(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Some Questions for the Previous Guy at the "Town Hall" [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-05-03
What is this patriot's vision for the USA? Inquiring minds want to know!
Well, well, well… CNN is trying to expand its ratings by airing a “Town Hall” at which Donald J Scheisskopf will be tossed questions by his dewy-eyed fans.
This got me to wondering: What questions would I pose at the “Town Hall,” if given the opportunity?
First, let me tip my hat to News Corpse and annieli and Hunter and wruckusgroink and Proginoskes (relaying the views of Keith Olbermann) and Merlin196357 (and forgive me if I left anyone out) for their backgrounds and remarks on the topic. Their points, which strike me as having considerable merit, may perhaps be summarized as: “Holy hell, what in what in the wide, wide world of sports is CNN doing, giving airtime to this stupid, lying, crazy, cowardly hypocrite, to this dangerous, bigoted, ignorant, disloyal, seditious madman?? Is CNN going to challenge him on the many episodes of his past malfeasance?? Is CNN even going to fact-check him and point out his expected multiple falsehoods??”
Well.
Hypothetically, now: If I had the opportunity to ask a question at the “town hall,” there are a lot of pertinent questions that I would not ask. I wouldn’t focus on the past. I wouldn’t ask about any legal troubles, for example, whether those troubles be civil or criminal. I wouldn’t ask about the insurrection or any past grievances. I wouldn’t ask about the pandemic. I wouldn’t ask about past experience in the Oval Office. I wouldn’t ask about a history to private and personal irresponsibility. It’s a fair bet that questions like that would not be allowed anyway, and that Scheisskopf would be too chicken to answer them.
Instead, I would ask about what vision this person holds for the USA. I would ask questions that focus upon the future, not the past.
These would not be argumentative questions. They would not be “gotcha” questions, although they would require the responder to have basic knowledge that any President of the United States ought to have. They would not be jokes. They would not be overtly disrespectful. They would not ask about competing candidates, nor about President Biden, nor any of President Biden’s policies, nor any political party.
They would be questions to which I would really like to hear answers.
It might be said that some of these questions are “trick questions,” but they are nothing of the sort. Any competent presidential candidate who knows the basics of civics and history and government would not be “tricked.” Put another way, I would feel perfectly happy to pose exactly these same questions to President Biden, who, I suspect, would have no trouble at all with any of them. President Biden might laugh, he might question my sanity for asking, and he might use the word “malarkey” quite a bit; but President Biden would be able to answer these questions easily and cogently.
Question 1: The Constitution and Welfare
“The United States Constitution currently provides that one of the purposes of the federal government is “to promote the general welfare.” Would you support amending the United States Constitution to remove constitutional support of public welfare?”
Question 2: A Solution to Illegal Immigration
“It is said that illegal immigration causes at least two significant problems: first, many immigrants take jobs away from Americans; and second, many immigrants do not contribute to the economy and are a burden upon the taxpayer. Would you support repealing the Thirteenth Amendment, to assure that the people who enter the United States illegally will be required to contribute to the economy, while simultaneously not taking any job that any American would want?”
Question 3: Fascism
“In political discussions, some people these days throw around the word ‘fascism,’ and it is not clear that these people know what they are talking about. Would you please take this opportunity to clear the air and set the record straight by answering these two questions: First, can you please explain what is fascism, as you see it? And second, do fascists have some good ideas? That is, do you feel that there are are any fascist ideas that, if put into action, could be beneficial to the United States?”
Question 4: Second Amendment Rights
“Many locations throughout the country, such as airports and government buildings and other public property, are equipped with metal detectors for the specific purpose of making certain that all law-abiding citizens on the property are disarmed. Would you support removal of these devices so that all Americans may freely exercise their Second Amendment rights on all public property in this country?”
Question 5: Secession
“The topic of secession has entered our political dialog. Do you believe that every State has a right to secede from the United States? If so, does a seceding state have a right to declare itself to be allied with another nation, such as Russia?”
Question 6: Equal Rights for Women
“It is beyond dispute that the Founding Fathers of this country did not believe that women ought to have rights equal to men, and it is also beyond dispute that the Bible teaches that women are not legally equal to men. Do you support changes to our laws so as to restore the long-standing and traditional legal status of women?”
Question 7: Ethics
“This is a hypothetical question. If it were established that Justice Sonia Sotomayor were accepting substantial gifts from an organization funded by George Soros, and if there was no quid pro quo (in other words, even though Justice Sotomayor in the past tended to rule in the way Mr. Soros would prefer, the gifts were not being given in exchange for any favorable ruling in any particular pending case), should her conduct be deemed improper that she should be impeached and removed from the bench?”
Question 8: More Second Amendment Rights
“This is a hypothetical question. If a citizen is carrying a firearm legally, and even though the citizen is absolutely certain that he has done nothing wrong, a police officer wrongly detains the citizen (thereby depriving the citizen of his liberty for an indefinite time) and orders the citizen to surrender his firearm while being detained, do you believe the citizen ought to be entitled to exercise his Second Amendment rights and defend his liberty by shooting the officer?”
Question 9: Defamation
“If the Washington Post were to publish a story about you, and if the story was not false but was shockingly unflattering and extremely embarrassing to you and to the prestige of the United States, would you support laws that would allow you to sue the Washington Post for defamation?”
Question 10: Keeping Promises
“If a candidate makes a promise to the electorate, and thereby gets elected, and then openly declares that he has no intention whatsoever to keep that promise and that he only said it in order to get elected, should that breach of promise be proper grounds for impeachment and removal?”
Question 11: Basic Civics
“Which of the three branches of government, if any, do you believe should be the most powerful?”
Question 12: Freedom of Religious Disbelief
“Should atheism be against the law? Should atheists be permitted to be citizens?”
Question 13: Establishment of Religion
“Justice Clarence Thomas has stated, in official opinions, that individual States do have the right, under the First Amendment, to establish official State religions. For example, Utah might declare itself an officially Mormon State, or Massachusetts might declare itself an officially Catholic State. Do you agree with Justice Thomas, that States should have the right to declare official religions?” [Lest you think I am kidding about the good Justice, see, for example, Justice Thomas’s opinion in Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005), and Justice Stevens’s response thereto.]
Question 14: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
“In your opinion, should citizens having sexual orientations and/or gender identities that are not heterosexual or cisgender (such as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, etc.) have equal rights with all other citizens? If not, what rights should those citizens having sexual orientations and/or gender identities that aren't heterosexual or cisgender ought not have, that others ought to have?”
Question 15: Cannabis
“Do you favor nationwide legalization of cannabis? Please give reasons for your answer.”
Question 16: Pardons
“Would you pledge, right here and now, that you would never pardon yourself for any criminal offenses that you may have committed?” (Alternatively: “Do you believe the President should be above the law?”)
Question 17: Regulations
“What federal regulations should be abolished? Can you name any specific examples?”
Those are the kinds of things I would ask about. You can probably well imagine what sort of answers Scheisskopf would give.
If you choose to do so, leave a comment with the question that you would pose to this candidate, but remember the guidelines:
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/3/2167162/-Some-Questions-for-the-Previous-Guy-at-the-Town-Hall
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
