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Comment by netsharc | Hacker News Reader

The executive branch has ignored the courts a few times, basically saying "What are you going to do about it?".

I feel like it has to lead to a standoff of some group with guns saying they're following the courts/defending the constitution against another group with guns saying they're following the orders of the president (just like those Nazis who were "just following orders"). I need to print t-shirts with "Is it a coup d'etat yet?" to sell to the onlookers when this happens (in theory I could start selling these now).

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One of the first orders of business was asserting the executive branch (really the white house) was the final authority for the executive branch on what a court order or court ruling ‘means’.

He just has to say ‘nuh uh’, and as long as people want their jobs, that’s it.

> and as long as people want their jobs

so it comes to this, where people would have to take a stance, and it requires personal sacrifice on the part of those taking a stance. However, that is what it means to serve.

The idea of “checks and balances” is that systems have the strength to counteract systems.

Individuals attempting to counteract systems is a much, much taller order. People are multifaceted, and those that dissent can be replaced nearly instantly with someone who won’t.

I’m not saying it’s pointless, and individuals asked to do horrible things should do nothing, but it’s much much harder to resist on an individual level than to rely on the leverage that counteracting systems can provide.

Unfortunately these checks and balances have been eroded to the point where they are no longer effective.

The idea of the 3 branches is that there are systemic incentives for ‘bad people’ (which is a fundamental normal state, btw) to have incentives to screw up the bad people in the other branches. Not that ‘good people’ (an idea which most of the founding fathers would have considered a naive fantasy) would use it to save everyone.

They are supposed to be 3 selfish pillars fighting each other to what is likely an actually reasonable state, not 1 or 2 pillars of ‘hero’s’ fighting evil. Which notably, presenting the executive as the ‘hero’ here is exactly what Trump is trying to do to squash what limited resistance he is getting.

The President controls the most powerful military on Earth.

What do the courts control? Where are their guns?

Judges/Courts control the offices that control the military and the executive. Without the rule of law, you do not have a military, you have a militia. If you think a military staffed by patriots, 70% minorities and 1st generation American immigrants, are going to bow down to a dictator and their illegal, immoral orders, you probably watch too many movies and play too many games...

That's why the only "viable resistance" would be a high-ranking military-person with a tank battalion and thousands of soldiers who are willing to follow his conviction of "I'm going to perform insubordination because I believe my commander in chief is an enemy of the constitution, follow me if you believe the same", and then have a plan to besiege the White House/Capitol.

Anything smaller will just be someone which the police can deal with.

But coordinating thousands of people is hard, and any plan would leak easily and be discovered by that alcoholic wife-beating Fox News reporter. We might hear generals being fired or moved in the coming months/years of this regime.

If I had to put money whether I'd see scenes like this in DC: https://youtu.be/pF8gyC-XD-w , I'd have to consider whether American military people are brave or they'd just be "followers of orders".

Alternatively, maybe some governors will direct their national guard to defend against what they've deemed to be illegal action done by a federal organ. Hopefully the military will show restraint if being asked to shoot fellow Americans, but hey, if MAGA has also infected the military, maybe they'll see defenders of blue states as "woke-mind-virus-infected cowards" and gleefully shoot them.

Where's that book/article that says the US is already in the next civil war...

The police will have a hard time dealing with any large-scale armed insurgency, even if all the insurgents have is small arms. They simply don't have the numbers.

In US in particular, this is further exacerbated by the kind of weaponry that civilians have access to. For example, a .50 BMG anti-materiel rifle is perfectly legal to own in most states. So is HEIAP ammunition for it. This combination can, with some skill, take down (unarmored) helicopters. And yes, there are people who have this kind of stuff.

As far as the military, when discussing these scenarios, keep in mind that their choices, in addition to "support the president" and "oppose the president" include "do nothing". I wouldn't be surprised if that is exactly what's going to happen in the even of a full-fledged constitutional crisis escalating into paramilitary violence.

What are they fighting a civil war for? Cheaper gas? More fast food? There is nothing now or in the near future that would fracture the country enough to fight. Once commerce stops, people will lose their collective minds. You cant tell Americans how to park, how to dress let alone what to eat or drink or do. Good luck with the collective will needed to fight for an ideologue in the 21st century.

> Good luck with the collective will needed to fight for an ideologue in the 21st century.

Look at the January 6 mob...

I can imagine there's the willingness to fight for democracy or the return of the rule of law, or just "to see those corrupt scumbags be punished", people had food in 2020 but still went to the streets because of the police murder of George Floyd.

There were only a few thousand people at 1/6. There are 40mm people in CA, just as an example. 300mm Americans are not going to bow down to a man who wants to be king.

People who think we'll end up in an armed conflict with some authoritarian enemy, watch too many movies and game too much. If there is a war, it will be financial and electronic. Americans call 911 when their internet goes down, they are not going to be led into a war against their fellow Americans let alone the world because of something like DEI or Juan the illegal. Instead, they'll rise up and take these billionaires and the politicians down.

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