"They sketched chillingly plausible chains of potential actions and reactions that could unravel the nation. 'I think it would be the end of the republic,' says Princeton University professor Sean Wilentz, one of the historians President Biden consulted in August about America’s teetering democracy. 'It would be a kind of overthrow from within. … It would be a coup of the way we’ve always understood America.'"
From "What Will Happen to America if Trump Wins Again? Experts Helped Us Game It Out. The scenarios are ... grim" (WaPo).
The experts foresee "Phase 1: Trump seizes control of the government... And installs super loyalists.... He governs without Senate advice and consent.... He creates a MAGA civil service."
And then: "Phase 2: Trump deploys the military aggressively at home, while retreating abroad.... He uses the military to promote his own political power.... American global leadership is finished — much to Putin’s delight.... Intelligence work is harmed...."
Next: "Phase 3: Political violence and democratic collapse? It’s possible.... Ideological, racial and ethnic tensions ramp up.... The bonds that bind the Union loosen.... The chances of civil war increase.... It wouldn’t be an 1860s-style civil war of states vs. states; if it did come to pass, [polisci prof Barbara Walter] says, 'the type of war we’re going to see is an insurgency. … [Participants] are going to fight a type of guerrilla war, a siege of terror that’s going to be targeted very specifically at certain individuals and certain groups of people, all civilians.'"
I would think most of us are inured to this kind of fear-mongering by now. They act as though they're desperate to save America, but they evince so little faith in America. They think one man can come along and simply take over everything by sheer will.
पोस्ट्स
१५७ टिप्पण्या:
This is some of the stupidest shit I’ve ever seen.
‘Experts.’
Or he takes office while rioters riot in DC, followed by nationwide protests of special interest groups, followed by attempts to destroy him politically through really dirty political shenanigans that go on for his entire term. Oh, wait, that was 2016-2020.
Isn’t this happening as we speak? Kind of surveying the landscape out there and yup, can pretty much check most of that off.
“Trump seizes control of the government... And installs super loyalists.... He governs without Senate advice and consent.”
I’m sure I won’t be the first to say: Exactly as Biden has done—jailing political prisoners without bail for exercising 1st Amendment rights, having the DoJ go after people for having the “wrong” views on abortion, unilaterally canceling student loans (or trying to), and on and on.
wait a minute! Wait JUST a goshdarned Minute!!
are you saying? That the WaPoo doesn't think it would be 'good' for Trump to be reelected?
WOW!!!
These are top flight idiots. Trump exhibited no such tendencies the first time around. Why do they hope that he would do this the next time? Yes, I said hope. It is their wet dream, only they want THEIR guy to be the one to do it.
mikee said...
Or he takes office while rioters riot in DC,
WHEN Trump is reelected,
AND the AnteFa branch of the democrat party takes over the US Capitol, Beating and KILLING Senators..
Does Anyone on earth (ANYONE? Any one at all?) think that the WaPoo will have a problem with it?
If you have a kid at Princeton, pull them out immediately.
This professor is a fucking idiot.
Of course, if you have a kid at Princeton, you probably believe all of this nonsense.
"End of the republic" my ass...
Btw, are these the same 'experts' who said the Hunter laptop was Russian disinformation?
The ones who made that declaration without ever seeing the contents?
"Phase 1: Trump seizes control of the government" has to be satire based on Phase 2 of the Underpants Gnomes' strategic plan -- otherwise it means experts' understanding of how the federal government works is exponentially stupider than Trump's.
Most conservatives can't even construct these scenarios. That's some imagination, at best. At worst, it's a projection of the Left's brainstorming for their own campaign.
Phase 1: Trump seizes control of the government
Show your work: Does he send Jared over to the Pentagon and Justice Department to threaten to kick their respective asses?
Where do I sign up?
Projection at its finest.
"They think one man can come along and simply take over everything by sheer will."
No they don't. But they want others to think so.
Projection at its finest.
The Clinton campaign, the DNC, and their media allies promoted Trump. If you oppose Trump, they are your legitimate targets.
“he governs without Senate Advice and Consent….” Kinda like Biden’s use of executive actions to forgive student loans, open the borders in disregard of the current law, rejoining the Paris Climate Accord without Senate approval, rescinding permits, previously approved, to stop drilling on federal land, etc. Seems like we’re already living it out.
They reveal so much about themselves through their fantasizing about what everyone else is ready to do. If these people want to live in a dream world, fine. Go ahead. But why do they construct such a dark and dreary dream world? Why is this, of all things, the fantasy they choose to trap themselves in?
Seems Biden and the FBI are doing a pretty good job of fascism by themselves.
All of these whiners are people who are completely worthless and only live off of taxpayer dollars.
Additionally the Corporate overhead in the giant corporations is shitting it's pants. Our country would be much better off if Pfizer was about 50 companies. If Google was about 100 companies. Amazon about 50. There is a giant bureaucratic blob sitting on top of these huge companies supported by our federal government through regulations. Teddy Roosevelt was the trust buster and I look forward to Trump's smashing the tech companies the same way Roosevelt took out the Oligarchs.
But it is the people in the "National Security" establishment that are truly fucked. These people were hated by Democrats for so long and many of those leftists still remember why.
