Fuck the bipartisan commission. I’m 50 and the only times I remember bipartisanship was the Iraq War Resolution and the Bankruptcy Bill of 2005, and both of them were fucking disasters. Set up a commission, investigate, subpoena people, put it all out there, and set up seats for Republicans to come, put large name tags on the seats, and if they don’t show up, they don’t show up. Televise the entire god damned thing.
They’re gonna call it rigged regardless, because that’s what fucking guilty people do.
Mike R
A-fucking-men, shove this onto these mealy mouth worms. They deserve nothing less.
randy khan
That works for me. I’d even say that they should consider following the Watergate model – have Pelosi and Schumer set up select committees to look into it, name the Dems and tell the Republicans that the committees will do their work whether or not the Republicans participate.
PJ
Reposting this from downstairs:
@Edmund Dantes: It may be that your are correct, and Pelosi and Schumer went into negotiations with the Republicans expecting that they would agree to put together a commission that would investigate 1/6 in good faith and with all diligence, and with the support of Republican leadership, and they were totally blindsided by McCarthy’s knee-jerk rejection of the commission at Trump’s behest.
Or it may be that Pelosi and Schumer had a pretty good idea that this is exactly what would happen, with the expectation that after Republican leadership sank the proposed commission, they could say, “Look, we tried to put together a bi-partisan commission to investigate the insurrection, we bent over backwards to incorporate Republican demands, but they completely rejected it. We had no choice but to move forward with investigations by House and Senate committees. It is entirely the fault of Republicans that those investigations are only being undertaken by Democrats.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I always say the Democrats’ challenge for the whole trump era is making the lumpenmittel– the people who may not like trump and trumpism, but they’re not sure it’s worth, you know, voting– care about trumpism. I think even a lot Republicans have been surprised by the levels of public apathy in the face of the massive corruption, from the cheap grifting to the public and repeated efforts to subvert democracy.
MisterForkbeard
Since McCarthy won’t even back his own negotiators on this, we should do exactly what Cole is suggesting. “We tried to do this in a bipartisan way. We negotiated and got agreement that was more than fair. Republicans repudiated their own agreement, so we’re going to investigate this in the relevant House and Senate committees. And we’ll do a much more fair and balanced job than the Republicans did with their ridiculous 8 Benghazi investigations.”
sukabi
You’re right John….Pelosi and Schumer need to go ahead without republican agreement…besides, how many crimes are investigated by putting the perpetrators on the investigative team….
Kay
That’s exactly what happened. They angered the cult leader.
PPCLI
It was obvious that the 10 Benghazi committees were entirely, unashamedly partisan. They even admitted that the whole point was to drive Hilary’s numbers down. (If I remember right, even McCarthy said this explicitly on camera, but I’m too busy to take the time to track that down.) But it evidently worked.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MisterForkbeard: CNN reporting that Senate Rs are split. History suggests they’ll go along with McConnell, which would mean a filibuster…. but who knows?
SiubhanDuinne
Agree ?, John.
? perfuckingcent.
Kay
What I’ve never understood about Congress is why they don’t protect their own power.
No one does this to them. They make their own rules. It’s this weird thing that goes against what I would expect from people who fight so hard for these jobs! Who makes their own job less important?
Usually you can count on even bad people protecting their own turf, but not in this organization.
Villago Delenda Est
Hear, hear, Mr. Cole.
jnfr
Totally with you on this one. Just do it.
Amir Khalid
There may be tactical subtleties here that elude me, but what the hell is McCarthy playing at? Refusing to support creating the commission will only make his party look all the more guilty when the whole damning truth comes out.
Aziz, light!
As long as your boy Manchin wants to claim that “Protecting Americans’ access to democracy has not been a partisan issue for the past 56 years,” we have a big problem.
CaseyL
@Amir Khalid:
The whole damning truth will only come out if the Committee isn’t distracted and delayed by GQP members wanting to “investigate” the civil rights uprisings of last summer. (This has been a consistent demand by the GQP, to expand the committee’s brief to include those demonstrations and riots.) They will try to do this, and possibly delay and distract enough to never get to the 1/6 insurrection.
