in the 10 minutes of the Rogan interview I could stomach he talked about how surreal it all was, how it was a joke, he didn't want to be a politician, and he didn't expect to win.
He was expecting it this time and he knows what he can get away with.
Luckily, the process of repealing or changing an amendment likely won’t change anytime soon, even with a Republican trifecta at the federal level, as it requires overwhelming public support. As outlined in Article 5 of the Constitution, any such change requires at least two-thirds of the Senate and the House to agree on the modification, with that change then requiring ratification by a minimum of three-quarters of states in the nation.
I wouldn't be so confident. If the majority decides to ignore it, then a constitution suddenly holds very little weight. Remember how the Roman Empire was once a Republic, until someone decided it wasn't anymore? Remember how 1930s Germany was a democracy, until someone decided that had to end?
Trump might argue some weird logic regarding the 22nd and 12th amendment. Or he might just declare a state of national emergency because of a new migrant caravan or some such shit, and postpone elections indefinitely. If he tries anything of the sort, it will all come down to whose side the military is on.
Burn the senate building, arrest some democrat kid and say there is a deep state satanic conspiracy with the democrats to destroy the God Appointed Trump Presidency, throw fake news all over the place and call for another election and/or emergency bill that gives him unlimited power.
What is that thing about story not repeating itself but rhyming?
Yeah, and that fuckwits name was Paul von Hindenburg in Germany.
The fall of the Roman Republic was way more complex though wasn't it? Like the Senate killed Ceaser and then voted to give his son unlimited tenure as Commander In Chief? There's a lot to unpack there
I didn't mean "someone" this literally. In both cases, many people were directly involved or allowed things to happen by not intervening.
My point was the more general one that a system of government only remains in place for as long as those who have the power want it to. (Whoever that may be: an elite, the people, the military, the clergy, some combination...) The US seems to be entering a phase where a big part of those in power wants to move from liberal democracy towards authoritarianism. If they turn out to have a stable majority and follow through with their plans, then the US Constitution won't be worth more than the paper it was written on.
Can he just run as someone else's VP and then the someone else abdicates or whatever? No messing with constitution required. Obviously requires a lot of trust though.
He is 78, in awful health, and has no interest in a legacy or supporting a successor. He keeps everyone around him at odds and maintains enough infighting that no clear heir apparent could really show up.
So like, he really only will hold power long enough to make everything terrible. So we got that goin for us.
You know how long Caesar was dictator for life before he was assassinated? Less than a year.
But the damage was done, and Rome had a civil war over whether it would go back to being a Republic like it had been or if it would have an autocratic ruler. Obviously, the latter won out.
Let's not lump Trump in with Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was a war hero and a capable leader who's final crimes were giving out citizenship and housing.
Trump's final crimes will be giving all our state secrets to every other government in the world and obliterating our infrastructure.
Yep, when trump dies his "movement" explodes. They won't consolidate around one, and trump would never have a clear successor because then he risks everyone siding with them.
MAGA ain't a movement it's a person.
When he's gone the knives come out and the party will balkanize itself
I find it equally likely he tries to be in power until his last breath as it is for him to set the White House ablaze just before handing the keys to it's next owner.
Well, we're going to see plenty of new crimes in the next 4 years, and Trump is going to be motivated to stay out of jail if it's even still remotely possible. I think he's going to do everything he can to stay president until he's actually dead or incapacitated.
Remember, the Constitution is just a really old piece of paper if the people entrusted to enforce it choose to ignore it.
There is a non-zero chance that Trump could move to suspend the Constitution entirely, backed by a complicit Cabinet, Congress, Supreme Court and several state governments. And at that point, we would literally have to hope and pray that the rank-and-file military is on the side of the people, which is far, far from guaranteed. Because if they're not, you can claim your Constitutional rights all you want, but you'll be doing it with the other prisoners inside of whatever re-education camp you're assigned to.
Heck, there's a non-zero chance that the American voter just gives off a collective "meh" and just apathetically lets Trump seize total power. We just saw a few million people do just that.
Wow, already in the first week. Expect to hear this joke periodically over the course of his term, each time getting slightly more seriously stated. By the third year, everyone will have heard it so much it'll be accepted as a perfectly reasonable idea. And the media will help that along in how they report on it. This is the tried and true playbook and it will work, not only for this plan but for their other plans.
Take for example the planned mass deportations. They'll start out with finding some people who have committed crimes (or they claim have), deport them and no one will object to that, it's already how it's done. As they move on to those whose crimes are not very consequential, like traffic tickets or whatever, if libs say anything against it, they'll pounce on it and amplify stories how the libs are overreacting and want criminals to be left free and have open borders. Harping on any criticism in cases that are technically justified is key to getting the public used to pooh-poohing any dissent as they start escalating and going after the law-abiding (other than being here illegally ofc) immigrants, families with mixed status members, DACA/Dreamers, parents of children born here and thus citizens and deporting the children with them, etc.