Now republican voters are about 95% against them and democrats are going through an intelligence test. They are losing all of the reasonably intelligent Democrats.
The Regime is going to regret stealing the 2020 election.
They would have been able to slink off and hide during Trump's second term and probably would have been able to get a toady in in 2024.
But 2020 took the mask off a lot of "Republicans" who fucked everyone over. They are the backstop of the Regime and they are being removed one by one.
How is any of this backed up by the evidence of how Trump governed in his first term? He seemed to be less concerned with suppressing dissent and establishing his control over the country than most recent presidents have been. He was playing with you, not putting you in jail. There was that mess after election day 2020, but it wasn't anywhere near an insurrection, let alone a coup, and the country survived. If Trump wins again, it stands to reason that the bureaucracy and the military will be as opposed to him as they were last time, so even if he wanted to crack down he wouldn't be able to do it.
20 years ago, I looked at the idiot Republicans had nominated and thought, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Gore won -- and after he failed, the Republicans might get into the White House the next time with a better candidate. I wonder if some Democrats are thinking the same thing now. If Biden had lost, we wouldn't have these disastrous problems we have now, Trump would be manageable, and the problems we did have would only pave the way for a Democrat takeover in 2024, probably with a more competent nominee and a more reasonable program. Of course, the composition of the Supreme Court looms over every election, but still ...
I wish we had a president who would seize power like they are supposed to do, rather than take vacation 40% of the time and let policy occur by random chance. Elite Academe has become the new loony bin.
These people seem to be saying they will destroy the country before they will accept another Trump presidency. To “save democracy” I suppose.
They hate Trump and will say anything to keep him out of office. The pandemic was a perfect opportunity to strengthen his power, but instead he relied upon the states to do the heavy lifting. He's always been about reducing the burden of government, not increasing it.
The nutcase professors are describing Joe Biden's plan. Joey is using the FBI/DOJ to suppress the opposition by filing fake criminal complaints and spying on them. Same thing The Light Bringer did to Trump. Antifa and BLM are the Dems' stormtroopers. Funny how there are no FBI arrests of these groups, but the FBI can create a group to kidnap Gov Whitmer, arrest them and then prosecute them without breaking a sweat.
who are the various 'beneficiaries' around the game ouija board?
does WaPo even know what it means by gaming out?
Projection. It's what they do.
They are afraid of a Trump with experience. They stalemated him on a lot of things because he didn't know the game. If he comes in again he will be less willing to let establishment Republicans hold him back on getting rid of regulations and if he can't get rid of departments reduce them to the advisory kind of roles they used to have.
If you can't get rid of the Dept. of Education it could be 8 people giving suggestions and that's it. Same for a bunch of other depts.
C'mon now, Ann, they were right about Stalin... Hitler too. They didn't get Pulitzers for Bullshitting America!
Projection. It's what they do.
Don't all elected Presidents "seize control of the government"? I understand not all signed over 100 executive orders, appropriated funds and distributed them using emergency powers, nor threatened to pack the Supreme Court to get favorable rulings. Still, they do get to control the Executive part of government.
As far as retreating abroad and deploying military forces at home; I'll just remind everybody about Biden's retreat from Afghanistan and creating 87,000 new IRS agents including their own SWAT team. It is also pretty obvious the FBI SWAT is getting out of hand, serving search warrants and arresting non-violent citizens with full body armor and armored vehicles.
But yeah, the response from the Union is FJB. Bottom line, if Trump wins the 2024 election wouldn't that be because democracy rejected Democrats and Biden? Wouldn't that be normal and boring? Why would democracy working through the ballot box be considered the same as a civil war?
WaPo??? Pulitzer for Heavily Unarmed Insurrection and the Pee Pee Tape? Brilliance in something, but not Journalism. Fables and myths, but not Journalism. Those of us raised on McNeal-Lehrer and Huntly-Brinkley void our bowels in WaPo's direction.
No one expects experts to have intelligent opinions. Covid killed that delusion.
"He creates a MAGA civil service."
You mean- one that wants to Make America Great Again, for the benefit of ordinary Americans? As opposed to the civil service we have that by all appearances, is only interested in what's in it for them?
Not seeing a downside.
What about starting WW3? Did they cover that? Or are they kind of sensitive on that subject right now.
Phase I sounds like a good thing except for the senate thing. If Trump wins, he will have the senate.The other parts are pure fantasy. However, those who believe this might be willing to do almost anything to stop it. That's the real threat to the American republic and our democracy. I think they will try to assassinate Trump.
It all becomes clear when one realises that they are not talking about the death of America, but of their slice of it. They equate their tribe ruling with the literal existence of the country. They can't separate their personal advancement from the advancement of the country. Notice the growth of the term "our" democracy, which we are supposed to think means the whole of America, but just means their control of it.
It is parallel to politicians telling you that "this is the most important election in your lifetime." It just means it's the most important in their lifetime.
Wilentz appears to be a hard core Clintonite.
In other words "we need to fix the election lest we hang".
I'm all in favor of abolishing the current civil service. Mass firings by incoming Administrations is a good idea.
I'm all in favor of abolishing a substantial part of the federal government.
I'm all in favor of the president firing admirals and generals who are political and replace them with war fighters.
