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What makes it a coup is that Trump is acting completely illegally. He was elected president, not dictator. He does not have the legal authority to create a new

What makes it a coup is that Trump is acting completely illegally. He was elected president, not dictator. He does not have the legal authority to create a new government department, DOGE, to appoint Musk as its head without Senate advice and consent, and to give it full power over all other agencies.

rapsey 2y ago
[flagged]
- DiogenesKynikos 2y ago
  Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the US Constitution is crystal clear on this subject. DOGE and Musk's appointment are blatantly illegal.
  - ithkuil 2y ago
    But clickety click, Barba Trick: it's not formally a department, so there is now law stopping the president from creating this informal advisory thing. It's not clear exactly what it is. But they just put the word "department" in the name and ran with it. What may be illegal is when this advisory "thing" starts getting access to various important cogs of the government and intimidate federal workers by leveraging the fact that the president apparently can just fire federal employees who are in 'policy-influencing' positions. That's again one of those cases where the law may not be ready to counteract blatant abuse because historically so much has been up to democratic norms, and here we have a clique that is using norm violation as their battle cry
- deleted 2y ago
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lIl-IIIl 2y ago
That doesn't make it a coup. "Coup" has a definition, which is to unseat a government through illegal means, or to stay in power through illegal means. For example, January 6th could be considered an attempted coup. But just acting illegally a coup does not make.
- DiogenesKynikos 2y ago
  One or two illegal measures would not be a coup, but if the president arrogates himself dictatorial powers, that is a coup. Trump is taking wide-ranging, illegal measures to fundamentally alter the nature of the American government. Constitutional rule very well could be coming to an end in the US.

rapsey 2y ago

[flagged]

DiogenesKynikos 2y ago
Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the US Constitution is crystal clear on this subject. DOGE and Musk's appointment are blatantly illegal.
- ithkuil 2y ago
  But clickety click, Barba Trick: it's not formally a department, so there is now law stopping the president from creating this informal advisory thing. It's not clear exactly what it is. But they just put the word "department" in the name and ran with it. What may be illegal is when this advisory "thing" starts getting access to various important cogs of the government and intimidate federal workers by leveraging the fact that the president apparently can just fire federal employees who are in 'policy-influencing' positions. That's again one of those cases where the law may not be ready to counteract blatant abuse because historically so much has been up to democratic norms, and here we have a clique that is using norm violation as their battle cry
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

lIl-IIIl 2y ago

That doesn't make it a coup. "Coup" has a definition, which is to unseat a government through illegal means, or to stay in power through illegal means. For example, January 6th could be considered an attempted coup. But just acting illegally a coup does not make.

DiogenesKynikos 2y ago
One or two illegal measures would not be a coup, but if the president arrogates himself dictatorial powers, that is a coup. Trump is taking wide-ranging, illegal measures to fundamentally alter the nature of the American government. Constitutional rule very well could be coming to an end in the US.