Could the blue states just ignore orders from the white house? Like if he orders them to round up illegal aliens? What could trump do about it?
Could the blue states just ignore orders from the white house? Like if he orders them to round up illegal aliens? What could trump do about it?
That is where I wonder. Who would do his bidding. He can take control of all the courts and heads of things like the FBI, but would the rank and file follow clearly illegal orders. Like would they pull the trigger on an illegal execution? I kind of doubt it. Witholding funding seems like something people would do at his order. But many of the blue states tend to have higher populations, or higher costs of living that make me assume they give more money to the feds in taxes than the feds give back. Could they somehow intercept that and use it to replace the missing funds?
Many psychological experiments have shown that most people when ordered to do something by a person they perceive as an authority will follow those instructions even in cases where they feel the instructions are wrong. Most people just want to keep their head down and do their jobs. So yes, if Trump ordered them to, most rank and file would commit illegal actions. While I’d like to think most wouldn’t be willing to murder someone, we’ve seen ample evidence that there are enough that follow Trump that would be more than willing to for someone to do it, and most would be unwilling to stop them even if they weren’t willing to do it themselves.
We have seen all this before. Hitler didn’t start off by committing genocide, Stalin didn’t start by sending people to gulags. They start small with the things people are willing to do even if they feel it’s wrong and slowly escalate. Stripping rights turns into imprisoning, which turns into murdering, and each step of the way everyone either says “I’m not doing it myself, I’m not responsible” or “They deserve it because they’re a <minority> and I’m not”.
I don’t think trump has the patience to start slowly. I also think that the brass,not the rank and file will be the one to find excuses to not do what is ordered. Not out of the goodness of their hearts, but out of self preservation. They don’t want to end up as the fall guy.