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by anon291 154 days ago
There is no dictator ship though.

These takes are insane. Hate trump as much as you want (I certainly dislike him).... He's the democratically elected president of the US

6 comments

Your democratically elected president (or, rather, the group behind him) is undoing whatever was left of the democratic apparatus. There is no counter power in place. Executive, legislative and judiciary are de facto one.

You seem to operate on the belief that democratically elected leaders can't do harm to democracy, while history has times and times again proved you wrong, and that to me is what's insane here.

> He's the democratically elected president of the US

“Dictator” and “elected” are not incompatible. In fact, the term originates as the title of an elected (not directly by the citizenry, but then neither is the US President in any case) officer, and the term has nothing to do with how you got into power, but with what practical constraints it is exercised.

I mean sure. But he's not even doing anything dictatorial. Most of his actions are well within the laws of the United States. Not more than any other president.
If the reports are true, the proceeds from selling Venezuelan oil are going into his own Qatari bank account. That's third-world tinpot dictatorship right there.
If you're into word games, swap out authoritarian so you don't get hung up on him being elected.

He is daily exceeding legal bounds of the presidency and otherwise abandoning all precedents that limit executive overreach.

He has committed crimes against this country and should not be in office.

Those takes are informed and level headed. We have a wildly unqualified Secretary of Defense who was appointed only because he advocated in his book "American Crusade" for a crusade against the "American Left". A Project 2025 leader Kevin Roberts described us as in the middle of a second American Revolution that will remain bloodless if the left allows it. And he said that before the election.

The DOGE project was a wildly unconstitutional overreach of the executive branch, shutting down or severely crippling agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without the approval of Congress.

Republicans are letting Trump act like a dictator to accomplish things they want outside of the guardrails of our democracy. There are plenty more examples out there if you choose to pay attention.

> There is no dictatorship ... He's the democratically elected

The first part does not follow from the second. It's much easier to become dictator when in power, e.g. after being democratically elected. It's a common route. See also Self-coup / autocoup (1).

Of course, nothing like that could even be attempted in the USA! (2) /s

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-coup

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-coup#Notable_events_descr...