I'm sad too. No matter the best possible spin you could put on current events, it's still a pretty bad situation.
And I haven't forgotten Bannon – and I'm sure it's likely to an extent that he's the Rove to Trump's Bush in terms of influence, etc, although I'd point out that Trump was spouting his brand of bullshit long before Bannon signed on with him (indeed, long before the election even started).
But regardless of how much of what's coming out of the WH originates with Trump or Bannon, I think the same argument applies – I don't think it's a coup so much as unhinged incompetent conspiracy theorists who don't know what they're doing or how the real world works. And if it IS an attempt to burn the current system to the ground, it won't work because a successful coup requires a level of intelligence, cleverness and advance planning that I don't seriously believe Trump or Bannon have. I don't think either of them are smart enough to come up with some foolproof plan to take over the govt and remake it in their image with zero or minimal resistance. Whatever else Bannon is, he's no evil genius.
Also, just because whitehouse.gov deletes its page on the judicial branch does't mean there isn't a real judicial branch. Maybe it reflects the fact that Trump/Bannon will refuse to recognize any court decision they don't like (which is something Tea Party types have wanted to be able to do that for a couple of decades now), but that doesn't make it legal for them to do so.
That's why I don't think they can carry on like this indefinitely. Nixon thought the law didn't apply to him because he was POTUS. He found out too late how wrong he was. I think the same thing will happen to Trump/Bannon/Whoever sooner or later once they cross the wrong people. I hope so, anyway.
Also, I agree that it's good to circulate articles like that, at least to get a discussion going – there's no harm in raising awareness of the possibilities, and far too few people realize that totalitarian fascism could happen in America under the right conditions. I just don't think that's actually what's happening in this case – but I could be totally wrong about that.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2017-02-01 01:19 pm (UTC)And I haven't forgotten Bannon – and I'm sure it's likely to an extent that he's the Rove to Trump's Bush in terms of influence, etc, although I'd point out that Trump was spouting his brand of bullshit long before Bannon signed on with him (indeed, long before the election even started).
But regardless of how much of what's coming out of the WH originates with Trump or Bannon, I think the same argument applies – I don't think it's a coup so much as unhinged incompetent conspiracy theorists who don't know what they're doing or how the real world works. And if it IS an attempt to burn the current system to the ground, it won't work because a successful coup requires a level of intelligence, cleverness and advance planning that I don't seriously believe Trump or Bannon have. I don't think either of them are smart enough to come up with some foolproof plan to take over the govt and remake it in their image with zero or minimal resistance. Whatever else Bannon is, he's no evil genius.
Also, just because whitehouse.gov deletes its page on the judicial branch does't mean there isn't a real judicial branch. Maybe it reflects the fact that Trump/Bannon will refuse to recognize any court decision they don't like (which is something Tea Party types have wanted to be able to do that for a couple of decades now), but that doesn't make it legal for them to do so.
That's why I don't think they can carry on like this indefinitely. Nixon thought the law didn't apply to him because he was POTUS. He found out too late how wrong he was. I think the same thing will happen to Trump/Bannon/Whoever sooner or later once they cross the wrong people. I hope so, anyway.
Also, I agree that it's good to circulate articles like that, at least to get a discussion going – there's no harm in raising awareness of the possibilities, and far too few people realize that totalitarian fascism could happen in America under the right conditions. I just don't think that's actually what's happening in this case – but I could be totally wrong about that.