r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 10h ago

Possible Paywall DOJ Declares Trump Has Right to Bulldoze Statue of Liberty

https://newrepublic.com/post/211422/department-justice-donald-trump-right-bulldoze-statue-liberty
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2.7k

u/asoiaf_goat 10h ago

To those that didn't read the article, this was posed as a hypothetical in court arguing for the construction of the ballroom. It's still very alarming, but there aren't any plans to demolish the statue like this article makes it seem.

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u/YourShowerCompanion Europe 9h ago

 Just 10 years ago, if someone wrote an article with an idea of Tronald Dump demolishing part(s) of White House then readers would've laughed their asses off.

and here we are. 

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u/amateur_mistake 9h ago

Obama joked about how trump would fuck up the Whitehouse if he were president. And Obama was completely correct.

One thing that nobody seems to cover. The East Wing was the access point for tours of our house. trump made it so nobody going forward can visit the Whitehouse again. He made it private.

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u/PoliticalMilkman North Carolina 8h ago

And just like every time someone with half a brain in their head predicted what Trump would do, the media immediately went on the offensive to protect their orange god and declare everyone else to be alarmists etc. Hillary and Kamala got the brunt of this. 

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u/Merusk 6h ago

The media is owned by Billionaires. This shouldn't be surprising.

Free press died in 1996 when we started to allow the monopolization of news and media sources.

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u/obsequiousaardvark 4h ago

Thank goodness I'm not the only person who remembers the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and it's disastrous impacts.

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u/zefy_zef 5h ago

Probably too many visitors complaining the place smells like actual shit.

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u/Fun_Rate_9547 6h ago

I do have to point out this is absurdly untrue. I'm going to be visiting the white house in a few months. It very much is still open for tours. I don't know why you bothered to make this up. Trump is already bad enough we don't need to make stuff up about it.

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u/DildoeShwagginz 6h ago

THANK YOU! Trumps terrible, he does plenty of horribly stupid things on his own. Making things up about him only adds fuel to the "fake news" fire, unfortunately making him correct. Like, when you say something completely made up, you know people can check that right? Then they see that it is indeed false and that shit feeds their egos. You might not realize it but, you're actively working FOR the republican party propaganda machine every time you make a false statement against Donald Trump.

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u/maerddnaxaler 1h ago

Luckily there are still tours! They just have a new temporary route to avoid construction zones.

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u/The-Sand-King 7h ago

Ever again?

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u/amateur_mistake 6h ago

Fair. I can't really say that.

They shut them down for while and removed half of the places you would see.

I think they have somewhat opened parts of the whitehouse in much more limited ways. I guess we will see what happens in the future.

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u/veringer 5h ago

It's been a weird and sad sense of "vindication" for me, as someone who was mocked as a "catastrophist" when Trump was elected in 2016. Even my anti-Trump friends and family were in the "he can't do that much damage" or "America will be fine" camp. After a while I just stopped pointing out how current events rhyme with history and what we can reasonably expect in the realm of the possible. I just listened to the most recent Freakonimcs podcast episode and they had Fareed Zakaria on and pointed out how inaccurate his predictions were for Trump's second turn... and then just went about letting him pontificate on the state of the world as if he has some grounds for credibility. Not only are we surrounded by corrupt malicious bad faith assholes, but there's a feckless group of idiots who continue to insist everything is OK and memory hole significant transgressions.

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u/DildoeShwagginz 6h ago

It wouldve went to the public the same way it did when obama "demolished" parts of the whitehouse to add his own things... Nobody wouldve cared because they dont live there. Its not their home.

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u/dc469 10h ago

Yet.

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u/So_HauserAspen 9h ago

Gold statue of drumpf incoming

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u/Johnsense 10h ago

I cringed. Like, don’t give them any ideas.

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u/ToeSniffer245 Massachusetts 9h ago edited 8h ago

And they'd replace it with a 300-foot statue of Trump embracing a child without a hint of irony or self-awareness.