I'm in favor of severely curtailing qualified immunity and stripping public sector workers of all their pensions and benefits for criminal convictions that are upheld.
These "elites" are afraid of Trump and MAGA and they should be. It is time for them to go.
“They think one man can come along and simply take over everything by sheer will.“
That’s because they saw how close one man came to doing that. And that’s pretty much why his supporters love him so much.
The only way everything is kept from being taken over by one person is through norms that others respect in good faith. What evidence is there that Trump has the good faith to protect these restrictions on presidential power? Absolutely none.
Would you have been ok with Mike Pence foregoing his risk of the rioters with gallows and subverting the electors on January 6th? You really think that would have been an acceptable outcome to the American system?
Just one example of how close it came.
This sealed my vote for Trump. Just to watch these experts lose their shit.
My first question would be:
"Given the Left's attempts mikee reminds us of ---to destroy Trump and his Presidency during his first term---why didn't Trump simply seize the government then?
Let's pretend not to see that Trump's foreign policy was working a lot better than Biden's. We need to have the un-elected bureaucrats in control or how can we manage people's lives. Let's try to frighten the low information voters so they keep the Ivy educated elite and it's insane positions in power.
"They act as though they're desperate to save America, but they evince so little faith in America."
Prog MO. Act as though. Little faith = desire to destroy thoroughly.
"They think one man can come along and simply take over everything by sheer will."
What would progs say without projection?
But the J6 narrative shows its use: turn a minor incursion into #TheInsurrection, on the assumption that one man was trying to "take over," then beat down the insurrectionists with persecution and imprisonment.
Trump remains very guilty of New Soviet Democratical Delusions And Things That Never Happened in the First Degree.
I am still trying to process how insane our lefties/dems/nevertrumpers (but I repeat myself) have become and that they were literally calling for their FBI-Stasi henchmen to exhume Ivana's body to look for magical NUCLEAR SECRET DOCUMENTS!
Paranoia and projection on the part of these "experts"
I remember the predictions for the first Trump term. Stock market collapse, war with North Korea (or maybe WWIII), authoritarianism, totalitarianism, Armageddon....
I don't trust them to be any more accurate this time.It's sad that they can't see past their emotions.
It was the best and the worst thing about Trump's presidency that politicians from both sides hated him.
"Phase 1: Trump seizes control of the government... And installs super loyalists...
Like Merrick Garland, etal.?
Passing the federal voting act, in violation of the Constitution
Spending a $trillion by-passing congress(and the Constitution)
This is all rank speculation.
Where were these so called fucking experts when Biden was running?
Did they predict the following?
Russia invasion of Ukraine?
WTI over $100 and gas at $6 in CA?
Over 2m illegal aliens?
Inflation at a 40 year high?
Rampant corruption at the FBI and DOJ?
I could go on.
Fuck these fuckers.
All of this was predicted for the first Trump term, and none of it came to pass.
Phase 1 is the Biden administration. Phases 2 and 3 are a leftist fever dream.
By sheer will, constitutional authority, and adherence to democratic processes. Chilling indeed. We must burn the Constitution before it gets into the wrong hands.
“ a siege of terror that’s going to be targeted very specifically at certain individuals and certain groups of people, all civilians.'"
Like how J6 Defendants are held without bail in the DC jail?
Or the TN pastor and father of 11 who was arrested at gunpoint at his home - and in front of his children - for a peaceful anti-abortion protest? That kind of specific targeting?
I'm afraid it's inevitable. No doubt Sean Wilentz will die bravely in the Battle of Princeton.
These people have really lost their minds.
They really are mentally ill. It's scary.
What a bunch of bullshit. Princeton professor “expert”. The bullshit pile gets higher.
Lol. Trump couldn’t keep the people he hand picked loyal to him. How is he going to create a Trump loyal civil service? Do you have any idea how numerous and how LEFTIST civil servants are in the US? About the only ones who are generally conservative are the engineers who actually produce work, not their higher managers in DC and the Pentagon who can only advance by kissing the leftist ring. Engineers who have to produce real world results that work EVERY TIME or something falls down, blows up or someone dies are conservative by nature. Unless their job depends on them being a leftist.
"...They think one man can come along..."
It's called the "man on a white horse" syndrome, or similar. Not exactly novel.
BTW what exactly is wrong with this dystopian vision? Inquiring minds want to know.
What a stupid mess of projection and ignorance! Just stop at phase 1 - one of Trump's major problems was his inability to find loyal people to put into offices, but these clowns think he'll successfully go full supervillain?
More examples of low testosterone social media hot take influenced hysterical ranting, this time from the left
This is their wet dream. They are projecting.
If I had the skillS I'd arranged a tune to Terry Stafford "Suspicion" and entitle it PROJECTION,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gzY-PrwwHk
1. Trump takes over
2. ??????
3. End of Democracy
Are not elements of all three described phases happening now? Excepts it is not Trump MAGA but Biden (executive orders), antifa, and far left/socialist democrats?
"Installs super loyalists ..."
Is hiring people loyal to you unheard of in our Democracy? Is Trump supposed to put a bunch of conniving Democrats in his Cabinet? This is fucking dumb.
