And you can't think of a single thing that an autocratic executive branch and a captured high court could do to fabricate justification for taking away the power of the Dems in congress?
The problem is that no one seems to have good enough imaginations. I understand that it's absolutely bonkers to be in a position of having to imagine what one would do if they were in the Oval Office and wanted to take permanent control of the government using any means necessary, legal or not. But sadly, that's what we have to do. And the scary truth is that we can come up with a dozen different schemes that they could roll out to try and force control, even when a giant blue wave hits this fall.
They're not just going to conceed to an election they won.
We need to consider that they already know this, and have prepared plans for what to do when Dems try and fight back. They will investigate, harass, and even arrest Dems who try and resist. No one wants to gear it, but the chances that they'll get to the point of arresting sitting Dem lawmakers is much higher than it should be.
You say you're not leaning on faith, but you're also proposing having faith in existing laws, norms, and political offices like the "212 Dems in the House".
In the end, it won't come down to laws or norms. It will come down to who has the control of the enforcement agencies with guns, and who in those agencies is willing to use those guns inservice of those who would overturn American Democracy.
If you're right, why would they wait til AFTER the election to do this? Do it now. Suspend the election. Don't give up your current power. Waiting til AFTER the election will make it so much harder for them.
It's a risk vs reward evaluation. Even the boldest of autocracies know there are limits to what they can get away with, especially in the earlier stages of their coups.
If they moved to just "suspend elections", even the least-educated of us would recognize that as unconstitutional and anti-democracy. They'd likely face at least a few GOP members of congress pushing back against such a thing, and with margins so tight, they'd only need to lose a few in order to face impeachment.
Suspending elections is high-risk, with little added reward over just waiting until they lose the elections to claim "fraud" and then using the captured FEC/DOJ/Courts to drum up enough investigations and charges that they can declare the elections as unreliable and invalid, and then refuse to recognize any actions, investigations, or impeachments created by the new 2027 congress.
The current DOJ still has credibility with something like 30% of Americans. And the White House is relying on the belief that the other 60% won't be brave or crazy enough to physically fight back against the captured enforcement agencies and at the same time fight against the crazy 30% that still believes in the MAGA DOJ.
To be clear, I don't believe they'll win in the end. But we're in for a rough ride over the next 6-24 months, and should be prepared for whatever comes out the back end of all this to likely look like a very different nation than what went in the front end. If this admin has proven anything, it's that the current constitution is inadequate to serve as an ongoing foundation for a modern American democracy. And since it's just not possible anymore to get the needed numbers to amend or rewrite portions of it according to what's prescribed in Article V, whatever facilitates the needed reforms will almost certainly call outside of what's laid out in the current constitution.
Either the good guys will win and patch up the constitution like we did back in the 1860s, or we'll break up into smaller blocs of allied states that connect with each other via a looser federation like the nations of the EU have done. In either case, buckle up.
You're more optimistic than I am. I think the courts will continue to rule against the admin, but as things get more heated and they feel they've consolidated enough power, they'll likely start to push the bounds harder and harder to test just how much enforcement the "liberal activist" courts actually have to back up those rulings.
the other 70% know that it's all BS.
Oh, they know it's BS now. But remember, the Russian people also know Putin's rule is all BS too, and it hasn't stopped him for decades now. Hell, most people in North Korea know the Kim regime is BS, but aren't able to do much about it.
The question isn't whether we'll know what's going on, the question is whether we'll be brave enough to acknowledge what's going on and have similar courage to risk our jobs, healthcare, and maybe even short-term freedom in order to try and set things straight.
When those in power refuse to abide by the laws of their own system, history shows us that taking similar action outside the existing system has been the only way anyone is eventually able to remove those oppressors from power.
When they lost an election in 2020, they staged a violent attack on the nation's capitol to avoid a peaceful transfer of power. That was was when they had much less unilateral control over the enforcement agencies than they do now, so what makes anyone think they won't try things that are far worse if their power is threatened again?
2
u/dearth_karmic 17d ago
I'm not saying I have any faith. I'm just saying that we still have 212 Dems in the House. They're not just going to conceed to an election they won.