Has Donald Trump Already been Removed as Commander in Chief? by Dave LIndorff
(2021-01-10 at 02:27:35 )

Has Donald Trump Already been Removed as Commander in Chief? by Dave LIndorff

Members of Congress and staff cower as Trump Brownshirts invate the Capitol building, incited by the president (Wall Street Journal video screen shot)

Pence calling the shots when it comes to the Pentagon:

Little noticed during yesterdays bizarre storming of the Capitol building by armed and violent Donald Trump-incited American "brownshirts," was the fact that National Guard troops, called for by Washington,D.C.s mayor, but not authorized by President Trump, were finally authorized by Vice President Pence.

The significance of this chain of authority cannot be understated, as the Donald Trump presidency begins its death spiral down the toilet drain.

The control of the United States military is one of the, if not the greatest power of a United States president, who is simultaneously designated as the commander in chief of the US military in the US Constitution. The Vice President under the Constitution, only has two jobs: Taking over the role of president if the actual president is permanently or temporarily unable to perform that job and serving as president of the Senate. (The significance of that latter function, normally ceremonial, will soon become far better understood as Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, currently a senator from California, becomes Vice President Harris and starts providing the 51st Democratic vote in the Senate, enabling Democrats to control of that legislative body.)

While arguably, President Trump has been progressively losing his marbles as his presidency crumbles, most recently engaging in thug-like abuse of power trying to pressure a Georgia secretary of state to help steal the election from American voters in that state, and inciting what some are calling an act of treasonous insurrection in the halls of Congress, no legal or political action has been taken to try and oust him from office. There are now calls from Democratic and Republican legislators as well as in the media and by many major leaders of United States businesses including the Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the 14,000-company National Association of Manufacturers, for Mr. Pence and the White House cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment allowing for removal of the president, an impeachment resolution is being drawn up by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), but to date no actual action has been taken on either of these measures. Legally then, President Donald Trump, sane or mad, seditious and criminal or not, remains the President of the United States until his term of office ends at noon on Jan. 20 when President-Elect Joe Biden takes the oath of office.

This means that legally and constitutionally Vice President Pence remains simply vice president, with no authority to order United States troops to do anything, no ability to sign executive orders, no authority to sign Congressional bills into law. Nothing.

And yet, in a situation where the Capitol Police force and Washington DCs police force were overwhelmed by a mob that stormed the Capitol building, with Congress members of both houses having to be evacuate to the basement while some members and their staffs were left cowering behind seats in the halls of their respective chambers as outnumbered police hunkered down with weapons drawn hoping to prevent mayhem, Mr. Pence had to act.

While President Donald Trump was still praising the actions of the mob he had incited to march from the Ellipse to the halls of Congress to defend his fictional "landslide victory" in the November 3 presidential election, and was still blowing off the request for National Guard activation from the citys mayor, Mr. Pence phoned the Pentagon calling for that activation.

Normally, it is the governor of a state who has the authority to order that states National Guard - all part-time soldiers - into action in an emergency, whether civil unrest or natural disaster. But as Washington, DC is not a state, but rather a municipality under federal authority, and thus has no governor, its small National Guard unit has to be activated by the Pentagon on presidential authority.

President Donald Trump, who made no secret of his penchant and fondness for National Guard troops to play an active role in putting down Black Lives Matter protests around the country over the past year, and also during his controversial photo-op outside the White House last spring when he ordered the violent busting up of peaceful protestors in and around Lafayette Park outside of the White House, in this historically unprecedented mob assault on the Capitol building by thousands of thugs invited to the Capital by Donald Trump himself, he did nothing.

What is the significance of Mr. Pences action?

Well, I would argue that it, together with the Pentagon military brass willingness to follow that order and approve activation of the District of Columbia Guard unit without obtaining President Donald Trumps approval, effectively means that President Donald Trump is no longer the countrys commander in chief. His authority has been shifted by default, to Mr. Pence.

This is important.
Dave LIndorff explains significance of Pences authorization of DC National Guard activation to guard the Capitol building in RT-International TV interview (click image to play)

At this point, with just two weeks to go in the Donald Trump presidency, the only two things that the president could theoretically still do that would have serious and lasting consequences, are: 1) pardoning criminals who should be indicted or have been sentenced for crimes (think himself, his confessed perjurer and initial National Security Director pick Gen. Michael Flynn, his dotty attorney Rudy Giuliani, his lickspittle attorney general Bill Barr, his complicit advisors and cabinet members, and others who have enabled and covered up his constitutional and statutory crimes while in office or turn states witness against him in future indictments), and 2) launching a war.

There is not much that can be done to stop further pardons by the president short of his quick removal from office, since presidential pardon power is specifically enshrined in the United States Constitution. But by already acceding to Mr. Pences order, the top ranks of the military have made it clear that in their view, he and not President Trump, is now the person to listen to when it comes to orders involving military action.

If President Trump, who reportedly in mid-November after losing the election, was pushing for military action against Iran, only to be dissuaded by military and civilian leaders unwilling to see a war started only weeks before the transition to a new president and commander-in-chief, were to order an attack now, either against Iran or perhaps somewhere along Chinas coast, in order to create an international crisis, it seems clear that the military at this point would turn either to Mr. Pence or to the now confirmed President-Elect Joe Biden, neither of whom would permit such an action.

The game, in other words, is over for Donald Trump.

He may still officially be the president, but he is no longer the nations de facto commander in chief.

His recent and any future executive orders will be ignored or in any case will be quickly reversed either later in the day on Jan. 20 or on Jan. 21 by the next president.

What happens after that remains to be seen. President Joe Biden, no radical progressive by any stretch of the imagination, will have the narrowest possible margin of political control of the United States Senate, and given the conservative bent of several members of the Democratic caucus, notably Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia), may need the support of less conservative Republican senators to get the needed 51 votes to pass some legislation or to win confirmation of federal judges. Similarly in the House, where Democrats begin the new Congressional session with a shrunken 11-seat majority, passing significant legislation like a major economic stimulus bills, changes in the tax laws, shoring up Social Security, etc., will be a challenge.

But at least we can rest easy knowing that after the fiasco of Donald Trumps brownshirt invasion of Congress and his ham-handed mob-boss-like attempt a few days earlier to pressure Georgias secretary of state to "find 11,780 votes" needed to reverse Joe Bidens winning of that state’s 16 electors, will not be repeated.

Donald Trump is history. Ugly history to be sure, but history.

In a final irony, the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro offered its "sympathy" for the assault on Congress and for the chaos the United States is enduring as the Donald Trump administration waits for the final flush, but noted that "With this unfortunate episode, the United States is suffering the same thing that it has generated in other countries with its polities of aggression."

"This relevant article and its links are here:"

Reprinted here with the permission of "This Can Not Be Happening" The only news organization in the United States to be labeled a threat by the Department of Homeland Security!!