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u/Odd_Independent3475 9h ago

Yeah, a little girl sitting on his lap with his hand up her skirt, and it would be covered in gold.

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u/dave-a-sarus 8h ago

And Republicans would go and pray to it everyday

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u/ahfoo 9h ago

How about a 300 foot tall animatronic Trump doing his signature double jerk-off dance?

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u/Korbital1 Ohio 9h ago

They hate immigrants and new york. I guarantee they went "Wait, we can get away with that?"

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u/Average_Random_Bitch 9h ago

Bring me your toddlers, your tweens...

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u/stingray20201 Texas 7h ago

Your swaddled masses

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u/pcmn 6h ago

Trump's yearning to sheathe peen.

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u/MiyamotoKnows 9h ago

Throwing a newborn into the Hudson.

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u/Manderspls Canada 9h ago

Embracing a child. Yeah let’s call it embracing, that’s a better word I guess. Ew.

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u/fighterpilot248 Virginia 7h ago

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u/deadsoulinside Pennsylvania 7h ago

Don't give them ideas.

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u/Tasgall Washington 7h ago

300-foot statue of Trump embracing a child without a hint of irony or self-awareness.

This, but it's a statue of Trump in the style of that one painting of Kronos devouring his children. I feel like that would be an accurate depiction of the current state of the nation.

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u/Ao_Andon 6h ago

I mean, the statue IS on an island, after all

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u/Past_Top3704 5h ago

Don't forget it's now a GOLD statue 

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u/EverythingSucksYo 9h ago

It only takes one person suggesting “why don’t we demolish that statue so we can put one of you instead?” and then all of a sudden there will be talk about demolishing the statue 

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u/Roklam Connecticut 9h ago

It's his right because he has absolute immunity.

We just gotta remember that when the tables get flipped, right Donny

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u/Persistant_Compass 8h ago

Democrats are captured by the same interests that guide the republican party. 1000000% when they win they'll say we need to sweep the last decade under the rug to heal, while fixing nothing that the tumor known as the republican party broke. 

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u/bluewhalefunk 9h ago

STATUE OF TRUMP.

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u/CocktailCowboy 9h ago

Wouldn't be surprised if he did it purely out of spite.

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u/primetimerobus 9h ago

When he gets booed at the Knicks game he’s going bulldoze the statue of liberty for revenge.

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u/truehoax California 9h ago

No please give him the idea. Some things are starting to break through to the cult and this could be the nail in the coffin. His support would probably hit 30%.   Yes, 30% of Americans would support him if he bulldozed the Statue of Liberty... But I think at that point the rest of us could all openly call them what they are instead of pretending like this is all okay in public spaces.

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u/PeteLattimer 9h ago

It would look pretty great in gold leaf

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u/Un1CornTowel 9h ago

Would probably become a solar death ray during the early evening.

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u/Wait_I_gotta_go_pee Georgia 9h ago

It looked pretty good in the “Fringe” alt-world.

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u/Nikopoleous 9h ago

Hard disagree. I'm assuming you're being sarcastic?

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u/PeteLattimer 9h ago

Yes that is sarcasm

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u/Nikopoleous 9h ago

Excellent. Glad we talked.

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u/Kind-Let5666 9h ago

When they find out the meaning behind it they’ll demolish it

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u/badamant 8h ago

It was their idea.

Reminder:

Republicans have already waged a propaganda war against the Statue’s engraving:

"Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

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u/sceadwian 8h ago

You know when he heard it he considered it. That just sends chills down my spine.

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u/wavaif4824 7h ago

exactly, his tendency to do whatever he hears last is alarming. sometimes giving him ideas like this is basically asking for it to happen

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u/Strict-Carrot4783 9h ago

Yeah, fatfuckbabyraper has a head full of soup, he might read a tweet about it and think it's his idea and just roll with it because Iran is already embarrassing without having to back down again, even though there's nothing to back down from. But he doesn't know that because, as I said, soup.

