There’s some things to be hopeful about. Trump cannot run again, so the republican party has no choice but to be thinking about what’s next. Additionally, aside from the slim majority in the house, mid-term elections are only two years away. That means the Republicans need to thread a needle here by sufficiently pacifying the MAGA diehards and Trump, but not so much that they have complete reign over the direction of the economy.
Many in the republican party have become full-on cultists. But many of them also just play-act because it’s where the power is right now. And many of them aren’t in the cult, but they simply ignore it because it benefits the party. If the Magats are given no leash, their policies will almost inevitably turn the electorate against them. So many of Trump’s proposals are good “tough guy” vengeance talking points that speak to aggrieved white people, but the election was closer than they are pretending.
If Trump goes on a full vengeance tour and his Project 2025 crew enacts their policies, the consequences of all that rhetoric will be devastating to poor white people. I know we like to think it happened during his first term and they didn’t care, but it’s not true. He was a fairly ineffective president. But now that he’s got people around him that want to actually act not talk, there’s a huge downside risk that they’ll start losing power during the mid-term elections. If that happens, the last two years for Trump will be miserable as everyone jumps ship from the senile guy in his mid-80s that can’t run again and is bleeding out the republican party of support.
Political pragmatics will force the republican party to turn on him. He’s simply unable to wield much influence after his last term. He will be too old and have no political future. And that will be recognized and cause some political realignment far before his presidency comes to an end.
Yes, I know fretful democrats have created in Trump such a fearsome boogeyman that they seem confident he’s either going to upload his consciousness into a computer mainframe or assume his final lich-form and rule a totalitarian America for the next thousand years, but here in the real world that’s not actually a possibility. It does make for good fear-mongering among the mopey left however.
His mental decline over the last two years is sufficient to assure that even in the incredibly unlikely case we remove presidential term limits, which requires an amendment to the constitution requiring 2/3rds majorities in both the house and senate and ratification by 3/4ths of state legislatures, he will be in no physical or mental condition to do so. I’m doubtful he’ll even be able to actually complete his full term.
If they can undermine democracy thoroughly enough and have an ailing Trump hand over power to Vance, and never run another free election, it could still become an autocracy. It doesn’t have to be Trump forever for it to be MAGA fascism forever.
It can happen here. Thinking it can’t is how it does. Hitler’s rise to power wasn’t totally legal either, and people thought it was impossible… and yet it happened.
This isn’t to say it will happen, but it can happen. He doesn’t need an amendment. That’s only required if you pretend like rules and norms are the only way things get done. They’re only as useful as the people willing to stand against him when he breaks them are. If people aren’t ready to stop him then there’s no limits.
There’s some things to be hopeful about. Trump cannot run again, so the republican party has no choice but to be thinking about what’s next. Additionally, aside from the slim majority in the house, mid-term elections are only two years away. That means the Republicans need to thread a needle here by sufficiently pacifying the MAGA diehards and Trump, but not so much that they have complete reign over the direction of the economy.
Many in the republican party have become full-on cultists. But many of them also just play-act because it’s where the power is right now. And many of them aren’t in the cult, but they simply ignore it because it benefits the party. If the Magats are given no leash, their policies will almost inevitably turn the electorate against them. So many of Trump’s proposals are good “tough guy” vengeance talking points that speak to aggrieved white people, but the election was closer than they are pretending.
If Trump goes on a full vengeance tour and his Project 2025 crew enacts their policies, the consequences of all that rhetoric will be devastating to poor white people. I know we like to think it happened during his first term and they didn’t care, but it’s not true. He was a fairly ineffective president. But now that he’s got people around him that want to actually act not talk, there’s a huge downside risk that they’ll start losing power during the mid-term elections. If that happens, the last two years for Trump will be miserable as everyone jumps ship from the senile guy in his mid-80s that can’t run again and is bleeding out the republican party of support.
Political pragmatics will force the republican party to turn on him. He’s simply unable to wield much influence after his last term. He will be too old and have no political future. And that will be recognized and cause some political realignment far before his presidency comes to an end.
Trump can’t legally run again based on our current legal framework. I think that’s somewhat important to clarify.
Yes, I know fretful democrats have created in Trump such a fearsome boogeyman that they seem confident he’s either going to upload his consciousness into a computer mainframe or assume his final lich-form and rule a totalitarian America for the next thousand years, but here in the real world that’s not actually a possibility. It does make for good fear-mongering among the mopey left however.
His mental decline over the last two years is sufficient to assure that even in the incredibly unlikely case we remove presidential term limits, which requires an amendment to the constitution requiring 2/3rds majorities in both the house and senate and ratification by 3/4ths of state legislatures, he will be in no physical or mental condition to do so. I’m doubtful he’ll even be able to actually complete his full term.
The unfortunate reality is that anything is possible, Republicans are not meek milquetoast bitches like Democrats are
You are delusional.
If they can undermine democracy thoroughly enough and have an ailing Trump hand over power to Vance, and never run another free election, it could still become an autocracy. It doesn’t have to be Trump forever for it to be MAGA fascism forever.
It can happen here. Thinking it can’t is how it does. Hitler’s rise to power wasn’t totally legal either, and people thought it was impossible… and yet it happened.
This isn’t to say it will happen, but it can happen. He doesn’t need an amendment. That’s only required if you pretend like rules and norms are the only way things get done. They’re only as useful as the people willing to stand against him when he breaks them are. If people aren’t ready to stop him then there’s no limits.