Scroll up to my last post.
I did. And I feel my most recent post addresses the points you made in your previous post.
The tactics you described only work if a person has ultimate control of the situation. Trump doesn’t have that control.
There are legal means to remove Trump from office. He can be impeached or he can be declared mentally incapacitated. Pushing people to do these things serves no obvious benefit to Trump.
How does it benefit Trump to “anchor the discourse” if he’s putting it in a place where people talk about removing him from office?
I think you can say the same thing about a lot of the outrageous claims that Trump has anchored the discourse at.
“Why would Trump ever declare that he’s going to remove birthright citizenship via executive order? Surely such an unconstitutional move would lead to immediate impeachment.”
I’m tired of having faith in the establishment.
Maybe this is the bridge too far that will actually lead to impeachment/removal. But you didn’t ask “Will this work,” you asked, “How does it make sense.” I think it makes sense because it fits a pattern of behavior that Trump has gotten away with for a long time.
The difference I see is that this is so obviously a self-serving move.
Trump supporters could tell themselves that removing birthright citizenship benefitted them. So they could tell themselves that Trump was doing something for them and support Trump.
Outside of the innermost core of the maga crowd, nobody is going to tell themselves they will get any benefit out of Trump getting a third term. This is blatantly Trump doing something to benefit Trump alone. This is Trump being obvious with his greed.
And another factor is one I mentioned above. Trump’s desire for a third term puts him into conflict with powerful Republicans who want to be President themselves. When there’s a vote on Trump’s impeachment or incapacitation, I suspect a few Republicans will decide it’s a good time to suddenly declare they support the Constitution.
Hm. I neither understand completely nor agree.
Anybody that thinks that Trump is good for the country (or simply good for them, as an individual, or their cohort, or their community, or our place in this world) could be forgiven for wanting more of … that.
And this is the problem with the nearly perfect information silo/bubble in which today’s political right lives: if you ask them, things are both hunky and dory, both here and abroad.
If you press them further, the alternative (read: Democrats) represent about 26 kinds of existential threat to me, you, all that we hold sacred, our children, the economy, morality, decency, etc., etc., etc.
I think a reasonable surrogate for how many of ‘them’ we’re talking about is a meta-survey of polling data (approve/disapprove) at any given time – the ‘poll of polls’ concept.
Unless you think the ~35% who currently ‘approve’ of Trump represents the “innermost core of the maga crowd” [??].
I feel there are two different groups here.
There’s the hardcore maga cult. If Trump told them to kill their families and then commit suicide, they would do it.
But I feel the majority of Trump’s supporters aren’t in the cult. They’re ignorant and confused and scared. But they’re not committed to Trump the way the cult is. They could shift their loyalty to some new authority figure. It’s the growing loss of this crowd which is causing Trump’s poll numbers to drop.
And these are the people that Trump will upset by talking about his plans to cancel elections and become President for life. They could become just as scared of Trump as they were scared of Obama. And that will leave them open to somebody who will play to their fears and promise he will save them from Donald Trump.
May I presume, then, that all of these people were born since January 6th, 2021?
There have been plenty if examples of figurehead leaders, doing what they are told to do. Trump could easily run things that way and even stay in the oval office, as a special administrator. Set up a rubber stamp Congress by refusing to admit “unqualified” members. And don’t forget to limit court powers.
I think your second point is a good theory as to why it might not work – I was stunned that Trump won the nomination in 2024, given he’d already lost once and it seemed like Republicans were ready to move on. 2028 will really be 12 years of MAGA and I think that might be too much, although other oligarchs have figured out how to hold onto power.
But overall, both of these points are reasons that it might not work, not reasons why Trump won’t do it. The $1776 fund was also blatantly self-serving, and it was smacked down by Trump’s own party, but that didn’t stop him from trying.
Something that remains true to this day - “it’s the economy, stupid”.
That was THE selling point in 2024 - he can ‘fix’ it, whatever it was. People were dealing with high inflation and didn’t really care about figuring out root causes. They did what they always do - blamed it on whoever was currently in charge.
The same will be true for the midterms and for 2028. If people are dissatisfied with their own personal financial situation, they are going to let that be known.
More to the point, the 2028 trial balloon isn’t about the possibility of being elected, because he knows he can’t. He tried insurrection once before so it’s not impossible or even improbable to believe that he’s gauging whether he can get away with it this time.
He may be dumber than a bag of hammers and declining mentally, but he knows how to sell it, and his minions have the experience of 2021 to figure out what went wrong. And while you and I would never tolerate the abrogation of the Constitution and his assumption of dictatorial powers, if they have the guns, the numbers, and the governmental infrastructure supporting it there’s really nothing we can do.
That’s what it’s really all about.
A bit over two minutes: a song with a fairly practical compilation of things Donald’s “to do” list must contain.
I feel like the majority of them are people who have been conditioned to believe that the Democratic party works against what’s good for the country, and have misguided priorities and concentrate on minority and fringe groups to the detriment of average Americans. The GOP comes along and reinforces all that, and positions themselves as the defenders of their way of life, and proponents of all that is good and true, and standing up for people like them (which is usually some combination of anxious, white, old, rural, suburban, and middle class).
So they vote GOP because they have been trained to think that way. They’re not hardcore MAGA people, but they are hardcore anti-Democratic party. So many held their noses and voted Trump in 2016. And many voted Biden in 2020. Come 2024, I think economic issues and the whole Biden debate/rushed Harris candidacy left a bad taste in their mouths, and many felt afterward that indeed, the Democrats are not looking out for them and can’t be trusted.
Personally, I think they ascribe a whole lot more agency and direction to the Democratic party than is warranted; if anything, it’s a shambolic mess of disparate interests that nobody can seem to herd in the right direction, and that can’t manage to get out of its own way as far as messaging and optics are concerned.
But they’re fed up with Trump again, and many are going to hold their noses and vote Democrat in the midterms. So assuming the Democrats come out on top, they need to accomplish something if they hope to do well come 2028.
I think we can confirm that Trump doesn’t know presidential term limits are in the Constitution.
The lawsuits may well begin when the attempts to put his name on primary ballots get rejected. Like the 14th amendment appeal, there may be a lack of enforcement mechanism. There never was a need before now. The lawsuits will get laughed out of court, of course, but will be appealed ad nauseum. After that, we may see a January 6 type demonstration. The cult will not understand the legalities involved when they hear el donald claim that it proves the whole thing is rigged.