Summary
Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding presidential control over independent agencies, including the FTC, FCC, and SEC.
The order enforces the “unitary executive theory,” which argues the president has sole authority over the executive branch. It grants Trump’s budget chief, Russell Vought, oversight of these agencies’ performance and budgets.
The move is expected to face legal challenges, as past presidents have largely respected agency independence.
Trump defended the order, stating, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
If Congress wasn’t filled with feckless lickspittles, they could just not fund the executive branch. But they are, so they will
If Congress wasn’t filled with feckless lickspittles
If that was the case, trump would’ve already been convicted of impeachment and been disqualified.
Indubitably
How does that actually work with Musk and his merry band of douchebags in direct control of the mechanism by which the US government pays out money?
The US Constitution gives Congress sole control of “the purse” meaning all funding of the federal government. They allocate it and the executive branch spends it. If they weren’t trump’s puppets, they could stop allocating funds for him to misuse.
Laws are more like suggestions.
Good thing we spent the 4 years between trump terms with a young, motivated go-getter who checks notes his in a closet for four years and was less seen/heard than any other president.
Moderates are not equipped to fight fascism, we can’t keep rotating between the two because the fascists will break more than a Neoliberal would ever want to fix.
Neither actually wants to fix shit, just keep their wealthy donors happy
Biden was an opportunity for the old Republican party to prevail. Instead they rolled out the carpet for MAGA, and now they are rolling it for an authoritarian dictatorship. Frankly, had the democratic stoked more attention, the more bullshit that would have been spun up about them. The root of the problem is that MAGA was getting propped up with control of social networks personality cults and the sort of modern day profile targeting a shitload of money can provide.
Also, this time we have fascists with a plan at hand. They even say beforehand what they will do and no one bats an eye, until “wait, they were serious?”
They did their homework and are swiftly taking over.
Trump’s abhorrent smug face of late tells everything we need to know if they are succeeding or not.
As a German, this is precisely what comes to mind
Legal challenges? They are ignoring the courts. How will that change anything?
When do we start exercising our second amendment on this tyrannical dictator?
This has been the first time in my life I’ve actually considered buying a gun.
Do it! Exercise that right before they try and take that away too. Go to a gun show, super cheap! Talk to the guys there about personal defense, they will give you such good advice. Head to a shooting range and fire off a few to get a good idea on how they handle. What’s the worst that can happen? They sit around and collect dust because you don’t need to overthrow a tyrannical dictator?
Trump defended the order, stating, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
Wow, that really sums up the fascist intent right there. The ends justify the means and no law applies to him.
I wish the general public were paying more attention.
Journalists really need to provide the context that he’s quoting Napoleon, another dictator.
The quote sounds better in the original French.
Amusingly, the solution for dictators also sounds better in the original French.
The general public who pays attention sees this and feels absolutely powerless because the opposition party refused to be the opposition.
Trump defended the order, stating, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
Okay, Adolf.
Napoleon, actually. So, a different dictator, but still a dictator.
Wait, this was ACTUALLY a quote from a famous dictator? I thought I was just being snarky and connecting this comment to the kind of rhetoric famously used by dictators. I didn’t realize this is specific rhetoric used by a specific dictator.
You don’t even need to read between the lines anymore. Insane.
Lock him up
We already tried. His fans are fucking stupid assholes who let it happen.
Trump voters in my area of the country are still extremely happy with what Trump and Musk are doing. When Trump eventually invests all of social security in his meme coin they will probably be thrilled with that too.
Once they get what they want and there’s no more gay, brown, women, or other religions, it will devolve into a contest of who is MAGA enough.
You’re not blonde enough. You need more flag flair pins. You don’t have the mandatory 5 trump posters, only 4. It never ends, there always needs to be an out group no matter what.
I had a guy accuse me of racism at work, even tho we’re both white, because I wasn’t “anglo Saxon enough” to be the same kind of white as him…
Like, I’m English/German ancestry, literally what the term Anglo-Saxon describes…
He was French ancestry which would make him Norman, the ones fighting Anglo Saxons…
There’s no logic to what they say or do, they hear a label is “us” and another label is “them” and they just go with it, never actually asking themselves what the terms mean and who actually fits under each label.
