What’s especially alarming is that they’ve learned they don’t have to do anything in the dark. Epstein may be a small blip in that, but we’ll see how the story goes in the coming weeks.
- people are being disappeared in broad daylight, by masked mercenary squads and without due process
- the military has already been deployed domestically
- courts have been neutered/ignored
- the supreme court generally rules in favour of the regime, and when it doesn't even the supreme court gets ignored
- the first political adversaries have already been assassinated
- the majority of the Senate is happily cheering on all of the above
All three branches of government are already fully under control of this regime. Add to that the many agencies that have been gutted or clipped, and the dismantling of healthcare and social security. What do you think will be left of the US' institutions in 18 months?
The Rosie O’Donnell thing today is another demonstration of his commitment to iterating against norms. He’ll push and push until he finds a front that collapses in his favor. The whole idea of the unassailable rights of citizens will continue to be tested. The Democrats need a “no F’ing way” line to hold. An American born citizen should be an easy line to defend. We’ll see what kind of pushback surfaces.
A certain German clergyman write a poem about this.
The Constitution applies to everyone on US soil, ceding any ground undermines the next norm to be broken. It's a deliberate scope creep from Criminal illegal immigrants -> illegal immigrants -> immigrant-looking and criminals in general -> enemies of the state and criminal/enemy sympathizers. Having to "defend" American-born citizens means you've ceded a lot of ground, and are nearing your last stand.
The direction doesn't matter, the barometer is in hell and so are we.
Yeah, it's not right to blame the Dems for this, but the Reps are responsible for this shitshow and far from redemption. The Dems are the only possible counterforce in the US (unlike most other countries), but they seem to be inclined to do jack shit to assume that role.
Instead, like all entities doing business in the US, foreign and otherwise, we'll just find novel ways to extract more from the US and send it elsewhere.
As a citizen of the world, this option absolutely remains available to you. As an extractive capitalist, I imagine you will continue to fuel the populist movements you're analyzing, but reminder: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Eh, it depends. To put it succinctly, a leading investor from the sovereign wealth fund of an autocratic Gulf state once told me that while the Republican govt., especially under Trump, is super friendly to letting them get away with shit, a Democrat government is better for returns. From an investment standpoint, everyone craves stability and is happy to double down and reinvest, but given cases like Trump, we're happy to move out our American extractions.
That high rent Americans pay to their landlords? Yeah, we're LPs of Blackstone, who brag about bleeding renters dry annually. That new war Mr President wants to start? Carlyle is very happy about its strong showing. All those farm running out of water in California, Arizona, etc.? They're happily eating local mutton and dairy derived from cows, goats and sheep fed on American alfalfa. Oh, and my mom absolutely loves those water-hungry almonds you grow there, especially when they come for a nice hefty discount.