4 ms·

We wait. Trump is not in great health and he’s quite old, and constitutional term limits will have him out in a few years. In case he tries another coup, one

by sneak 1y ago

We wait. Trump is not in great health and he’s quite old, and constitutional term limits will have him out in a few years. In case he tries another coup, one thing you could do is organize and obtain arms (and train with them) and have you and your group, as well as any other groups you can muster, near DC around late January 2029. The rule of law cannot be taken for granted. There is only one language that tyrants speak.

computerthings 1y ago
[dead]
fifticon 1y ago
There is a problem with this. Trump is just a wrecking ball. The problem is not the ball, the problem is the holes it leaves behind. Whoever replaces Trump, will arrive in the driver's seat of a vehicle which has had plenty of its safety rails removed or disabled. The problem is what happens, when a more capable, less octagenarian replacement arrives.
- sneak 1y ago
  Not all of us agreed with the previous (or current, for that matter) size of the US federal government. The ideas behind draining the swamp and DOGE were reasonable; the problem is that the POTUS has nowhere near the power to achieve it in any meaningful sense. You cannot dismantle the government using the government. (This is something nobody wants to acknowledge as it lays bare the utter farce that is “democracy” and “a government by the people, for the people”; the United States, just like China and Russia, is an oligarchic dictatorship.) Much of what Trump officially destroyed should never have been built in the first place. Most of the damage he has wrought is not from his actual platform, but from his sheer stupidity. Covid and Russia both come to mind immediately, but also the irreparable harm he has done to the ~century-old carefully crafted global illusion of American legitimacy. As far as we can tell, he doesn’t read, including without limitation the daily intelligence briefing. There is no way to act strategically if you don’t avail yourself of all of the relevant information or you purge the administration of the messengers of news you don’t like. As we know, stupidity is far more harmful to society than malice, as malice is at least zero-sum: someone gains when you lose. Stupid people through their actions simply harm everyone, themselves included. Think of what an improvement it would be (over Trump) to have someone hyperintelligent as POTUS, but with the exact same platform. It would be bad, but not the catastrophe that Trump has wrought by being a moron who can’t think more than 15 minutes in advance and fundamentally doesn’t seem to understand the concept of strategy.
  - throwaway-11-1 1y ago
    when you say "size" of the government, what are you exactly talking about? The military budget? The amount spent on healthcare? The investment in research? Neoliberalism has been turning these into funnels to the private sector since Reagan. Like how does free market do anything other than create oligarchs? This language about "government too big" is too vague to be useful in discussion and I just assume it's cover for "punishing the poor and removing social services". ICE has a bigger budget than the Marines and FBI combined, and all the maga chuds clapped like circus seals. I don't know how to have an honest discussion about government policy with right wingers that isn't just a stream of weasel words for culture war.
    - sneak 1y ago
      I’m talking about the entire federal budget, primarily the big ones: federal healthcare and the military and adjacent paramilitary forces (like DHS/FBI/ICE). I also think the state should be entirely out of the education and research business. It of course includes the social services you speak of too, but those are barely a drop in the bucket compared to the public-private wealth transfer that is the military-industrial complex. The president simply isn’t permitted to dismantle it; there are too many stakeholders way more powerful than the holder of that single office that will not permit it.
- SanjayMehta 1y ago
  Vance.
aurareturn 1y ago
In case he tries another coup, one thing you could do is organize and obtain arms (and train with them) and have you and your group, as well as any other groups you can muster, near DC around late January 2029. The rule of law cannot be taken for granted. That's the risk of civil war many have feared. There will be armed groups ready to defend the constitution and then there will be opposition groups ready to defend Trump.
- ethbr1 1y ago
  Isolated skirmishes do not a civil war make. If there had been an armed conflict outside the Capitol on Jan 6 between pro and anti Trump citizen groups, American democracy would have been better served. Meet strength with strength. Some progressives forgot that.
subscribed 1y ago
If Trump expires, Vance will take the helm. He's propped by the well known military contractor. Behind his back, the same ghoul (Miller) will still be holding the reins. Trump was a catalyst for Project 2025, he's no longer instrumental im afraid.
- aurareturn 1y ago
  If Trump expires, Vance will take the helm. I don't ever see a world where Vance is president and Trump is still here. I think Vance will try to resign as president (suppose Vance wins election) and then give it back to Trump. That's actually one of the ideas people have debated on how Trump can stay on for a 3rd term. Still technically illegal but who knows?
  - AnimalMuppet 1y ago
    I don't think that Vance is a complete robot. If he wins, why would he resign? Just to please Trump? What does Trump's approval mean to him once Vance is the president?
    - aurareturn 1y ago
      If he wins, why would he resign Presumably the public/voters votes for him with an understanding that he resigns.
      - AnimalMuppet 1y ago
        There's, um, at least some precedent for politicians not doing what they promised...
  - subscribed 1y ago
    Oh; I meant "expires" as stops being alive :) No, I don't think he will be removed from the office - he's still beneficial to Republicans, Putin and US oligarchs.
- jacquesm 1y ago
jacquesm 1y ago
He does not have to try another coup, he already succeeded.
- krapp 1y ago
  He didn't even need to try the first one. The moment the Democrats put Joe Biden up instead of someone the left actually cared about it was a fait accompli that Trump would win a second term.

