To coup or not to coup

[Dill]

(07-18-2017, 08:54 PM)Nebuchadnezzar Wrote: I always get a kick out of stuff like this.

Remember all the people who said that Obama would find some way to get a third term or find a way to become a permanent president? 

Stuff cracks me up.

I do remember that; but Snyder is rather more nuanced than that.  He thinks Trump would create a "state of exception" to increase executive power.  But he doesn't think it would work.

Snyder: Let me make just two points. The first is that I think it’s pretty much inevitable that they will try. The reason I think that is that the conventional ways of being popular are not working out for them. The conventional way to be popular or to be legitimate in this country is to have some policies, to grow your popularity ratings and to win some elections. I don’t think 2018 is looking very good for the Republicans along those conventional lines — not just because the president is historically unpopular. It’s also because neither the White House nor Congress have any policies which the majority of the public like.

This means they could be seduced by the notion of getting into a new rhythm of politics, one that does not depend upon popular policies and electoral cycles.

Whether it works or not depends upon whether when something terrible happens to this country, we are aware that the main significance of it is whether or not we are going to be more or less free citizens in the future.

My gut feeling is that Trump and his administration will try and that it won’t work. Not so much because we are so great but because we have a little bit of time to prepare. I also think that there are enough people and enough agencies of the government who have also thought about this and would not necessarily go along.