This is it. Trump is too childish and incompetent for people to take him seriously. This is why I think Kamala made a big misstep in her campaign switching from “Trump weird” to “Trump scary”. Trump is like a toddler in an operating room that the patient demanded be there.
Ask the Russian oligarchs how much their money matters. The ones who haven’t “fallen out of windows”, that is. It’s a major fallacy of the wealthy: they think that by installing a dictator they can get even richer and more powerful by sweeping away everything that restrains them, while refusing to consider that in the process they destroy the very system that gives them power in the first place. Money doesn’t matter when the dictator can just have thugs throw you in jail or off a cliff.
But the wealthy in our society tend to think of money as something that has some sort of intrinsic power and value, and so are blind to that.
Racist, sexist, religiously fanatic, authoritarian, homo/transphobic, sadistic, xenophobic, anti-knowledge, anti-science, anti-logic, anti-compassion; you could magically erase capitalism from the world and it would barely slow them down.
As I’ve said before they follow the Creed of Sauron: “Cruelty, malice, and the will to dominate all life”. Capitalism is just a tool, not the cause.
Especially since the main qualification of the current leader is being rich (or at least, being able to convince people that he is).
I think you may have hit the nail on the head. Abbott and Paxton are already talking about arresting the Democrats and tossing them out of the State Legislature. I see this as possibly the first step to outlawing the Democratic Party in the state setting up one party rule there and serving as a test for doing the same nationwide.
Under what law?
I think authoritarianism might look a bit different here than it has historically. I think capitalism is playing a huge role in what’s happening. Rather than banning media he doesn’t like, Trump is colluding with media companies to have them do it. Then he gets plausible deniability, and I think that plausible deniability is the way they get away with the whole thing.
I think the comments about Americans being complacent are correct. If religion isn’t the opiate of the masses, algorithm-driven entertainment certainly is. Most people are unaffected by the latest atrocities, and probably haven’t thought too deeply about what’s happening or the potential consequences to themselves. When you are relatively comfortable it’s hard to make yourself uncomfortable on someone else’s behalf. I speak from experience. I want to believe that I’m going to turn out to be some kind of warrior but I’m just a lady with a young child who can barely keep my own shit together, and the thought of having my kid grow up without a mother is paralyzing and paranoia-inducing. The federal government has so many tech tools it didn’t before for keeping people in line. Their capacity for surveillance is limitless.
I don’t know what’s going to happen if we get fucked economically, I think that’s the biggest curveball in the whole scenario. It might be our last hope.
BTW, if you are depending on “The Militia” to rise up against this administration, look elsewhere. A very high percentage of them are pure bluster, and a large percentage of those who aren’t are Trump supporters.
Under state law, the attorney general or a local district attorney would have to file what’s known as a quo warranto lawsuit against each member, seeking their removal on the grounds that they have abandoned their office.
And Abbott has instructed the Texas Rangers to arrest them and return them to the statehouse. Of course, the Rangers have now authority outside the state but I doubt Abbott or Paxton care about such details.
More information from another source here.
That’s a good point. The reason there won’t be a “last straw” for Trump* is because there isn’t a last straw for the rank and file MAGA base. In other words Trump is just the symptom (although admittedly a really bad one). The disease is the hateful world view of the MAGA base. I have no idea how to fix that, mostly because I have no idea why their hearts are so full of hate to anyone not like them.
*. Except as I previously stated if he becomes a liberal. Of course that won’t happen, but if we’re running through the list of hypothetical last straws for Trump himself as opposed to the MAGA base, that’s the only one that has even a remote possibility of being an actual last straw.
I actually don’t think they care. No one is voting for Trump because of his political theories. It’s a cult.
IMHO the personality is important, but not the primary thing. What’s primary is the hate. If Trump were suddenly to start preaching love, they would turn on him.
He wouldn’t be that kind of liberal.
But you’re right. Look what happened when he tried once to take credit for the COVID vaccine.
The base would tolerate leftist measures as long as they don’t protect those they hate, or go against any of their pet causes like anti-vax.
If Trump were to show love or care about the dreaded “Other” he would be finished.
I don’t know how this would impact any “last straw” effect but Sen. Cornyn is now calling for the FBI to arrest the Texas lawmakers who have left the state and return them. DJT is saying “maybe”.
The board suggested this old thread, from a few years ago (2021): fascinating reading, at least the first few dozen posts, given where we are now.
https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-how-will-you-react-when-repubs-end-democracy/
Hmmmm. My posts from that thread remain largely valid, and I still suspect they’re more or less accurate, though my discussion of going to Israel being a “frying pan/fire” situation was if anything, understating the issues. Oh, and this one really bites me today:
Oh, and my parents sold their leases in Mexico, so that’s off the table. So, yeah, if we continue down this path, and Trump is still alive or an heir manages to consolidate things quickly enough, then I have even fewer options than in 2021.
All the last straws will accumulate into a gigantic pile that eventually collapses and results in mass casualties, which of course will be the fault of illegals and woke Democrats.
Senator Cornyn is now saying Kash Patel has agreed to dispatch the FBI to track down Texas Democrats.
Given the largest group are in Illinois this will be interesting. Gov. Pritzker is being defiant.
“The reality is that all that he has said is that the F.B.I. has been authorized to locate the House Democrats — nothing more,” Mr. Pritzker told reporters at the Illinois State Fair on Thursday. “I welcome the F.B.I. coming to the state,” he added. “But they won’t be arresting anyone because there is no federal law that prohibits those Texas House Democrats from being here.”
My (american) wife & I have already voted with our feet: we live in the UK now.
Of course that’s not an option for everyone, was possible for us since I never relinguished UK citizenship.
I’m thinking there is perhaps a 50% chance that the whole MAGA thing will wither away once Trump dies? It seems to be more of a personality cult than an actual political movement. But hard to predict. We live in ‘interesting’ times….
I don’t think so. It will change, and with any luck fracture, but all those people are angry for a reason. Life in America isn’t getting any better, cheaper, or more secure; America’s place in the world isn’t rising; climate change is happening. All of the pressures that made MAGA are there and none are being addressed (and certainly not by the MAGA folks themselves, except by scapegoating and recreational outrage / hatred).