Dave Rogers
Bandaged ice that stampedes inexpensively through
Cont: Trump’s Coup - Part 2
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Since when does he need intellect?
It's enough if some of the crazies around him planting the idea in his head.
alfaniner
Penultimate Amazing
They should tell him they'll be ready... in two weeks.
slyjoe
Illuminator
Is martial law even a thing under the Constitution?
People have spent entire legal careers trying to answer just one various sub-question to that.
Yes, no, sorta, maybe, Yes with But, No with an except... all are sorta accurate answers to that question.
slyjoe
Illuminator
So, like Trump talks. You hear what you want to hear.
Especially given the Posse Comitatus Act, it seems the Army couldn't be used. So, since you can't have a coup without an army (according to some here), it doesn't seem you could use the Army to enforce martial law.
Horatius
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One of the fun things about attempting a coup - you don't have to follow the rules.
The question "Can Trump use the Army to stay in power?" won't, can't be answered by reference to rules, laws or traditions. The real answer will only come when he gives an order, and we see if the Army obeys it or not.
I'd guess "Not", but that has little to do with the law, and everything to do with the willingness of the Army to obey the law.
Well because at the end of the day at a certain point in government you reach a level so high that questions of "technically legal" become pointless.
If the President does something and Congress and the Supreme Court either agree with it or don't actively and effectively counter him questions of whether or not what he does is "legal" become amazingly academic.
And Trump more than any other President before him has leaned hard into the "Everything I do is legal until somebody stops me" mentality.
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timhau
NWO Litter Technician
Having seen Mitt Romney's speech from Wednesday night, I'm pretty sure he will be there.
Too bad he ran in 2012, not 2016.
thaiboxerken
Penultimate Amazing
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They invaded the Capitol wanting to kill Pelosi, Pence and others in order to install Trump as the "rightful" POTUS....
But we can't call it a coup?
But we can't call it a coup?
Meadmaker
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There's a halfway decent wikipedia article on that. Basically, there is the possibility of suspension of habeas corpus, which basically means the government can lock people up without giving a reason, which is basically martial law.
For more info, try wikipedia. I think the term I looked up was "martial law in the US".
Why ?
Let's say that he ran in 2016 and was successful, would there have been any significant difference in policy ?
Would he have tried to dismantle the ACA ?
Would he have implemented a tax cut and exploded the deficit ?
Would he have taken every opportunity to add conservatives to SCOTUS ?
Would he have decreased environmental protections ?
The only possible difference IMO would have been w.r.t. the response to Covid, but there are still enough idiots in charge of states to ensure a massive death toll in any case.
timhau
NWO Litter Technician
Because he isn't aing fascist.
True, but if it doesn't make an appreciable difference to the policies then why is it better.
Indeed, if he's more likely to get said policies enacted because he's a far more competent politician and legislator and if he's far more likely to get re-elected then a Romney victory in 2016 could have been even worse for the US.
How so ?
For all the sound and fury, President Trump has been a comparative failure as President. He hasn't really managed to get much of his legislative agenda passed, relying instead on relatively impotent Executive Orders, and he's managed to fail to get re-elected and has lost the House and Senate along the way.
A seasoned political operator like Romney would likely have achieved far more and would have had 8 years to do it in. The underclass who voted for President Trump would still have been there and still have voted GOP but would be responding to quieter dog whistles.
How so ?
BECAUSE IF MITT ROMNEY HAD WON IN 2016 AND LOST IN 2020 A MOB OF MORMONS WOULDN'T HAVE STAGED A COUP.
thaiboxerken
Penultimate Amazing
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Maybe, but I believe a significant portion of Republicans who ran in 2016 are just as fascist. The entire party is driving towards fascism and has been for decades.
alfaniner
Penultimate Amazing
I find it weirdly prescient that the reflection on the bulletproof glass in front of Trump during his insurgency speech forms a big "X". At first I thought it might have been a Confederate flag, but I knew that couldn't be the case. Apparently it's some scaffolding or something at just the right angle.
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True, they wouldn't have, but then again the wouldn't have needed to try because he would have more than likely been quietly re-elected.
He could then have got back to GOP business as usual:
- Hamstringing and/or repealing the ACA
- Implementing unafforable tax cuts for the rich
- Repealing necessary environmental and worker protections
- Attacking civil rights
- Demonising the poor and minorities
- Removing women's reproductive rights
- Junking science and experts
IMO the lesson the GOP have learned from President Trump isn't that they shouldn't elect a demagogue and attempt a coup if he's not re-elected but rather that they should choose a more competent demagogue who would obviate the need for a coup (because he is re-elected) or who would make a far better job of carrying out the coup should it be required.
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