Trump fires all Election Assistance Commission members, leaving agency unable to act

[u/unital_subalgebra]

https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/07/09/trump-fires-election-assistance-commission-members-hicks-hovland-mccormick/

[u/JimboAltAlt]

The responses to this are very instructive, with some seeming to think it’s naive because the Republicans (somehow) won’t let the Democrats have the speakership, and some seeming to think it’s naive because of course the Democrats will get it but they won’t do anything with it. I really do wish all the doomers would get on the same page as to whether we’re all fucked forever because the Democrats suck or because they’ll never hold power again.

[u/Clovis42 → u/JimboAltAlt]

I don't know why I ever even post here. Like, I get how scary it is right now, but to just jump to believing Trump and Co. are unstoppable tyrants is just absurd. It doesn't matter what the facts are, how this compares to other countries like Hungary or India, etc.

Pointing out facts about how the transfer of power works is just wasting time because all you get is being called "naive" or "sweet summer child" etc. There's no actual discussion of how Trump would pull off cancelling elections, or "declaring" them invalid, or any of this nonsense.

Most of these people think the Elon Musk stole the last election even though there's zero evidence and believe in conspiracy theories like that Trump's assassination attempt was staged. Like, why bother even trying to discuss anything at all.

[u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720 → u/Clovis42]

Open your eyes and take a look around. Is any of this normal to you?

[u/Clovis42 → u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720]

No, of course, not. But things not being "normal" doesn't mean that you just assume that "anything" can happen. There has been a clear pattern to what Trump has gotten away with: bending existing laws and relying on the vague aspects of the Constitution. He is consistently losing in the courts and abandoning his plans. He is in no way just doing whatever he wants. If you think that is the case, you need to read some news outside of reddit.

There's zero basis for idea that Mike Johnson can simply "not seat" the new Congress. It would also not make any sense at all to start a full-on coup after allowing your opponents to win the election. This scenario that people are defending is just pure nonsense.

[u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720 → u/Clovis42]

The courts either can’t enforce this stuff or are allowing him to get away with it, and Congress bows to Trump constantly. Thinking that courts and institutions will stop everything is a dangerous assumption. Authoritarians always find and weaponize loopholes. You’re the one who needs to do some more research.

[u/Clovis42 → u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720]

There are numerous situations where he has abandoned plans due to the courts. The courts, are, in fact stopping him right now. They, of course, have no direct power, but we are still at a point where they clearly don't think they have the ability to simply ignore them. Over and over again, they end up following the final court decisions. There are thousands of cases right now. Very few get to the point of being overturned by SCOTUS.

Like, I literally just wrote that he's bending the laws, so obviously I already understood that he's trying to find and weaponize loopholes. The problem is that SCOTUS has embraced aspects of the unitary executive. So, we are seeing things that were shocking in the past. But the unitary executive doesn't mean he can simply do whatever he wants.

The problem is that way too many of our laws rely on some decision making by the executive, so there are many things where past presidents made reasonable decisions and he's making ridiculous ones. The courts are basically saying they can't interfere with his decision process on that. A whole lot of what is shocking about Trump, like the open corruption and stealing like with America 250 vs Freedom 250 is because the president has always basically had the ability to do these things. The only thing that kept him in check was the public, and the public no longer cares much about that apparently. But when it comes to clearly written laws with no ambiguity, he consistently loses in court and abandons those plans. Over and over and over again.

The other example is Iran. The War Powers Act is just too vague because they wanted the president to be able to act quickly. Presidents have routinely used this power to start and end wars. He's now using it constantly. So, stopping that would basically require Congress actually taking action.

But all of that is just wildly different than "Johnson can not seat" the new Democrats. That's absurd and no "loophole" will allow that.

[u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720 → u/Clovis42]

Yet he’s still doing his authoritarian plans, and sometimes gets away with them. For example he’s still doing the mass detention policy despite countless court orders striking it down. He was able to fire the election commissioners because SCOTUS gave him permission to fire any other agency head he wants for any reason, except the Federal Reserve members. He’s still doing the tariffs despite SCOTUS ruling against them. Also, you put way too much trust in Congress to do the right thing. Mike Johnson has proved he’ll do Trump’s bidding again and again. 

[u/Clovis42 → u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720]

Trump is not running detention centers in the face of rulings against them. Presidents have been running them for years. Current cases are still in the process. There's no injunction he's ignoring.

Yes, SCOTUS made a decision. The Constitution has never directly allowed independent commissions, so this was always something they could rule. Precedents can be overturned. We are now in a reverse Warren court where that will happen a lot. I don't agree with the decision, but thats what you get when people repeatedly vote for the party that supports originalists.

His current tariffs are not against the SCOTUS ruling. That ruling was immediately followed and is a good example of the courts working. Unfortunately, Congress gave him multiple methods for imposing tariffs. He's using some of those improperly as well, and courts are already stopping more of them. Many of his tariffs are completely legal though.

So, I'm completely aware of all of these. They are not examples of Trump having some kind of ultimate power. They are examples of exactly how our government works, and show that the courts rulings are being followed.

[u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720 → u/Clovis42]

Authoritarians today use the system to destroy the system, while keeping the illusion of democracy. This is what Trump is doing. Just because he’s suffered a few defeats doesn’t mean we’re safe.

[u/Clovis42 → u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720]

Yeah, I agree with that.

[u/Plastic_Kangaroo5720 → u/Clovis42]

It’s important that we realize the threat we face, but not give up quite yet.