by sneak 1y ago

computerthings 1y ago

[dead]

fifticon 1y ago

There is a problem with this. Trump is just a wrecking ball. The problem is not the ball, the problem is the holes it leaves behind. Whoever replaces Trump, will arrive in the driver's seat of a vehicle which has had plenty of its safety rails removed or disabled. The problem is what happens, when a more capable, less octagenarian replacement arrives.

sneak 1y ago
Not all of us agreed with the previous (or current, for that matter) size of the US federal government. The ideas behind draining the swamp and DOGE were reasonable; the problem is that the POTUS has nowhere near the power to achieve it in any meaningful sense. You cannot dismantle the government using the government. (This is something nobody wants to acknowledge as it lays bare the utter farce that is “democracy” and “a government by the people, for the people”; the United States, just like China and Russia, is an oligarchic dictatorship.) Much of what Trump officially destroyed should never have been built in the first place. Most of the damage he has wrought is not from his actual platform, but from his sheer stupidity. Covid and Russia both come to mind immediately, but also the irreparable harm he has done to the ~century-old carefully crafted global illusion of American legitimacy. As far as we can tell, he doesn’t read, including without limitation the daily intelligence briefing. There is no way to act strategically if you don’t avail yourself of all of the relevant information or you purge the administration of the messengers of news you don’t like. As we know, stupidity is far more harmful to society than malice, as malice is at least zero-sum: someone gains when you lose. Stupid people through their actions simply harm everyone, themselves included. Think of what an improvement it would be (over Trump) to have someone hyperintelligent as POTUS, but with the exact same platform. It would be bad, but not the catastrophe that Trump has wrought by being a moron who can’t think more than 15 minutes in advance and fundamentally doesn’t seem to understand the concept of strategy.
- throwaway-11-1 1y ago
  when you say "size" of the government, what are you exactly talking about? The military budget? The amount spent on healthcare? The investment in research? Neoliberalism has been turning these into funnels to the private sector since Reagan. Like how does free market do anything other than create oligarchs? This language about "government too big" is too vague to be useful in discussion and I just assume it's cover for "punishing the poor and removing social services". ICE has a bigger budget than the Marines and FBI combined, and all the maga chuds clapped like circus seals. I don't know how to have an honest discussion about government policy with right wingers that isn't just a stream of weasel words for culture war.
  - sneak 1y ago
    I’m talking about the entire federal budget, primarily the big ones: federal healthcare and the military and adjacent paramilitary forces (like DHS/FBI/ICE). I also think the state should be entirely out of the education and research business. It of course includes the social services you speak of too, but those are barely a drop in the bucket compared to the public-private wealth transfer that is the military-industrial complex. The president simply isn’t permitted to dismantle it; there are too many stakeholders way more powerful than the holder of that single office that will not permit it.
SanjayMehta 1y ago
Vance.

aurareturn 1y ago

In case he tries another coup, one thing you could do is organize and obtain arms (and train with them) and have you and your group, as well as any other groups you can muster, near DC around late January 2029. The rule of law cannot be taken for granted. That's the risk of civil war many have feared. There will be armed groups ready to defend the constitution and then there will be opposition groups ready to defend Trump.

ethbr1 1y ago
Isolated skirmishes do not a civil war make. If there had been an armed conflict outside the Capitol on Jan 6 between pro and anti Trump citizen groups, American democracy would have been better served. Meet strength with strength. Some progressives forgot that.

subscribed 1y ago

If Trump expires, Vance will take the helm. He's propped by the well known military contractor. Behind his back, the same ghoul (Miller) will still be holding the reins. Trump was a catalyst for Project 2025, he's no longer instrumental im afraid.

aurareturn 1y ago
If Trump expires, Vance will take the helm. I don't ever see a world where Vance is president and Trump is still here. I think Vance will try to resign as president (suppose Vance wins election) and then give it back to Trump. That's actually one of the ideas people have debated on how Trump can stay on for a 3rd term. Still technically illegal but who knows?
- AnimalMuppet 1y ago
  I don't think that Vance is a complete robot. If he wins, why would he resign? Just to please Trump? What does Trump's approval mean to him once Vance is the president?
  - aurareturn 1y ago
    If he wins, why would he resign Presumably the public/voters votes for him with an understanding that he resigns.
    - AnimalMuppet 1y ago
      There's, um, at least some precedent for politicians not doing what they promised...
- subscribed 1y ago
  Oh; I meant "expires" as stops being alive :) No, I don't think he will be removed from the office - he's still beneficial to Republicans, Putin and US oligarchs.
jacquesm 1y ago

jacquesm 1y ago

He does not have to try another coup, he already succeeded.

krapp 1y ago
He didn't even need to try the first one. The moment the Democrats put Joe Biden up instead of someone the left actually cared about it was a fait accompli that Trump would win a second term.