Monday, March 03, 2025

Trump Tests the Limits of Pres Power and the US Democracy

The Associated Press lists the actions taken by Trump in the past six weeks that tests America's democracy and rule of law: "He has pardoned those who attacked the U.S. Capitol to overturn his 2020 election loss, placed loyalists atop the FBI and military, and purged the Department of Justice, which dropped investigations against Trump allies. He declared control over independent agencies such as the Federal Election Commission, punished media outlets for coverage he dislikes and his allies suggested he could defy court orders."

Posted by Corky at 08:30 AM | 8 COMMENTS | permalink

Comments

"Those who monitor democracy across the globe had warned that a second Trump term could endanger America's 240-year experiment with democracy. His opening weeks in office have done nothing to dispel those concerns.

"Trump is using the classic elected authoritarian playbook," said Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College, who joined more than 800 other political scientists in signing a letter warning that Trump is undermining the rule of law and the basic constitutional principle of checks and balances.

"It's almost embarrassing how crude it is."

''
""I feel like I'm living through this twice," said Maria Ressa, a journalist who won a Nobel Prize after being prosecuted by the government of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019, on a call last week about the threat of Trump to democracy.

"What you're seeing is exactly that " think about it as death by a thousand cuts," she said. "You're bleeding so much that, at some point, the body politic dies."

'
Thanks again, Trumpers! You've done what no one else could in 2 and half centuries... broken democracy.

#1 | Posted by Corky at 2025-03-01 04:17 PM

this is pretty good... MARA - Make America Russia Again!

"Russia is more WOKE than Trump's America now...

NFKRZ"

www.youtube.com

#2 | Posted by Corky at 2025-03-01 05:15 PM

MAGA is responsible for every insane thing this lunatic does. Those crazy fools should not be allowed to pretend they aren't responsible like The Tea Party liars and the Moral Majority did before them. The Extreme Right has been trying to destroy America for decades. This time they may have succeeded but those insane liars will still deny any responsibility!
The FBI identified the extreme right crazies as the biggest threat of terrorism so Trump fired hundreds from the FBI. No President should be allowed to demand loyalty oaths but Trump is doing it every day while Republican cowards refuse to object. The Pretend State of the Union Address tomorrow will be interesting to see how many lackies applaud ---- idiots for this Putin owned wannabe dictator.

#3 | Posted by danni at 2025-03-03 08:53 AM

Wait. TASS has someone in the Oval Office, but the Associated Press does not? How many believe that the TASS person simply walked in off the street, and was admitted? Either Leon's cutting has reached the Secret Service, or more than a few people at 1600 knew who the visitor was, and who invited them...

#4 | Posted by catdog at 2025-03-03 08:54 AM

#4

Vlad prolly just needed a witness to the planned Ambush. Also prolly a KGB-TASS agent (Russians themselves still call them the KGB).

#5 | Posted by Corky at 2025-03-03 11:40 AM

"Vlad prolly just needed a witness to the planned Ambush."

It was obviously planned. Like a WWE rehearsed pretend take down. Only Zelensky wasn't in on the plan.

And it would be very important that it was immediately available to pooty pants.

#6 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-03-03 11:56 AM

Do look into that mirror dems....
i.imgur.com

'' slowly dies when dems are the one in charge.

#7 | Posted by MSgt at 2025-03-03 12:10 PM

Re 7 Trump has never censored free speech?

Hitler did not "censor free speech" until after he was fully in power. Trumpy just got full control a month ago.

Trumpy has done almost exactly what every other dictator in history has done.

U.S. Senator John McCain, defending the media against the latest attack by President Donald Trump, warned that suppressing the free press was "how dictators get started".

The Arizona Republican, a frequent critic of Trump, was responding to a tweet in which Trump accused the media of being "ok the enemy of the American people".

"They get started by suppressing free press. In other words, a consolidation of power. When you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press. And I'm not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I'm just saying we need to learn the lessons of history," McCain said.

Among his first official acts on returning to the White House, President Donald Trump issued an executive order "restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship." Implicit in this vaguely written document: the United States is done fighting mis- and disinformation online. Meanwhile, far from living up to the letter or spirit of his own order, Trump is fighting battles against the American news media on multiple fronts and has pardoned at least 13 individuals convicted or charged for attacking journalists on January 6, 2021. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) strongly refutes Trump's distorted vision of free speech, which is inherently detrimental to press freedom.

#8 | Posted by donnerboy at 2025-03-03 12:37 PM

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