"governs without Senate advice and consent"
Trump is going to be fine with Senate advice and consent because Republicans are going to control the Senate. In less than a month.
"He uses the military to promote his own political power.... American global leadership is finished — much to Putin’s delight.... Intelligence work is harmed...."
If you mean using the police powers of the Federal government to round up the conspirators who committed the coup that installed Joe Biden, then yes, that's precisely what he's going to do. Gee, maybe ya'll should get together and just take him out. Threat alleviated.
"racial and ethnic tensions ramp up"
Is Trump going to co-opt Black Lives Matter? Is BLM not ramping up racial and ethnic tensions under Biden when they're not gobbling up million-dollar mansions with the stolen funds?
"The chances of civil war increase"
We're already fighting a Civil War. Your side is temporarily winning. We are under no illusions about what you're doing to OUR country. That's right ... it's FUCKING OURS and we're coming for you people.
Like you, I find it hard to believe anyone (including the so-called experts who are quoted) takes this kind of BS seriously. But as far as it goes, let's see how the Biden admin and the Democratic party measures up.
"Phase 1: Trump seizes control of the government... And installs super loyalists.... He governs without Senate advice and consent.... He creates a MAGA civil service." A freebie for slow Joe, the vast Federal bureaucracy is already firmly in their camp and busy persecuting their political enemies. See the Jan 6 protestors and the recent spate of pro-life arrests.
"Phase 2: Trump deploys the military aggressively at home, while retreating abroad.... He uses the military to promote his own political power.... American global leadership is finished — much to Putin’s delight" They've tried with the month (months?) long occupation of DC by the National Guard after Jan 6. and in what area can these 'experts' say that American leadership exists under Biden? The mid-east where the Arabs are writing us off and the Iranians are picking our pockets in the so-called nuclear negotiations? South America and Africa where the Chinese are taking over? Or do they mean China where Biden kow-tows to the Chinese so as not to endanger Hunters grifting?
: "Phase 3: Political violence and democratic collapse? It’s possible.... Ideological, racial and ethnic tensions ramp up.... " DEI, CRT, SEL, whatever you want to call it is explicitly designed to ramp up racial and ethnic tensions as constant assertions (without evidence) that white supremacy is rampant in America. Political violence in the form of BLM riots and fire-bombings of pro-life centers are old news and not promoted and defended by the Donald. A strong push to undermine election integrity, that's just another page in the Democratic parties playbook.
SO, maybe the only part of it that is BS is the identity of the perps.
I'm watching Nightcrawler which is okay, really creepy.
It's about a news-stringer who races to crime scenes and tries to get video of dead bodies he can sell to the media.
It's possibly the most anti-journalist movie I've ever seen.
Not sympathetic at all.
In the movie, the reporters are completely corrupted by money.
It's kind of like porn. They're trying to get that "money shot."
That movie was eight years ago.
So when I think of newspapers losing money, and readers...
and I think about their "pay walls" (as they complain about border security!)
I would suggest that the WaPo is really motivated by money, money, money
and network TV is motivated by money, money, money
so while my theory has been that they are terrified of Trump
my new theory
caused by this fucking joke in the WaPo
is that they are cynically manipulating what's left of their readers and viewers
for money
they are desperate for money
and so they are trying to keep Trump in the news
even as it gets more and more ridiculous and absurd
I would suggest too that the Democrats want to keep talking about Trump
because of fundraising
got to manufacture the fear
so the dollars keep coming in
nobody supposes that people voted for Biden
95% of them voted against Trump
so the media is working that Darth Vader angle
except since he's out of office
it's more like a really bad sequel
Darth Vader as an annoying teenager
and apparently some people will do or say anything to be in a movie
even a really bad, stupid movie that nobody believes in
Expert hogwash.
This is battleground prep for a takeover by the Deep State - CIA/FBI coup with military support and mass media/big tech running positive articles about how the takeover of the US government with WEF encouragement/sponsorship is actually saving the United States.
Chillingly plausible? Like the 30% drop in my retirement account? Or the impending Armageddon? Gently place these folks back under their rocks.
"Experts" who dont know a thing. Their grasp of history goes back 2 weeks.
"'I think it would be the end of the republic,' says Princeton University professor Sean Wilentz." I hate to break it to Professor Wilentz, but the Republic is already dead. It was in its death throes for most of the last 20 years, but it has been definitively dead since at least January 2021.
My sister is distressed by current events, but I simply repeat to her: "The republic is dead. Get on with your life. Do whatever you have to do. But do not keep pretending that we still live in a democratic republic. Throughout history governments have collapsed, but people go on living. We must do the same."
One need not be a pessimist. Perhaps the Republic can be restored, but it will be difficult. If we succeed, we should call the restored republic the Second Republic. Let us hope, however, that we are not doomed to repeat French history as farce, living through a succession of unstable republics.
This is a masterful piece of political projection: One party accusing the other of what they themselves are doing. And the media play dumb.
I would think most Americans are inured to this kind of fear-mongering by now.
Why? What would possibly make you believe that? The Democrats just stole an election by creating a panic over COVID. The Democrats have spent the last sixty years campaigning by fear.
Not seeing any Mandela Barnes yard signs up here in Trumpealeau Co., WI. Ron Johnson for the win.