Shit broke my brain when he said it
Can’t think of any way this will come back and bite us. /s
Can’t think of a non-violent way for the US to get out of this.
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Remember remember the 5th of November fElon and Donnie Trump’s plot.
I see no reason that any MAGt’s treason Should ever be forgot.
FCC huh? There goes TV that’s against him
They had already started with that under the guise of DEI hiring nonsense at the stations. Comcast was already being threatened that its DEI hiring practices were cause for the FCC to pull their license somehow. He broadcast (pun intended) his plan to have state run media and to diminish or ban the rest during his campaign, just nobody pays attention.
Edit s/pin/pun
We really are screwed aren’t we?
We actually are.
Most people are still sleepwalking through this. It’ll be another couple years before the general populace starts grasping how screwed we actually are.
We’re going to go through a very dark period and it’s going to take a lot of pain, suffering, and death just to get back to where we were before, if we can at all.
Absolute best case scenario is we spend the rest of our lives clawing back what we’re in the process of losing and generally we won’t see much, if any, actual progress.
We have been for decades. People have been warning about this since the early 20th century.
1936
James Waterman Wise, Jr., in a recent address here before the liberal John Reed club said that Hearst and Coughlin are the two chief exponents of fascism in America. If fascism comes, he added, it will not be identified with any “shirt” movement, nor with an “insignia,” but it will probably be “wrapped up in the American flag and heralded as a plea for liberty and preservation of the constitution.”
1935 Sinclair Lewis It Can’t Happen Here
But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst Fascists were they who disowned the word ‘Fascism’ and preached enslavement to Capitalism under the style of Constitutional and Traditional Native American Liberty.
I don’t even have the words to express my feelings properly to this bullshit.
I do but saying them gets you put on a list.
Probably already are, or will be soon.
America, when are you going to stop this? You finally have a chance to exercise the second amendment, to defend your freedom and to show the world you aren’t the bad guys; And you do nothing…
Trump/Musk are literally following the steps laid out by Hitler and they aren’t even hiding it.
I see this sentiment a lot. “Why aren’t Americans doing anything? Why aren’t leftist militias rising up to take back the capital? Etc. Etc. Etc.”
First of all, asking “why aren’t Americans doing anything” is a highly unaware question. We are doing things, but they aren’t going to give any airtime to the protests, marches, boycotts, and legal efforts taking place, because the media is now firmly on the side of those with power, not the common people.
Second of all, it’s pretty heartless of you to just casually ask us to “exercise the second amendment”, because when you ask that, you’re asking for at least some of us to die. Put yourselves in our shoes, and be honest - if you were in our position, would it be so easy and casual to just pick up a gun and join a violent revolution? Would you be willing to risk death in that situation? Personally, I’m not a soldier, I’ve never had an interest in guns, I’d be less than useless in that capacity. So I’m looking at other things we can do before escalating to that.
I get that everyone’s scared because the nation with the most powerful military on earth is falling into fascism. That’s terrifying to most Americans as well, and I think a lot of us are still frozen with that fear. I understand and agree that this problem is on Americans to fix. But I hope the rest of the world will be willing to help when we call on them, instead of just sitting idly by wondering when that magical second amendment is gonna kick in.
That’s the whole argument after every school shooting.
Uhh, what? The argument is to arm ourselves after a school shooting?
There’s also the fact that people with consumer grade weapons aren’t going to be doing shit against the military, which is what would be brought out against them. If I knew there was even a good chance that I could do something leading to my death that would do a damn bit of good, I’d do it. But there isn’t.
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Also, even if they were, who do they have access to murder? It’s almost begging people to take their frustrations out on their neighbors, which will only make things so much worse.
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I have plenty of guns and ammo to use for the defense of myself and family. As a disabled vet I can barely feed my family, let alone March alone from Colorado to overthrow the President.
When they come to me, then I can fight. I can’t afford to join a secessionist movement because we still have a group of people that still are supposed to fight using the law and wors before the guns come out. The 1st Ammendment is 1st for a reason. The 2nd is the last resort which most sane gun owners don’t want to have to use.
