Impeachment May Not Be the Fix You Think It Is
Why we need to think twice about Vance as an alternative
I’ve increasingly seen the cries on social media for the impeachment. I will not join that rallying call, at least for now, but not for the reason you might think.
The most common objection I’ve seen is that he’s already been impeached twice, why should we do it again? I do agree with that sentiment, especially if the challenge is done haphazardly. Another impeachment without conviction would only embolden Orange Man even further (hard to imagine, but never underestimate a legit psychopath).
But the failed past attempts are not why I don’t recommend a push toward impeachment, at least for now. What was missing from the last two impeachments was the second step - conviction - which requires 2/3rd of a majority of the Senate. Any moves toward impeachment absolutely must be only after both houses have secured enough votes to proceed.
That should mean waiting until the next election when both houses have a good chance of flipping. But seeing we’re in a real-life constitutional crisis, norms are off the table. Trump increases the chance of his party members turning against him with every bit of damage he creates to red states.
But here’s the kicker - assuming we follow the Constitution, if Trump is by some miracle impeached, we’re stuck with this guy:
Anyone is better than Trump, you say? I’m not so sure. What if we’re stuck with someone with an even worse agenda, more radical ideas, and more big-money support - and the competence to carry out his agenda?
If you’re skeptical that Vance could do worse by us than Trump, let’s take a look at Vance’s most recent tell, on the topic of whether the courts can tell Trump what do to:
“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal,” Vance wrote. “If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
In simple speak: Vance believes the president has ultimate power and can’t be stopped by anyone, including the courts. Vance is wrong, btw. The courts can totally do those things.
Trump, for his part, vowed he would follow judicial decisions in a press conference alongside Musk on Tuesday, telling reporters, “I always abide by the courts and then I’ll have to appeal it . . . the answer is I always abide by the courts”
I don’t recommend ever taking Trump at his word, but his past actions do reinforce that stance. He has world-class appeal abilities but does seem to have respect for the courts. The same can’t be said of Vance.
Vance has a history of authoritarian thinking
Vance’s anti-courts statement is in line with what he said on a podcast in 2021, before he was associated with Trump: “fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, [and] every civil servant in the administrative state … and when the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say: ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’
Curtis Yarvin, a software developer and blogger who writes under the pseudonym “Mencius Moldbug" about his neo-reactionary political philosophy. He critiques liberal democracy, advocating for its replacement with autocratic governance, and has proposed the concept of an "American Caesar" to dismantle existing political structures.
Yarvin's ideas have significantly influenced Vance, who has expressed admiration for Yarvin's perspectives, particularly regarding the restructuring of the federal bureaucracy. This influence is evident in Vance's advocacy for remaking federal bureaucracy, echoing Yarvin's proposal to replace midlevel bureaucrats with loyalists.
Vance’s big tech connections
Besides his extreme views on the dictatorial role of the president, Vance's connections to wealthy tech giants should not be ignored.
Thiel, co-founder of Paypal, and an early investor in Facebook, is known as a tech powerhouse with deep big data and government ties. He is also known as a kingmaker, funding and mentoring extreme right-wing candidates. He has expressed skepticism about democracy, once writing that he believes “freedom and democracy are no longer compatible.”
After the publication in 2016 of his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance impressed Thiel’s rarefied Silicon Valley set with what they saw as an omnivorous intellect, mild manner and outsider story of growing up working-class in Ohio — a narrative that resonated after the 2016 election, as tech elites sought to understand how their obsession with building the future was leaving so many Americans behind.
Those familiar with Theil have said they consider Vance to be a “generational bet”. The link between Big Tech and the working class."
The push to get Vance in the Whitehouse
It’s well-known that it was the princes-in-waiting Eric and Don Jr. that pushed Trump into selecting Vance. Why did they care so much? Maybe because they saw what Trump didn’t.
In the weeks before former president Donald Trump announced his vice-presidential pick, some of tech’s biggest names launched a quiet campaign to push for one of their own: Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
Several media and industry figures are said to have lobbied for Vance to be on the presidential ticket, including Elon Musk, David O. Sacks, Tucker Carlson, and Peter Thiel, who first introduced Trump to Vance in 2021.
The Heritage Foundation, which drafted Project 2025, privately advocated for Vance to be Trump's vice-presidential pick.
David Sacks, a prominent GOP donor and Silicon Valley venture capitalist, gave a super PAC supporting Vance's Senate campaign $900,000
Peter Thiel added $15 million.
Musk posted on social media shortly after the VP announcement, saying the ticket "resounds with victory".
The evidence points to one thing. Beavis and Butthead Trump were paying attention when Trump wasn’t so they pushed their useful-idiot father in the “right” direction. Vance was the tech billionaire’s choice du jour. Primed to carry out their agenda. Trump 2.0: younger, smoother, and with a brain.
If there’s anything more dangerous than a useful idiot for a president it’s a radicalized president who knows what he’s doing.
We as a nation must proceed with caution.
Note to the reader: This was not the story I started writing. By the time I was done, thanks to the current firehose of news, it had split into three different stories. Subscribe to see the other two coming soon - what happens if Trump defies the courts and can democracy survive this administration?
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At this point in time, I am skeptical about Democracy surviving this Constant assault.
The mainstream media has been cowed, and there isn't millions of people getting the Truth.