What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Sheilbh]

Waiting for Democrats to get it won't happen magically without outside pressure; letting authoritarian creep while waiting for courts or parties to self-reform will allow it to be normalize way more than it is now. The waiting for Godot,the Political Messiah is self-defeating, and ultimately, only energizes people like Newsom.

On the courts specifically I always think of two articles I read about Trump as a real estate developer which I think get why that is such a fruitless hope.

The first was about some building he was demolishing or redeveloping in New York with certain historically and aesthetically significant Art Deco features. Trump was required to preserve them and I think incorporate them into the new building but didn't want to. They were demolished and basically ground to dust. I believe lots of lawsuits and fines followed but ultimately Trump had already done the damage and there was nothing the courts could do on that.

Especially because the second article which was about just how many lawsuits Trump had been involved in. It was extraordinary - thousands and thousands across the years. And I think it's basically the Roy Cohn approach to an extent that it's not even about fighting the actual case but making it so difficult and uncomfortable to pursue it that the other side wants to do a deal and settle. So if you've got the lawyers who'll do it you take every procedural point you can to stall or complicate things, you make as many counter claims as possible (however spurious) and you basically make it a very expensive waking nightmare for the other side. Generally speaking unless they've got the resources of a state it's very unlikely they'll have the stamina. Obviously at the minute, Trump's the one with the resources of a state.

I think about those a lot in the hope for a legal solution.

Also, I am not sure career business leaders are in any way better than career politicians.   

Also generals and I think it's a big, common feature in American politics (on literally all sides) and I'm not sure it's healthy.

[Valmy]

Welp.

DHS better have a big staff to counter that call volume.

[HVC]

They missed a big opportunity with that 2 in the phone number. Should have been a 4.

It's also really disconcerting how difficult it is now to tell the difference between parody and reality.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Zooming out a bit again, I think the US is well on the way to become a Orbanesque pseudo-Oligarchy and potentially worse.

IMO, the key inflection points coming up are going to be:

hm, got the feeling it's already too late. Got a bit of a bad feeling about his birthday parade. Probably going to be just that (a bad feeling) but... yeah. We'll see, cause not much more I can do

[Crazy_Ivan80]

My cousin-in-law (is that a word? My wife's cousin) is leaving the US. She went to Princeton and had a job lined up at Google in San Francisco.

My wife, totally coincidentally, met a friend who migrated to the US (to work at a University in Houston (iirc), who married there and has two kids) in Gent two weeks ago. She'd migrated back here (now working totally remote) because of what's going on.
I guess it's not droves of people leaving, but i can imagine it'll start to bite at some point.

[Jacob]

hm, got the feeling it's already too late. Got a bit of a bad feeling about his birthday parade. Probably going to be just that (a bad feeling) but... yeah. We'll see, cause not much more I can do

Yeah. I think the rails have been laid and the train is rolling. Orbanesque oligarchy is probably the best case destination, with a more outright dictatorship (or dystopian tech feudalism or whatever) being possible as well.

When I say inflection points, I think they are the challenges that the Trumpist regime will have to navigate to continue on their path; and conversely the points where there's the most hope and opportunity for any opposition. But just because they're the best opportunity for decency and democracy / riskiest moment for the Trumpists doesn't mean success is likely.

It's looking pretty grim, IMO.

[The Minsky Moment]

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/alex-padilla-noem-los-angeles-protests/3722522/

Criminal assault of a United States Senator, how about that.

[Admiral Yi]

I wonder if Yi feels that should be taken at face value?

When I find myself in that situation I often ask the person what they think.

[Jacob]

I wonder if Yi feels that should be taken at face value?

When I find myself in that situation I often ask the person what they think.

Do you think Noem's statements should be taken at face value?

[Admiral Yi]

Do you think Noem's statements should be taken at face value?

Yes.  Those are her preferences.

"We are not going away" is not a statement of preference, it's a prediction.  I predict a different outcome than than the one she did.

[Zoupa]

Do you think Noem's statements should be taken at face value?

Yes.  Those are her preferences.

"We are not going away" is not a statement of preference, it's a prediction.  I predict a different outcome than than the one she did.

"We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city."

Do you think liberating cities from socialists is in the job description for the head of the DHS?

[Admiral Yi]

Do you think liberating cities from socialists is in the job description for the head of the DHS?

I do not think liberating cities from socialists is in the job description for the head of the DHS.

What an odd question.  I am struggling to the see its relevance.  Perhaps you could point it out to me.

[Jacob]

What an odd question.  I am struggling to the see its relevance.  Perhaps you could point it out to me.

The head of the DHS said that that's what her troops are going to do - "to liberate the city [LA] from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city",- in spite of it not being in her job description.

Do you take it at face value that that is her intention, even if you think she may not succeed?

[Admiral Yi]

The head of the DHS said that that's what her troops are going to do, in spite of it not being in her job description.

Do you take it at face value that that is her intentions, even if you think she may not succeed?

What an odd question.  I am struggling to understand the relevance.

[Jacob]

What an odd question.  I am struggling to understand the relevance.

Do you think Noem's statements are an indication of her planned course of action?

Seems a pretty straight forward question to me and fairly relevant to the current situation. You've previously made statements about taking what people say at face value. Bogh's question is whether you apply that approach to Noem's statements as well.