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This morning on the 10th July, Senator Tripod announced he would be leaving the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and joining the Momentum Party (MMTM) after drama involving the muting of Notcom - a member of the LDP - via a ticket issued by him personally for saying the f-slur and t-slur in a voice chat.
“I refuse to stay a part of the LDP Hivemind. Right now, Rocky is in my DMs preaching party loyalty and I refuse to stand by while crimes are being covered up. [...]”
Reportedly, Notcom said “kys” to Creative, who also was in VC at the time, which resulted in Tripod telling her to stop doing that, which provoked her into saying the aforementioned slurs. Tripod, acting in his capacity as a law enforcement officer, issued a penalty ticket against Notcom, muting her and taking away her voice chat privileges for several hours.
The LDP went on to harshly criticize this move, arguing that Creative - a close friend of Notcom - obviously understood that the words were meant as a joke and not said with the intention to seriously harm someone else.
Tripod countered this point by saying that he, as a law enforcement officer, naturally had to enforce the law, which forbids saying any such slurs. He also harshly criticized the favouritism of LDP members towards other LDP members in potential criminal cases, calling it out as corrupt. This was a notion also supported by Attorney General Ed.
Furthermore, prominent LDP members began accusing Tripod of having abused the party for his own personal political gain, presenting screenshots of DMs between him and some party-members in which Tripod said he “wanted to be President so he could say he had been President” and that it “now was his turn” as evidence. He was also accused of forcing a tie in the vote for the Speaker of the Senate, so he could become Deputy Speaker and have more power for himself.
The following is a quote from party-member Bill Rocky Moor:
“[...] It was pure, unadulterated political greed [...]. He wanted “his turn,” and he broke plenty of peoples’ trust to get it. I am hurt — personally. He had no policies, no vision, and no message. [...]”
Tripod has refused to comment on these allegations upon request.
As a consequence of this controversy and his newfound dislike for the LDP, Tripod, acting in his capacity as Senator, entered a motion for the Senate to impeach Stalin, an LDP politician, from the office of Speaker of the Senate, recommending that Lyoko, a member of the Momentum party, be made the new Speaker.
Other Senators, most notably Sakitty and Stalin (MMTM and LDP respectively), accused Tripod of intentionally causing chaos within the chamber through this highly-partisan action(s).
Even Lyoko, the one Tripod recommended as the new Speaker opposed the impeachment, saying that he didn’t feel Stalin had done anything to necessitate him vacating the chair.
So far, the motion has been nayed by five Senators and ayed by only one Senator, Tripod himself. Lyoko decided to abstain from the vote though.
Concluding this article, it is clear that Speaker Stalin will not be impeached, but what this controversy/drama means for the political landscape of SimDemocracy in the future is still unclear, especially in relation to the relations between the Liberal Democratic Party and Momentum Party, and in relation to Tripod’s potential future electoral success.