I'm feeling so uneasy with everything I've been seeing. I keep thinking about what we will be this time next year, and if shit hits the fan, what is your plan? I'm queer and was politically active in 2020, so I would potentially be considered a political enemy.
The only blueprint I can think of is what you do in an active shooter situation; Flee, Hide, Fight.
I know there's that romantic notion of "don't be a coward, get out and protest", but I remember the brutality of the 2020 protests firsthand, and even then I thought "thank god I'm going toe to toe with the CPD and not the CCP". Next time is going to be different. The president now has authority to send drone strikes. Protests and riots don't stand a chance agains missiles and live rounds.
Flee- I have an Uncle in Montreal who my family could potentially use as a way to at least temporarily escape the chaos. The hope I'd have is that Canada and other countries would accept American refugees, however that's not a guarantee.
Hide- If borders are closed, lay low and move away from major cities if possible. If civil war breaks out, try to get away from the violence even if you think your side will win. Todays losers may be tomorrows victors.
Fight- If cellular data/ social media algorithms can keep track of you, and surveillance can make sure there's no movement, this would be the last resort of desperation. I guess if possible try to either find a group for safety in numbers, or conversely go guerrilla as groups of resistance would make easy targets.
Sorry my mind is running and I'm getting scared.
I'd like to try to assuage your fears regarding a protest meeting missiles or drone strikes. Yes, the President can order drone strikes with impunity. It's been that way since the first use of drones, early as the Obama era (maybe earlier, but I was a bit young then).
However, this does not apply to US soil. One of the benefits of state sovereignty is that federal armed forces can't operate on US soil. National guard gets involved, at the governor's request, but they don't have missiles or drones. Police are barbaric, but they also don't have missiles or drones.
So I don't think we'd see much of an escalation in terms of weapons of violence with regards to protests when compared to 2020.
If he declares it an official act, then it’s not illegal. Drone strikes are pretty official.
SCOTUS fucked up super-sized
SCOTUS (or at least 6 of 'em) knew exactly what they were doing and did it anyway. On purpose.
6 of ‘em are super-sized fuckups. Po-TAY-to / Po-TAH-to.
He can order it all he wants, but that doesn't mean any branch of the military has to actually carry out an obviously illegal order. All it means is that he theoretically "can't" get prosecuted for trying.
One of the biggest factors is that the courts can't get testimony from members of the executive branch of government, meaning if he does something insanely evil, as long as only his admin that knows anything about it, he can't be effectively prosecuted. It's pretty fucking terrible.
The people carrying out those acts are also not legally immune like the president is.
True, but he can pardon them easily.
If they refuse, they can be replaced with yes-men who will.
He can only pardon for federal crimes "atm" so if he drone strikes on state land the state can prosecute.
Also true. But, like, what are the states going to do about a mad king who's federally untouchable?
I'm trying hard to not be an alarmist (mostly for my own mental health), but it's not just that the floodgates are open; the dam has burst and we're all downstream.
Get thee to an armory
Watch as the Supreme Court use the supremacy clause to counter act this. If they've already reached this far, I don't think that's a lot further to reach
They may or may not be pardoned. Trump has a well established history of stiffing employees, screwing over allies, and throwing anyone under the bus whenever he thinks it will suit him.
His history of stiffing / screwing over / bus throwing aside, I don't for one moment think he won't pardon someone who has been loyal to him. Not as long as it doesn't cost him any money or cause his ratings to drop.
He already didn't pardon people who were loyal to him but ok...
I'm referring more to big fish like Bannon, but I'm curious who you mean (besides the J6 mob).
Oh, I don't know, his own children? Cohen? C'mon man...
His wretched kids have never needed a pardon, though, right? They've just been investigated and/or asked to testify, but nothing that would require a pardon. I guess he could have tried preemptively pardoning them, but I don't think it ever got that far for any of them.
Cohen identified Trump (aka Individual-1) when he was on trial for fraud re: the hush money payments (which led to the 34 felonies Trump was just convicted of). Trump is definitely not going to pardon him after that.
You think his kids haven't committed crimes? I have a hard time believing that.
