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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 15, 2024

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You'd obviously be familiar with the Hitler example. He won a legitimate election, and then after he was in power made himself dictator. Or you could look at Hugo Chavez, or Robert Mugabe. There's plenty of precedent for people seizing power fairly and then retaining it illegitimately.

These are all poor comparisons to make. When people say "Trump is a danger to democracy" it reveals a lot of ignorance about the structure of the American government. Three-branched Federal government with a bicameral legislature, the tradition of judicial review, and codependent powers distributed across the different branches (the most important being that Congress has to pay for everything) means that it would be close to impossible to make oneself a dictator in the American system from a structural perspective. You can't flip it all on its head with 51% of the vote and some clever executive orders. You'd need what amounts to multiple constitutional amendments on top of a court not only packed but FULL of sycophantic non-lawyers. This just isn't anywhere near the realm of truth or possibility - especially for Trump who is easily distracted on his policy priorities and only has four years to get all of that done.

For some good precedent, remember the 9-0 ruling against Obama for attempting to make some pretty ho-hum appointments during a Senatorial recess.

"Trump is a danger to democracy" is a very emotionally dressed up version of "orange man bad."