Donald is about to go through some things...

[Red]

Reprint of 8/29/22 article published by The Atlantic. Deals with what we can expect from a second Trump term, and the threat to democracy it would likely represent. The article discusses in detail how the steps toward an illiberal democracy like Orban’s model in Hungary would be achieved in the United States.

We Don’t Have to Speculate About Trump’s Next Term - Vigour Times

Ever since the U.S. Senate failed to convict Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 insurrection and disqualify him from running for president again, a lot of people, myself included, have been warning that a second Trump term could bring about the extinction of American democracy. Essential...

vigourtimes.com

The U.S. is an older and better-established democracy than Hungary. How, then, could MAGA acolytes emulate Orbán in the American context? To simplify matters, set aside the possibility of a stolen or contested 2024 election and suppose that Trump wins a fair Electoral College victory. In this scenario, beginning on January 20, 2025, he and his supporters set about bringing Budapest to the Potomac by increments. Their playbook:

First, install toadies in key positions

Second, intimidate the career bureaucracy.

Third, co-opt the armed forces.

Fourth, bring law enforcement to heel.

Fifth, weaponize the pardon.

Sixth, the final blow: defy court orders.

…… And so, after four years? America has crossed Freedom House’s line from “free” to “partly free.” The president’s powers are determined by what he can get away with. His opponents are harried, chilled, demoralized. He is term-limited, but the MAGA movement has entrenched itself. And Trump has demonstrated in the United States what Orbán proved in Hungary: The public will accept authoritarianism, provided it is of the creeping variety.

“We should not be afraid to go against the spirit of the age and build an illiberal political and state system,” Orbán declared in 2014. Trump and his followers openly plan to emulate Orbán. We can’t say we weren’t warned.

 

[Deleted member 365]

The leader of the Republican Party. I hope voters keep this in mind this fall. A vote for a Republican is a vote to take away women’s health care, take away social security and Medicare, and empower this wannabe dictator and his fascist movement:

 

[Gameface]

The leader of the Republican Party. I hope voters keep this in mind this fall. A vote for a Republican is a vote to take away women’s health care, take away social security and Medicare, and empower this wannabe dictator and his fascist movement:

View attachment 12969

But I thought that according to Trump he DID win the election easily. It was only the manipulation of the voting machines, or was it mules dumping mail-in ballots, or maybe it was all the illegals voting, or was it running Biden ballots multiple times, or was it dead people? It's hard to keep up with which story Trump is going with on any given day, but I guess today it was the Hunter laptop.

I'm excited to see why he didn't lose tomorrow.

 

[Gameface]

Nothing will happen to him. Nothing.

 

[Gameface]

Someone said something on a youtube video that I have to agree with and that I hadn't even considered at all. If Trump is indicted all he really has to do is take it to court and have a jury trial. Out of 12 jurors there will be at least a couple Trumptards amongst them who will not convict him no matter what.

 

[LogGrad98]

Someone said something on a youtube video that I have to agree with and that I hadn't even considered at all. If Trump is indicted all he really has to do is take it to court and have a jury trial. Out of 12 jurors there will be at least a couple Trumptards amongst them who will not convict him no matter what.

Sadly this is likely very true.

 

[str8line]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ThCMjd7irLM

Love that! What an imbecile.

 

[Deleted member 365]

FBI picture of documents from Mar a lago. Sure yeah, looks secure.


View: https://twitter.com/heathmayo/status/1564826801297408001?s=21&t=HHg1lvNWmq-C2zkZOV4fAg
It’s a shame the DOJ might finally lock Trump up. I was really hoping he’d stay active in politics causing Republicans to keep losing elections…


View: https://twitter.com/bradmossesq/status/1564825192865611777?s=21&t=HHg1lvNWmq-C2zkZOV4fAg

 

[Red]

FBI picture of documents from Mar a lago. Sure yeah, looks secure.


View: https://twitter.com/heathmayo/status/1564826801297408001?s=21&t=HHg1lvNWmq-C2zkZOV4fAg
It’s a shame the DOJ might finally lock Trump up. I was really hoping he’d stay active in politics causing Republicans to keep losing elections…


View: https://twitter.com/bradmossesq/status/1564825192865611777?s=21&t=HHg1lvNWmq-C2zkZOV4fAg

Bad boy. Trump is a very bad boy….his team has until 8 pm Wed. to reply….judge could still side with Trump.

Justice Department says classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were likely 'concealed and removed' to block investigation

More than 320 classified documents have now been recovered from Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department said

www.cnn.com

“US government documents were "likely concealed and removed" from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago as part of an effort to "obstruct" the FBI's investigation into former President Donald Trump's potential mishandling of classified materials, the Justice Department said in a blockbuster court filing Tuesday night”.

A picture on the final page of the filing showing classified documents arrayed on the floor of Trump's office -- full of classified markings like "HCS," or human confidential sources -- hammered home how sensitive the material Trump had taken was.

Hahaha…Thanks for filing the request for a special master, Donald, hahaha….

