4 ms·

It a little different now. POTUS may not be put to bed before the sundowners hits and decide to order his minions to seize the gold on truth social.

declan_roberts 7mo ago
If there's anything the last 16 years have taught us, it is that the USA seems especially resilient to leaders with cognitive decline.
- freejazz 7mo ago
  What a bizarre conclusion
- jkubicek 7mo ago
  I’m learning the opposite lesson. The US is surprisingly fragile and a single president with no morals or ethics can do far more damage than anyone could have imagined.
  - nxor3 7mo ago
    As if the US was different pre Trump.
    - conorcleary 7mo ago
      don't be mad at the coin because it's laying the wrong way down
      - nxor3 6mo ago
        What does this even mean? The US was not different pre Trump. I live here.
        conorcleary 6mo ago
        that's what I'm getting at ;-)
  - order-matters 7mo ago
    no i believe we were taught correctly that the powers of the presidency are limited. the issue is that he is the leader of a group that is embedded into every branch of government at multiple levels. it is not hte case of a random crazy president abusing presidential power and everyone is just at the mercy of a lunatic. It is the case that every wild thing he does is upheld and supported by a large network of people who otherwise would have the power to absorb and dismiss his attempted actions.
    - rkomorn 7mo ago
      This is spot on. He's doing what he's doing because of the support he has in the other branches.
    - amluto 7mo ago
      > a group that is embedded into every branch of government at multiple levels He largely put that group in place in the executive and the judiciary.
  - usefulcat 7mo ago
    > a single president It's a lot more than "a single president". It's the two thirds of American voters who either voted for him or couldn't be bothered to vote against him, even after having seen how he behaved in his first term. That's why he's not the biggest problem. He's more of a symptom than a cause. He won't be around for ever, but even after he's gone, most of those same people will still be around.
  - bluegatty 7mo ago
    A single president with the popular approval of 40%, that's the key. Without populism, he'd have nothing. It's true that he 'duped' them, but we're all duped on some level.
- CoastalCoder 7mo ago
  I wonder. Is it possible that we're not actually that resilient, but instead it will just take tens of years for the damage to fully manifest?
- Spooky23 7mo ago
  Nah, it's more like the United States is vulnerable to 50 years of reactionaries, upset about things like civil rights for African Americans and women in particular, actively working to dismantle democratic processes. That's why farmers vote for politicians and policy that put them out of business. In my hometown, the county went from 150 dairy farms in 1990 to 3. They voted to keep their guns or whatever bullshit they were told to worry about, and were wiped off the map by the deregulation they "wanted". My little town is a rural ghetto, the richest people in town now are the school principal and state trooper. POTUS is an acute condition. The sickness lay deeper.

declan_roberts 7mo ago

If there's anything the last 16 years have taught us, it is that the USA seems especially resilient to leaders with cognitive decline.

freejazz 7mo ago
What a bizarre conclusion
jkubicek 7mo ago
I’m learning the opposite lesson. The US is surprisingly fragile and a single president with no morals or ethics can do far more damage than anyone could have imagined.
- nxor3 7mo ago
  As if the US was different pre Trump.
  - conorcleary 7mo ago
    don't be mad at the coin because it's laying the wrong way down
    - nxor3 6mo ago
      What does this even mean? The US was not different pre Trump. I live here.
      - conorcleary 6mo ago
        that's what I'm getting at ;-)
- order-matters 7mo ago
  no i believe we were taught correctly that the powers of the presidency are limited. the issue is that he is the leader of a group that is embedded into every branch of government at multiple levels. it is not hte case of a random crazy president abusing presidential power and everyone is just at the mercy of a lunatic. It is the case that every wild thing he does is upheld and supported by a large network of people who otherwise would have the power to absorb and dismiss his attempted actions.
  - rkomorn 7mo ago
    This is spot on. He's doing what he's doing because of the support he has in the other branches.
  - amluto 7mo ago
    > a group that is embedded into every branch of government at multiple levels He largely put that group in place in the executive and the judiciary.
- usefulcat 7mo ago
  > a single president It's a lot more than "a single president". It's the two thirds of American voters who either voted for him or couldn't be bothered to vote against him, even after having seen how he behaved in his first term. That's why he's not the biggest problem. He's more of a symptom than a cause. He won't be around for ever, but even after he's gone, most of those same people will still be around.
- bluegatty 7mo ago
  A single president with the popular approval of 40%, that's the key. Without populism, he'd have nothing. It's true that he 'duped' them, but we're all duped on some level.
CoastalCoder 7mo ago
I wonder. Is it possible that we're not actually that resilient, but instead it will just take tens of years for the damage to fully manifest?
Spooky23 7mo ago
Nah, it's more like the United States is vulnerable to 50 years of reactionaries, upset about things like civil rights for African Americans and women in particular, actively working to dismantle democratic processes. That's why farmers vote for politicians and policy that put them out of business. In my hometown, the county went from 150 dairy farms in 1990 to 3. They voted to keep their guns or whatever bullshit they were told to worry about, and were wiped off the map by the deregulation they "wanted". My little town is a rural ghetto, the richest people in town now are the school principal and state trooper. POTUS is an acute condition. The sickness lay deeper.