5 ms·

Completely authoritarian and unacceptable. This entire saga shows the American political system has serious flaws where it cannot hold the executive branch acco

Completely authoritarian and unacceptable. This entire saga shows the American political system has serious flaws where it cannot hold the executive branch accountable.

hackingonempty 9mo ago
It is not a flaw but a choice made by the GOP.
- deleted 9mo ago
  [deleted]
- foweltschmerz 9mo ago
  If it can be exploited by a bad actor, it is a flaw.
  - BobaFloutist 9mo ago
    Everything can be exploited by a bad actor if the bad actor is put in a position of authority over it. There's no democratic system of government that's completely immune to a majority of voters actively trying to erode and damage the system.
- SpicyLemonZest 9mo ago
  This story in particular seems like a flaw. There should not be such a thing as a privilege that the executive branch can revoke with no explanation or process.
- BrenBarn 9mo ago
  The flaw is that they are able to make such a choice.
  - direwolf20 9mo ago
    Every government is always able to turn totalitarian. That's why voting is important. You don't vote for the totalitarian.
    - jjav 9mo ago
      Well yes, but the US was supposed to have three separate branches of government to keep each other in check. Unfortunately turns out that in practice two of the three don't actually have any power at all when push comes to shove.
      - direwolf20 9mo ago
        It was a long period of time voting for totalitarians. Checks and balances worked by design: preventing immediate radical changes. And they worked by design: allowing changes gradually over a period of time if people keep voting for the same thing. And now it's here.
      - jamincan 9mo ago
        I think Congress does have power, it's just chosen not to wield it to control this presidency.
        jjav 9mo ago
        Based on what we've seen of the courts, I have doubts about that. Congress does not have an army they can send out to enforce any law they pass, so turns out the president can simply just ignore it all without consequences. What are they going to do?
        direwolf20 9mo ago
        Courts don't have an army either. Only the executive has an army. Actually the president doesn't have an army. The generals have an army. You know we've never invented a system that stops the guys who have an army from taking over the guys who don't have an army, and we call it a coup d'etat, and it happens all over the world with some regularity. The best we can do is make sure the guys who have the army are guys who are committed to the wellbeing of the country.
clipsy 9mo ago
It's not "cannot" but "will not", and the flaw is not with the American political system but with the GOP and the American populace. Congress could absolutely rein this in at any time if Republicans in Congress cared to do so; the Supreme Court could rein this in at any time if the Republicans on the Supreme Court cared to do so. Do not let yourself be convinced that the problem is Trump or a too-powerful executive; the problem is an entire party and the people who cheerfully vote for it.
- zeroonetwothree 9mo ago
  SCOTUS can only rule on cases presented to it. AFAIK there has not been a relevant case submitted to them.
  - MengerSponge 9mo ago
    SCOTUS has already ruled on cases that were presented to them and now we're contending with a mad king.
  - bsder 9mo ago
    How on earth can you say that with a straight face? > Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases. The extent of ICE’s noncompliance is almost certainly substantially understated. This list is confined to orders issued since January 1, 2026, and the list was hurriedly compiled by extraordinarily busy judges. > ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence. Ref: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230171/gov.uscourts.mnd.230171.10.0_1.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230... This is an official filing--facts, not a news report. A judge placed his job on the line and said these things in a written, filed, official ruling. The problem isn't judicial rulings; the problems are petulant bullies who simply ignore the rulings; and completely subservient sycophants who only can say "As you wish, master."
- SilverElfin 9mo ago
  I agree the voters and party are a problem, but disagree that we shouldn’t do more. We need better checks and balances on an administration that willfully and casually violates constitutional rights all the time. Not to mention the constant corruption and grifting that enriches the Trump family. We should have a system that can protect against this even when the majority makes a bad voting decision.
nickff 9mo ago
The American political system has definite problems, but so does every other system. If you rank democracies by any metric, the USA has done rather well, if not the best. If you disagree with that statement, I invite you to list the countries you consider democratic, in your order of ‘successfulness’.
- kortex 9mo ago
  Lol nowhere near the best, unfortunately. By multiple rankings. https://www.democracymatrix.com/ranking https://www.democracymatrix.com/ranking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu
  - nickff 9mo ago
    [flagged]
    - SilverElfin 9mo ago
      Yes, and in part because of that. The way they teach history and make their citizens resistant to authoritarianism through schooling is different from the really basic ways history is taught in America.
    - HWR_14 9mo ago
      The Germans have a new constitution and have kept the Nazis out of power with the new one.
      - direwolf20 9mo ago
        So far. Between a quarter and a fifth of the country, however, currently votes for the Nazi party.
    - defrost 9mo ago
      The US literally elected Trump. Not that they had a wide field of choice and not that they can actually fire him. Both reasons the US political system isn't all that great - it nosedived into a two party Hotelling's Law quagmire despite the founders being against party politics. It's hardly suprising a system centuries old and creaking failed to scale. Washminster systems are a literal reaction to the cracks in the Westminster and Washington systems. Maybe check those American Exceptionalism / Manifest Destiny blinkers and look about a little, it's hard to see out of a rut.
jaybrendansmith 9mo ago
Agree. This is absolutely unacceptable by any measurement you can name. They are not respecting equality under the law, they are behaving like a terrorist regime. Every one of these people needs to be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent the US Constitution allows. End of Story.
rasz 9mo ago
"While becoming a U.S. citizen, Kurt Gödel confided in his friend Albert Einstein that he had found an inconsistency in the U.S. Constitution that would allow the U.S. to become a dictatorship, causing Einstein to worry that Gödel's unpredictability would lead to his application being denied." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del#Princeton,_Einstein,_U.S._citizenship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del#Princeton,_Ein...

