What’s needed to stop an American dictatorship?

So if the asshole refuses to step down, and if the Republicans and all his supporters back him up, then what’s needed to stop an American dictatorship is a violent overthrow.

 

Basically I think you're right.
I am a pacifist, but Power to the People

 

I posted this article back in 2006 – at the time it got one reply

Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship


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It seemed strange that no one had mentioned this before or did I miss it somehow? It got a fair bit of coverage over here.

Anyway I was wondering what people thought about it?

· Sandra Day O'Connor warns of rightwing attacks
· Lawyers 'must speak up' to protect judiciary

Julian Borger in Washington
Monday March 13, 2006
The Guardian


Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary.

In a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University, reported by National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Ms O'Connor took aim at Republican leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for alleged liberal bias could, she said, be contributing to a climate of violence against judges

Ms O'Connor, nominated by Ronald Reagan as the first woman supreme court justice, declared: "We must be ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary."

She pointed to autocracies in the developing world and former Communist countries as lessons on where interference with the judiciary might lead. "It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."

In her address to an audience of corporate lawyers on Thursday, Ms O'Connor singled out a warning to the judiciary issued last year by Tom DeLay, the former Republican leader in the House of Representatives, over a court ruling in a controversial "right to die" case.

After the decision last March that ordered a brain-dead woman in Florida, Terri Schiavo, removed from life support, Mr DeLay said: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behaviour."

Mr DeLay later called for the impeachment of judges involved in the Schiavo case, and called for more scrutiny of "an arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president".

Such threats, Ms O'Connor said, "pose a direct threat to our constitutional freedom", and she told the lawyers in her audience: "I want you to tune your ears to these attacks ... You have an obligation to speak up.

"Statutes and constitutions do not protect judicial independence - people do," the retired supreme court justice said.

She noted death threats against judges were on the rise and added that the situation was not helped by a senior senator's suggestion that there might be a connection between the violence against judges and the decisions they make.

The senator she was referring to was John Cornyn, a Bush loyalist from Texas, who made his remarks last April, soon after a judge was shot dead in an Atlanta courtroom and the family of a federal judge was murdered in Illinois.

Senator Cornyn said: "I don't know if there is a cause and effect connection, but we have seen some recent episodes of courthouse violence in this country ... And I wonder whether there may be some connection between the perception in some quarters, on some occasions, where judges are making political decisions yet are unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and builds up to the point where some people engage in violence."

Although appointed by a Republican, Ms O'Connor voted with the supreme court's liberals on some divisive issues, including abortion, making her a frequent target for criticism from the right. After announcing that she intended to retire last year at the age of 75, she was replaced in February this year by Samuel Alito, who is generally regarded as being more consistently conservative.

In her speech, Ms O'Connor said that if the courts did not occasionally make politicians mad they would not be doing their jobs, and their effectiveness "is premised on the notion that we won't be subject to retaliation for our judicial acts".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1729396,00.html

 

Here is a warning I posted some years ago -

As I said in another post I don’t think many on the right care about the methods used, the ends justifies the means, I think many would happily accept an authoritarian regime if it was of their political persuasion and so don’t worry about the trampling of norms, precedent and due process that inches the state toward that end.

The right want to take over the state through taking over the judiciary – from there they can successfully block any left wing policy that has been democratically voted for.

Universal healthcare could be ruled unconstitutional, the gerrymandering of districts to ensure that only Republicans can win them could be ruled at perfectly fine.

And if people ignore the courts rulings then they are breaking the law and the whole states mechanisms can be used against them.

The US constitution did not set up a democracy it set up a 'Rebublican' system that was meant to protect the established squire class that wrote it from what they saw as the mob. At the beginning of the US only around 10% of the male population had the vote (and fewer could stand for office) due to property qualifications tied to voting rights.

It seems to me that many on the right (especially its wealthy backers) would be very happy to return to that earlier ‘Republican’ model.

 

Basically if the right get their Supreme Court appointment the 'coup' has happened.

Try to add new states - Can be ruled unconstitutional

Try to increase the numbers on SC - Can be ruled unconstitutional

Try anything to limit the power of the SC - Can be ruled unconstitutional

 

I saw that live on CNN

 

I think it's reasonably clear, from what he and Bill Barr have been saying, that he plans to challenge mail-in ballots, and possibly confiscate them, as inherently invalid. Of course, it's mainly Democrats who are voting that way, so that would be a good way to skew the outcome. What then? Would the election be held all over again? Or would he simply go with the results minus the absentee ballots. Either way, it will be the most serious constitutional crisis we've experienced since the Civil War.

 

I agree Tisho. He also said in his latest conference that there will not be a transfer of power, but a continuation. He said mail in ballots are a disaster. I voted yesterday by absentee ballot. Would he confiscate my ballot? This is also a good time to tell you late last night Matt Gaetz was on the Buck Sexton show and said that the Republicans will choose and order their electors who go to the electoral college to vote for Trump regardless of how the people vote in their state. This latest trick is for states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin which have a Republican assembly. I live in Indiana and know well the Republicans have confiscated registrations in the past. I have no way of knowing if and when they toss out my vote?

 

I read that trump's legal team will use every tool, legal or not, to ensure that trump stays in power. The people be damned

 

He continually disregards the Constitution and indulges his own selfish whims.
His followers (one of which I am married to) think he cares about them, refusing to believe that he will cease to pretend to do so once he has. no more need for their support.
He says he admires dictators and thinks he is one already; he boasts that his power is absolute.
As I frequently say, he longs to be a dictator but can't get the TATER part right.

 

What I don't understand is why your husband, and other trump supporters can't see thru the facade.

 

My husband is a racist.
He loves the idea of a president who also seems to be one.
He was HORRIFIED by President Obama!
I cry myself to sleep sometimes over his attitude.
When I met and moved in with him I didn't know.
We had no TV and this is an all White town, so the subject never came up...until we got a TV.
By then it was too late.
When Trump was elected those almost four dark years ago, he was elated!
He sees him as a kindred spirit and wears Trump shirts and MAGA hats everywhere.
I have. ONE Trump shirt.
It has his scowling face with the words IN YOUR GUTS YOU KNOW HE'S NUTS underneath.
I never thought he was a stupid person.
.now I know.

 

Because they don't want to.

Hopefully Trump is only bluffing when he indicates he might refuse to step down. Imagine the harm he could do to the country if he doesn't.

 

"I don't kid" ~ Donald J. Trump

 

Ah, but he's lying when he says he doesn't lie!

 

He also says he doesn't repeat himself... 3 fucking times.

 

Lol. True.
But people who've known him for years say that he hasn't a sense of humor.
And all he DOES is repeat himself.

 

That works up to a point, if SCOTUS still has legitimacy. But I think there are probably limits. If the Court should "interpret" the Constitution to give Trump a twelve year term, that probably wouldn't fly, because the Constitution is perfectly clear on that matter. Likewise with ruling an effort to increase the Supreme Court seats, since it's been done in the past. Nothing in the Constitution about it. Trouble with abusing power too flagrantly is that so much of the power of government rests on legitimacy, and so much of that depends on the perception that power is being exercised fairly. When that is gone, it all depends on who has the most guns.

 

Lord have mercy! In 12 years old Forrest will be 86 years old!
And he says Joe is too old!