READ: The Justice Department's response to Trump's request for a special master | CNN Politics

The Justice Department on Tuesday responded to Judge Aileen Cannon of the Southern District of Florida regarding former President Donald Trump's request for a special master to oversee the FBI's review of materials seized in the Mar-a-Lago search.

www.cnn.com

 

[fishonjazz]

FBI picture of documents from Mar a lago. Sure yeah, looks secure.


View: https://twitter.com/heathmayo/status/1564826801297408001?s=21&t=HHg1lvNWmq-C2zkZOV4fAg
It’s a shame the DOJ might finally lock Trump up. I was really hoping he’d stay active in politics causing Republicans to keep losing elections…


View: https://twitter.com/bradmossesq/status/1564825192865611777?s=21&t=HHg1lvNWmq-C2zkZOV4fAg

Thats a nice summary of the criming


Sent from my iPad using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[Al-O-Meter]

Red, you are describing the playbook the Democrats have already run.

First, install toadies in key positions

Nearly all management positions within the government are occupied by Democrat party loyalists.

Second, intimidate the career bureaucracy.

How effective the democrats have been at owning the bureaucracy can be measured by campaign contributions. They get more and more lopsided toward the democrats every cycle. In the 2012 election, bureaucracy employees contributions were weighted as over 91% to the democrat candidate and just over 8% to the republican.

https://my.vanderbilt.edu/scottlimbocker/files/2016/08/Contributing-Bureaucrats.pdf

Third, co-opt the armed forces.

They have been co-opted. There are political neutrality laws that forbid open political support but it is fairly easy to deduce where nearly the entire upper command structure of the military now stands. Even the rank and file are now majority democrat.

Poll: Trump backed by majority of veterans, but not younger ones

A Military Times poll of veterans found stark differences in veterans voting preferences among different age groups.

www.militarytimes.com

Fourth, bring law enforcement to heel.

You mean generate fake intelligence for affidavits to get FISA wire taps on political opponents, suppress investigations of the family members of the political party elites, and demonstrate a clear politically biased double standard in how the politically powerful are treated? If local police forces step out of line then initiate federal investigations and lawsuits? That sort of thing? It is already being done, and the democrats are the ones doing it.

Fifth, weaponize the pardon.

Why bother with the pardon when you can order law enforcement to look the other way on investigations of crimes you the party in power don't want investigated? I think the democrats have found a quieter way to do exactly what you are referring to.

Sixth, the final blow: defy court orders.

Yes. That would be a troublesome development.

White House Tells Businesses to Ignore the Federal Court Order That Halted Biden's Vaccine Mandate Over "Grave Constitutional Issues" | Jon Miltimore

The White House should heed the words of a famous American president. “....when the checks and balances in government and society that protect fundamental freedoms are lost, violence and mass atrocities can result.” The president? Joe Biden.

fee.org

 

[One Brow]

Nearly all management positions within the government are occupied by Democrat party loyalists.

How effective the democrats have been at owning the bureaucracy can be measured by campaign contributions. They get more and more lopsided toward the democrats every cycle. In the 2012 election, bureaucracy employees contributions were weighted as over 91% to the democrat candidate and just over 8% to the republican.

When one party makes antigovernment rhetoric part of its focus, and the other party is progovernment, it does not require the installation of toadies nor any bias in the selection of job candidates. Partisans will self-select, with antigovernment partisans avoiding government work.

They have been co-opted. There are political neutrality laws that forbid open political support but it is fairly easy to deduce where nearly the entire upper command structure of the military now stands. Even the rank and file are now majority democrat.

1) Veterans are not the current armed forces, and it's been pretty clear recently which party has been trying to increase veteran support and which have been trying to cut it.
2) The officer corps in the Air Force is all-but-explicitly conservative Christian (referenced by their many engagements with the MRRF). The citizens of conservative states are greatly over-represented in the military. It's unlikely the military is some bastion of liberalness.
3) In my personal experience, there were more conservatives than liberals, but not overwhelmingly so.

You mean generate fake intelligence for affidavits

Some of the Steele dossier was fake/unverified; much of it was verified.

suppress investigations of the family members of the political party elites,

Much like the investigation of Trump was suppressed until after the election of 2016, while the investigation into Clinton was broadcast, shut down, and then re-opened in a highly public manner?

If local police forces step out of line then initiate federal investigations and lawsuits?

If local and state police are breaking laws, who should be stepping in?

Why bother with the pardon when you can order law enforcement to look the other way on investigations of crimes you the party in power don't want investigated? I think the democrats have found a quieter way to do exactly what you are referring to.

Name some actual crimes that are not being investigated, please. I won't hold my breath.

Yes. That would be a troublesome development.

Thank goodness the Biden administration complied with the court order.

COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

www.osha.gov

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is withdrawing the vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard issued on Nov. 5, 2021, to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers with 100 or more employees from workplace exposure to coronavirus. The withdrawal is effective January 26, 2022.