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Notes -
Can you show an example? One prior example?
Of a politician stepping down? How about Menendez?
Here he is saying he definitely will not resign:
"MADISON, N.J. -- Convicted U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez has told CBS New York he's not stepping down, even as some fellow senators have called for his resignation.
Menendez has vowed to appeal his corruption conviction and on Wednesday, despite reports he was caving in to demands to resign, the senator dug in and told reporter Christine Sloan, "I can tell you that I have not resigned nor have I spoken to any so-called 'allies,'" adding, "Seems to me that there is an effort to try to force me into a statement. Anyone who knows me knows that's the worst way to achieve a goal with me.""
Then 5 days later he steps down:
"Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey will resign his seat effective August 20, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by CNN. In July, Menendez was convicted of 16 counts — including bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and acting as a foreign agent — for his role in a yearslong bribery scheme."
What do you think caused this miraculous change of heart in 5 short days? Intense pressure from his party. Specifically the party whips whose job it is to get their party in line.
You mean a guy who was convicted for bribery charges had a hard time not stepping down? That seems a little different…
Why? Trump has been convicted and didn't stand down, because there is no-one in the GOP with enough pull to pressure him into it. Both a conviction and being unable to stand up to your opponent in a debate (to put it mildly) hurt your chances. So the party if able will put pressure on you for the "greater good".
Politicians are generally self-interested and ambitious, if they are not made to they will try to hang on even when damaging the overall chances of their party. Hence why parties have whips and the like. To exert pressure. That is their entire purpose. To whip the party members into line (Not literally nowadays of course) but through pressure, dirt, promises and the like. I am sure Biden and his inner circle were getting inundated with pressure from lots of angles. And that is all entirely normal in any situation where a politician does something that weakens his party.
Trump was convicted on trumped up nonsense charges in NY that don’t stand up to legal scrutiny (the one that did was the one in Florida). But all of those crimes or alleged crimes were Mickey Mouse crimes. Bribery is the sine qua non of crime for a politician.
And being publicly senile is also somewhat bad for a politician presunably you would agree.
But still examples of politicians having a scandal or crime or some crisis, maintaining they won't step down, then stepping down under pressure is common, which is the point.
Liz Truss in the UK is another example, Al Franken as well. Newt Gingrich on the other side.
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