They are not going to stop, no matter how much we protest. Opposition politicians are outvoted - they can not stop them.
What can we do?
Sway uncertain Republicans - ie McCain and the few others like him.
Support state and city governments that are resisting.
Resist normalization.
Document evidence.
Fight dirty.
I’d be shocked if it didn’t occur to them (or someone) to set up their own rogue agency account. I haven’t looked at the others, but this one definitely doesn’t look like it’s being operated by conscientious civil servants.
It seems to be an assumption on the right that the protests are “shrill and vulgar” and only serve to undermine the left. I can’t quite follow that line of reasoning and suspect that they may be miscalculating.
He doesn’t have to be, the GOP let’s them both get away with literally everything they want.
I love the analogy of the Dems trying to play a “principled” board game with the GOP as the GOP locks them inside the house and sets it on fire.
Nah, it was just gas. 
Actually we agree quite a bit – I believe that many/most “conspiracies” through history are people covering their asses, because they probably SHOULD have been able to prevent something from happening, even maybe had knowledge, and failed to do so, often through ineptitude.
What is different here is that the Trump administration has been extremely clear and bold in its vision and plan. Many said “don’t take him literally, but take him seriously.” What we’re now seeing is that they should have been taken both seriously AND literally. They are not making any bones about wanting to reshape American society. It is not hush-hush. So I’m not really claiming a conspiracy, I’m just saying that these people are making bold moves involving real power, very much according to what they laid out, and we should be extremely careful because of that. I’m not claiming they’re super-geniuses or anything, but shit, they don’t HAVE to be, and neither were other fascists throughout history.
On the question of mad genius vs bumbling idiot, I look at it as a sort of Pascal’s Wager - high likelihood of the latter, but the consequences of the former are so serious that I have to assume the worst and be vigilant to take any available, legal action to resist until bumbling idiocy is proven and/or regime is toppled. I will enjoy nothing more than being proven to be overreacting out of unwarranted paranoia at some future point, but suspect it’s more likely that I will see nuclear weapons used in my lifetime, an eventuality that I must admit I had grown accustomed to ignoring since the USSR broke up.
yup. They are already fighting dirty. If you appeal to what is fair and right, they are laughing at us.
We don’t have to appeal to THEM with ideas of what is good and right, we have to appeal to the majority who already support what is good and what is right. But the majority must not be silent – they must act, and decisively. It may yet come to something resembling the Velvet Revolution (best case scenario).
Many people. Although one of them is Louise Mensch and I hate agreeing with her.
hmmm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Revolution
Then we need to put it to Trump. Step Down, leave the country. If you invoke violence against us, then the gloves are off. You can look forward to the being dragged through the streets thing.
It’s a restatement of Occam’s Razor, which proceeds from pretty sound first principles.
I guess it also nods to the fact that projecting an emotional narrative (such as the nebulous “malice”) onto someone’s actions is often not very useful in predicting them.
My feeling on all this is, yes, things are moving in a highly alarming direction. But that is all the more reason not to be moved by panic. Adrenaline is not there to make you freak out and flip the car over; it’s there to make you intensely alert and swiftly decisive so you can (hopefully) regain control and stay on the road.
I think the play is to not deny what is happening, but also be very careful about what is speculation and what is real, and respond only to what is currently real. And the more urgently you want to respond to something, the more you should think about your response. In particular, don’t attack Turmp supporters; be on their side, but be clear that you disagree with Turmp on [insert anything he’s ever said].
An excellent guideline, though one I’m disregarding in the case of Bannon since he has gone on public record–gleefully so–saying that he wants to destroy the system and watch it burn.
In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Is this OUR pizzagate?
This.
hitler and his crowd were exactly as incompetent as tRump and his group, as to experience in government. None of them had even been officers in the army, which would have given them at least logistics and training experience. Didn’t really stop them.
Occam’s Razor is total and complete BS IMHO, as it utterly fails to align with nondualistic principles, which IMHO are much closer to “truth.” Using it in an argument, I have to say, seems to be a cop-out. If you can tell me how what we know about quantum physics adheres to Occam’s Razor, I’ll reconsider.
“I remember discussions with Bohr which went through many hours till very late at night and ended almost in despair; and when at the end of the discussion I went alone for a walk in the neighbouring park I repeated to myself again and again the question: Can nature possibly be so absurd as it seemed to us in these atomic experiments?”
― Werner Heisenberg
Since Congress isn’t doing anything about it, he appears to have their implicit consent. If anyone makes a stink about it they’ll simply make it explicit.
Forcing the vote is absolutely worthwhile IMHO.
In politics, fortune favors the prepared knife.