And the whole damning truth will only come out to people who want to know it. GQP voters only get their news from RW outlets, which will either not carry or report on the Committee’s work at all, or outright lie about its results.
evodevo
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes….this. I don’t know how many locals I talk with who spout the “both sides” bullshit whenever the latest Repub crap is brought up. “Oh, they’re ALL crooked!! I don’t vote for any of them! They all lie!!” And, since I usually don’t have the time to argue, I just have to let it go. I need something snappy to say, or else start carrying around a manifesto to rebut the crap lol…
stinger
Amen, Cole. They are digging their own graves. Make it happen.
emmyelle
Thanks for this, John.
Snarki, child of Loki
“set up seats for Republicans to come, put large name tags on the seats, and if they don’t show up, they don’t show up”
…wire the seats to deliver a jolt of high-voltage whenever the GOPers lie, and replace the charred remnants with fresh GOPers when necessary.
Mike in NC
Bipartisan 10 member commission: nine Democrats and an idiot like Devin Nunes.
The Thin Black Duke
None of us know what’s going on behind the scenes, but I trust Joe and Nancy know what they’re doing. After 1/6, I’m damned sure that the Democrats are painfully aware of who they’re dealing with and what’s at stake.
Josie
I hope committee chairmen are chosen for their ability to keep the Republican thugs in line, the way that Schiff did. Some are better at this than others, and it makes a huge difference in how the information is received by the public at large.
trnc
Amen, JC.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Honestly I’d like to see the commission or Congressional hearings, whatever form it takes, take Congress’s Subpoena power to the mattresses. Subpoena the folks you need testimony from and throw their asses in jail if they fail to show up. Let them sue to SCOTUS try to say that isn’t an appropriate use of subpoena power, because they would lose otherwise watch nobody show up to testify at SCOTUS cases, because why should I if a subpoena is just a suggestion?
Benw
@Amir Khalid: I think Pelosi rolled McCarthy.
He only thinks one step ahead so he put out a shitty offer thinking she’d say no and then he could walk out. Then it would be the “Democrat’s fault” there’s no commission. That was the whole plan.
By agreeing, Pelosi has:
If McCarthy backs out now, the House Dems will have good cover for investigating using D controlled committees. And they proceed with plan Cole.
hueyplong
@Benw: McCarthy doesn’t just “look like” an idiot.
SFAW
One thing on my wish list is that they not allow the vice chair (i.e., Rethug) to veto subpoena decisions.
Benw
@hueyplong: true!
James E Powell
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that house committees are bi-partisan even if the chair of one party runs them. There are rules that balance the proceedings; the minority is now completely powerless. Gowdy’s Benghazi committee had 7 Rs & 5 Ds.
Put together a select committee and use the exact same rules with respect to proceedings, issuing subpoenas, scheduling hearings, etc. When the Rs complain, say, “These are your rules. Why you crying?”
I nominate Ted Lieu as chair, but I’m open to hearing others.
jl
If I understand Cole correctly, his idea should have been the plan from the beginning. But I read in the news that McCarthy botched it. He approved the deal for the hearings when he was against Trump, and now has to deal with a deal that is no longer ideologically sound from the Trump/GOP complex’s point of view, and McCarthy is for Trump, Trumpism, and the GOP-Trump merger to further the cause of fraud, mayhem and authoritarian rule. I read McCarthy might not be able to scare up enough Congressional GOPers to fill the seats, and he’ll get in hot water for even trying.
So, we’ll see which side of our failed experiment in two-party government botches the mess more thoroughly going forward. I hope it’s the Trump/GOP complex. If Trump tries to dictate GOP tactics and strategy, that might save the Democrats from themselves.
dww44
@evodevo: We all need access to some snappy rejoinders. Cause we need to put a stop to and bury all this “both sides are equally guilty” bs. Please share if you have a couple.
I agree with John. Time to just move on and do the right thing without them. Announce it plain and clear and let’s be on with it before we have another such incident. Even Liz Cheney thinks that is likely.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
jl
@James E Powell: The Dems can praise the vision, strength, leadership and brilliance of McCarthy while their at it, and see how much trouble they can brew in the House GOP caucus.
Ocotillo
@evodevo:
Maybe, Bullshit?