Did any experts accurately game out the economic and geopolitical disaster that is Biden's first two years?
All 3 phases above have already happened under recent Democrat presidents:
Phase 1: Obama started the process of putting super loyal liberals in Federal agencies, forced into retirement conservative generals and admirals and promoted liberal ideologues to those same leadership roles in the military, and established DEI offices in government agencies to start the indoctrination of those agencies in the ways of CRT. The DOJ became especially politicized under Obama. The FBI didn’t put forth much effort to investigate suspicious email and document handling by Hillary Clinton on her illegal server as well as Hunter Biden’s laptop that alluded to potential crimes committed by Hunter as well as ethically challenged situations involving VP Joe Biden. Plus FBI agents were found to have lied to the FISA court in obtaining warrants based on fake evidence provided by Clinton’s presidential campaign. Current FBI whistleblowers indicate conservatives in the FBI are being forced out and replaced by liberals loyal to Biden
Phase 2: Obama and Biden retreated the military from abroad, backing down from “lines drawn in the sand” issued against enemies in the middle east while retreating from Iraq and Afghanistan. While not using the military inside the US, the military shrinks under Obama and Biden. Under Biden, the military is not meeting its recruiting and retention goals. He had also abandoned a lot of equipment to the Taliban in the Afghanistan pullout as well as shipping a lot of existing arms and armaments to Ukraine, in the process stripping the Army and Army National Guard of needed equipment and is slow to replace said equipment. A second Trump Administration may not even have enough of an army to do anything these “experts” predict would happen.
Phase 3: Political violence and democratic collapse? Are these “experts” blind to what happened during 2017-2020 when Antifa was destroying large cities in the US as a protest against Trump and democracy in general? Did they not notice that Dems who ran these same large cities and states were running roughshod over democracy under the cover of the pandemic such as shutting down their cities and especially playing fast and loose with election laws that courts have now prevented from happening again in many of these cities and states?
4 years of Trump - No war and amazing prosperity.
2 years of Biden - economic disaster and war.
Turns out Biden is Poot's poodle.
The hivemind loyalist left make up pure crap to feed the leftist loyalist hate filled base.
The oversimplification in earlier eras was that we had a party of capital and a party of labor, a party of employers and a party of employees.
That was never really true. Democrats could always count on some support from corporations and from the rich, but the old way of looking at things did put intellectuals and academics in the position of having to weigh each side's arguments and choose which side they would support -- or of sitting out the election entirely.
Today, academics, intellectuals, and upscale professionals own and control the Democratic Party, so they can't view things from a critical distance, but feel bound to support it to the very limit. Intellectuals and professors are the last people we should look to for a clear-eyed, sober, and unbiased view of current politics.
The aspect of the fear mongering that, sadly, is true is based upon the aggressive uses of executive powers by the current administration. All of those decrees can be stricken with alacrity. We have entered an era of power maximization. Power, in all it's nakedness, can be unattractive.
Talk about disinformation.
How is that different then now?
*than
Democrats control the White House
the Senate
the House
the army
the navy
the air force
the marines
and the media
and we have a "teetering democracy"
these fuckers are unbelievable
we're having trouble arresting you and convicting you
for keeping documents
and being unhappy about the election results
so now we've asked our friends at Pravda
to warn the American people
about your future crimes
that are really bad
you're definitely guilty of shit in 2024
and that future election is illegitimate
and you didn't win that one either
and how dare you call us liars
about your future election cheating
and your fascism
we've been "gaming it"
with our toy soldiers and Trump dolls
As usual the Progressives accuse foes of what the are planning to do. It’s a chameleon defense mechanism.
At least they are scared. The next Andrew Jackson cometh. As usual the sophisticated Boston gang is the most worried that a courageous Scots Irish tsunami is heading in to replace their running of our Federal Government as if the rest of the country has no right to exist.
The anti-Trumpists are talking about their wet dream of a Trump take-over of the federal govt in a second Trump term. There's NO REASON to think that this is realistic. We've already had a FIRST Trump term; was it like this dream? Is the dream more like the reality of the Biden Administration? Using the Deep State to crush political opposition? Ruling by decree? Like canceling student debts? Covering up family corruption? Ignoring immigration laws? If we had a competent, independent news media would all this be happening "behind the scenes"? Are any "reporters" at least a little ashamed?
Clickbait for the commenters.
hpudding said...
"“They think one man can come along and simply take over everything by sheer will.“
That’s because they saw how close one man came to doing that. And that’s pretty much why his supporters love him so much.
The only way everything is kept from being taken over by one person is through norms that others respect in good faith. What evidence is there that Trump has the good faith to protect these restrictions on presidential power? Absolutely none.
Would you have been ok with Mike Pence foregoing his risk of the rioters with gallows and subverting the electors on January 6th? You really think that would have been an acceptable outcome to the American system?
Just one example of how close it came."
Just when you thought the left couldn't get any dumber. Along comes a representative of the left ands renews your faith in their ability to believe any narrative they're fed. The mouth breathers believe it as gospel. And to them it is.
tim in vermont said...
"What about starting WW3? Did they cover that? Or are they kind of sensitive on that subject right now."
Sensative to it? Hell no. Puddin' up there is furiously wanking to the thought of WW3.
