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Hold up the crazy train, because Maxine Waters just climbed aboard. The California congresswoman has not lost sight of her fever dream of impeaching President Trump, and she thinks she’s found a new way to do it.
You see, to Maxine Waters, President Trump is dangerous, he doesn’t do what she wants him to do, and she’s already tried impeachment. In fact, she’s been sounding the drum on impeachment for YEARS. The following video is from April 2017, just months after Trump was inaugurated.
So when the entire “Ukraine phone call” theory of impeachment wasn’t enough, the Democrats refocused their energies on getting Joe Biden elected (although they’ve also been derailed by the coronavirus as well). Maxine Waters, though? She’s still carrying a torch for President Mike Pence. At least, that’s what one must assume with her comments to MSNBC this last weekend.
The California congresswoman cited President Trump’s take on the United States Postal Service and how he’s “undermining our democracy” to say Section 4 of the 25th Amendment would mean Congress could oust him from the White House.
“As a matter of fact, when you couple that with what he’s doing, undermining our democracy, tearing up our post office, I believe that it is time for Section 4 of Amendment 25 to be put in place and his cabinet should send to Nancy Pelosi, the speaker, as identified in the Constitution, that this man should be removed from office. Section 25 should be put in place,” she explained. He is dangerous. He is tearing up, again, this country, undermining our democracy. And I want to tell you something, I’m getting more complaints about what he’s doing to the post office than I have on any other issue in my district. He cannot have our post office. He cannot do this. we’ve got to stop him.”
“I’m not even supportive of just having a hearing. I want to have an injunction against the president based on all the actions that he has taken that is so obvious that it is political, that he is trying to destroy the post office because he believes that mail-in voting, absentee voting will defeat him and he will do anything. It was referred to by one of my friends as the scorched earth approach,” she said. “This president will do anything to try and stay in office. So I think we need to get right to the court with an injunction. I will be talking with the speaker about that today. He has demonstrated that he is undermining the democracy. It is in defiance of the Constitution and I want him to be stopped. I don’t think a hearing is enough. I think that we need to go directly to the courts and try to get an injunction against any more movements by him.”
Maxine Waters and her hot takes, I tell you. She wants an injunction to remove President Trump from office because he is undermining the post office – which is a massive conspiracy theory being pushed on Twitter by people who haven’t even mailed a letter in years. Even Barack Obama bought into the whole stupid conspiracy theory when he claimed that people would miss out on their Social Security checks without the USPS. There’s just one problem…
Dude, you should know that getting a check in the mail from Social Security literally does not exist anymore. That happened during your administration.
NO ONE gets a SS check in the mail. https://t.co/QAOr4KzSZS
— Andrea Caruso (@AndreaNRuth) August 16, 2020
Fact check: True, as of March 2013. Who was president then? The media seems to have been asleep at the wheel during that time.
Back to Maxine Waters and her Looney Tunes theory of Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. Here’s what it says:
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.”
On its face, Auntie Maxine has a problem with the opening line of Section 4. You know who gets to declare that the president is unable to discharge the powers of his office? That would be the VICE PRESIDENT and a “majority” of Cabinet officials. While Congress gets a role in agreeing or disagreeing with the assessment, and then confirming it by a two-thirds vote, the entire process as spelled out in law MUST be initiated by the executive branch. The legislative branch only gets one way to remove the president from office, and that’s impeachment. Been there, done that. Maxine Waters acknowledges this when she says that the cabinet needs to go to Nancy Pelosi. But then she leapfrogs right over that pesky little detail and demands a court injunction. Over the post office? Over mail-in voting? We’ve been over the fact that what is happening at USPS is nothing unusual, given the decrease in mail volume. People see one mailbox being hauled away on Twitter and lose their ever-loving minds.
Maxine Waters is within her rights to go for a court injuction against the USPS or whatever if she feels like she has a case against *checks notes* replacing or locking down mail boxes against theft. But invoking the 25th Amendment? Especially when the Democrats are championing Joe Biden as their shining example of mental stability? Wow.
Maxine Waters must love Mike Pence an awful lot to achieve this level of dumb in an effort to make him president.
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When Maxine is no longer with us, the IQ gap will narrow significantly.
Hold up the crazy train, because Maxine Waters just climbed aboard.
Oh, Deanna, she’s the ENGINEER!
Section 25 should be put in place,
More like Section 8. Even Cpl. Klinger would be impressed by this woman.
I’m getting more complaints about what he’s doing to the post office than I have on any other issue in my district.