Kay
Of course he should testify- he’s the central figure so not much point in holding it without him but I didn’t expect them to admit it.
jl
Gahhh! Should have read a previous post this morning on McCarthy. Shameless people like Manchin and Trump can gut out and stonewall ‘they were for it before they were against it problems’ (and for this purpose I am comparing Trump and Manchin on this point only… shamelessness).
But McCarthy is a weak goof, and his problem will drag on for months, often on the front pages. I would say too bad for him, but he so richly deserves it. Maybe he can squeeze and squiggle his way out of it, but McCarthy doesn’t have near the brains, emotional maturity, or strength of character of your average octopus, so we’ll see what happens. Might be fun.
jl
@Kay: When the House GOP burned down and blew up that bridge, and stomped the rubble into the mud and then pissed on it, that was just brilliant. Might pay them handsome rewards.
Scuffletuffle
A-fucking-men, when I get home, Imma read this again and have a smoke.
rikyrah
Special Prosecutor, please.
Thank you, AG Garland.
Unleash the hounds.
marklar
@CaseyL: I’m all for them investigating the Civil Rights uprisings last summer. Offer to do that in a separate commission. Make sure to point out that the scope will include the causes of those uprising (i.e., systemic Police brutality and problems with our criminal justice system), and the way in which Police militarization worked to escalate (and often trigger) the rare situations in which violence ensued.
Frankly, a commission examining police escalation is long-overdue, and this is an opportunity to get one.
Kay
@jl:
None of this is even “over”. They are right now, today, facilitating a lunatic “audit” in Arizona. Their main media spokespeople announced they had the smoking gun, yesterday. This is a continuing crisis. There’s no effort at all to stop this. They add to it every day. These people will be tweeting about “irregularities” in the election while they are sitting on this committee.
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Sometimes I look at it that way too, but it might be too early to draw that conclusion. Trump came in with his party holding both chambers, lost the House and got bounced after a single term, losing the Senate for his party too. That’s quite an accomplishment.
The most discouraging thing to me was that Trump actually got more votes in 2020 than 2016 and that the Dems underperformed in the House and Senate relative to expectations. But can Republicans capture the portion of the lumpenmittel whom Trump inspired when Trump isn’t on the ballot? That remains to be seen.
The same is true for Dems, of course. Trump was a turnout machine for our side too.
smith
@rikyrah: I’m with you. We need a prosecutor, not a bunch of political grandstanders.
rikyrah
You are on the money, Cole.
ON.THE.MONEY.
RaflW
@PJ: Yep. As @JakeSherman said a little bit ago “Now Pelosi will just empower her committees to investigate Jan. 6. They will have unilateral subpoena power. No R say.”
And when the both-sides-Beltway gets their knickers in a twist that these committees ‘aren’t bipartisan!1!’ we can all just point and laugh. Qevin McCarthy made it so easy for us.
hueyplong
@smith: Isn’t it possible that the DOJ is already on the case? I’ve read a bit about a few indictments already, and find it difficult to believe that questioning of witnesses/targets/indictees hasn’t included a query or two that might elicit a response mentioning some of our heroes on the GOPer side of the aisle.
RaflW
Also, in the Republicans in disarray category, John Katko does not seem happy to have been shived by Qevin & the GOP leadership.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@hueyplong: the DOJ/a special prosecutor will only look for violations of (IANAL, this is the term people use on cable TV) black-letter law that can be indicted, prosecuted, and then get a conviction in the face of (in these cases) near-limitlesss resources. I’m still surprised Manafort was convicted. That, to me, is the lesson of Mueller and Fitzpatrick before him. Grand jury testimony is secret, so a lot scandalous stuff would remain undisclosed.
Somebody who reviewed Andrew Weissman’s book on the Mueller probe quoted a certain passage and said something like it was as close as Weissman can get to telling us trump jr took the fifth without creating legal exposure for himself. But I think only a lawyer or somebody with a lot of familiarity with the law could have decoded that.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker:
That test was run in 2018.
Another Scott
Madam Speaker on Medium:
1) Politics is slow. National politics is slower.
2) The investigation will continue, whether or not the GQP participates.
Cheers,
Scott.
jl
@Kay:
@Kay: That is true. But better that the GOPers are tweeting out BS during a public mess within their own caucus than not, with their spineless dope and very sad excuse for a caucus leader front and center.
