Opinion A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable.

[Tennesseer]

Something to really think about.  Also, a New York Times article. May be behind a pay wall for some.

Opinion
A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.

Let’s stop the wishful thinking and face the stark reality: There is a clear path to dictatorship in the United States, and it is getting shorter every day. In 13 weeks, Donald Trump will have locked up the Republican nomination. In the RealClearPolitics poll average (for the period from Nov. 9 to 20), Trump leads his nearest competitor by 47 points and leads the rest of the field combined by 27 points. The idea that he is unelectable in the general election is nonsense — he is tied or ahead of President Biden in all the latest polls — stripping other Republican challengers of their own stated reasons for existence. The fact that many Americans might prefer other candidates, much ballyhooed by such political sages as Karl Rove, will soon become irrelevant when millions of Republican voters turn out to choose the person whom no one allegedly wants.

For many months now, we have been living in a world of self-delusion, rich with imagined possibilities. Maybe it will be Ron DeSantis, or maybe Nikki Haley. Maybe the myriad indictments of Trump will doom him with Republican suburbanites. Such hopeful speculation has allowed us to drift along passively, conducting business as usual, taking no dramatic action to change course, in the hope and expectation that something will happen. Like people on a riverboat, we have long known there is a waterfall ahead but assume we will somehow find our way to shore before we go over the edge. But now the actions required to get us to shore are looking harder and harder, if not downright impossible.

The magical-thinking phase is ending. Barring some miracle, Trump will soon be the presumptive Republican nominee for president. When that happens, there will be a swift and dramatic shift in the political power dynamic, in his favor. Until now, Republicans and conservatives have enjoyed relative freedom to express anti-Trump sentiments, to speak openly and positively about alternative candidates, to vent criticisms of Trump’s behavior past and present. Donors who find Trump distasteful have been free to spread their money around to help his competitors. Establishment Republicans have made no secret of their hope that Trump will be convicted and thus removed from the equation without their having to take a stand against him.

All this will end once Trump wins Super Tuesday. Votes are the currency of power in our system, and money follows, and by those measures, Trump is about to become far more powerful than he already is. The hour of casting about for alternatives is closing. The next phase is about people falling into line.

In fact, it has already begun. As his nomination becomes inevitable, donors are starting to jump from other candidates to Trump. The recent decision by the Koch political network to endorse GOP hopeful Nikki Haley is scarcely sufficient to change this trajectory. And why not? If Trump is going to be the nominee, it makes sense to sign up early while he is still grateful for defectors. Even anti-Trump donors must ask whether their cause is best served by shunning the man who stands a reasonable chance of being the next president. Will corporate executives endanger the interests of their shareholders just because they or their spouses hate Trump? It’s not surprising that people with hard cash on the line are the first to flip.

Rest of article here: Opinion A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.

[billisonboard]

It will certainly be interesting to see what American voters decide. Trump is making it clear what we will get. 

[Tennesseer]

Dec 3, 2023 13:55:21 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

It will certainly be interesting to see what American voters decide. Trump is making it clear what we will get. 

Bill-did you have full access to the article?

[billisonboard]

Dec 3, 2023 14:03:33 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Dec 3, 2023 13:55:21 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

It will certainly be interesting to see what American voters decide. Trump is making it clear what we will get. 

Bill-did you have full access to the article?

No

[haapai]

It's a Washington Post article. 

[Tennesseer]

Dec 3, 2023 14:11:20 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Dec 3, 2023 14:03:33 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Bill-did you have full access to the article?

No

What you read hardly even touched the subject. If you want, or if anyone else wants to the complete article, I will copy and paste it and send it on as a message to 'you' here. Let me know and I will do it later this afternoon. Long article.

[Tennesseer]

Dec 3, 2023 14:14:52 GMT -5 haapai said:

It's a Washington Post article. 

Ooops! My bad. Still behind a pay wall though for many. I have subscriptions to both.

[haapai]

Dang it's a long and dense article that you have linked to!  I once thought that you were pushing the limits of how much could be quoted but what you have quoted is only the surface. 

[Tennesseer]

Dec 3, 2023 16:04:17 GMT -5 haapai said:

Dang it's a long and dense article that you have linked to!  I once thought that you were pushing the limits of how much could be quoted but what you have quoted is only the surface. 

You had access to the WHOLE article.

I just copied and pasted it all to myself in case anyone wants to read the WHOLE article.

It is very long.  

I once put a long article in the SPOILER function but the mods said no to that.

[billisonboard]

Dec 3, 2023 14:19:43 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Dec 3, 2023 14:11:20 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

No

What you read hardly even touched the subject. If you want, or if anyone else wants to the complete article, I will copy and paste it and send it on as a message to 'you' here. Let me know and I will do it later this afternoon. Long article.