Duuude....pass that thing...
Got stuck on “military deployed in America” part and almost asphyxiated laughing my ass off picturing the Woke Generals nodding along to this and I just can’t. Really. With the FBI perceived as Biden’s personal gestapo the ability of these headuptheass experts to ignore the signs all around them and see fascism somewhere out in the mists of a Trump return is quite impressive projection. Quite impressive.
What’s your excuse Readering? Pavlovian response?
"Clickbait..."
Well, it certainly baited Readering effectively, did it not?
I predict the hook extraction will go badly. Too bad she's not fit for the skillet. The chum bucket, perhaps?
The press, Democrats with bylines. Big markets, little markets, it’s all the same
The purest form of projection you are likely to ever see is that article.
Opportunity to snark for others
“They think one man can come along and simply take over everything by sheer will.”
Read the comments here, it’s not just one man.
New Soviet Democraticals going even more publicly insane than before.
Republicans, independents and the few remaining non-insane dems notice.
Readering upset.
Again.
What is confusing for them is that MAGA individuals believe in the Constitution. The Jan 6 protest was by people who believed that the constitution wasn't being followed, which makes it an anti-insurrection. Unsaid in their "plans" is that what they fear is that the non-constitutional part of government, the bureaucracy could be changed. Of course, to do that constitutionally, you need the legislative branch. But then the bureaucracy, both political and career, have gotten use to the usurped constitution with broad delegation to unelected bureaucrats.
Strictly speaking, The People, can throw out the government, simply re-establish the executive, legislative, judicial branches and not have insurrected, mutinied, etc. Of course, the one terrible reality of even religious revolutions like happened in Iran in 1979, is that the bureaucracy simply adapts to their new masters.
The real problem they haven't dealt with is that those the depend on to fill the ranks of the military come from the areas that hold the now disfavored beliefs. The military has declared that those who consider the Constitution their sovereign, and the government is only valid as long as it is in alignment and subordinate to the Constitution are radicals to be purged. Of course the rub is that you don't get your own personal interpretation of the Constitution. But if enough of The People come to see the misalignment, then it is the federal government that is illegitimate, not the People.
And there is the uniqueness of America. No government not in alignment with the Constitution can be legitimate. All should know that any commitments by such a government do not bind The People now or in the future. The Mullahs could take over Iran and declare a government ruled by them as they threw out the previous guy. But how do you throw out The People of the United States and declare your new government here?
It's the opposite of Trump except in leftist fears.
So, Trump decides to act like a Progressive, so it is the end of Democracy?? Okay then.
OOPSIE! FBI changed crime reporting tech recently. None of the crime stats are close to accurate. Everything goes one way when dems control everything.
Phase IV: trained monkeys fly out of “experts’” hindquarters and they have a profitable circus act.
Notice how deftly the dems moved from opposing female circumcision to empowering the mutilation of confused children. This is not at all accidental.
Shame on Sean Wilentz. I guess being an emotionally balanced historian wasn't scoring enough points for him anymore.
You know, I thought there was a big, big typo where "Trump" was substituted for the real subject, Biden. But, no. Thise people are serious.
"21 experts" (Top. Men.)
A more accurate statement: "21 experts who have never ever voted for a Republican"
Say, it all sounds pretty good to me. Let's get it on, mofo's!
Alternative take: And they lived happily ever after.
Remember when even the usually sober-minded Megan McArdle said Trump would start a nuclear war in his first term?
This new list of horrors is so funny to me.
Classic Progressive projection: trying to raise fears that Trump would do all the things they are busily doing themselves.
Gee, if Althouse could only have Obama, the Boyfriend President, back again! Life would be so dreamy!
"We're afraid Trump might govern like a Democrat."
Which administration has followed the plan presented in this article, to a T? The previous administration or the current administration, piggy-backed on the eight years of the Obamao administration? It should be outhouse instead of Althouse because it's all waste, projection, the same old doomsday proclamations from another leftist hysteria-monger.
"That is the saddest hypothetical story I have ever heard" - Peggy Hill
"American global leadership is finished"
Someone doesn't read his own paper.
"They think one man can come along and simply take over everything by sheer will."
Projection. Maybe they can get that dreamy Obama back. Michelle is on a tour promoting...something.
These folks are not recognizing that Trump was constrained by contrary court rulings while he was in office, and always observed the rule of law. His opponents, not so much.
Post-election, Trump has become somewhat more erratic. I think he has disqualified himself post-2020 election.
IT's kind of like mirror image of Obama. He got a Nobel Peace price for things he hadn't yet done (and didn't do). Trump gets threatened with prison, vilification and banishment for things he hasn't done and won't do either.
It all depends on which side your on as to which prize you get.
More seriously, these people are dangerous and seeding the ground for blood. And they know what they are doing, too. It is evil.
So govern exactly like Dotard? Projection?
Looks like projection. What about half the Democratic Party would like to do to the rest of the country.
I was in a left-wing civil service. It was called VISTA back then and has mostly morphed into Americorps, a lite version of a domestic peace corps. It's worse now than it was then, and then it was mostly a giant sucking sound using tax dollars to fund leftist activists to teach young people how to grift from taxpayers and grow up to be government bureaucrats. One of my college peers did quite well in it. He told me, proudly, that he took kickbacks from every job he was assigned. He seemed genuinely confused that I didn't. VISTA gave him an award and hired him full-time.