But would have been better to keep them out of the investigation entirely. That is why I agree with Cole that a serious and objective commission should have been the original plan. I agree with Josh Marshall that it is a bad idea to have the perpetrator be a part of a criminal investigation.
J R in WV
@Villago Delenda Est:
Say it again, one more time, for me.
Another Scott
DoJ Capitol Breach Cases shows, in a quick glance at the first page, that action is starting in some of these things at the end of May, some in June, some in July. These court actions will accelerate, more will become known (with the guilty pleas, etc), and there will be more momentum in Congress to have more hearings, etc.
The process is just getting started. It’s going to take a while.
Cheers,
Scott.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: “That test was run in 2018.”
The majority of the GOP say that they are Trumpsters and fired up and read to go. Most read that as doom for the Dems in 2022.
But, seriously good policy that benefits the average person can change that. It has been rare over the last few decades, but maybe Biden can change that. Then other people might be fired up and ready go: Dems who don’t usually turn out, independents, and the remaining salvageable GOPers who might respond to good policy on its own terms, rather than knee-jerking to racist xenophobic BS and fraud-based reactionary economic populism (that only fools cannot see as a set-up for betrayal).
Geminid
I never expected such a commission to be that consequential. After many months, it could deliver a report of such scope and depth major media could report on it for weeks. But the report would end up being a two a or three day story, with multiple front page headlines the first day, fewer the second and third. By the fourth day, interest in the report would be overtaken by other breaking news.
Not that this report wouldn’t be a big topic here for months.
So, we’ll just have to get our information from the multitude of criminal prosecutions, multiple civil lawsuits, Congressional Commitee hearings by the several commitees with purview over different aspects of the insurrection, and invrstigative journalists. I’m fine with that.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
That’s what they said in 2018, how’d that work out for them?
jl
I found out over last few days that Barr ordered the DOJ to open some BS investigation into the parody accounts that make fun of the malicious fool Nunes. How about some high profile hearings on that? It would surely grab total attention of the corporate press and hide any PR problems with the Jan 6 investigation.
” Trump Justice Dept. Tried to Use Grand Jury to Identify Nunes Critic on Twitter
An unsealed court filing shows that the social media company fought the subpoena, which the Biden administration is said to have withdrawn. ”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/us/politics/devin-nunes-twitter-justice-department.html
cain
I wish we would stop trying to do this ‘bi-partisan’ bullshit. There are no good Republicans. Go forth and get a special prosecutor and get the DOJ to start investigating what happened and get it done. Stop trying to team up with the enemy
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: “That’s what they said in 2018, how’d that work out for them?”
In 2018, their rightful victory was stolen by allowing people who disagreed with them to vote. The GOP is righting that wrong as we speak.
You will be shocked and amazed. Finding all those Chinese bamboo ballots that were cast in the AZ election will lead straight to where that pizza joint basement is hidden deep in the Ukrainian woods. Then all will be revealed, and all the Democrats will vanish into hellfire. That is just following the data and science.
dww44
@cain: Mike Luckovich agrees with you.
James E Powell
The Republicans are going to circle their wagons around “Nothing happened and if it did it was Antifa. Hoax! Just like the Russia thing. Hoax! Witch hunt! Socialists! Black Lives Matter! AOC!”
It’s stupid but it has worked for them before and the fact is, they don’t know any other songs.
narya
@dww44: What I’ve been saying is something on the order of: the Republican plan has been to break federal agencies (e.g., USPS) and then say government doesn’t work. The Democratic approach is more difficult to pull off, because it’s an ongoing effort to make government of, by, and for the people actually work, and that is always going to be a difficult process. It’s made especially difficult when the other side only wants to destroy. It’s been moderately effective, at least some of the time.
PJ
@cain: unfortunately, the media demands it, and there are enough people who listen to the media and are convinced that if something isn’t “bipartisan”, it’s the Democrats fault if it doesn’t get results. That’s who this kind of bipartisan theater is for. But Pelosi and Schumer have orchestrated this (helped by Republicans who are utterly predictable in their fealty to Trump’s demands) so that they can say, “We tried our darndest to be bipartisan but the GOP rejected that. So, with much regret, we had to conduct this investigation on our own.” And the media has to swallow it and sell it.
no comment
@dww44:
The Professional Left Podcast goes with the simple “both sides don’t!”
