r/MadeMeSmile • u/dittidot • 1d ago

Good News Way to go South Korea!

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u/Dirt_E_Harry 1d ago

We give Trump and the Republicans enough rope to hang themselves. Midterms will be fascinating. I'm 100% on board with his ridiculous tariffs.

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u/ExtremestUsername 1d ago

Do you belive Trump will willingly give up power if you elect someone else?

That seems wierd to me as a european. He has no reason to leave power at this point, and the USA don't have a mecanism for removing a president who choses to stay.

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u/OratioFidelis 1d ago

Elections are decentralized. He can try to say "I'm still president" but it'll only work if the military listens to him, and his approval rating among soldiers is not high enough to pull that trick.

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u/ExtremestUsername 1d ago

But the courts already decleared that nothing he does while in office can get him arrested.

He's immune.

He could literally have Congress killed and it would be legal.

The American system has spent 200 years centralizing power into just one position.

If he would ignore the election, who is responsible for removing him? So far you seem to have relied exclusively on the idea that power will transfer peacefully by the president stepping down.

The Senate even confirmed last time that leading an attack on Congress was not a abuse of power.

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u/Superjoe42 1d ago

He can be impeached and removed by Congress, but the bar is ridiculously high, and Republicans have no courage to stand up to him.

Alternatively, a judge could hypothetically have him arrested for an offense such as contempt of court, but the Supreme Court is on his side and this also seems very unlikely.

Realistically, we are waiting for him to mess things up extremely badly so public opinion turns against him and influences Congress, but I'm not counting on it with our propagandistic media.

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u/ExtremestUsername 1d ago

In my country parliament only need a vote of no confidence to remove the leader, so the bar for removing a leader is quite low.

We only vote for the parliament members, and they have to form the executive branch based on the current balance of power there.

This also removed the problem of "spoiler candidates", as the third party candidates still weilds proportional power. And they naturally hinder gridlocks.

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u/GlitteryOndo 1d ago

To be honest, having the president/prime minister be the one who directly leads the largest party in parliament isn't great for separation of powers and that's what usually happens en European parliaments. All systems have their flaws. (I'm European btw)

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u/Solvemprobler369 7h ago

Again, enough rope to hang themselves on.

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u/OratioFidelis 1d ago

He doesn't have to agree to step down, according to the Constitution he ceases being president on inauguration day unless he's been certified by the electoral college. Which again comes down to having military support to suspend the Constitution, which he probably won't have after four years of turning the economy into a smoldering crater and other scandals.

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u/ExtremestUsername 1d ago

I hope the people in power who have everything to gain by not sharing your interpretation of the transfer of power shares your interpretation of the transfer of power.

Best of luck to you.

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u/OratioFidelis 1d ago

So why didn't the January 6 insurrection work, if that's the case?

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u/Donquers 1d ago

Because he didn't have enough loyalists on his side at the time. Now he does.

You've all been conditioned to believe that "because democracy," the system and all the corruption in it will always just work itself out. That evil people can be in power and it's fine because "checks and balances," and "no one will let that happen."

You are deluded.

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u/OratioFidelis 1d ago edited 1d ago

Because he didn't have enough loyalists on his side at the time. Now he does.

Where? On the Supreme Court, that's virtually unchanged? In the military, that's virtually unchanged? Hesgeth is definitely more willing to order troops to shoot protesters than Miller was, but I don't think troops are more likely to carry out that order.

What he does have is a shitload more money, and right-aligned news and social media outlets are more brazen about allowing him to lie. But I'm not sure Trump has the ability to marshal those resources effectively. He's even more delusional than he was in 2021 when his first attempt failed.

You've all been conditioned to believe that "because democracy," the system and all the corruption in it will always just work itself out. That evil people can be in power and it's fine because "checks and balances," and "no one will let that happen."

I haven't said any of those things. I'm going off of cold, hard facts here. Trump isn't more popular, his loyalists aren't smarter than they were before, and people are even more pissed off that the economy is crashing without COVID to blame it on.

You are deluded.

I have found that democracy is more likely to win in the end when people don't immediately surrender like you are right now. A large portion of power of fascists is their ability to act like their victory is inevitable, which you're falling for hard.

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u/Donquers 1d ago

I didn't say to "surrender."

My point is to get out there and DO MORE.

Because you're here fully acknowledging your life is on the line if/when the fox news host decides to have the military start shooting people, and you're just leaving it up to hope that they don't.

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u/OratioFidelis 1d ago

Big protests are scheduled for tomorrow, come join us if you want to do more.

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/03/hands-off-protest-trump-musk-april-5

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u/Easymodelife 1d ago

Good luck with your protests tomorrow. I hope they have a massive turnout and everyone stays safe. Look after each other. And I agree with what you say about not obeying fascism in advance. Timothy Snyder makes that point in On Tyranny (great read, the pdf version can be downloaded free online). 🇬🇧

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u/ProgySuperNova 52m ago

☝️😩: "His Higness The Emperor is above the petty legalities of the common rabble!"