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Comment by ttul | Hacker News Reader

TL;DR: Trump 2.0 has ushered in a two-tier legal system that won’t be noticed by most people because it continues to function normally unless you’re part of an exclusive or targeted group. By keeping most of the system functioning normally, the leadership prevents major protests from erupting, while accomplishing some of the more radical goals of the administration.

Scary stuff. And it seems reasonable to draw this parallel with the Nazi state. The targeting of specific law firms such as Paul, Klein, for instance, must surely be chilling other, smaller firms, whose balance sheets would not withstand a direct assault by the state.

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The truth is there always was a two-tier legal system, just as there always was a two-tier healthcare system and a two-tier education system.

The current administration is simply exposing the truth and removing the hypocrisy. In a way this is good because it exposes the sheer inequality for all to see. Now we can do something about it.

I do wonder what the line is for you and the other folks I keep hearing say this is all totally normal and how it’s always been - what would cross the line for you? What could Trump do that would lead you to say, “oh, this is different now?”

All I'm trying to point out is that your cushy middle-class existence has sheltered you from the deep-rooted inequality that has persisted in America since the turn of last century, perhaps since creation.

Trump historically has been shunned by the traditional elites. From their perspective he lacks guile and class. And they're right. As a president it's no different. That's why he's surrounded himself with the nouveau elite. The old guard would not give him the time of day.

I'm simply speaking to facts. Why do they bother you so much?

> Why do they bother you so much?

Why do you think he’s bothered, when all he’s asked is what the line is, for you? Perhaps you’d do well to not project your own emotions on other people anytime they lightly push back on things you say.

The 4chan-esque “u mad bro” bullshit is so fucking tired.

Because you’re not going to like the answer to where the line is.

The answer is the line has been crossed for decades. It was crossed when we started this nation recognizing slavery. It was continued when we kept breaking promise after promise to native Americans. It continued being crossed when we threw thousands of Asians, especially Japanese into camps.

It’s been getting crossed when we’ve sat by and justified police brutality against minorities.

It’s been getting crossed when we killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

It’s been getting crossed when we’ve been supplying weapons to the global south knowing full well how that’s going to be used.

So, realistically speaking, that line doesn’t exist anymore. And the American middle class who never backed the American poverty class when they protested this, are going to find themselves alone and without support.

The whole premise of the question “when will the line be crossed” reeks of privilege and shows a fundamental lack of understanding of where we are today.

Does that help clear things up?

> Because you’re not going to like the answer to where the line is.

True or not, I’m not “clear” what that has to do with my post. Further, asking what the current administration would have to do to cross GP’s line has, fundamentally, nothing at all to do with this particular soapbox.

It feels like you just wanted to post this, and weren’t all that concerned with where or whether it made any sense as a reply.

I genuinely wonder about this too. I wonder what the line in the sand is for Trump supporters.

The latest assault on social security should start hitting close to home for Trump supporters?

Maybe the end of welfare or unemployment or disability? A lot of Trump supporters fall into this category. Which is crazy because Trump is the classic wealthy person that stands on the back of the poor or borderline poverty and they seem to love Trump.

I usually read it the other way around. People denouncing it has always been like this felt like the line had already been crossed; and I'm conflicted with the fact that it took a foul mouthed celebrity for so many people to realize that.

> Now we can do something about it.

Can we? The proposed solution so far has been to remove the functioning state-owned parts until only the broken, second-tier economics remain. I don't think America can prosper like that.

Executive orders are the easiest things to reverse. What's the problem with waiting? Are the Democrats so intolerant of democracy? The other guy won. Majority of the country voted for him. You'll have to wait until he screws up, then the country will vote him out. Until then, deal with the fact that this is what your fellow citizens wanted.

Well, part of the problem with waiting is that Trump is already starting to disappear people to places like El Salvador with no claims or evidence, violating direct court orders in the process.

Democracy isn't meant to be a process where you become a god-king. If you believe we're supposed to be a country of laws then you should clearly be aghast at this.

The voters are far more aghast at the price of their grocery bill and their fear of layoffs than anything you've said. Democrats need to stop peddling outrage and start talking about how they are going to fix things voters actually care about.

Democrats should just sit back and observe. Let the Republicans hang themselves.

> wait until he screws up, then the country will vote him out

He already screwed up. When do I get to vote him out? My civics classes must have neglected to teach me the way to vote out a president mid-term, not to mention the Constitution requires him to leave the office at the end of this term regardless of votes.

Probably the closest thing we can do to voting him out would be calling your Congresspeople and telling them to impeach.

vote him out? he's not supposed to be able to run again in 2028. there are term limits.

He wasn’t supposed to be able to run in 2024 either, thanks to the 14th Amendment. And the Supreme Court decided it didn’t matter. Why do you think the 22nd will have more impact?

The Supreme Court has ignored the constitutions’s age limits. Why think that they will enforce term limits?

What age limits did they ignore? There are no upper limits set, and I’m not aware of them ignoring any lower age bounds.

> Executive orders are the easiest things to reverse.

The effects of executive orders which are getting people killed or trafficked into foreign slavery, among other difficult to reverse consequences, are not so easily reversed.

> What's the problem with waiting?

The escalating irremediable harms (as discussed above) of the unconstitutional acts, among other things.

280 million Americans didn’t vote for him though. He’s not even acting like he cares about the 60 million that did.

> Executive orders are the easiest things to reverse. What's the problem with waiting? Are the Democrats so intolerant of democracy?

So when Republicans challenged Obama's or Bidens executive orders, say student loans forgiveness for example, were they also intolerant of democracy? Or is it only anti-democratic when one opposes Trump?

> Majority of the country voted for him

He got 49.8% of the vote. That is not a majority.

The normative state can have a two-tier legal system.

This is about lawlessness and state violence superior to the legal system.

The US education system has at least three tiers: worker class (trained to follow rules), professional class (doctors, scientists, trained to solve problems) and managerial class (trained to sound confident).

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