Not sure that would work with the people @evodevo is referring to, though. I would go with friendly disagreement tone rather than direct confrontation or shutting them down. Compare apples to oranges & give them something to think about. Something like “well, sure, if you want to compare the Democrats’ occasional fibs* with the Republicans’ constant tall tales & fantasy novels.” Examples are optional. If they object to the premise, bring up a few of the GOP’S biggest lies.
* I think most of things they would call lies are actually tact, misspeakings, & typical political spin, but there is no need to argue this point. Make them defend Republican lies instead.
jl
@narya: The Dems have several problems. One is having to accommodate shameless operators like Manchin and Sinema. Another is that some corporate Democrats, like Coons, are more devoted to their corporate donors than what the Democratic Party is supposed to stand for. Too bad the election didn’t give the Ds a couple more Senate seats from states with good Dem candidates.
Also, I think the Dem leadership is overly afraid of offending anyone, afraid of bad faith attacks from dishonest and bad-faith quarters of the corporate press. So, they too often rely on acting like the soft spoken sober serious responsible person in the room, hoping that the voting public will figure it out and rile itself up, somehow. I don’t think electoral politics works that way.
I think Biden is wise to say that real bipartisanship means implementing policies that have broad bipartisan support among the population. That might be a way for the Dem leadership to improve its voter persuasion game.
Edit: I hope your hopes come true, that Pelosi and Schumer go that route. Far past time that the Dems loudly call out the GOP on their bad faith. Until recently, the Congressional GOP could pretend to negotiate and then come up with obviously poison pill or grossly inadequate or unpopular proposals. Or, imply that their was a deal, or loudly trumpet their great counterproposals, imply a deal was done, but then show up at the last minute with some BS and lie about everything. Time to call out that BS for what it is: a big con.
artem1s
Congress is the legislative branch of the government. It’s not their job to try, convict or jail anyone involved in the insurrection. That’s the job of the DOJ and FBI and state courts. Lots of people have those jobs. Congress has limited powers for a reason. And Nancy isn’t interested in burning down the democracy for the sake of revenge and to punish our political enemies. Good for her. That’s her job. Acting just like the GQP did with Benghazi and Clenisgate only plays into the hands of those who want to diminish the role of the Federal government and normalize the GQP authoritarian state.
No matter what kind of commission this is, who is on it, and how it is run, the outcome will not be satisfactory to those whose aim is to punish their political enemies. If the goal is to see someone cowering in fear that they will be hung by a noose like the one the insurrectionists brought to the Capitol on 1/6, then you are not on the side of the truth or democracy.
This commission, no matter how toothless you deem it will be, has one purpose and that is to examine the facts and make them public. The House or Senate can choose to censure it’s members for their activities. But ousting them should be the option of last resort. In a democracy, that task should be left to the voters, even if we don’t like the voters. I for one am not willing to give up my constitutionally guaranteed rights so easily. I’m not interested in revenge fantasies where people can get their rocks off watching a kangaroo court or authoritarian dictator bring down hellfire on someone I don’t like. That’s not a country I want to live in and our democracy won’t survive if the sole remaining sane political party starts acting like a bunch of Brown Shirts. This is not Bread and Circuses for the masses. It’s serious business and our democracy may depend on not fucking it up so badly that no Congress can ever function again.
Kent
Honestly, this wasn’t 9-11 where we actually needed to figure out who was involved and how they managed to hijack 5 American planes.
We already know what happened on 1-6. We know who was involved and we know who instigated it and urged them on. It was all out there plain as day.
Instead of a bullshit “bi-partisan” commission, we need the Justice Department to investigate INDIVIDUAL acts of wrong-doing and prosecute these insurrectionists to the fullest extent of the law. Which appears to be what is happening.
VOR
I think many of them never hear about it with today’s hermetically sealed media environment. Fox News won’t cover Bill Barr convening a grand jury to find out who is mocking Devin Nunes. Or if, by some miracle, it is covered then they will offset with a story about how Democrats want to force everyone to read Marx everyday and ban the Bible.
cain
@PJ: The media only demands that from Democrats there is no such thing for GOP when they are in power. This is the same stupid abusive cycle that we are constantly get wrapped in.
