According to Asha Rapanga’s The Freedom Academy’s post this morning:
“I would argue that if the Trump administration is acting in defiance of a court order, it is, by definition, acting outside the scope of Trump’s Article II authority. It is therefore NOT an “official act” for purposes of immunity from criminal prosecution, and all orders that stem from it are effectively illegal orders. You may feel like this doesn’t matter, but it might in the future.”
Did anyone see PBS this evening (Friday). The two speakers from the New York Times and the Washington Post were saying that we must work together to have a non-violent social revolt. But we all have to work together. Right now we are working in silos....higher ed is standing alone; law firms are standing alone; NIH is standing alone, etc. Instead we have to stand together. Working together would be non-partisan, and would appeal to many sectors of the US population. This sounded very interesting. Could this happen? How can we make this happen?
Suppose Trump is intentionally taking actions that will lead to increased dissent among us, society begins to disintegrate and the country edges in the direction of a second civil war. At which time, DT declares martial law and becomes a de facto dictator.
Ben Franklin in 1773 wrote "Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One," now we face a great tyranny at home as the Revolution's inheritors corrupt popular democracy into unbound oligarchy:
"Means by which a Great Republic May Be Reduced to a Small Ruling Clique"
1. Hollow Out Elections
Both parties pledge fealty to corporate donors, purge “suspect" voters, gerrymander districts, infest voting technology with secret programs, and call the result “a verified democracy.”
2. Staff the State with Cronies
Fill regulators, judges and agency heads with industry hacks and propaganda bobbleheads. Label them “experts” and let oversight wither on the vine.
3. Militarize Home and Away
Deploy razor wire, drones and troops at borders and on your own streets. Treat dissent as enemy action.
4. Declare Perpetual Emergencies
Pandemics, civil unrest, cyber-attack, foreign crises: renew emergency powers forever to neuter Congress and override rights.
5. Eviscerate the Watchdogs
Call judges, journalists and inspectors general “enemies of the people,” defund them, drown and doxx them in smear campaigns. When violence ensues, blame the rhetoric of the opposition. Projection is confession.
6. Privatize the Commons
Slash corporate taxes, bail out banks, gut social programs, and blame economic pain on welfare freeloaders.
7. Rewrite the Law in Your Image
Invoke executive privilege, issue Executive Orders, pack the courts, and brand any judicial pushback “activism.”
8. Brand Patriotism as Party Loyalty
Wave flags at every rally, preach Christian nationalism; equate dissent with treason.
9. Scapegoat to Distract
Defund schools and hospitals, then blame immigrants, freeloaders, or woke culture for the fallout.
10. Sell a Mythic Past
Promise a “renaissance of greatness” even as you dismantle pensions, labor rights and public infrastructure.
11. Privatize Your Safety Nets
Declare Social Security and Medicare insolvent, then hand them to Wall Street under the guise of modernization.
12. Greenwash the Doom Loop
Offer fossil-fuel credits in a “Green Jobs” bill, no emission cuts required, while real renewables starve for funds.
Follow these steps, and you’ll watch a once-vibrant republic shrivel into a closed-door oligarchy, even while being hailed by its narrow beneficiaries as the pinnacle of freedom.
A fine article, but our descent has already crossed so many Rubicons during the past 9 years. The first huge one for me was when Trump said in 2016 that he would only accept the election result if he won. That, I thought, would be the end of it. Trump had just repudiated, on live TV, the most fundamental tenet of democracy. That it was not the end put my jaw on the ground. And it has remained ever since, through all of Trump's subsequent betrayals of EVERYTHING that I believe in: His abject public acceptance of Putin's word over the findings of all our intelligence agencies on the matter of Russia's help in securing his election; his acceptance of torture/murder in the Khashoggi case due to its having been ordered by his buddy MBS; his tawdry weapons-aid blackmail attempt against Zelensky; and his traitorous incitement of an attack on Congress for attempted reversal of our 2020 election result - to hit just a selected few of his 'high' spots. I knew what Trump was in 2016, when he 'descended' on his golden escalator and started holding his blatantly Nurembergesque rallies. Our electorate apparently didn't know, still don't (as of this Nov. 5th), and even most of my Dem brothers and sisters have consistently been months late and billions of dollars short in our opposition as Trump has held us always on the back foot by doing worse than we've been capable of imagining him doing.
For whatever it may be worth, I've been working on a countermeasure essay to drop a large wrench into the machinery of Trump and his fellow resurgent authoritarians. I was hoping for its high profile publication before Nov. 5th, but failed. Now, though perhaps counterintuitively, I think it may be even more desperately needed. I would invite any whose curiosity I've been able to pique to try at least its few introductory pages, at URL: thelastbesthope dot xyz .
