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Maine’s top election official could face an impeachment attempt in the state Legislature over her decision to keep former President Donald Trump off the Republican primary ballot.

At least one Republican lawmaker has vowed to pursue impeachment against Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows despite long odds in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Bellows said Friday that she had no comment on the impeachment effort, but said she was duty-bound by state law to make a determination on three challenges brought by registered Maine voters. She reiterated that she suspended her decision pending an anticipated appeal by Trump in Superior Court.

“Under Maine law, I have not only the authority but the obligation to act,” she said. “I will follow the Constitution and the rule of law as directed by the courts,” she added.

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[-] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 85 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I feel like we are living in a simulation. We have to be bcz nobody is this insane to think that Trump didn't break the law, and clearly based on the constitution is ineligible to be president again.. the republican party has gone bat shit crazy in the last 10 years, and it's bonkers that they have any support at all, and somehow 30-35% of the country supports this bullshit??

[-] Shyfer@ttrpg.network 53 points 1 year ago

Republicans are insane right now. They're going full fascist. I don't know what else you call it when they so blatantly ignore the rule of law to disrupt the peaceful transition of power to stay in power.

[-] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

The attempted coup was standard run-of-the-mill authoritarianism. There are dozens of other examples for why they are irrefutably fascist.

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Yeah, but the reaction to being called fascist is that conservatives on lemmy, reddit, etc will always claim their accuser has no idea what fascism is... So ridiculous

[-] Shyfer@ttrpg.network 3 points 1 year ago

Lol true, I should've said authoritarian or tyrannical.

[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 year ago

Yeah, the last time this scenario played out, people put up with a lot of bullshit and terror before people got organized to try to stop it ...... that led to a world war where millions died.

The best time to stop this madness is now because if you don't, it takes far more force and even violence as time moves on.

I'm not exaggerating ... I'm being serious because I don't want to live in a timeline that our ancestors fought and died to avoid.

[-] metaStatic@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago

The left has a serious problem with direct action.

Meanwhile the core tenet of fascism is "By any means necessary"

[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

The absolute stupid part of all this is .... this is happening while we are destroying our environment which will lead to our demise or eventual destruction.

The train we're on is on fire and on its way to the end the track that's going to fly us off a cliff .... and we're arguing about who's going to drive the train and where we're going to sit.

[-] MagicShel@programming.dev -2 points 1 year ago

Direct action required dehumanizing your opponent, which is largely something those on the left are against but those on the right do constantly. It's at best a small surprise that there isn't more stochastic violence from the left.

[-] billiam0202@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

They know he broke the law- they just don't think he should be held accountable for it.

"I would pardon Trump if he is found guilty (...) What’s in the best interest of the country is not to have an 80-year-old man sitting in jail that continues to divide our country." -Nikki "why wouldn't the party of racist sexist bigots elect a nonwhite woman for President?" Haley.

[-] shikitohno@kbin.social 74 points 1 year ago

I don't get how Republicans have any credibility amongst the electorate at this point. They demand blind obedience, or else cry foul, and somehow, a significant part of the population still supports this bullshit. Their eyes must be painted on, or else they're willfully ignorant.

[-] Aleric@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago

They don't care about credibility, rule of law, consistency, or even hypocrisy. They want their team to win at all costs and are stupid enough to not see the consequences of their actions.

[-] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago

There are plenty of stupid, ignorant people who still to this day say both parties are the same simply because they're too stupid and ignorant to tell them apart.

[-] BluesF@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

People are just stupid, man. Or, more truthfully... People are poorly educated. By design. The situation here in the UK is similar, large portions of the electorate have no clue what is going on and either don't vote or vote against their own interests. And the people they vote for continue to erode the education systems that might break the cycle... Because of course they would! They don't benefit from an educated, informed populace. They benefit from sheep who will blindly follow the Trumps and Johnsons and Farages into whatever policy makes the ruling classes the most money.

[-] people_are_cute@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 year ago

I think it's not that the significant amount of the population supports them, it's rather that they detest the left and would side with anyone except the Dems.

[-] jose1324@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Dems aren't even left man. This is depressing

[-] Infinity187@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

The problem is how to excise this ignorance out of our culture? We are stuck with this trash for at least my lifetime, and I'm 40. I can't see this country overhauling education, cracking down on racism/xenophobia and unfucking the gerrymandering that has been perpetrated by the trashy right for 20yrs before I die.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

Huh, not surprising. She is apparently getting death threats from the party of "law and order", too.

[-] init@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

party of "law" and "order"

Party of "their law" and "their order"

[-] Pratai@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago

Conservatism needs to be made illegal.

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Bellows said Friday that she had no comment on the impeachment effort, but said she was duty-bound by state law to make a determination on three challenges brought by registered Maine voters.

Bellows’ decision Thursday followed a ruling earlier this month by the Colorado Supreme Court that removed Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

In Maine, state Rep. John Andrews, who sits on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, called the decision “hyper-partisanship on full display” as he pressed for an impeachment proceeding.

It remains to be seen if her effort at voter suppression will garner enough Democrat support to remove her from her position,” said House Republican leader Billy Bob Faulkingham.

U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said Friday that absent a final judicial determination on the issue of insurrection, the decision on whether Trump should be considered for president “should rest with the people as expressed in free and fair elections.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the state’s senior senator, was one of a handful of Republicans to vote to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial, and she criticized him in a floor speech for failing to obey his oath of office.


The original article contains 624 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 67%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] TWeaK@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Wasn't this mentioned immediately in response to her decision?

this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
253 points (98.5% liked)

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