We need to change this dynamic somehow – it’s time to do things that are disruptive. We need to start changing our playbook.
Cathie from Canada
There’s a new talking point I have noticed lately.
When asked if they will confirm that Trump lost the election, the Republican reply is now something like “President Biden’s win was certified and I accept that.”
It allows them to sound sane while they still continue to avoid actually saying Trump lost and Biden won fair and square.
It also feeds into the idea that the certification itself was actually the problem. This supports the idea that state voting rules need to be changed so that so-called “erroneous” certifications can be thrown out in the future.
jl
@Cathie from Canada: Reporters should as the GOPers whether they think there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Either the big corporate national affairs reporters are as sentient as fence posts, or they play along with the GOP BS to keep the endless BS commercial information product cycle going (which is very easy work if you can get it).
Feckless
If there’s a minimum level expenditure that you need to bribe Nancy Pelosi to get 15 minutes of you telling her this I would gladly donate to that fund
Annie
I’m going to mellow the harsh a little here.
catclub
@CaseyL: hey, I sure don’t think the whole truth came out with the 9/11 commission. Why would it with this one.
The key, non-sequential result was re-organizing government to concentrate on highly unlikely external terrorists.
One can hope this event leads to reorganization to concentrate on internal terrorists.
RAM
Biden ought to short-circuit the whole thing and have a special counsel appointed. Patrick Fitzgerald is honest enough and monomaniacal enough to get his teeth in and keep chewing until he eats his way through the whole damn disaster without fear or favor.
dww44
@RAM: Sorry, but I don’t want any more mealy mouthed pseudo non-partisan Republican lite led commissions by the likes of a Patrick Fitzgerald or a Robert Mueller, about whom I often wonder just before falling asleep how he feels about Bill Barr. Did he have the guts to confront Barr directly? or, was he okay with Barr’s actions?
We need a smart, fair, not-necessarily non-partisan leader of such a committee. One who has allegiance to the truth, to the American people, and to our Democracy.
Villago Delenda Est
@hueyplong: Pelosi should be ashamed of herself. Engaging in a a battle of wits with an unarmed man. It’s just not cricket! (harrumph, harrumph)
Villago Delenda Est
@cain:
My nym.
Frank Wilhoit
@Kay: Congress no longer has any power, since Truman disregarded his Constitutional duty to have Congress declare war in 1950. An institution that is seen to fail to defend its prerogatives ceases to exist in any meaningful sense. This is why — well, it is one of many possible reasons why; everyone has their favorite or favorites — the 1787 Constitution is no longer in force. The pretense that it is in force is very quickly becoming unsustainable.
WeimarGerman
@artem1s: yes!
Can the name tags for the empty seats be HonestGOP1, RespectedGOP2, PublicServantGOP3, …
J R in WV
I’m in favor of a special prosecutor (how about Preet Singh Bharara, former US Attorney of the Southern District of NY?) working on this case to ID political office holders who have broken their oath (and thrown the bits and pieces into an outhouse) and aided and comforted the insurrectionists.
IANAL but isn’t providing aid and comfort to a conspiracy involved with violent overthrow of our government all it takes to become a member of the conspiracy?
Perhaps the Commission on the January the 6th Insurrection could complete interviewing a political office holder, followed V. closely by an indictment of that office holder for the most severely punishable crimes identified by the Grand Jury. Even if that’s just perjury?
Participating in the violent overthrow of our government, isn’t that a serious crime?
Don’t people get hanged for that kind of crime?
RaflW
@jl: It’s amazing how a libertarian* and small government* conservative* like Rand Paul seems to be just fine with this incredibly abusive (attempted) use of the DOJ to investigate and unmask a twitter enemy.
*He is none of these things. But he is a fool!
Michael Windbigler
Yes yes yes. Please. For goodness sake just F*ck. Do it. Don’t post much I read all the time and I could not agree more. Put that on TV. Just old man shouting at clouds.
Sourmash
@Kay: That’s what the Framers of the Constitution relied on as well. Something about “jealousies respecting their own prerogatives” was laced throughout the discussions of how the Constitutional powers would remain balanced. So much for that…