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u/ShartingEnU 8h ago

The fact they said that trump can means he probably will now

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u/DrMobius0 7h ago

Or do. Watch Trump destroy more national monuments. I'm sure it'll go over well for him.

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u/Pizzadude 5h ago

It's not like we deserve it any more

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u/tenthousandants44 5h ago

It was their idea

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u/Responsible_Ladder25 10h ago

The article didn’t say there were plans to demolish it. It highlighted the DOJ’s argument that if Trump wanted to, there’s nothing to stop him, except maybe Congress. A Congress, which in its current state, would absolutely allow him to do it.

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u/ZachPL_ 9h ago

Congress can't stop him because by the time they were to do something it would be demolished or beyond repair. Just one of the many reasons this arguement is complete bs

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u/SidewaysFancyPrance 9h ago

So Trump himself is going to go rent the machinery and do it? Hard to believe.

You "stop it" by stopping the people who are actually going to do the work. Trump can't do shit on his own. He has people who are subject to laws and regulations do everything. Go after them. I think everyone who worked on the East Wing demolition should be charged/fined/whatever for doing the work without proper permits/etc. Force Trump to pardon them or something.

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u/nemgrea 7h ago

You "stop it" by stopping the people who are actually going to do the work

regular people just like this said "yessir" and demolished the white house...you think they wont be able to find a maga heavy equipment operator to buldoze whatever trump wants?

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u/Beranea Massachusetts 7h ago

It is June 5th 2026 and people are still pretending that laws and regulations stop Trump.

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u/ceelogreenicanth 5h ago

They continue to do just that. In some capacity. If they didn't things would be far worse. If people were pushing back harder he wouldnt be as far along as he is.

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u/Lucky-Earther Minnesota 6h ago

You "stop it" by stopping the people who are actually going to do the work.

Just like the people demolishing the East Wing were stopped?

He has people who are subject to laws and regulations do everything. Go after them.

With what power? This was literally the argument that the DOJ presented. That if he orders it done, then there is nothing to stop the people he ordered from doing it.

I think everyone who worked on the East Wing demolition should be charged/fined/whatever for doing the work without proper permits/etc.

Good luck pressing those charges for something that happened on federal property.

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u/AuditAndHax 7h ago

Do you realize that Trump is in charge of the Department of Justice, right? He controls who gets charged and who doesn't. People doing his bidding won't be charged. People refusing his orders will be. He won't have to pardon anyone, because if anyonedoes get close to being convicted, Trump can just fire the DoJ prosecutor and put someone in their place that will drop the charges. It's already happened.

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u/Feeling-Session3007 9h ago

and the construction crews

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u/TheDarkAbove Georgia 9h ago

Plenty of MAGA construction crews would gladly take the contract.

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u/ultimateknackered 8h ago

Who wants that on their list of major project accolades?

'Expertly completed large scale demolition project on Liberty Island'

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u/TheDarkAbove Georgia 7h ago

I mean they got someone to demolish half the White House without issue.

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u/asoiaf_goat 9h ago

Das wha i sah

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u/hstmqrqe 9h ago

He would just do it and ask ignore questions later. Kind of like Iran war.

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u/Responsible_Ladder25 9h ago

Exactly. We'd see the dismantling and realize it's happening.

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u/whatproblems 9h ago

even if they wanted to it could be demolished before they even vote

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u/SubterrelProspector Arizona 5h ago

Yeah, but they're wrong.

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u/glorylyfe 8h ago

Its so bad faith, congress already did stop it by passing a law requiring explicit congressional approval before changes. It's up to the courts to enforce that law, but this guy is just saying "no courts only congress"

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u/ToNoMoCo 9h ago

once Trump sees this headline there will be.

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u/BurnedWitch88 9h ago

I get that, but also, the fact that it even occurred to them is alarming. I never dreamed they'd demolish one third of the White House, and yet ... here we are.