There’s supposed to be an opposition party to fight the executive encroachment.
Probably because they expect your military to start murdering them with zero regards to how it plays out within the next 4 years.
This is essentially what happened within Nazi Germany before World War 2
Let me know when clever chants and signs held by a few hundred people bring about change
It has before. Women didn’t get the right to vote from a massive war. Martin Luther King wasn’t an army general. You’re being just as dismissive and ignorant as the other guy.
MLK would get nothing done without Malcolm X. Imagine thinking the civil rights movement was a peaceful protest! That’s wild you would try to retcon the history of that fight.
Women’s suffrage groups used the slogan “Deeds not words.” They committed arson and bombings.
I’d argue you’re being naive. Every American movement has to have violence attached to it. That is sadly how everything gets done in this shithole.
Lol ok, since you want to be pedantic, let’s really get into some details, because you’re just wrong about MLK to start.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
How did it happen? The Civil Rights Movement itself was largely nonviolent, with most of the violence happening towards protestors. Figures like Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized civil disobedience, boycotts, and peaceful protests.
Women suffrage
Though some suffragettes engaged in civil disobedience, the broader movement relied on lobbying, protests, and legal appeals. That was the bulk. What you’re calling out is one offs and trying to act like that was the norm or bulk of the movement. It was not.
Marriage Equality
Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. No violence needed.
Disability Rights Movement, also known as the ADA
Advocates lobbied for equal rights through demonstrations and legal battles. This resulted in the ADA being passed in 1990
The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) – Ending Child Labor & Establishing Minimum Wage
Labor unions and activists pushed for reforms through strikes, negotiations, and legal battles.
The Voting Rights Act (1965) – Protecting Minority Voter Rights
The Selma to Montgomery March and other efforts, led by MLK and civil rights groups, put pressure on the government.
Title IX (1972) – Gender Equality in Education & Sports
Women’s rights activists lobbied for equal educational opportunities. This endned gender discrimination in schools receiving federal funding, revolutionizing women’s sports and education.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal (2011) – Allowing Open LGBTQ+ Military Service
LGBTQ+ advocates, veterans, and lawmakers worked for repeal.
So while you’d argue I’m being naive, I’d argue that you’re not informed enough about the topic to make such statements. Especially such absolute statements like “every American movement has used violence” when that is objectively wrong. I don’t remember the great Marriage Equality rioters killing people, or the War of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Please stop spreading misinformation.
Edit: lol some people are mad that facts don’t line up with their world view.
You think only killing each other is violence
No I’m not?
The comment was made that violence is needed for any change. Violence happens because of issues, but violence did not help move these forward. Unless you can explain how.
You’ve either fallen for the propaganda, or you’re purposely being dismissive of the efforts currently taking place. Either way, your participation in this discussion is not helpful.
The answer is no, most of these people calling for violence are cowards themselves.
Not cowards just have sense, better someone else dows the violence rather than your own life get ruined the end goal is you having a better life if you do the violence your own life gets worse objectively.
We all want luigis, but none of us are desperate enough to be luigis, because we obviously dont want our own lives to goto shit? There is no happy ending for them
You can try to justify it any way you want. If you call for someone else to commit violence in your stead, you are a coward.
Or not an idiot with a sense of self preservation, you call it coward, I call it not a dumbass who was born to die
I think the second amendment is pointed out so readily, because most of the world has watched America and their guns and ridiculous gun problems, and that is usually what is pointed at in some kind of gotcha defence. Second, we do see the protests and legal efforts, and honestly looking in, seems like that’s pissing into the wind.
As for myself committing violence in an situation similar to America’s? Can’t honestly answer one way or the other until I am in the situation myself, but don’t think it would be a hard no, I’m not opposed to violence in the correct situation, and boy you guys are, if not there already, very very close to that correct situation.
The time to have stopped him was long ago. But our law enforcement entities lacked the courage to do their jobs. Especially Meritless Garland.
No one wants to impress Jodie Foster anymore.
There were 2 confirmed assassination attempts on Donald Trump last year and potentially one more where an armed and suspicious individual was trying to get into a location where Trump was but the individual claims he wasn’t planning anything malicious.
