"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

-Presidential Oath of Office

"I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter."

-Oath of office for pretty much everyone else.

Notice that, for all of them, their oath is to support and defend the constitution. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

I think this is a bigger deal than most realize.

"Now, that's not a defense for the spineless and silent leaders in the GOP, who should condemn the suggestion as absurd and move on."

Trump has routinely spouted off meaningless nonsense that has no constitutional grounding. Like ignoring the results of the Arizona governor's race election results and crowning Kari Lake as governor.

The thing is, Trump can't be that stupid.

I've said it before, but Trump is a New York Socialite reality TV star.

He still thinks he is on "The Apprentice."

"They are making a huge mistake. Spineless bastards."

Waiting for Jim Matthis to come out and call them all a bunch of ------- -------.

"You'll vote for them anyway."

It's just a shame there is not a more reasonable alternative.

"Over 100 Republicans in Congress voted not to certify the election."

That was unconstitutional?

#15

If you don't take an oath to support/defend the constitution, you can't reasonably be expected to do so.

And if supporting unconstitutional positions was a crime, then the prisons would be littered with millions of political detainees. Many of them on the left. In fact until very recently, almost exclusively on the left.

"But they did. Every government worker takes the Oath of Office."

Do schoolteachers?

How about garbage men?

The town Sherriff.

Maybe they do...I don't know.

"How many on the left attempted a fascist coup to end democracy? Until that happens you look ridiculous trying to pretend the problem is both sides."

Are you familiar with the Weather Underground? They were a far-left group that were basically the MAGAs of their day. In 1968, they initiated a campaign that they thought would lead to a socialist revolution and the overthrow of the US government. They failed because most people wanted no part of socialism.

Of course, that movement's leaders went on to be professors and such. Who knows, maybe the same will happen with Stuart Rhodes.

So yes, SS, it is a problem with both sides. It's a problem I very likely see manifested in you.

"From what Ive see in the local NYC media, fmr Pres trump was not really liked by the NYC socialites."

Having zero experience with socialite culture, I can't say what would make one likeable or not.

I'm a pretty hardcore outdoor guy. Whether you liked them or not, both Bush and Obama were both somewhat athletic. Bush was an avid runner. Obama like basketball.

Trump plays golf. And that's all he does. Golf is like bowling or pool (not swimming-that's respectable, but rather playing with balls). It's a game, not a sport. Athletic ability not required.

"Got anything since after The Beatles broke up?"

Portland?

I'm guessing the rioters flying the Russian flag while rioting did not (and would not) take an oath.

"Doesn't sound like they swore the Oath of Office..."

I mean, Professor (Bill) Ayers has stated that he did not regret setting bombs, wished he had done more, and would not discount the possibility that he would do it again.

#34

He seems very trashy.

Like the people who win the lottery and want to look like they are rich. Even when actual rich people look (or act) nothing like them.

The richest friend I ever had wore Carhartt and Wrangler more than anything. Although he was more of a John Dutton (literally) than a Donald Trump.

He did like Trump though.

"Oh so your BOTH SIDES comparison requires you to compare a nationwide fascist uprising that took over nearly the entire republican party and resulted in a fascist coup attempt to end democracy, with a few far left college professors who had no political power and never attempted a fascist coup?"

Heh.

You don't even know who the Weather Underground were, do you?

"You realize how pathetic that makes you look right and how it only proves our point that it's your side that has gone insane in a way the opposition has not."

No.

"Your" side is still ------- crazy.

But "your" side is mostly just you.

"Republicans have been silently dismantling the constitution for decades."

Really?

How so?

I know what they weren't - a fascist uprising that took over the democrat party and resulted in a fascist coup attempt.

No. They were part of a socialist uprising to overthrow the US government in a socialist coup.

Kinda sounds like your sorta thing.

"You don't feel the same way about all the bombing you've done?"

No.

But I probably would feel bad if I had been bombing my own country, as Bill Ayers was. Trying to overthrow the US government in an effort to install a Soviet puppet government.

At least I hope I would feel bad.

Jeez, I would hope that even you, as something of a supporter of that ---- would feel bad.

"Are you TRYING to look silly?"

If the 1/6 rioters and the Portland rioters ------ and had an ugly baby, that baby would be the weather underground.

"Wow. That takes whataboutism to a new level."

Your deflection is super adorable.

Boop!

"When you have to go back to something that stopped existing circa 1977, you know your argument is just throwing poop against the wall to see what sticks."

Do you think that Stuart Rhodes should go to prison? Or not?

"They bombed their own country, and people think they're heroes."

No. They broke away, formed their own country, and then bombed those who fought against them. And lost

And if we're being honest brokers, why weren't more of them given professorships? Even after they lost?

I suppose that was a trend that still needed time to maturate. Which it did a little over a century later.

"You weren't alive during the Weather Underground, were you?"

Hell no. Gross.

"Those of us who were, thought they had all the cumulative effect of a cap gun."

So...pretty much like the 1/6ers

Thank you for making my point.

"Sounds like those are prison worthy offenses."

Do you think he should have just stuck to setting bombs at Army bases?

"So the republican fascist coup attempt that actually happened is no worse than an imaginary socialist coup that never happened?"

Isn't failed coup attempt just another way to say coup that never happened?

I think it's cute how you all have your panties in a wad over comparisons between the far right and the far left? You need to look up horseshoe theory.

"Back in the late 60's, the Weather Underground was something that was reckoned with."

During their period of activity, they are credited with having set 25 bombs, including the U.S. Capitol (no ----!), the Pentagon, the California Attorney General's office, and a New York City police station.

"A pair of relatively impotent protest groups ... neither of which had 100+ members of Congress on their side."

25 terrorist bombings is "impotence" for you?

"I simply can't srabd posters who make statements like that when they know there is no trutg in them."

"On January 29, 1975, an explosion rocked the headquarters of the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C.

No one was hurt, but the damage was extensive, impacting 20 offices on three separate floors. Hours later, another bomb was found at a military induction center in Oakland, California, and safely detonated.

A domestic terrorist group called the Weather Underground claimed responsibility for both bombs. Originally called the Weatherman or the Weathermen, a name taken from a line in a Bob Dylan song, the Weather Underground was a small, violent offshoot of Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS, a group created in the turbulent 60s to promote social change.

When SDS collapsed in 1969, the Weather Underground stepped forward, inspired by communist ideologies and embracing violence and crime as a way to protest the Vietnam War, racism, and other left-wing aims. "Our intention is to disrupt the empire ... to incapacitate it, to put pressure on the cracks," claimed the group's 1974 manifesto, Prairie Fire."

"Well, except for the size on J6. And the 100+ members of Congress who were simpatico."

You think this is somehow worse than terrorists setting off bombs?

Let's do this. Which ones committed crimes?

"Their ideas went nowhere, and they never got a lick of public support. Philosophical and popular failures."

It didn't matter if their ideas were embraced by millions. The fact is that they adhered to a set of beliefs that would inevitably come into conflict with the US constitution, which would make them enemies of the state and subject to the full might of the US government.

So long as the United States existed, whatever form of government they thought they wanted would not exist. Exactly the same as 1/6ers.