Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/11/02/kurt-eichenwalds-twitter-thr.html
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I’m confused. Does Eichenwald think we should just not have a primary? Of course we’re going to argue about the differences between the potential nominees. And that’s not raging, that’s how the damn thing is supposed to work.
What happened in 2016 is that people refused to vote or voted independent because they failed to set aside those differences once HRC was nominated, not because they argued she shouldn’t be nominated during the primary season. And yeah, unfuck those people, especially if they do that again. But this hand-wringing about primary criticism of candidates being dangerous is a load of horseshit.
Debate doesn’t destroy democracy. Not voting and telling people to shut up and not dissent destroys democracy.
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Fuck dude. Don’t give him ideas.
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That’s when it becomes our duty to go to the White House a million strong and ride him out of town on a rail Kurt.
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How do you think “We The People” would respond? Not well I think. I presume there would be a profound backlash to such dictatorial move.
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Where are all those 2nd Amendment Solution™ people that were so vocal during the Obama Administration?
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Tar and feathers- it’s traditional.
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Ahahaha. Nice idea, but all that he’d need to do is arrest and/or disappear a small percentage of ‘radical terrorists’ and the vast majority of (white) people would simmer down and go back to their Netflix accounts. How many of us would take to the streets if a percentage of our friends and family had been disappeared?
I’d like to think a lot of us, but the truth is that most people would hunker down and hope for the best.
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We’re probably not us.
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This is remarkably dumb, even for Eichenwald.
Nah. Just kidding. It’s perfectly normally dumb for Eichenwald.
If he did that — massive If — he’d be impeached. He has no emergency powers over that. And anyone who supported him, in the line of succession, would also be impeached.
This isn’t a serious thing. That it’s not from a serious person should’ve been a clue.
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Don’t you mean convicted by the Senate? Clinton was impeached by the House and carried on just fine.
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Just like he would be impeached for accepting help from the Russians to get elected, for pressuring Ukrane and other allies for dirt on his political opponents, inviting violence at his political rallies against his political opponents, using his position to siphon money out of the government for his companies, or any of the other impeachable things that I’m sure you’ll assure me he hasn’t done?
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I was a bit confused by that, too. 2020 is a crisis point for American liberal democracy, to be sure, and his scenario is no longer improbable. I’d also love to see the also-rans in the Dem primary follow Beto’s lead and drop out soon so we can zero in on a more substantive debate between the top 4 or 5 prospective nominees over the next six months. However, the primaries can’t be cancelled and the issues the candidates are discussing can’t just be ignored.
Once the Dem convention is over, we unite behind the nominee – even if it’s someone we dislike – to kick out this scumbag regime. And if Il Douche and his henchmen try to cancel the elections as Eichenwald describes (or if Biff gets a second term, which is very possible if Biden gets the nomination), we fight or resist or escape as personal circumstances allow.
Sadly true. Despite all the 2nd Amendment bluster, America isn’t exceptional in that regard. Your typical white American citizen would acquiesce to authoritarianism (if not embrace it) just as your typical Russian and Chinese citizen does now. Unless (or, in Il Douche’s case, until) a regime is stupid enough to start a war against a comparable world power, life can go along as normal for most of its subjects (a few additional “minor” changes being allowed for with every passing year, of course).
Happy Mutants are definitely not those typical Americans. BoingBoing and similar sites would be shut down or harried out of existence or used as honeypots if Eichenwald’s scenario came to pass.
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Trump is personally a coward though.
He’d crap his pants and book out to Turnberry ASAP.
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I sort of agree, but his argument that it would be legal is risible. It could happen, but of the two ways it could go down, Rwandan genocide style or SCOTUS kicking Toad out, neither would go the way Eichenwald seems to imagine. And, to be blunt, the fragility of democracy is hardly a revelation.
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I feel like this argument is skipping over several steps
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And Scotland will be waiting for him.
We’ll make him swim to Ailsa Craig.
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It depends on a lot of factors, but the main thing that would cause a bully like him to run away would be the loss of the toadies, cronies and thugs that he surrounds himself with. Despite lots of rats deserting his ship, though, other even more pestilent ones seem to arrive to replace them (while others make their way into corporate America, like Google’s new child-cager).
I’d love to see him choose Turnberry for his safe haven, though. The Scots would be waiting to welcome him with torches and pitchforks and broken beer bottles.
I’m not saying it would be legal, just that an attempt to cancel elections wouldn’t be improbable anymore. Even trying it and failing would do a terrible amount of damage to liberal democracy in America.
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Certainly. I meant only that his scenario was flawed, but I agree entirely with you that the underlying breakdown is woefully far from impossible.
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