And a judiciary and legislative branch that is subservient to his whims. The founders assumed that given a tyrannical president that the other co-equal branches would step in and put a stop to it. Not that they would hop on to the bandwagon and cheerlead it.
Another way that the Electoral college could be fixed is by fixing the Senate:
In reality though, so many big fixes need to be applied to the US system that would all take huge majorities or constitutional amendments to implement:
- Admitting PR and DC as States
- Moving to a proportional voting system
- Overturning Citizens United
- Reform of the Supreme Court
It’s possible to worry about multiple things at once, you know.
Caputo wanted his people to listen to the Grateful Dead? WTH?
I’m not a Dead fan, but did the alt-right appropriate the Dead when we weren’t looking? And do the remaining members know this? (I know several people who will be crushed.)
No. A shithead liking something doesn’t turn that thing into a shithead thing. Not all vegetarians are Nazis.
I have Hawaiian shirts probably older than a lot of Boogaloo boyz. If they want a uniform, they should try some classic Hugo Boss.
Maybe Caputo ate the brown acid?
As an outside observer I always wonder when I see Americans saying this like “Well, the Constitution specifies that X will happen”, as if that means that of course X will happen.
The thing is, the Constitution is just a piece of paper. Expecting it to be universally obeyed is like expecting people not to steal because there’s laws against it.
The real question is, if Trump orders (eg) the Marine Corps to arrest Biden, would they obey? I’m sure there’s all sorts of bits of paper saying whether they’re legally allowed to or not, but at the end of the day the only important thing is whether the person on the other end of the phone wants to obey Trump’s orders.
I’m not saying that a military coup is likely, I’m just pointing out that people generally only obey laws when it suits them. Especially when people know that if they break the law to get Trump re-elected, they won’t get into any trouble as long as he wins.
2016 had already thrown us a far less serious Black Swan event, although in the US only soccer fans would have noticed it.
No one expected Leicester City to win the Premier League, most expected them to be relegated to the Championship. They were 5000-1 to win at the start of the season.
When Gary Lineker said that he would present Match of the Day in his underwear if Leicester won it he didn’t expect he would have to, and he’s a Leicester City fan and hero.
Although you are correct that the constitution is not exactly magical and is violated by the government from time to time, there is one difference. To some of us from other countries, what is most amazing about the US is that when the constitution is violated, even by the highest authorities or even the military, some person or group is actually able to sue. They are not killed the next morning or dissapeared and more often than not will eventually prevail if they have a good case. In most countries this is just not the case. Constitutions are almost completely ignored vanity pieces, often written in pencil and when violated you just roll your eyes as this is just the nature of things and trudge on.
My answer from 2018 not getting any less plausible as the time draws near…
He would be removed, kicking and screaming perhaps but removed. The danger, of course would be violent people on both sides who thrive on conflict, victimhood, and richeousness who have been stoked into a frenzy by their side’s press and their own incestuous amplification. Constantly demonizing, othering, and dehumanizing anyone who does not believe every aspect of their ideological doctrine (religion) is a dangerous and stupid formula for violence.
It looks like China and Russia are already trying to “help us out”. Only problem is they are each operating for different sides of this election, so in your doomsday scenario we end up with some sort of Germanic, East/West USA with a big wall down the middle, a la Man in the high castle.
To PEOPLE. This is going to happen to people. And it won’t be the people who have historically overwhelmingly benefited from those institutions, it will be the already vulnerable and victimized by those institutions.
I think the “burn it down” is a neat bumper sticker, but the reality is that untold damage would occur from a collapse of our government, and there is every chance that whatever replaced our current system would leave us nostalgic for the days of our flawed constitutional republic.
If you want to make a comparison to Nazi Germany, are you prepared to accept the level of devastation and suffering it took to wipe that slate clean? Let’s not beat around the bush here, would it be worth it for Washington DC, Chicago, LA, and New York to look like this?
His violations of the Emoluments clause and the Posse Comitatus Act, with no real consequences, support your point.
People are beside the point in the class struggle, comrade! The worse the better!
After all, when has accelerationism ever gone wrong?
I mean, the POINT should be to head off violence and mass destruction, right?
I think the real discussion is probably outside the scope of the title question anyway. If he loses, everything will probably be fine, eventually. The real question is will his cadre in the Executive, his cronies in Congress, and his brown shirts at the polls keep him from losing.