower. He (and his wealthy backers) are simply interested in power and money.
  • Sure, that makes sense @Rufus T Firefly but several American Democrats I met last summer and during the autumn were speculating that Vance was biding his time to stage a take-over.

    I'd certainly agree he's got an eye on the main chance and lacks scruples and principles.

    But yes, he could crash and burn if he tried anything on. He'd be wiser to sit tight and wait for the ball to come to him.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    But how exactly would Vance oust Trump? He has no power to decide that. He also doesn't have the cult of personality that Trump does.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited April 7
    Pomona wrote: »
    But how exactly would Vance oust Trump? He has no power to decide that.
    The Twentyfifth Amendment is the only vehicle available to Vance, and that would require a bunch of other people to go along, which I don’t see happening.

    He also doesn't have the cult of personality that Trump does.
    Which is why I’m not at all convinced that Vance is a shoo-in for the Republican nomination for POTUS in 2028. He may be the most obvious successor, but I expect a number of others will challenge him, and I wouldn’t predict at this point how it’ll end up.


  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Agreed, while at this stage who knows who will be still around by 2028 Vance doesn't seem to be popular. It also occurred to me that his Catholicism (albeit the kind that results in the Pope hating you enough to die after meeting you) would work against him - a Democrat can get away with being a Catholic, a Republican absolutely could not. I think a lot of people forget how virulent anti-Catholicism still is in much of the South.
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    To the question if Trump can fire Vance, not directly. There is the case of Nixon and Spiro Agnew. Agnew resigned due to a criminal investigation of him.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Pomona wrote: »
    I think a lot of people forget how virulent anti-Catholicism still is in much of the South.
    Huh? As an American Southerner who’s pretty clued in to religion in the South and to politics, I don’t really see that. Pockets here and there, maybe, but not “virulent” in “much of the South.l

    Gramps49 wrote: »
    To the question if Trump can fire Vance, not directly. There is the case of Nixon and Spiro Agnew. Agnew resigned due to a criminal investigation of him.
    Right. The only option Trump and others, like Congressional leaders, might have is in pressuring Vance to resign. Absent resignation, the only way to remove Vance from office is impeachment by the House and conviction in the Senate.


  • WandererWanderer Shipmate
    Might Vance and some Republicans wait for Trump's popularity to sink even lower, then invoke the 25th Amendment and hope to ride whatever wave of popularity/relief it produces into power??
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    @Nick Tamen basing my comments on those of Southern US Catholics I know and what they've experienced. But certainly I don't think it would help.
  • HugalHugal Shipmate
    Enoch wrote: »
    Hugal wrote: »
    For what it is worth I think he will try and get a new Vice President. The VP seems to have his eyes on the top job
    Can he do that? Unlike the all the rest of his rabble, hasn't the Vice President been elected by the will of the sovereign people who hold these truths to be self-evident etc. etc. etc. ?

    I don't know that much about the US's constitution, but is there any way the boss can get rid of a Vice President he doesn't like, other than by death or impeachment - though I suppose the first of these can always be arranged.


    Donald has not exactly done things the way he should so far. As others have said he could find a way. Trump doesn’t seem to value loyalty as much as we thought (Pam Bondi) and Vance does have his eye on the top job as has been mentioned.
  • Robertus LRobertus L Shipmate
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    To the question if Trump can fire Vance, not directly. There is the case of Nixon and Spiro Agnew. Agnew resigned due to a criminal investigation of him.

    Does the 25th Amendment not apply to the Vice President? It would seem something of an oversight if it doesn't.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Pomona wrote: »
    @Nick Tamen basing my comments on those of Southern US Catholics I know and what they've experienced. But certainly I don't think it would help.
    While I’m not questioning the experiences of people you know, perhaps anecdata isn’t helpfully extrapolated to “a lot of people forget how virulent anti-Catholicism still is in much of the South.”
    Wanderer wrote: »
    Might Vance and some Republicans wait for Trump's popularity to sink even lower, then invoke the 25th Amendment and hope to ride whatever wave of popularity/relief it produces into power??
    As has been explained in this thread, unless it’s very clear to pretty much everyone that the president is actually disabled and unable to carry out his duties, the Twenty-fifth Amendment simply isn’t that going to be easy to invoke and carry-out. Trump will fight it, and there won’t be the votes in Congress to uphold the removal.

    Robertus L wrote: »
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    To the question if Trump can fire Vance, not directly. There is the case of Nixon and Spiro Agnew. Agnew resigned due to a criminal investigation of him.

    Does the 25th Amendment not apply to the Vice President? It would seem something of an oversight if it doesn't.
    No, it doesn’t, except to the extent it says the VP becomes POTUS if the POTUS is removed from office, and provides the method for selecting a new VP.


  • Pomona wrote: »
    But how exactly would Vance oust Trump? He has no power to decide that. He also doesn't have the cult of personality that Trump does.

    I'm not saying he would or could but several Americans I met last year in different contexts felt he would if he could and might engineer a situation where Trump folds and he emerges as heir apparent and even worse because he's smarter than Trump.

    I'm just relaying what they said.

    I'm no expert on US politics but must admit it doesn't seem likely to me now either but they must have had grounds for that assumption the time.

    Some of them were Episcopalian clergy so they must have been right... 😉
  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    Bye, Bye, So Long, Farewell to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. She had reportedly been under the scrutiny of the Labor Department for creating a hostile work environment, and her husband had been barred from the office because he was accused of inappropriately touching two female staff members. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lori-chavez-deremer-leaving-trump-administration/

    My bet is Kash Patel will be next. He has been accused of drinking on the job. While he denies it, every so often videos like this will show up showing him partying hard.
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