Let me get this right. So, you know exactly who this man is and what he stands for. Yet, you elect him anyway. You know he's been "joking" about this before. Yet, you elect him anyway. He's a convicted felon. Yet, you elect him anyway.
I've lost every smidgen of respect I had for Americans. You went into this with eyes wide open. You deserve what's coming.
Same. I voted on the first day of early voting, and convinced my nephew and his two best friends to cast their first (and likely last) votes. My niece is 15; I'm sure she'll be glad to hear she "deserves" what's coming.
He's talking broadly, to Americans. Which you and I are. And he's right, we deserve this. As a country.
As an individual, neither of us do, since we fought and voted against him. But that's not what OP was saying. He wasn't addressing you specifically, but our nation in the second person.
Let me get this right. So, you know exactly who this man is and what he stands for. Yet, you elect him anyway. You know he's been "joking" about this before. Yet, you elect him anyway. He's a convicted felon. Yet, you elect him anyway.
I've lost every smidgen of respect I had for Americans. You went into this with eyes wide open. You deserve what's coming.
60% of eligible voters didn't vote. It can be debated if they are complacent or if party leadership didn't Sufficiently motivate them to vote
Of the 40% eligible voters that did vote, 50% voted for trump and 48% voted for Harris.
So depending on how you look at it, 19% of eligible voters actively didn't vote for Trump, or 20% of eligible voters actively voted for Trump.
We could also go on to say that, of those who voted for trump, there was a portion that was not informed which could partially be blamed on the media as well as party leaderships. Some of them are just in a cult mentality and while that doesn't excuse their behavior, they are actively being manipulated. And then there are a bunch of voters who genuinely just want to watch the world burn.
I'm sure we could dissect this many ways, but i can can't see how everyone deserves what's coming. For example , I didn't ask for this. I actively volunteered my time to try to prevent it. Yeah, a good chunk of Americans are idiots. But not all of us deserve what's coming. Fuck that.
I’ve lost every smidgen of respect I had for Americans.
Says the guy who is happy to damn tens of millions of people who didn't vote for this (not to mention all the kids and such) right along with those who did.
Hey, I'm in the US, I voted against Trump, I'm likely going to suffer if he is able to accomplish a smidgen of what he has talked about, and I think we got what we deserved. I know a lot of innocent people are going to suffer, but this is a country of very selfish people. Even some of the most liberal people I have met in this country still have a very selfish mindset and reason for the liberal bent. As soon as they attain a position where they have an advantage they basically pull up the ladder. I'm personally tired of it.
People are going to die, ecosystems are going to burn, countries may very well fall. My only hope is that things only get bad enough that the masses learn an important lesson that at least lasts for their generation and that recovery is possible in that time frame.
It's not that I don't care. It's not even that I don't have the fight left in me. I just don't see any kind of path to a better place without substantial harm occurring first. I will not be happy to be right. I want to be wrong.
George W. Bush made a joke about being a dictator, but never tried to actually be one. Trump has been trying to be a dictator from the moment he was born...
I don't see him lasting his full term. Dude's old, is incredibly unhealthy, and has enough power-mad people around him that the first sign of weakness will probably be enough for medical intervention and Vance becoming president. Becoming president AGAIN at his age is possibly the dumbest thing he can do for his health.
Sadly his Klan loving father lived to 93, and being POTUS is like having a dedicated one person ER following you around.
Also, the office only ages you if you're committed to performing the job, Trump uses the office to troll the people he can troll and, more urgently, personally profit for anyone that offers him or his businesses a bribe in exchange for a Presidential act. He doesn't work even in business, he issues broad, pie in the sky dictates and encourages his own employees infighting about the details. He's bragged about this.
Trump was the first President in my lifetime to accelerate the aging of those he governed rather than himself. Like so many other things people seem to forget, he spent a lot of his first term golfing.
Not that I'm complaining on that point, golf motherfucker! Do less!
This is something I don't think they even acknowledge or think about. Some of their shit in comparing him to Hitler (and they do that in a positive manner) is when they claim that some of the shit that is happening to him is like him being imprisoned after the Beer Hall Putsch (referring to Jan 6th). This is stupid. Hitler was barely in his early 30s at the time and he was actually at the START of his political career. Trump was never imprisoned and when he did his shit he already had very real political power that Hitler never had in 1923.
Trump the oldest presidential nominee ever and I hope that he will stay the oldest. We don't need that kind of geriatic shit in any political office anywhere.
He won't stay in power. His appointment of incompetent sycophants will dismantle 250 years of American prosperity (maliciously or negligently, it doesn't matter) and it will be sold for parts to billionaires and foreign states.
All it takes is one fair election to be won decisively by an autocrat. The democratic party handed it to this shit head. Worst yet, he doesn't even have to rig the election system because the democrat party is fucking incapable of attracting voters and it doesn't look like they are going to fix what is broken about the party.
It's just a joke 🤣... he's got like 5 years of good cognitive abilities tops. Then after he'll be like all the other old farts. Barely makes any sense and is just totally old and dilapidated. No way they're gonna keep him in power then. He might just croak.