[NY Times] ‘My Memory Is Fine,’ a Defiant Biden Declares After Special Counsel Report

but not false.

 

People like yourself said the same thing about his first election. He was going to become dictator. He will start WWIII. blah blah blah.

its like you have no idea how governance works in the US. You're actually comparing Russia to the US.

 

I personally don't care for a repeat...

 

Y'all forget Yalta, and how FDR's decline cost the Poles fifty years of freedom after WW2.

but *Biden is fine*.

 

Wait... those predictions didn't become true?

The US has a deep state of careerists and hundred plus year institutions. That was the only thing that prevented Trump from overturning an election.

The dude is now talking about making an entire political ideology in communism straight up illegal.

He is the embodiment of modern fascism.

 

Trump repeatedly claimed he wouldn't accept the election results. His Chief of Staff didn't believe him.

Trust the man when he says he will be a dictator. At least he will try. I don't know about you, but I don't want to see any POTUS attempting that.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-he-loses-trump-will-concede-gracefully-11604772109
By Mick Mulvaney
Nov. 7, 2020 1:01 pm ET

If He Loses, Trump Will Concede Gracefully
He’ll fight hard to make sure the results are fair, and in the end he’ll accept the result whatever it is.

I’ve been asked the same question at least a hundred times in the past week: If the president loses, will he participate in a peaceful transition of power?
...

 

This has been discussed plenty - The Presidency has an end date and the institution (in this case, the Constitution) dictates the next person, not the guy who was previously in the seat. The previous president can b**** and moan and sue all he wants. Sure, he can be a complete pain in the ass on his exit, but he is not elected to a throne. Our current governance is very very stable. Again, as I said in another post, yes, Trump can do some really foolish things that could sent our country into a detrimental tail spin, but generally the selfish and greedy parties (RNC & DNC) will step in to ensure it doesn't get too bad.

When you look at this stupid 'dictator' argument, the best time it could ever be implemented was during a crisis like Covid. And this country did ok with that clown running the show.

 

What planet were you on because it clearly was not Earth.

 

I previously stated in this forum that US institutions can withstand someone like Trump as president. I now feel differently after witnessing the last few years.

The Constitution depends on elected leaders upholding their oaths. But men are fallible, and therefore so are the institutions they represent. The Jan 6th insurrection revealed cracks in this foundation when Congress certified results despite an armed mob trying to stop the process. We avoided a constitutional crisis because enough officials like Pence defended the Constitution, but that outcome is not guaranteed next time.

If Trump regains power, he will ensure unquestioning loyalty, removing any remaining guardrails. He will fire executive staff who show independence and install partisans. This replacement of expertise with unwavering loyalists will damage governance and undermine the proper functioning of the executive branch for Americans, while empowering Trump (that alone should be reason enough, but I digress). Without any "adults" in the room, no one will prevent Trump's overreach or reject unlawful orders like the first time.

If Trump wins, he's likely going to also have a Republican-controlled Congress. A Republican-controlled Congress did little to constrain Trump previously and even now enables his false claims about the election, rejecting every lawful process holding him accountable. Intimidated by the prospect of violence from his radical supporters, legislators have proven unwilling to stand on principle when it matters most. So we cannot rely on them to check his lawless ambitions if he returns to office.

The judiciary remains the strongest barrier to abuses of presidential power. But leading Republicans have threatened the court's legitimacy (instructing Abbott to ignore its rulings) and Trump has shown contempt for its authority. If he again controls the White House and Congress, he may well defy or hobble the justice system. I would not gamble on the court as our last line of defense.

The risks to our democracy are clear to see. Believe him when he says he will be a dictator. Don't make the mistake that so many did during his first term, including his Chief of Staff - not believing what he plainly stated in public. Relying on institutions to hold him in check is naive now, given his plan to install loyalists replacing nonpartisan civil servants, the ineffective legislative branch, and pressure on the judiciary from Republicans. Our system may still hold, but much less likely. Once broken, restoring democracy would be enormously difficult, if not impossible.

Ps. With regards to COVID, we have legal processes in place that allow a strong executive during a national health crisis; this was followed at both the state and federal level. But yes, next time, it might not be with an executive that has no self-check, an ineffective legislature, and a judiciary that is ignored.

 

People like John Bolton, Gen. Mattis, Gen. Kelly, former members of his DOJ up to the attorney General all have said that they restrained Trump and have to said he is either unfit for office and / or an outright threat to the Constitutional system.

These were people in his own administration.

Trump has called them traitors and said that in his next administration he will be looking for people whose primary goal isn’t loyalty to the constitution but to him.

The US has faced constitutional crisis before and the is institutions worked becaue there were people who respected them and defended them, such as John Dean and the Republican Senators during Nixon. Since then we’ve seen the Republican Party become more
enthralled and enamored of power.

 

That's a good point that Trump frighteningly can learn from his mistakes in failure to reverse the election.

This time around he definitely will make sure to find pure yes people that aren't institutionalists like Mathis.

 

Al Haig faints.

 

Al Haig was very loyal to Nixon but even he understood that Nixon had to go. Heck Nixon understood that he had to go. If Pence and several members of Trump’s own admin including people like White House lawyers hadn’t stood up to Trump we don’t know if Trump would’ve left the White House voluntarily on Jan. 20, 2021.

 

Just curious if people thought Hitler wasn't a fascist after he failed the The Beer Hall Putsch and was only accurately labeled that when he became dictator?

 

occupancy of the Whitehouse is not what makes one president. whether he left or not, he ceased being president on January 20th.

 

Just ask yourself, is there any Fortune 500 company other than Berkshire Hathaway (which is "just" an investment holding) and Roger Penske's company that has someone at the helm who is this old? I don't think so.

Why not? Because it is simply a fact of life that old people decline physically and mentally.

They are both too old. Biden is much more frail and looks more confused than Trump. But Trump is also too old. It's unreasonable to say that someone who would be considered too old to run a company is fit enough to run the most important country in the world. Actually, you also have Pelosi, McConnell and all these people. They need to let go. It's crazy.

 

He didn’t try to sniff queen Rania’s hair. What the hell is going on here?