# "The 15 warnings signs of tyranny" **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 12, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928 "2017-01-12T02:18:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/41 "2017-01-12T19:13:33Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > 1. Exaggerate their mandate. When the house republicans went to negotiate the stimulus package with Obama he told them “I won” > 2. Claim voter fraud. Obama accused North Carolina legislatures of voter suppression for trying to require an ID to vote. > 3. Calls opponents enemies. Obama said we gonna punish our enemies in an interview with Univision. > 4. Turn the public against journalists. Obama has repeatedly criticized Fox News. > 5. Hold few press conferences. Obama held 50 fewer press conferences than his predecessor. > 6. Tell the people big lies. Obama promised if you like your health insurance you can keep it. > 7. Blame racial or religious minorities. Obama blamed people clinging bitterly to guns and religion for not voting for him. > 8. Attribute domestic violence to enemies within. Obama blamed black people being shot by cops on a set of racial disparities. > 9. Threaten mass deportations. Obama bragged about having deported more immigrants than any other president. > 10. Seek to eliminate other centers of power. Obama fought the Catholic church and sought to force nuns to buy contraception against their conscience. > 11. Appoint family members to power. Obama let his wife run a program to change how the school system cafeterias work. > 12. Surround themselves with personal security. Obama goes everywhere with a secret service bodyguard. > 13. Appoint military offices to high civilian jobs. Obama appointed General Jim Jones as national security advisor, General Shinsheki to head the VA and Admiral Dennis Blair to director of national intelligence. > 14. Make personal alliance with foreign dicatator. Obama told the prime minister of Russia to tell Putin he would be flexible after the election. > 15. Profiteer from public office. Obama has made millions from book sales and is likely to make more once he leaves office and he has plans to move into a six million dollar mansion once he leaves office. Oh, puddleglum; always ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Here’s a thread where conservatives were being unjustly accused of something and people were defending them. The accusation was being demolished with well reasoned rebuttals. This was going to be one of those rare victories where your side won an argument. But you couldn’t let it go. You just had to jump in with an unfounded and irrelevant attack on Obama. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/42 "2017-01-12T20:22:03Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > I have edited the quote in the OP as it quoted the entire article. Please keep quotes of articles consistent with fair use standards. > > [/moderating] Oh… sorry. I didn’t realize I hadn’t quoted the original accurately. I copy/pasted, but… _\_ > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If you were saying Reich is accurately describing the current situation, you’d have a valid point. That’s all I wanted to say. > [@](#): > > But you specifically were saying we should admire his ability to predict the future: > > It doesn’t work that way. Reich doesn’t get credit for precognition because he can describe events that have already happened. I was definitely not giving him credit for precognition, but I can see how you took my comments that way. I meant that he was accurately describing Trump in the present. Which is why it bothered me when people were discounting him for not \*predicting \*this present turn of events last year. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/43 "2017-01-12T20:49:43Z")
Its that you quoted too much of the article not that you did so inaccurately. As I already posted, I don’t think the list was particularly accurate and I don’t see why a list of things that worry you about Trump can simply be labeled as a list of Tyranny warning signs with a straight face. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/44 "2017-01-12T20:58:47Z")
BTW, your OP includes “Has DJT missed any?” which is a little at odds with your last post saying “I meant that he was accurately describing Trump in the present.” It sure looks like you were initially saying “boy, this list of tyranny traits sure line up with Trump” rather than “here is a list of Trump traits”. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/45 "2017-01-12T21:00:07Z")
What about a president who says he’s going to do things with his phone and his pen to bypass the legislature? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/46 "2017-01-12T21:06:37Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > What about a president who says he’s going to do things with his phone and his pen to bypass the legislature? That’s exactly what Mussolini was always doing! :shakes fist in impotent rage: ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/47 "2017-01-12T21:11:10Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > What about a president who says he’s going to do things with his phone and his pen to bypass the legislature? Depends on the quality of the legislature. Did the legislature take a vow to not let the president do anything in order to punish the people? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/48 "2017-01-12T21:25:41Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Depends on the quality of the legislature. Did the legislature take a vow to not let the president do anything **in order to punish the people?** Do you have a cite for the bolded portion? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/49 "2017-01-12T21:33:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Oh… sorry. I didn’t realize I hadn’t quoted the original accurately. I copy/pasted, but… _\_ It was an accurate quoting, but quoting full articles is _verboten_ on this board. Not always a consistently applied rule, but our moderators usually trim full-article copy-&-pastes when they find them. Quoting brief sections (very rough rule-of-thumb: a paragraph or two) of a long article is considered fair use. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/50 "2017-01-13T16:24:15Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Depends on the quality of the legislature. Did the legislature take a vow to not let the president do anything in order to punish the people? So it is okay to be a tyrant if the legislature does not give you your way? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/51 "2017-01-13T16:26:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Oh, puddleglum; always ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. > > Here’s a thread where conservatives were being unjustly accused of something and people were defending them. The accusation was being demolished with well reasoned rebuttals. This was going to be one of those rare victories where your side won an argument. > > But you couldn’t let it go. You just had to jump in with an unfounded and irrelevant attack on Obama. I guess I was too subtle, the point is not that Obama is a tyrant but that the list is useless because you could use it do describe any president. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/52 "2017-01-13T17:29:10Z")
I don’t understand, is the purpose of the legislature to pass whatever law the president wishes to be passed? Sounds like you long for the days of the Roman empire. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928/53 "2017-01-13T21:55:45Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > I guess I was too subtle, the point is not that Obama is a tyrant but that the list is useless because you could use it do describe any president. About as subtle as a brick in the face. Your tortured allusions to Obama’s supposed (in your mind) tyranny absolutely pale in comparison to the things Trump _has already done_, before he’s even taken the oath of office. Funny, but I don’t remember Obama threatening to bar news services from the White House press room. Or to prosecute his election opponent. (And, speaking of opponents, the Univision quote is taken completely out of context; his reference to ‘enemies’ was to enemies of the United States such as (then) Al Qaeda, not to political opponents.) Also, of particular note to me, being a veteran, is your twisting of the appointments of military officers. The tradition is that civilians are appointed as _secretaries of the armed forces_ because it’s a check to the power of military authorities, providing civilian oversight in what is quite often an extremely insular world, and specifically hedging against the possibility of a military coup. (There are numerous examples of Republicans having appointed military officers/veterans to other high offices and advisory positions, by the way.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-15-warnings-signs-of-tyranny/776928.md?page=2)