Wikipedia reports ~8 more incidents during the years where he was involved in his first presidential term.
I think Biden only had the one with the box truck.
*Hey look, this guy brought a rifle to a drone fight. *
Americans only punch down, sorry.
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Personally I’d resort to sabotage. It’s incredibly easy to fabricate explosives in today’s world compared to the rest of history.
Hell, in America I’d imagine you could just buy explosives outright.
Start with the CIA’s Simple Sabotage Field Manual. Less likely to land you in prison or dead. Should be utilized before more extreme measures are taken.
On top of this. It isn’t just Dump. It’s the entire GOP. Plus the douche crew and his nazi youth that have been ransacking shit that they don’t understand. Yeah, going in armedmay get you 1 person. It won’t do any good. You’re cutting a small scale off of a large shit snake.
The best we can do is arm ourselves (and I fucking hate that I have to resort to this option) and prep for when shit goes south. I suspect that will be mid terms. We’ll see armed yokels “guarding” vote drop off locations and polling locations. If there is any sign of a dem win anywhere, all hell will break loose with diaperdon claiming fraud. He’ll probably pull some shit like his attempted coup and we’ll see the polling station yokels going nuts.
I think you’re right, but the chance is very high they will cancel midterms shortly before the date.
Probably spouting some excuse. Either in the line of it undermining “democracy” because Trump was already chosen, or they’ll go the way of it being a plan to block the current path for the USA so it will be postponed until the plan is on more solid grounds, “for the good of the country”.
If they do let the midterms proceed, Trump will dismiss the results whatever they are, citing that by then he only has governing power.
He already has made an executive order that only he and a sole AG decide what the law is…
A promise was made that when he was chosen he’d make it so that there would be no need to vote again…
Everybody seems to hold on to the midterms as the slot where things will turn around again, but the project 2025 camp has plans to close this window for sure. And frankly, it feels by then fear will rule all and the slippery slope has shifted to a freefall.
They don’t need to cancel the mid-terms, they already fired everyone at CISA who is responsible for securing state elections. The elections will absolutely happen and miraculously the republicans will win across the board with a higher vote percentage than they’ve ever won by before, and they’ll claim that this means the US population is 100% in support of the fascist policies of the GOP and accelerate the descent.
The elections will absolutely happen and miraculously the republicans will win across the board with a higher vote percentage than they’ve ever won by before
Elections just for show. To keep the masses thinking they live in a democracy.
We’ll be no better than Russia or any other shithole nation that runs elections just for show. This country is cooked. And it wasn’t taken from us. We gave it all away. Utterly shameful. Our entire generation will be viewed as pathetic in the context of world history.
To be honest, this fascist autocracy was inevitable once the loathsome Newt Gingrich got the GOP to sign on to the idea that anyone who opposed the GOP’s plans was an enemy to be destroyed, not a loyal opposition to persuade or with whom to compromise.
You’re right in that, I just did not want to put that in words yet :-]
I wonder how much another overwhelming fraudulous win for MAGA would be ignored, because it definitely is a clear sign bridges were burned.
American Democracy is dead. Thanks to a corrupt GOP and their lackeys in the SCOTUS
I also feel like a lot of people have a lot of barriers to plotting an assassination, besides the obvious “it’s illegal” and “they’ll kill you for trying” and “who has the time and money to plan an assassination.” To give people some ideas of these barriers, I personally:
- Am trans, so if I tried anything it would immediately be used as a Reichstag fire moment to start rounding up and killing trans people (I suspect the social minorities who will be most affected by the Administration will suffer the worst consequences for even trying to resist)
- Am too young to own a gun in my state (you need to be 21, I suspect some people have the opposite reasoning as well, ‘I’m too old to be an assassin bc I have kids to look after’ or ‘because I’m entrenched and needed at my job’)
- Since I have PTSD I don’t trust myself to own a gun
- I think I can contribute more to the world alive than throwing my life away to be a political assassin. Specifically, I’m very passionate about healthcare reform (obviously universal healthcare, also focusing more on preventative medicine instead of waiting for people to get so chronically sick the pharmaceutical industry can harvest money from them for the rest of their lives, also giving people diet & lifestyle recommendations to treat the underlying cause of their issues instead of just drugging them up to combat their symptoms of disease), and think I have a greater chance of making an impactful change by devoting myself to that
In conclusion, the most convenient person to plot a political assassination is a 25-35 yo straight white man well trained in firearms with tons of money, mentally healthy enough to get a firearm yet crazy enough to throw their life away, ideally recently unemployed so they have nothing to lose.
