Coup | Hacker News Reader

Coup

wh47.substack.com

75 pointskrf8g65t11 comments

As a lifelong American citizen, I'm legitimately concerned for the future of our country and all its residents.

The rate at which constitutional protections are being undermined, attacked, and rule of law is being thrown to the wayside is crushing and astounding. For the first time in my life, it appears that there are no longer any protections in place to help prevent an authoritarian regime from fully taking over our government, and it feels surreal to be living through this in real-time.

Old but probably relevant essay:

“I Lived Through A Stupid Coup. America Is Having One Now.”

https://archive.is/xxFTC

Please quote the actual headline if you use quotes. I clicked and was surprised by the headline being different.

Headline: (article is from 2020)

“I Lived Through Collapse. America Is Already There”

The original headline was "stupid coup," and that's what I Googled to find it again, but they must have changed it at some point. Materials that link to he piece still use it, though, and I think it's quite fitting.

https://kottke.org/20/11/i-lived-through-a-stupid-coup-ameri...

Aha. Yeah, “stupid coup” being a bit more controversial is just a distraction - the real point is the coup, so to avoid people getting riled up by something and missing the point of the article, I can totally see why the author would change that.

Thanks for clearing that up!

I recall about ten years ago there was a poster here who warned about tech authoritarianism, got banned for it, and had his career destroyed for the service.

Having never heard of this before -- why was his career destroyed?

I suspect he's thinking of michaelochurch, but if so "a poster...who warned about tech authoritarianism, got banned for it, and had his career destroyed for the service" is a profound mischaracterization.

This tracks with Mark Cuban's comment re: Trump becoming a CEO and Elon et al being on the "board."

Elsewhere "Trump reins in Musk: ‘He does nothing without my approval'" https://archive.ph/aMsJe

This sounds uncharacteristically earnest for anything coming out of the Trump administration, but don't let that distract you from the irony here.

Trump attempted a coup of his own four years ago. He may have legitimately won the election this time, he owes that victory in part to the partnership he courted with the man here accused of the same.

Such was the price of his victory: Donald Trump sold this country to Elon Musk for a second term. It might turn out to be a short one.

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