For those of us whose heads are spinning with the cruelty, the dangerousness, the ugliness and the flat out stupidity of the convicted felon Donald Trump’s flurry of fury in his opening week, well, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
I think I can predict three things that will happen next.
The first is that Trump will go after the independence of the courts. That’s because some courts will block some of his moves. His clearly unconstitutional order to eliminate birth right citizenship is already on hold as is his clearly illegal attempt to stop all Federal grants.
So, now you can bet he’ll attack those Federal judges by name, suggest violence against them and make sure they have no Federal protection. It’s entirely possible that a judge will be murdered because of Trump. (He’ll pardon the killer.) Then he’ll try to compromise the independence of the judicial branch systematically. This is what the hard-right populist government in Poland did and what Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to do in Israel. Don’t count on the spineless suck-ups in the Republican caucuses to stop him, though all it will take is a couple of GOP moderates in the House and the filibuster in the Senate (thank you, Joe Manchin) to give us a chance. We’ll see.
Next, he’ll try to define any criticism of him as something akin to treason. This is what China did in Hong Kong, locking up opponents on bogus charges of a threat to national security. Again, only the narrowness of the House majority and the Senate filibuster might save us.
Finally, do you really think this guys is going to willingly give up power in 2028? He won’t be able to amend the constitution to allow him to serve another term, so he’ll come up with some national emergency — maybe start a war — to try to remain in power.
All this stuff has happened in other countries where autocrats have ruled. It’s the fascist’s playbook and Trump and has henchmen have been reading out of it since day one.
YSDA stands for:
Free speech.
The rule of law.
Reason.
Tolerance.
Pluralism.
Yellow Stripes & Dead Armadillos 
Reason.
Tolerance.
Pluralism.
Ain’t seeing much of any of these here Dave. You’ve joined the shriekfest in a paroxysm of panic.
There are enough straw men in this post to fill a barn in Barneveld.
Hercules had to divert the Alpheus and Pineus rivers to clean out the Augean stables. It’s going to take more than that to clean out the crap in DC.
Buckle up Bucky, there’s turbulence ahead.
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Reason.
Using similar examples from the past to speculate about the future is almost the definition of reason.
Tolerance.
Tolerance does not mean we should tolerant of intolerant people. Since Trump has a history of demonstrating intolerance, it is the duty of those promoting tolerance to criticize that.
Pluralism.
Pluralism does not mean we shouldn’t criticize people who support authoritarianism (the opposite of pluralism). Since Trump has a history of criticizing pluralism, and a desire to shut up diverse philosophical viewpoints, and a demonstrated admiration of authoritarian figures, it is the duty of those promoting pluralism to criticize that sort of behavior.
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The important word in my comment Rollie is ‘here’ ie in this particular post.
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Go for a run. Not too fast, not too far.
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I think SCOTUS will strike down some of the most blatantly unconstitutional actions (undoing birthright citizenship etc). The question is whether Trump tries to go Andrew Jackson and just ignore the court.
The biggest threat to Trump is that he is not actually doing anything –– or even talking –– about the issue that got him elected: the cost of living. Moreover, his overt subservience to tech oligarchs is turning off swing voters. He really couldn’t be playing it better for a backlash.
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You’re wrong there, Jack. You forget that on DAY ONE Trump ordered all departments to reduce inflation. Now why didn’t Joe Biden think of that? Anyway, problem solved now.
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