I’m starting to really consider the whole “reality is a simulation” angle, and whoever is running the game has put in a cheat code. (not really really, but more than I ever have before)
It’s like a shitty unrealistic movie plot has unfolded over the past decade. And every time it looks like maybe things are heading back on track, BOOM, we get another event that just turns us right back on the track to crazytown.
I’m having a hard time coming up with anything I can cling to in the hopes that Project 2025 isn’t going to go exactly as planned down to the last detail.
How are we not going to become real-world Gilead (but with more racism)?
The Inspectors General that Trump is trying to fire basically told him to fuck off.
Under a law passed in 2022 (you know, when the Dems were doing nothing 🙄) the president has to give Congress 1) 30 days notice of firing an IG and 2) enumerate the reasons why that IG was being fired. The second any reason is given to Congress these people are going to sue for wrongful termination since it’s blatantly obvious to everyone Trump is trying to rid the government of anyone who could hold him accountable.
What is the consequence of not following these rules?
If the only consequence is a lawsuit he doesn’t have to pay personally, then I don’t think he cares.
I suppose if the firings are regarded as “official acts,” the courts will support POTUS on this one.
Currently the consequence is they aren’t accepting the termination of their enjoyment and aren’t leaving.
If the consequence of not following the rules means it doesn’t get enforced then he cares very much.
Why does trump care if someone he tried to fire refuses to accept that they’re fired. He can still hire a replacement and pretend the person he “fired” doesn’t exist, and as long as the rest of the bureaucracy plays along with him (which it always seems to) then trump faces no consequences for breaking the rules.
This happened time and time again last term where he broke norms and rules that had no codified repercussions. Dems would say “you can’t do that, it’s not allowed” but he’d do it anyways and succeed.
The checks placed on the POTUS need to have actual teeth and not just be a gentlemen’s agreement
Oh yeah I saw that headline when I got up this morning and it made me happy to see. But talk me down the tree a little further if you can.
In the current state I don’t see how it matters. I’m glad they did it. I appreciate the gesture, and I think it was an important one. But I feel like we’re all still pretending that laws and norms matter when clearly they no longer do for Trump and anyone under him.
What exactly stops him from having these people forcibly removed and/or their access to government resources cut, their paychecks held, their clearances revoked, etc? Who is in charge of those things that can stand up to that?
What stops him is people willing to ignore obviously illegal demands, and the more people that stand up to him the more people will be encouraged to do the same. Now, if Trump openly defies court orders and the executive branch has enough sycophants in it that they’re willing to help him, then it becomes up to us to solve that problem.
Solid summary, the best way to deal with authority in general is to ignore them. Mind you someone can always use violence but often times thats a sign of weakness from someone who is trying to claim they have power.
Trump doesn’t directly do any of those things, he would have to order other people to do so, and the risk of doing so is that if he encounters more resistance people start to notice that the emperor has no clothes.
The more people resist the more it encourages others to do the same. The president is not a king that can dictate commands, and the more people stop obeying the more Trump runs into those protections that stop him being a tyrant.
My concern as well. Trump really doesn’t seem to give a damn this go-around. There were people in place that hit the brakes on him last time, but this time nobody’s doing shit.