I learned a lot in VISTA. It gave me a master course in nonprofit and government fraud and power as exercised through bureaucracy.
And that leads to Wilentz. Why is he, of all scholars, concerned about populism? He certainly knows about the disgraceful fifty years of leftist civilian service programs, and how, with scant exceptions, they perpetuate bureautic, anti-democratic blight both in DC and in the communities they "serve." What changed since he criticized Obama for his ties to Bill Ayers and the Chicago "community activist" machine? Why is he threatened because the MAGA movement doesn't yield to federal bennies and academic apostles? Because it already exists and already is stacked with people with real skills, real ethics, and real work experience? It's the closest thing to the American sense of voluntary society and real populism Wilentz once wrote about so incisively in Chants Democratic. He also once opposed the politicization of higher education. Now he defends the Deep State. Politics really is a Medusa head. He squandered a lifetime of complex scholarship because he gazed deeply into the Clintons' eyes and desired the power he saw. And when Hillary lost, that really drove him mad. He's a disgrace to his disgraced profession.
Readering said...
"Clickbait for the commenters."
C'mon. We talked about this and now you're doing what you've accused me of doing. Add something cogent or at least witty. Because the implied conclusion is that you agree hpuddin' has his head up his ass.
Trump is too lazy to do all that these "experts" predict, even if he had any notions to do so. All he cares about is aggrandizing his own ego and wealth. All else is sham, a performance of braggadocio, pandering, scapegoating and name-calling by which his motley throngs of MAGA-doofuses are bewitched into believing the hallucination that Trump is a font of wisdom and the engine of all positive productive activity by the government. The real danger lies in those who will succeed him, smarter, more focused, and more goal-driven, who will emulate him to achieve their own political ambitions.
Wilentz got a little good ink from non-leftists for putting in a good word for Jefferson and Jackson while those further left were savaging them. Now he has to return to the reservation and say what pleases the woke. If Sean Wilentz were more sophisticated, he might make more nuanced comparisons between those early 19th century times and our own, but proving that he belongs to the progressive tribe seems to be more important to him.
Trump still lives on in their heads, rent-free. At some level these boobs realize how weak-minded they must be, allowing this to happen, and how limited their creative intellect must be, not being able to come up with some new, constructive ideas to replace Trump. But of course, being weak-minded and of limited intellect, they blame Trump instead of themselves.
As always, Mr. Cook and his fellow travelers indulge in what James Lindsay calls "the iron law of Woke projection." You gotta admire his consistency.
As always, Mr. Cook and his fellow travelers indulge in what James Lindsay calls "the iron law of Woke projection." You gotta admire his consistency.
Ah, Cookie engaging in what James Lindsay calls the iron law of Woke projection. Gotta admire his consistency.
@Cook
"the engine of all positive productive activity by the government"
Really? You think that is why people support Trump?
Trump lost money while he was president. Yes, he did care about attention and ego gratification, but the country was better off in his term than it is now, so he must have been doing something right and not entirely ignoring his presidential duties. Consider perhaps that the showman games and attention grabbing were more benign than other things presidents and politicians get up to.
People who hate presidents tend to assume that the ones they hate are intent on establishing a tyranny -- or would be if they weren't so lazy and undisciplined. They don't consider that perhaps that isn't their goal at all. Presidents aren't in it to be tyrants and have to worry about being assassinated. They put in their time and then enjoy themselves after leaving office. Ironically, in recent years the most scatterbrained presidents seem to do more to centralize power, because it isn't their will, but that of the permanent government, that is being done.
The republic is dead. Get on with your life. Do whatever you have to do.
Not quite yet, but soon. (Or as I say to my wife, "Don't worry, dear. By the time things get really bad in this country, we'll be dead.")
The republic is dead. Get on with your life. Do whatever you have to do.
Not quite yet, but soon. (Or as I say to my wife, "Don't worry, dear. By the time things get really bad in this country, we'll be dead.")
if you want to prevent an authoritarian tyrant, then we need a constitutional amendment barrring the federal government from having the power to make arrests. If a federal agency wants someone arrested they would have to partner with a state police force to do it.
Trump lost money while he was president. Yes, he did care about attention and ego gratification, but the country was better off in his term than it is now, so he must have been doing something right and not entirely ignoring his presidential duties.
Democrats cannot admit that, even to themselves, because Democrats are in politics to MAKE money. The last Democrat who wasn't in it for the money was Kennedy and, of course, it was his father's money.
Whoever said above that stealing the 2020 election was a mistake for the billionaires who funded it was right. They will probably survive but a lot of us may not.
Trump taking control of the government instead of letting himself be stalemated and trying to work with establishment Republicans?
It sounds like a beautiful dream. Whatever those people are smoking, I want some.
Along with $1.79 gasoline and NATO defending themselves instead of running out of ammo because they gave it all to Ukraine.
"Trump lost money while he was president."
Ha! I didn't say he was always successful in growing his wealth--look at the numerous times he's had businesses fail and he's filed for bankruptcy--but that's trying to grow his wealth is what he really cares about (along with feeding his ego)> He probably would have lost money during those years even had he not been president.