So… a security guard affected by the mass government downsizing?
Everyone’s quality of life would have to drastically decline and a significant number of citizens would have to start openly expressing the desire for rebellion, then leaders would materialize, and it would go from there.
But we aren’t even close to having enough people’s quality of life declining enough for that to happen. If our oligarchs are smart, they’ll keep us near that red line, without allowing us to go over it. But I’m starting to think their greed outweighs their intelligence.
We’re too complacent with our TV and Doritos. We need to start losing some material things before we wake up. Here’s hoping it happens.
If our oligarchs are smart, they’ll keep us near that red line, without allowing us to go over it.
I’d describe this as the strategy since the Great Depression. The New Deal was a bandaid for capitalism to make it palatable enough for enough people to prevent revolution.
But our oligarchs aren’t smart, or at least they think they’re smarter than their predecessors. They’re dismantling the things that keep the masses mollified and more people are realizing it.
Our oligarchs aren’t as smart as they are greedy.
Yeah unfortunately the gun crazies fully support what’s happening, and it’s a PITA to get a registered firearm if you aren’t already a gun nut.
Hey if anyone has a line on unregistered Kalashnikovs, hit me up. I just want it for “display purposes.”
Move to West Virginia, we need more people like you. I just got a beautiful Serbian made AK, all I had to do was wait for it to be shipped over and pick it up at my local gun shop. 15 minutes for the background check which is essentially no felonies, because I have an extensive misdemeanor record from when I was young and wild. All I had to do was listen to the workers and customers spout bullshit conspiracy theories and talk about the latest Joe Rogan episode. Small price to pay.
Even my wife, who was previously anti-gun, bought a 9mm. Interesting times.
There were multiple assassination attempts.
Where are the American “patriots” who would defend democracy and protect the country against tyranny with their 2A rights to their dying breath?
That’s right. Fucking crickets from that bunch.
The ammosexuals voted for this shit. They only stroke their guns over the idea of helping put down any uppity {DEI}s that are nearby. All their talk about guns this, guns that, is and always has been a threat meant for others.
They don’t give a fuck about democracy and want to be the vanguard of tyranny.
It’s terrifying to think that there’s still nearly 4 years left of this.
Oh don’t worry. It won’t end in 4 years.
Unitary Executive Theory is a throwback to the Bush Jr Era (and if you dig deep enough you’ll find it back to Truman/Eisenhower/Nixon). Its a relic of the Cold War, when Americans were poisoned to the idea of popular government by the horrifying threat of Soviet infiltration.
You consolidate power in the executive branch - under guys like Hoover and Dulles and McNamara - so they can do the grisly work of squashing the Tankies at home and abroad without squeamish liberals in Congress or the courts getting in the way. Then we can have our liberty back, right after we have guaranteed our domestic security and our international sovereignty. Right after we’re confident our people will make the Right Choices at the ballot box.
This isn’t something that will end in 4 years because its something that has been ongoing for the last 80.
People have been saying this is all the fault of the American people because they just didn’t vote against Trump. They’re right that it’s the fault of the American people, but it’s the fault of everyone who ignored the warnings people have been pushing about our corrupt government for generations. Alarm bells should have been sounded when the govt started rounding up pro-worker union leaders by calling them suspected communists. Riots in the streets should have started when George W Bush stole an election through the Supreme Court. Citizen’s United was the deathblow to any hope of democracy, and most Americans weren’t even aware it died. People have been sitting on the sidelines and letting the rich get away with whatever they want since before I was born in this country, it’s laughable to think anything will change.
People forget about Bremer, the Elon Musk of Iraq.
