4 ms·
Two of them jump at the command one the other one, one out of fear (because he has ended the careers of every rep that has crossed him), and the other has been
by vkou 1y ago
Two of them jump at the command one the other one, one out of fear (because he has ended the careers of every rep that has crossed him), and the other has been packed with life-time-appointment sycophants who put loyalty to the cut over anything else.
Russia (or literally any other dictatorial tyre pyre) also has three branches of government and a token opposition, for all the good it does.
Just because you have a nice piece of paper that outlines some kind of de jure separation of powers, doesn't mean shit in practice. Russia (and prior to it, the USSR) has no shortage of such pieces of paper.
- FortuneIIIPick 1y ago[flagged]
- otterley 1y agoIt’s not a fact, because it depends upon a subjective interpretation of the word “working.” Some might argue, for example, that if the President can cow Congress into subservience, then the three branches of government are no longer in balance with each other, and thus the constitution is no longer “working” as intended.
- arrozconcosas 1y agoIt can be true that the constitution is not working as intended, AND the US is a far cry from a country like Russian in terms of it operating as a constitutional republic / democracy. It is not subjective to say the US is more of a democratic country than Russia.
- otterley 1y agoI think Russia was being used as an extreme example. It wasn't being lauded as a model nation, far from it.
- curt15 1y agoMaybe not yet, but the current US president has lauded authoritarian Hungary as a model for the US.
- vkou 1y agoRome wasn't built in a day, you don't go straight from 2024 to throwing people out of windows overnight. But you get there by doing exactly what's being done on a daily basis.
- terminalshort 1y agoDepends on how he cows them into subservience. If he uses the threat of electoral defeat for opposing him, that's totally legitimate. If he uses his position as commander in chief to threaten them with force, that's different.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- otterley 1y agoIt does not matter how. The fact that he is able to do it at all illustrates a design weakness. Until recently, Presidents chose (consciously or otherwise) not to exploit that weakness. It doesn’t mean the weakness wasn’t always there.
- mrbombastic 1y agoThe power of the purse is currently being usurped by the executive branch with no pushback from a republican congress, armed forces are being deployed to American cities, media corporations are being forced to have admin installed bias police, due process is a joke, museums are being forced to remove information the admin find objectionable. You can bury your head in the sand if you like but there are plenty of us who won’t.
- chankstein38 1y agoI always think it's funny how people who have strong opinions based on nothing love to out themselves by just repeating that something is fact. clap clap We're all convinced, for sure! ;)
- otterley 1y agoIt's straight out of Charlie Kirk's playbook.
- ricardobeat 1y agoHow do you explain Trump unilaterally renaming the Ministry of Defense, without legislative approval? Is it a “working branch” if their constitutionally granted power is easily sidestepped?
- otterley 1y agoDo you mean the Department of Defense? The U.S. doesn't have ministries.
- terminalshort 1y agoI couldn't care less because it has always been and always will be the department of war whether or not the letterhead says "Department of Defense."
- nickthegreek 1y agothe dod was not officially renamed to the dow. that would take an act of congress. he gave it a secondary title.
- ricardobeat 1y agoPlaques were replaced, the secretary is now the 'Secretary of War': https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/09/08/trump-rebranded-department-of-war-aims-to-ensure-us-military-is-not-on-the-defensive_6745134_4.html https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/09/08/t... Sidestepping the legislative power is precisly the problem, regardless of how it's being done, isn't it? That's the whole point.