He did that after Trump left him hanging out to dry. If you're skeptical, go read about Trump's past and you'll see how frequently and remorselessly he betrays people. He's kind of famous for it.
Or don't, kinda seems like you made up your mind before we started talking.
Nope. But they can be pardoned for those acts by the prez
Can and will aren't the same thing, Trump throws his own people under the bus all the time and has a well established history of fucking over allies and stiffing employees, never mind not pardoning tons of people who committed multiple crimes to try and protect or serve him.
Not exactly the behavior that instills loyalty.
This is not the protection that you think it is.
One of the elements of the Trump victory plan is for them to replace pivotal positions in civil and military services with sycophantic yes-men who are GREAT at not questioning orders - or, are of the same psychopathic stripe as they are, and are actually enthusiastic about executing such orders for one reason or another.
Not to mention: go into any US military mess hall, anywhere. What’s on the TV? (Here’s a hint: it’s not MSNBC, CBS, or CNN).
A huge portion of the military supports him.
And a huge proportion doesn’t.
Dont underestimate how many people join the military at 18 for financial/career reasons and often end up living overseas and meeting people from different backgrounds. It’s not as conservative as people might imagine.
I know that many do not, but I have no idea what the actual proportions would be. Polls are iffy.
Doesn't help that Trump regularly shat on the military in the past.
What year is it?
Tomorrow is the year 1446 on the Islamic Calendar. But it’s 1445 until then. (I’m using the Moroccan calendar.)
Someone will be willing to do so. He can just fill everything with yay sayers.
Ahh of course, america has never once committed a war crime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes
Project 2025 has you covered. Law abiding service members will be replaced. snap. Easy peasy.
Soldiers swear an oath to the Constitution to not commit illegal orders, regardless of who orders them.
The issue is that the president cant issue illegal orders anymore. Since hes the commander in chief of the military, his orders are an "official act," i.e constitutional.
The supreme court has said that the president can order military executions of anyone at all and the military can no longer legally refuse. The above is constitutional, because the people who decide what is constitutional said it is.
SCOTUS still decides what is or isn't an official act, not that it's reassuring.
SCOTUS can decline any case silently, with no justification. They can decide to not decide, ceding all power to the new American king if they like.
The military now have to murder americans if the the president says so, because he said so. That core check on tyranny, the military's ability to refuse an unlawful order, was wiped away by this supreme court.
If they declined to hear it, the decision would be in the hands of whatever court the appeal came from.
This is a good point. So the main stalls the supreme court has are to take the case and issue the opinion on the last possible day of the term like this one, and then find that whatever it was fell onto the broad immunity.
So what you're saying is that cops are getting drones
Haven't been following the news, have we? What you said was mostly true a week ago. Now, NO ONE has legal protection under U.S. law against crime committed by an American president.
From the Project 2025 wiki page:
Why is this fucker still alive?
Clearly "the system" isn't capable of handling the threat of right-wing extremism and something needs to be done, but anybody murking Trump would probably make things worse, not better. He'd become a conservative martyr, and they could point to his death and say "see, we told you they're violent" and use it to deepen hatred and oppression. This is what happened after the failed assassination attempt on Robert Fico
It does not matter what anyone does. Everyone needs to understand that. They will always find something to point to and rally against. But I meant why is he still alive when his health is terrible, he's past average life expectancy, he doesn't exercise, and he obviously spends all of his mental and emotional energy on petty vengeance and anger. I'm honestly amazed that he hasn't suffered multiple heart attacks.
Ah right I get you, a "how is he still kicking" instead of "why hasn't someone fed him to a wood chipper"
I suppose "how" would have been a better word choice.
The fuck they don't.
After my active duty service I was in the NG for a while until I figured out it was a fuckin joke, but my NG unit was a Bradley unit which means 30mm cannon and TOW missiles. And that was almost 30 years ago.
The Air NG also flies just about every fighter out there and they sure as hell have missile racks on them.
The hope is that the Americans behind those war machines will be hesitant to fire on their countrymen but Kent State puts a shadow over that hope.