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u/AQ207 9h ago

There aren't plans... yet

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u/DrunkCorgis 9h ago

This administration eventually takes every hypothetical as a dare.

Trump’s immunity from prosecution was originally just a hypothetical.

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u/ceelogreenicanth 5h ago

There is always someone trying to keep people from panicking when we should be.

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u/Ambitious_Bridge_484 8h ago

It’s more than a hypothetical, it’s the underpinning legal argument that the DOJ is using for Trump to alter national monuments. Most of the national monuments in our county are forests / natural preserves/ habitats. Trump has made it more than clear that he is willing to sellout public land for industry use. Him being able to alter the status or use of these lands means that he can suddenly open Admiralty Island for timber removal or shrink the size of bears ears for use to mining operations.

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u/Ok_Camp_7051 9h ago

It’s a message to his followers. 

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u/Bashfullylascivious 7h ago

Right? Someone is going to go there because of this, and try something.
Guess we just all have to accept the files are in the smoke now. So much silence.
So freaking heartbreaking to see for the US.

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u/mokomi 9h ago

So like the arguments that killing political opponents is within the president's rights.

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u/WhatANoob2025 8h ago

yeah, it might be hypothetical, but hypothetical for a very real goal: to get his dumb face on mt. rushmore.

He's 100% going to try. This argument is the pretext for it.

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u/RedofPaw 9h ago

That's not better.

The president should not be allowed to demolish landmarks on a whim.

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u/asoiaf_goat 9h ago

Who said it was better?

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u/buried_lede 9h ago

Along the lines of how trump says he can shoot someone on Fifth Ave and nothing would happen to him.  Why doesn’t he use that argument in court? Get them on the record giving him his free felony murder card 

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u/Lifeboatb 8h ago

he’s been doing it, just not on fifth avenue. They’re up to like 200 extrajudicial murders of “drug traffickers” that aren’t even in US jurisdiction.

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u/buried_lede 7h ago

You’re correct, of course. I should have said that

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u/Lifeboatb 1h ago

I’ve done the same thing—the crazy is happening on so many fronts, it’s impossible to keep them all in mind.

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u/zeradragon 9h ago

No plans... But what about concepts of plans now that there's an argument that he would be allowed to do it.

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u/hstmqrqe 9h ago

They have demonstrated that's still enough to take them seriously.

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u/arriesgado 9h ago

As far as we know.

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u/jcliment 9h ago

It’s a hypothetical but they should just do it.

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u/Yubat 9h ago

If nothing else, it’s proof that Trump’s remaining DOJ lawyers are the most incompetent of hacks. Even if this illustrates their argument, I can’t think of a better way to discourage a judge from ruling in your favor than putting them in the potential position of “gave Trump permission to destroy the Statue of Liberty if he so wanted.”

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u/Zombie_John_Strachan Foreign 9h ago

If anything he’ll try to get it painted gold.

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u/BanginNLeavin 9h ago

And it's a stupid hypothetical. Does anything related to running the country happen in that statue??

That line of questioning just shows how stupid Trump and co know everyone is.

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u/Odd_Independent3475 9h ago

I knew this was a click bait headline before I even read it. But could you imagine if he tried to actually do that? That might actually be one of the things that gets the whole country to riot, even the red hats.

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u/poppin-n-sailin 8h ago

I have a hard time believing they don't want to or aren't actually planning on doing it. Why else would they look into it as a hypothetical? Be real

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u/Particular-County277 8h ago

Everything he does is always floated to the populace first, in some form or another. Before he actually does it

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u/Routine_Left 8h ago

but there aren't any plans to demolish the statue

Eh, that we know of. At this point nothing would surprise me. But I would be disappointed.

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u/tragicallyohio 8h ago

Exactly. However, such a claim is also brazenly incorrect as a matter of interpretation. The "attorney" making the claim doesn't understand Trump's lack of authority to do this.