Completely authoritarian and unacceptable. This entire saga shows the American political system has serious flaws where it cannot hold the executive branch accountable.

hackingonempty 9mo ago

It is not a flaw but a choice made by the GOP.

deleted 9mo ago
[deleted]
foweltschmerz 9mo ago
If it can be exploited by a bad actor, it is a flaw.
- BobaFloutist 9mo ago
  Everything can be exploited by a bad actor if the bad actor is put in a position of authority over it. There's no democratic system of government that's completely immune to a majority of voters actively trying to erode and damage the system.
SpicyLemonZest 9mo ago
This story in particular seems like a flaw. There should not be such a thing as a privilege that the executive branch can revoke with no explanation or process.
BrenBarn 9mo ago
The flaw is that they are able to make such a choice.
- direwolf20 9mo ago
  Every government is always able to turn totalitarian. That's why voting is important. You don't vote for the totalitarian.
  - jjav 9mo ago
    Well yes, but the US was supposed to have three separate branches of government to keep each other in check. Unfortunately turns out that in practice two of the three don't actually have any power at all when push comes to shove.
    - direwolf20 9mo ago
      It was a long period of time voting for totalitarians. Checks and balances worked by design: preventing immediate radical changes. And they worked by design: allowing changes gradually over a period of time if people keep voting for the same thing. And now it's here.
    - jamincan 9mo ago
      I think Congress does have power, it's just chosen not to wield it to control this presidency.
      - jjav 9mo ago
        Based on what we've seen of the courts, I have doubts about that. Congress does not have an army they can send out to enforce any law they pass, so turns out the president can simply just ignore it all without consequences. What are they going to do?
        direwolf20 9mo ago
        Courts don't have an army either. Only the executive has an army. Actually the president doesn't have an army. The generals have an army. You know we've never invented a system that stops the guys who have an army from taking over the guys who don't have an army, and we call it a coup d'etat, and it happens all over the world with some regularity. The best we can do is make sure the guys who have the army are guys who are committed to the wellbeing of the country.

clipsy 9mo ago

It's not "cannot" but "will not", and the flaw is not with the American political system but with the GOP and the American populace. Congress could absolutely rein this in at any time if Republicans in Congress cared to do so; the Supreme Court could rein this in at any time if the Republicans on the Supreme Court cared to do so. Do not let yourself be convinced that the problem is Trump or a too-powerful executive; the problem is an entire party and the people who cheerfully vote for it.

zeroonetwothree 9mo ago
SCOTUS can only rule on cases presented to it. AFAIK there has not been a relevant case submitted to them.
- MengerSponge 9mo ago
  SCOTUS has already ruled on cases that were presented to them and now we're contending with a mad king.
- bsder 9mo ago
  How on earth can you say that with a straight face? > Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases. The extent of ICE’s noncompliance is almost certainly substantially understated. This list is confined to orders issued since January 1, 2026, and the list was hurriedly compiled by extraordinarily busy judges. > ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence. Ref: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230171/gov.uscourts.mnd.230171.10.0_1.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.230... This is an official filing--facts, not a news report. A judge placed his job on the line and said these things in a written, filed, official ruling. The problem isn't judicial rulings; the problems are petulant bullies who simply ignore the rulings; and completely subservient sycophants who only can say "As you wish, master."
SilverElfin 9mo ago
I agree the voters and party are a problem, but disagree that we shouldn’t do more. We need better checks and balances on an administration that willfully and casually violates constitutional rights all the time. Not to mention the constant corruption and grifting that enriches the Trump family. We should have a system that can protect against this even when the majority makes a bad voting decision.

nickff 9mo ago

The American political system has definite problems, but so does every other system. If you rank democracies by any metric, the USA has done rather well, if not the best. If you disagree with that statement, I invite you to list the countries you consider democratic, in your order of ‘successfulness’.

kortex 9mo ago
Lol nowhere near the best, unfortunately. By multiple rankings. https://www.democracymatrix.com/ranking https://www.democracymatrix.com/ranking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/democracy-index-eiu
- nickff 9mo ago
  [flagged]
  - SilverElfin 9mo ago
    Yes, and in part because of that. The way they teach history and make their citizens resistant to authoritarianism through schooling is different from the really basic ways history is taught in America.
  - HWR_14 9mo ago
    The Germans have a new constitution and have kept the Nazis out of power with the new one.
    - direwolf20 9mo ago
      So far. Between a quarter and a fifth of the country, however, currently votes for the Nazi party.
  - defrost 9mo ago
    The US literally elected Trump. Not that they had a wide field of choice and not that they can actually fire him. Both reasons the US political system isn't all that great - it nosedived into a two party Hotelling's Law quagmire despite the founders being against party politics. It's hardly suprising a system centuries old and creaking failed to scale. Washminster systems are a literal reaction to the cracks in the Westminster and Washington systems. Maybe check those American Exceptionalism / Manifest Destiny blinkers and look about a little, it's hard to see out of a rut.

jaybrendansmith 9mo ago

Agree. This is absolutely unacceptable by any measurement you can name. They are not respecting equality under the law, they are behaving like a terrorist regime. Every one of these people needs to be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent the US Constitution allows. End of Story.

rasz 9mo ago

"While becoming a U.S. citizen, Kurt Gödel confided in his friend Albert Einstein that he had found an inconsistency in the U.S. Constitution that would allow the U.S. to become a dictatorship, causing Einstein to worry that Gödel's unpredictability would lead to his application being denied." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del#Princeton,_Einstein,_U.S._citizenship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del#Princeton,_Ein...