Please send it. TYIA.

[Opti]

Are there people in the wishful thinking phase except for former MAGAs, most GOPers etc.?


A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.



Let’s stop the wishful thinking and face the stark reality:


No wishful thinking here. Hasn't been since when he won the primary in 2015.

[billisonboard]

Public thank you to Tennesseer for sharing the article. A lot of truth there.

[billisonboard]

All the evidence necessary is on display (as the author of the linked article lays out) and will become stronger as we get closer to next November.  If Trump were to take office a year from this January by whatever means, the country was beyond saving. Not sure it is even dependent on that. That there is as much support for Trump as there is is troubling even if it is not him in power. I am not convinced he is not cause but symptom of rot. 

[djAdvocate]

i have been worrying about this since Reagan was elected.

it took 40 years, but it is here, now.

[laterbloomer]

Dec 3, 2023 22:09:51 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have been worrying about this since Reagan was elected.

it took 40 years, but it is here, now.

I caught on when Mitch McConnell blocked Obama with the Supreme Court nominations. I'm convinced this is what's happening but I don't want to see it happen.

[Opti]

www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/20/last-days-of-donald-trump-459751

NOTE: Article is much longer than what I posted and includes a pic of the J6 planned speech. Doors open at 7AM, speech at 11AM.


His son Don Jr. who had addressed the crowd earlier, condemned the rioters on Twitter shortly after 2 p.m. Trump took quickly to Twitter, too — before his staff could urge him to alter his message. But instead of urging rioters to stop, he blasted Pence for blocking Biden’s victory. A few minutes later, he tweeted his support of the Capitol Police and asked rioters to “stay peaceful.”


They didn’t. And the injuries and the death toll climbed. Protester Ashli Babbitt was shot as she was trying to go through the shattered window of a door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby. Capitol Police Officer Daniel Hodges was crushed in a door. Lawmakers cowered under desks and behind chairs, frantically calling everyone they could think of — the secretary of Defense, the attorney general, the Army secretary — to get more police to the Capitol.

Inside the White House, there was paralysis. Trump’s son-in-law and de facto chief of staff Jared Kushner was flying back from the Middle East. Several aides, including Trump’s daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, urged the president to say more. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany considered whether to hold a briefing but didn’t. Instead, at 4:17 p.m., Trump released a video. “Go home,” he told the rioters before reassuring them that “We love you.” The outrage at Trump grew as the televised scenes of mayhem continued.



“The first video out in the Rose Garden was never going to be a good idea because it was a continuation of the rally,” a former White House aide said. “It’s almost as if he was still in rally mode.”

[billisonboard]

Think there is some good thoughts here: Opinion: Would Trump be a dictator in a second term? No, but he would be a disaster

The widespread fear that Trump will actually be a dictator, however, is misplaced. If Trump wins the 2024 election, American democracy might be suspended, at least temporarily. But it won’t be replaced by a dictatorship, which is a coherent and recognizable system of government. Instead, if Trump wins, my view is that American democracy will be replaced by American “chaosracy” — an incoherent, volatile and unpredictable mix of some government institutions that function democratically and some that don’t.

[tbop77]

Dec 4, 2023 11:33:29 GMT -5 Opti said:

www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/20/last-days-of-donald-trump-459751

NOTE: Article is much longer than what I posted and includes a pic of the J6 planned speech. Doors open at 7AM, speech at 11AM.


His son Don Jr. who had addressed the crowd earlier, condemned the rioters on Twitter shortly after 2 p.m. Trump took quickly to Twitter, too — before his staff could urge him to alter his message. But instead of urging rioters to stop, he blasted Pence for blocking Biden’s victory. A few minutes later, he tweeted his support of the Capitol Police and asked rioters to “stay peaceful.”


They didn’t. And the injuries and the death toll climbed. Protester Ashli Babbitt was shot as she was trying to go through the shattered window of a door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby. Capitol Police Officer Daniel Hodges was crushed in a door. Lawmakers cowered under desks and behind chairs, frantically calling everyone they could think of — the secretary of Defense, the attorney general, the Army secretary — to get more police to the Capitol.

Inside the White House, there was paralysis. Trump’s son-in-law and de facto chief of staff Jared Kushner was flying back from the Middle East. Several aides, including Trump’s daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, urged the president to say more. Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany considered whether to hold a briefing but didn’t. Instead, at 4:17 p.m., Trump released a video. “Go home,” he told the rioters before reassuring them that “We love you.” The outrage at Trump grew as the televised scenes of mayhem continued.



“The first video out in the Rose Garden was never going to be a good idea because it was a continuation of the rally,” a former White House aide said. “It’s almost as if he was still in rally mode.”

Trump was waiting for the shooting to start....disappointed his supporters didn't do more for him.