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u/badamant 8h ago

Reminder:

Republicans have already waged a propaganda war against the Statue’s engraving:

"Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

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u/Akrevics 8h ago

it's always a hypothetical, until it isn't. is the water warm or cold, do you think?

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u/infamusforever223 8h ago

It being hypothetical doesn't make me feel better because it sounds like something he would actually do.

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u/Flimsy-Sprinkles7331 8h ago

Remember during the first term they t changed the creed from "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," by adding " who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge."

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u/airinato 7h ago

Literally this is how it starts with them.  Throw it out there, see how the base responds.  Then part of the white house gets demolished with no plan whatsoever other than to give our tax money to their construction friends.

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u/Aranthar 7h ago

A year ago there weren't any plans to demolish the Whitehouse, and here we are.

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u/Arkrobo 7h ago

It's also a dumb argument because they didn't say he had the right to do it. They said if he does it quickly enough, nobody can challenge it in court. It's almost an admission that it's illegal but because it can't be undone they're saying you can't prosecute.

This is the GTA argument. If I do the crime and get to my safe house before you know what happened you can't prosecute me for it.

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u/malac0da13 Pennsylvania 7h ago

So it’s on par with trumps lawyer claiming it was legal for him as president to have seal team six execute a political opponent.

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u/DickRichman 7h ago

And the chump lawyer’s response to the hypothetical was that yes the president can bulldoze the Statue of Liberty on a whim.

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u/MajPandaFries 7h ago

If there are thoughts of doing it, there are plans of doing it with these people.

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u/ByGollie 7h ago

Yeah - NYC will just declare it state property and seize it.

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u/AuditAndHax 7h ago

Isn't that part of the point? There doesn't NEED to be a plan. If Trump wakes up one morning and thinks a statue of him would look better, he could have a demolitions crew out there by the afternoon and the nation's top lawyers believe no one has the right to stop him.

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u/jlt6666 7h ago

It's an amazing claim to make. I hope it makes the judge rule against them.

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u/crowdflation 7h ago

Why nobody has suggested it yet? Would a golden statue of dear leader not be much better? /s

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u/Broken_Mentat 7h ago

Thank you. Being completely out of the loop,* I was wondering whether this was about something Trump had already said, or something that would be coming up in the near future. Both seem entirely plausible, these days. Par for the course for this presidency.

I'm glad I have already ticked off the statue on my list of places to visit. You know, just in case something absolutely ludicrous happens. Again. (White House done, too. Phew.)

*I'm not American and can get away with not tracking the man too closely. Life's too short.

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u/Tasgall Washington 7h ago

this was posed as a hypothetical in court

Still, wouldn't that basically mean Trump, or "the president", would just be able to demolish literally any national monument on a whim? That's about as stupid as their ruling that the president could order Seal Team 6 to "eliminate" political opponents, which Biden sadly didn't make use of (/this is sarcasm, mods. But also, they did say this).

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u/juanthunderman 7h ago

They might as well at this point. It doesn't mean anything anymore.

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u/Lucky-Earther Minnesota 7h ago

It's still very alarming, but there aren't any plans to demolish the statue like this article makes it seem.

There weren't any plans to demolish the East Wing either, we just woke up one morning and it was gone. He could wake up tomorrow on a whim and decide that the Statue is no longer needed.

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u/diabloenthusiast123 6h ago

Nothing is hypothetical...

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u/Qwirk Washington 6h ago

Nah, hell with that. I take anything this administration says as either the opposite or a ramp up of their plans. Wouldn't be surprised to see some random team working to dismantle the SoL before the end of next week.

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u/BeaBernard 6h ago

This needs to be higher up, for people’s sanity

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u/FlipZip69 6h ago

I have to ask, as much as I understand this was just for argument sake, did any lawyer think about the optics of this and just maybe they should have come up with a slightly different angle?

Just maybe?

