Will Trump get his dictatorship? Some opinions.

[Septua]

I Googled "Can Trump become a dictator?"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/09/president-trump-election-maga

Trump sceptics such as the House speaker Paul Ryan or the congresswoman Liz Cheney are gone, he noted, replaced by Maga devotees primed to do his bidding. “There’s going to be more continuity, more synergy, everyone’s going to march to the beat of the same drummer. There is no resistance within the Republican party any more and they are now facing a Democratic party that is leaderless, that is searching for its own identity, that’s going to have to recalibrate.”

Bardella added: “It’s going to be a more competent version of the first term. This time Donald Trump and his team know how the White House works. They know what type of personnel they need where to achieve what they want to achieve. They have, unlike last time, more of a complete hold of Congress.”

Despite the daunting outlook, however, some commentators are optimistic that checks and balances will remain.

Elaine Kamarck, a former official in the Bill Clinton administration, said: “For him to expand presidential power, Congress has to give up power and they’re not in the mood to do that. They’ve never done that. There are plenty of institutionalists in Congress.”

Kamarck also expressed faith in the federal courts, noting that judges appointed by Trump only constitute 11% of the total placed on the bench by former presidents. A Trump dictatorship is “not going to happen”, she added. “Now, there might be things that the president wants to do that people don’t like that the Republican Congress goes along with him on but that’s politics. That’s not a dictatorship.”

“What am I worried about most?” pondered Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington. “The answer is that in response either to demonstrations in the streets or the exigencies of rounding up and deporting millions of immigrants here illegally, Mr Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act, which is the closest thing in American law to the declaration of martial law.

Opinions. Everybody's got one.

[Turbineguy]

1. Being a dictator

will interfere with his primary occupation, which is to play golf.

[Silent Type]

2. Don't think he'll get his dictatorship, but he'll try. My guess is after 4 years, the country will be resolute against

kings, dictators, a-holes, criminals, rapists, etc. At least I hope.

[DarthDem]

3. He's not off to a great start

With MAGA members in the House, of all things, dealing him a serious setback this past week.

[NJCher]

5. yeah, agree

I think a lot of the comments in that article are BS. He's incompetent, for one thing. And second, people--even repukes--seem disinclined to let him get his way so much.

[Katcat]

7. They love the power

That they have now and do NOT want to be left out of decision making esp when it comes to cash and regulations.

[Enter stage left]

4. Opinions, everyone has one...

Assholes, everyone has one.

[hay rick]

6. Trump is too weak, lazy, and unfocussed to be a dictator, however...

the alternative is almost certainly not going to be a functional democracy. The result is likely to be some form of oligarchy hiding behind a superficial layer of media distraction and Trump pratfalls.

[Septua]

11. Another pundit agrees with your prediction

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/opinions/trump-election-2024-dictator-cooper/index.html

The widespread fear that Trump will actually be a dictator, however, is misplaced. If Trump wins the 2024 election, American democracy might be suspended, at least temporarily. But it won’t be replaced by a dictatorship, which is a coherent and recognizable system of government. Instead, if Trump wins, my view is that American democracy will be replaced by American “chaosracy” — an incoherent, volatile and unpredictable mix of some government institutions that function democratically and some that don’t.

[Frank D. Lincoln]

8. The Insurrection Act of 1807.

Last edited Thu Dec 26, 2024, 03:33 AM - Edit history (1)

From Wikipedia's article on Project 2025:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025|

In November 2023, The Washington Post reported that deploying the military for domestic law and immigration enforcement[38] under the Insurrection Act of 1807 would be an "immediate priority" for a second Trump administration. That aspect of the plan was being led by Jeffrey Clark, a contributor to the project and former official in Trump's Department of Justice.[39][41] Clark is a senior fellow at the Center for Renewing America (CRA), a Project 2025 partner.[176] The plan reportedly includes directing the DOJ to pursue those Trump considers disloyal or political adversaries.

Even during the George Floyd protests, Trump wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act to use active duty troops against the protestors, even advocating that the protestors be shot in the legs. This met with resistance from Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. But if MAGA is able to successfully purge our general officers and replace them with generals who are Trump loyalists, then that would provide a path for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and usher in a full-fledged dictatorship.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-insurrection-act-project-2025/

Therefore, the chances of a Trump dictatorship are extremely high.

If a Trump dictatorship is achieved, new detention centers throughout the country will spring up fast. I'm guessing that these will give way to actual concentration camps.

This could conceivably be followed by the confiscation of all firearms from American citizens.

I think it's going to become more and more clear that Trump is indeed "America's Hitler," as JD Vance warned years ago.

The Americans who will be the safest are the ones who will have already successfully emigrated to a foreign country not on the North American continent once January 20, 2025 rolls around. But even people in that group won't be safe if they're on Trump's enemies list. They will be pursued even in foreign countries. Michael Cohen might survive having legally changed his name and moved to a foreign country (even then, no guarantees).

But most of us will be in grave danger once Trump gets back in and consolidates his power.

Trump voters combined with the people who voted for Biden but didn't for Harris have screwed us (and themselves) royally.

[Irish_Dem]

9. The billionaires are in charge, not Trump.

And they have the money to get what they want.

It is doubtful whether congress or judges will stand up to them.

[DeepWinter]

10. No

For all the uproar and hyperbole, Democracy is still working. The political pendulum swings, and will swing again.

[allegorical oracle]

12. TSF has, admittedly, appeared more organized than he did in his first term. However, he's

inherently too self-centered and disorganized to keep from shooting himself in both feet.

Any POTUS is reliant on the line personnel who carry out the orders according to rules and laws. However, those posts are being filled with friends, relatives and donors. Experienced civil servants are being replaced with hirelings who will be learning on the job and vulnerable to legal recourse when procedures and laws are broken.

Congressional numbers are tight, and Dems still wield power, experience and oversight. We must work for the next two years to increase our Senate and House numbers in every state.

[Midnight Writer]

13. If he is stymied, it will not be by our system of checks and balances.

It will be from his team's incompetence.

He can ignore any court order with impunity. He can break laws today and stall any consequences indefinitely. He is backed by billions of dollars of media cheerleading. The majorities in both the House and the Senate will bend to his will. His MAGA supporters will never turn against him.

Our best hope is that all these unqualified asshats he is appointing are so ignorant, lazy, and disconnected from reality that they cannot fulfill his agenda.

[Kid Berwyn]

14. Insurrection Act?

“Who knew there was such a thing? Hic.”