According to Asha Rapanga’s The Freedom Academy’s post this morning:
“I would argue that if the Trump administration is acting in defiance of a court order, it is, by definition, acting outside the scope of Trump’s Article II authority. It is therefore NOT an “official act” for purposes of immunity from criminal prosecution, and all orders that stem from it are effectively illegal orders. You may feel like this doesn’t matter, but it might in the future.”
Did anyone see PBS this evening (Friday). The two speakers from the New York Times and the Washington Post were saying that we must work together to have a non-violent social revolt. But we all have to work together. Right now we are working in silos....higher ed is standing alone; law firms are standing alone; NIH is standing alone, etc. Instead we have to stand together. Working together would be non-partisan, and would appeal to many sectors of the US population. This sounded very interesting. Could this happen? How can we make this happen?
Hang Traitors!
Suppose Trump is intentionally taking actions that will lead to increased dissent among us, society begins to disintegrate and the country edges in the direction of a second civil war. At which time, DT declares martial law and becomes a de facto dictator.
https://open.substack.com/pub/robertlast/p/you-should-be-scared?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=hcakp
Definitely wouldn't put it past him.
Ben Franklin in 1773 wrote "Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One," now we face a great tyranny at home as the Revolution's inheritors corrupt popular democracy into unbound oligarchy:
"Means by which a Great Republic May Be Reduced to a Small Ruling Clique"
1. Hollow Out Elections
Both parties pledge fealty to corporate donors, purge “suspect" voters, gerrymander districts, infest voting technology with secret programs, and call the result “a verified democracy.”
2. Staff the State with Cronies
Fill regulators, judges and agency heads with industry hacks and propaganda bobbleheads. Label them “experts” and let oversight wither on the vine.
3. Militarize Home and Away
Deploy razor wire, drones and troops at borders and on your own streets. Treat dissent as enemy action.
4. Declare Perpetual Emergencies
Pandemics, civil unrest, cyber-attack, foreign crises: renew emergency powers forever to neuter Congress and override rights.
5. Eviscerate the Watchdogs
Call judges, journalists and inspectors general “enemies of the people,” defund them, drown and doxx them in smear campaigns. When violence ensues, blame the rhetoric of the opposition. Projection is confession.
6. Privatize the Commons
Slash corporate taxes, bail out banks, gut social programs, and blame economic pain on welfare freeloaders.
7. Rewrite the Law in Your Image
Invoke executive privilege, issue Executive Orders, pack the courts, and brand any judicial pushback “activism.”
8. Brand Patriotism as Party Loyalty
Wave flags at every rally, preach Christian nationalism; equate dissent with treason.
9. Scapegoat to Distract
Defund schools and hospitals, then blame immigrants, freeloaders, or woke culture for the fallout.
10. Sell a Mythic Past
Promise a “renaissance of greatness” even as you dismantle pensions, labor rights and public infrastructure.
11. Privatize Your Safety Nets
Declare Social Security and Medicare insolvent, then hand them to Wall Street under the guise of modernization.
12. Greenwash the Doom Loop
Offer fossil-fuel credits in a “Green Jobs” bill, no emission cuts required, while real renewables starve for funds.
Follow these steps, and you’ll watch a once-vibrant republic shrivel into a closed-door oligarchy, even while being hailed by its narrow beneficiaries as the pinnacle of freedom.
Dear Mr. Raderstorf,
A fine article, but our descent has already crossed so many Rubicons during the past 9 years. The first huge one for me was when Trump said in 2016 that he would only accept the election result if he won. That, I thought, would be the end of it. Trump had just repudiated, on live TV, the most fundamental tenet of democracy. That it was not the end put my jaw on the ground. And it has remained ever since, through all of Trump's subsequent betrayals of EVERYTHING that I believe in: His abject public acceptance of Putin's word over the findings of all our intelligence agencies on the matter of Russia's help in securing his election; his acceptance of torture/murder in the Khashoggi case due to its having been ordered by his buddy MBS; his tawdry weapons-aid blackmail attempt against Zelensky; and his traitorous incitement of an attack on Congress for attempted reversal of our 2020 election result - to hit just a selected few of his 'high' spots. I knew what Trump was in 2016, when he 'descended' on his golden escalator and started holding his blatantly Nurembergesque rallies. Our electorate apparently didn't know, still don't (as of this Nov. 5th), and even most of my Dem brothers and sisters have consistently been months late and billions of dollars short in our opposition as Trump has held us always on the back foot by doing worse than we've been capable of imagining him doing.
For whatever it may be worth, I've been working on a countermeasure essay to drop a large wrench into the machinery of Trump and his fellow resurgent authoritarians. I was hoping for its high profile publication before Nov. 5th, but failed. Now, though perhaps counterintuitively, I think it may be even more desperately needed. I would invite any whose curiosity I've been able to pique to try at least its few introductory pages, at URL: thelastbesthope dot xyz .
Can’t Trump just pardon anyone the courts hold in contempt? This is scary.