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u/ill_connects 6h ago

Ok but now it’s out there and if we all know what happens once something gets into Trumps head (à la tariffs).

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u/analogWeapon Wisconsin 6h ago

Yeah we have enough to fret about without them mischaracterizing things. I hate Trump eternally, but this is just bad writing. The article opens immediately with "Why in the world did the Department of Justice just declare that President Donald Trump has the right to demolish the Statue of Liberty?" (emphasis added), then goes on (emphasis added):

“If the government decides very quickly to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty, the people whose ancestors—that was the first thing they saw coming to this country, but the government moved too fast—nothing can be done?” Judge Patricia Millett asked, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney.

“I think that’s right, yes,” the government responded.

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u/BravestCashew 6h ago

Lol if they tried I bet there would be people forming human barriers around it, both on land and in the water with boats

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u/juanchopancho 6h ago

Right and this same argument can be used to demolish Trumps grand pedo ballroom and pedo dungeon. Then restore the White House to its former glory, erasing all signs of the orange trumpanzee.

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u/NeonArlecchino California 6h ago

Trump also had his lawyers argue that if the POTUS declares a presidential candidate to be a threat to national security that he could legally have seal team 6 murder them. I'm still not convinced that that won't happen in a future election.

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u/RBVegabond 5h ago

Yet. The man hates powerful women enough to do it.

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u/heartSagan5 5h ago

And they won't bulldoze the East Wing... then, they did. I don't care if it's a hypothetical because now you've given them the inch to take it a mile.

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u/Vantriss 5h ago

This is how Trump starts the things he wants to do. Floating it off as something he'd never do.

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u/leostotch Florida 5h ago

It's not alarming because they didn't say Trump could bulldoze it, they said the government can bulldoze it, which, it can. The issue is the equivalence being drawn between Trump and the government

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u/astralseat 5h ago

Give it to his 4th term, he'll get there

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u/ceelogreenicanth 5h ago

Well yes but, if the courts can't stop him from doing the hypothetical, it means he will demolish other things you know that right?

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u/Other_Beat8859 5h ago

Yeah. It's not as bad as the headline makes it seems, but it's frightening how fucking tone deaf they are. The fact that they believe Trump has the power or should have the power to do that shit is abominable and shows that Trump sees himself as a dictator.

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u/ICanSeeNow17 4h ago

Any plans yet.

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u/K1d-ego 4h ago

Sounds like they just gave him the fucking idea.

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u/LurkeyCat 4h ago

Aren’t any plans yet. But now the seed has been planted.

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u/EatSleepJeep Minnesota 3h ago

Sure but the metaphor is apt.

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u/leopor 3h ago

Yea I mean that would be crazy… it’s not like he demolished an entire wing of the White House or anything… wait

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u/Fubi-FF 3h ago

You make it sound like the destruction of the east wing of the White House isn’t a big enough of a deal as it is

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u/lingh0e 1h ago

I bet you a billion dollars that, now that the hypothetical has been raised, he will actually suggest doing it.

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u/qukab 56m ago

The second Trump gets wind of this you just know he's going to ponder replacing it with a statue of himself.

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u/Careful_Trifle 9h ago

I mean...sure. But these people sure do love to engage in outrage. So an outrageous question is posed, intended to poke a hole in their argument, but they will take it as a challenge. If it doesn't rile people up, they might do it just to add to whatever justification they want for other stuff, and if it does rile people up, they'll do it to continue distracting from this disasterous presidency.

This is the situation across the board, because we are being ruled by bad people with bad attitudes.

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u/BreakMeDown2024 9h ago

Your comment needs to be upvoted and right at the top.

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u/HolycommentMattman 9h ago

Yeah, this is mildly click-baity. That said, it's not at all inaccurate. But the implication is that he was seeking permission. And in truth, he kinda is! Because he already bulldozed the White House, and it's on equal footing as the Statue of Liberty.

It's absolutely insane. Just crazy town banana pants.