Which conclusively shows why they keep electing you to represent them….
mail-in voting, absentee voting
Not the same thi…. Oh, why do I waste my breath fingers?
This president will do anything to try and stay in office.
Projection, thy name is Maxine.
Obama bought into
No, as dumb as he might be, he knows he’s telling a lie there.
We’ve been over the fact that what is happening at USPS is nothing unusual
But, why on earth do you think that would matter in a court of law in our present age? It goes against the progressive Arc Of History, so it must be stopped. Heck, they’re stopping stopping things that were illegal/unconsitutional – because you can only ratchet gov’t power in one direction.
replacing or locking down mail boxes
Don’t forget the sorting machines! They’re also replacing or eliminating sorting machines!
Here’s what is happening internally. All mail processing is done just like UPS and FEDEX. Mail and packages picked up that day are processed that evening to be sent to the delivery destination. The AM shift processes the incoming mail and packages. The difference is UPS and FEDEX control their product from pick up to delivery. USPS is forced to rely on airlines to move theirs, thank lobbyists. If an airline is running late then whatever that aircraft was carrying is late getting to the mail processing facility. What used to happen was all processing would be delayed based on the ETA of that arrival thus delaying an already tight schedule with only minutes as a margin. So what this new PM is doing is setting absolute deadlines for when the truck bringing the mail for a post office will leave the mail processing plant regardless of what is ready. This puts the carrier on the street at the same time each day thus eliminating overtime. What ends up happening at the plant is the unworked mail that will be processed during the day and delivered to the delivery post office in the evening. The carrier will come in the next morning sort it along with the next day’s mail. The main problem is control. Being held hostage to the airlines schedule makes for an unsteady stream of mail. Not all the time but more often that should be acceptable As an aside, I would not be surprised to learn that union reps are forcing their members to do all that they can to delay mail. I’ve seen it in the past so this is not an idle statement.
USPS is forced to rely on airlines to move theirs, thank lobbyists.
You think these people should be allowed to run airplanes? When they can’t deliver a letter across town in less than 2 days? I really don’t want them wasting even more money on boondoggles.
This puts the carrier on the street at the same time each day thus eliminating overtime.
You mean like in the old days? When I knew my mail would be picked up between 11:30 and noon each day?
The post office is stuck between a Constitutional mandate and a lack of mail and a huge population.
(BTW, I generally concur with you. Except on “their own planes”. That’s just… no.)
The post office used to have their own planes (I don’t know if they still do), but FedEx could move the mail cheaper, so they made a deal with them.
There is no constitutional mandate for a post office. Congress MAY appropriate funds for a post office and post roads, but is NOT required to. They have CHOSEN to do so, but they can choose otherwise whenever they like, and not be in violation of the Constitution.
Disagree GWB. USPS serves too many masters. Congress, Postal Board of Governors, Postal Rate Commission and the forgotten and ignored, by those three, the public. Started work there sorting mail in 1979 and retired as a Postmaster. At every level I worked from mail processing to customer services, window sales and delivery, there was a dedicated workforce. What we all wanted was for continuity in management not arbitrary or conflicting decisions coming from Washington. Boondoggle? Thank those faceless bureaucrats not the people that actually do the daily task of serving the public.
I do declare: Maxine Waters has stolen Nancy Pelosi’s false teeth! Next she’ll be after AOC’s brain and intellect.
She already grabbed AOC’s brain and intellect. It’s just that they were so small, nobody can tell.
How does mail move in the US? When I lived in Alaska most mail traveled on airplanes – there were no roads to most locations. In the continental US, when I drive on freeways I see a lot of semi-trucks pulling trailers marked as US Postal Service contract carriers – so, compared to Alaska not zero airplanes but more trucks.
How does this work? Every day there is a lot of mail sent from New York City to Los Angeles. I suppose that it gets collected together and put on a truck. Is only LA mail on that truck? Does the truck wait until it is full or does it leave with a partial load? Does the truck drive straight to LA or does it drop off bags destined for Trenton, Philly, Pittsburgh, Columbus, and so forth? How does this work?
The mail trucks are generally moving between specific distribution centers. USPS is networked – things moving from a mailbox to a post office to a distribution center to another distribution center to another post office to the destination mailbox. Mail that is Priority or First Class (I think) or other “fast” classes can go by air from near a distribution center to near another distribution center. (The truck you see may also be going between the airport and the distribution center.)
Maxine reminds me of a prostitute probably because she is one albeit a political one.
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