[Trasmatta]

It's a coup that is being allowed and empowered by the party that already controls all 3 branches of government. It's very clear what's happening: what's less clear to me is how to stop it.

EDIT: this post keeps getting flagged. The techbros who are currently destroying our democracy are upset that they're being called out.

[throwaway5752]

The current US president was voted for by just 23.1% of the US population. I am not adjusting for eligible voters, but there is no sweeping mandate regardless of what anyone would have you believe.

They are certainly trying to make it seem that way. Bluster tricks fools. What to do about is to call your representatives, boycott companies if necessary, and cast an informed vote in local, state, and federal elections every chance you have.

And it is shameful this submission was flagged successfully. It is a high quality, factual, and relevant article. I'm embarrassed to be a member of this site today.

[scarface_74]

The eligible voters who didn’t vote also made a decision. But if you are in a deep red state or deep blue state, why vote with the way that the electoral college works?

[kreetx]

Are you able to consider that others have an opposing opinion to yours?

[throwaway5752]

Do you have a more substantiative point than this?

To answer your question, yes I do. To try to guess what you are talking about, I'd say it's "Bluster tricks fools".

I'm not saying everyone that disagrees with this administrations actions are fools, far from it. But they are governing by press release of administrative action. They could do everything they are doing quietly, but they are not. It is clear they are trying to create a "shock and awe" type reaction. This is by definition aimed at lower information populations who are impressed by performative actions.

I also know that some disagree with me, and respect that. At least 23% of the US public, and likely much more. I'm sure many of them are intelligent and decent people. However, we have a system of rules. When that system of rules is disregarded, bad things happen to societies. So I would prefer they make their policy changes through the existing system rather that break laws, as it is widely considered they are doing.

Please let me know if you had a different point in your brief message.

[kreetx]

Well, the author says that what is going on is "all illegal" because nobody voted for Elon Musk. But if you only count who was specifically voted for, could a president even have a team or should they be alone, as nobody else was voted for?

The original topic text isn't "high quality, factual, and relevant", it's a person not happy with the outcome. IMO, that's life for you - sometimes you lose.

[sebazzz]

It is really the fault of the US being a presidential system rather than a parlementary system in combination with district voting system. This allows for one person to easily take hold of democracy - if that person does not respect democracy. It went well so far, but that is despite social media - not because of it.

In the Netherlands we really dodged a bullet on this, post WWII the UK and US had an example function when it came to democracy. The democratic D66 party attempted to transform the Netherlands to such a system but it didn’t go through. We still have a proportial voted parlementary system, which luckily allowed populist and radical parties BBB and PVV not to take too much hold on our democracy - and they are likely on their way out.