If a felon can run for president of the United States...

[ecstatic]

Then shouldn't a felon also be able to vote in an election? Republicans have to be consistent here.

[Ocelot II]

1. If he's convicted he won't be able to vote for himself until he's served his sentence, right?

[Emile]

11. I think that is up to each state.

If Florida is his state, I think he can't vote.

[nature-lover]

2. Just been thinking about this. Also, a president should qualify for a security clearance.

[ecstatic]

3. Good point! Nt

[wnylib]

7. And pass the US citizenship test.

[Seinan Sensei]

22. Every elected official should have to pass the US Citizen test

No more Empty Green
No more Bo Bo

[wnylib]

24. I'd like to see it as a requirement to be on the ballot.

But that would requure a constitutional amendment.

[onecaliberal]

8. He never qualified for one.

[iluvtennis]

23. Exactly. tfg got the security clearance as an artifact

of holding the office of POTUS.

I once held a Top Secret security clearance and you are thoroughly investigated- your credit rating, level of debt, personal relationships, etc. Any and everything that could put you in compromising position.

tfg would have never been given a security clearance as his level of debt could put him in positions where he could be compromised.

[Igel]

14. The authority for the security clearance system (with scant exceptions)

is the President.

They may run a background check, but with few exceptions there's no way to impede access to classified information.

Read the Constitution.

[global1]

4. Good Point - I Had The Same Thought.....

What I was thinking is we should test the concept of a felon being able to run for president.

We should go to a jail and pick out a felon. We'd have to have some criteria of the picking.

The person should have a decent education and at least be reasonably presentable. Must be able to put a sentence together and talk in front of an audience of people. But the biggest qualification is that they be a convicted felon.

We should raise some money (crowd funding) to be able to support a campaign for the presidency.

Then we should present this person to the American People as a candidate for the presidency.

It would be interesting to see how long it would take for the Repugs to cry foul and say that this person cannot run for the presidency!!!

I just think it would be a fun thing to do to test their hypocrisy.

[former9thward]

5. The federal Constitution determines whether someone can run for president.

And felons can run and serve as president. The states determine who in their state can vote.

[unblock]

6. They are consistent. Republicans actually are extremely consistent

Disenfranchising voters based on felony convictions supports white privilege because every step of the process from policing to sentencing is biased against black people

Allowing felons to serve as president also supports white privilege because it would enable white criminals like Donnie to run and there's no way in hell a black person with a felony conviction will ever be elected in this country.

[Iggo]

13. This.

[Beartracks]

9. If a felon can run for President of the US, then why should I care about...

... Hunter Biden's shenanigans?

===============

[niyad]

16. Exactly.

[rubbersole]

17. Because China.

He has trademarks from China that his dad got for him...oh, wait...

[Beartracks]

21. Hm, that wasn't Hunter. Ivanka know who you're talking about!

[TeamProg]

10. K&R!!

[republianmushroom]

12. agree

[rpannier]

15. They'll support it if he's convicted

[Warpy]

18. At this point, he's an accused felon

If he's convicted by election day and still elected, he will not serve, he'll be in prison where he can't be sworn in. Whichever horror he picks as VP will serve out ther term.

[yonder]

19. "ther" term got me to her term which got me to MTG

[AncientOfDays]

20. On the other hand

someone jailed for political reasons SHOULD be able to run for President.

'Course MAGAs are trying to say these indictments are entirely political - and not criminal.

A bit of a thorny issue to resolve.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

25. Have you not taken a Civics class?

The Constitution spells out eligibility to run for POTUS. Nothing there about convicts running, so they get to run. If it's not enumerated, then it's not forbidden. The Constitution also leaves determining carrying out elections to the states. It's not a federal issue, beyond what Amendments we've had about voter eligibilty (citizen, 18 years old, etc), and no poll taxes.

Beyond those standards, if a state wants to say that you can't run for elected offices within the state unless you live in the state more than 10 months out of the year, then they can do that. If they say that you can't run for a district office within the state unless you live in that district 10 months of the year, they can do that, too.

And if a state say felons can't vote, then felons can't vote.

Their state, their rules.

So you're mixing up apples and oranges when you make this false analogy, because the two concepts don't fall under the same set of laws.

[ecstatic]

26. My point is that there should and probably will be a reckoning

that occurs as a result of the inconsistencies that we're seeing (regardless of whether the inconsistency is due to differences in state vs federal laws). Repub controlled legislatures who have fought tooth and nail to keep felons from voting but now welcome trump to run for president, even if convicted, will be challenged by voters to update state laws.