..."the country was better off in his term than it is now...."
Trump came into office with a growing economy left by Obama, (who entered during a financial collapse at the end of Bush's term), and that growth continued under Trump--until the COVID pandemic hurt businesses and many people lost (or left) jobs. Trump could have handled things during COVID better than he did, but he was not the cause of the pandemic.
Presidents are not magicians. The state of the country does not immediately jump up or collapse at the end or beginning of successive administrations simply because the President makes a proclamation or waves his hands. External factors not within control of the control of any president can and do effect the state of the country at any given time. Trump benefited by a good economy when he entered office, and Biden has faced challenges caused by the aftermath of COVID's harm to the economy. A lot of the "great economy" that Trump boosters talk about is their perception, pumped up by Trump's rhetoric. The data do not show that Trump jump-started the economy in any extraordinary way.
"Really? You think that is why people support Trump?"
It must be, given how Trump boosters brag about all the miracles they think he worked. Do they assume Trump wrought those miracles outside the government? How would that be accomplished?
Experts, eh?
Methinks they're projecting.
"Phase 1: Trump seizes control of the government..."
Under Article II of the Constitution, the president automatically gets "control of the government." One wonders if those cretins don't know this or if they are assuming that, as happened last time Trump was president, the Deep State will resist his authority to the point of treason but that, this time, they won't get away with it.
Can't wait for the logo: Ban the Don.
A kind of overweight guy in a circle with his arms spread like a skydiver.
Uhh... Trump in the future or Biden in the recent past...which are we talking about?
Wow! Psychological projection and lack of self awareness induced on a large scale by Trump Derangement Syndrome.
So the 'experts' listed a bunch of shit Trump would do if elected again.
Why, it's almost as if we don't have a four-year sample size with which to see what would actually happen.
Just one example of how close it came.
If - in your fevered dreams - we really wanted to do what you describe? We would've done it, dumbass.
"Under Article II of the Constitution, the president automatically gets 'control of the government.'"
I guess that depends on how you interpret "control of the government." The president is the executive, but he does not have control in the sense of a king or dictator; he cannot simply order the other branches of government--of which the presidency is only one of three co-equal branches--to follow his will. His power as "commander in chief" takes effect only in wartime and it applies only to his power over the armed forces with respect to their actions at war.
Robert Cook: "It must be, given how Trump boosters brag about all the miracles they think he worked."
Name one.
Uh, so worst case is he'll finish the process his enemies started?
I guess they feel it would be better if they finished it, rather than he.
So..% of Federal workers who..super loyally..vote Dem is ____
Usual suspects write usual things.
As always, the Democrats project. This is a description of their current actions more than any type of prediction of what Trump would do.
Readering: "Usual suspects write usual things."
Your lunatic leftist pals certainly did. Does that demoralize you?
They better be ready to steal it from him again, because here he comes and we're voting for him again.
Do they assume Trump wrought those miracles outside the government? How would that be accomplished?
If anything, we "assume" - because of what actually happened during the Trump administration - that Trump did what he could to get or keep government out of the way. You do know what a conservative is, don't you, Robert Cook?
Ironically, Clinton actually didn't do badly at that, for a Democrat, for at least a good part of his terms. Of course, he was up against Gingrich and those particular Forces of Evil, so he had little choice but to behave himself as the Chief Executive.
Which, Cook, is what Trump did in his term, and is what conservatives want him or any other president to do while in office: abide by the Constitution and observe the Constitutional limits of his or her authority. Not what Obama did, not what Biden's doing. If we have to be saddled with an activist - read that as Democrat - President, at least, please God, give us a Republican Congress to counterbalance his will to power.
And Readering said,
Usual suspects write usual things.
Ain't it the truth.
Wow. Classic projection:
Phase I: "Phase 1: Trump seizes control... And installs super loyalists.." does no-one remember Obama's tsars that were appointed to oversee the Federal Government with no Senate approval?
Phase II; "Trump deploys the military aggressively at home, while retreating abroad..." This one is a switcheroo and a projection: "Neocons! Neocons! Neocons! and Trump are going to get us into wars and nuclear danger!" switched to "Trump won't protect our feckless allies. And the projection is that the Biden Whitehouse has militarized the Justice Department, Tech Oligarchs and the IRS against his political opponents.
Phase III: " Political violence and democratic collapse" Hello 2020? Political violence and subversion of the constitution were used to corrupt the election.
It is simply bull-shit... I could have a phase 1/2/3 for Biden to... in fact..
Phase I: "Phase 1: Democrats seizes control by stuffing the ballot box in 2020 and get a senile old man elected so as to make him their puppet and rule from behind with 100% autonomy.
Phase II; They ram through ridiculously expensive 'stimulus' packages, cut oil production, flood the southern border with 'immigrants' and drug, allowing Putin to start a war, etc... forcing an economic crisis with inflation, recession, massive influx of illegals, crime, flooding the country with drugs, foreign wars, etc...
Phase III: "Political violence and democratic collapse" as a massive depression comes. Hello 2024? Political violence and subversion of the constitution were used to corrupt the election.
See, now isn't that more plausible than Trump? In fact a lot more plausible!
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