Donald Trump ist kurz davor, ein Diktator zu werden. Kann er gestoppt werden?

Paywalled but text below (credit: Andrew Coyne, the Globe and Mail)
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By now it should be clear that the subjection of the United States to the dictatorship of Donald Trump is no longer a theoretical possibility or even a distant probability. It is an imminent reality.

It is not here, quite – critics of the President remain at large, the courts are still attempting to enforce the rule of law, the results of the 2026 and 2028 elections have not yet been determined – but the pieces are being put in place at astonishing speed.

To call what is happening a “slide” into authoritarianism, as if it were something anarchic and uncontrolled, would not be apt. It is more like a cementing. Having slipped back into power by the narrowest of margins, Mr. Trump and his acolytes have been steadily expanding from that beachhead, each new power serving as the means to acquire still more.

Often these powers have been acquired illegally, in brazen defiance of the Constitution. But so long as no one holds them to account for it, and so long as the administration refuses to be held to account, they become ratified by convention, or practice, or sheer nerve, the de facto rapidly congealing into the de jure.

At some point, American democracy will find it is caught, immovably, a colossus in quicksand. The question is whether it has reached that point, or, if it has not reached it yet, whether it can still avoid doing so.

The examples pile up by the day. In recent days, weeks and months, Mr. Trump and his officials have:

As if to give visible signs of his intent, Mr. Trump has been furnishing himself with various of the accoutrements of a dictator, from the giant portraits that now hang on government buildings, to the gold-encrusted palace that was once the White House, to the military parade on his birthday, to the endless public displays of sycophancy he requires of his cabinet members. Indeed, he has taken in recent days to musing about dictatorship as a possibility – “a lot of people are saying ‘Maybe we need a dictator’” – as if he were not just trying out the description with the public, but habituating them to it.

Indeed, the portents are ominous. Commit violence on Mr. Trump’s behalf, and he will see that you suffer no penalty. Attempt to stop or prevent it, and he will have you fired or prosecuted. Criticize him, or represent his critics in court, and he will lean on the organization that employs you.

Think the courts will save you? He has stacked many of them, intimidated others, and will have no hesitation in ignoring those that remain. You can see him lining up a test case for the ultimate act of revolutionary disobedience, defying a Supreme Court ruling – maybe over tariffs, or illegal immigrants – and with it finally dispatching with the rule of law altogether.

Certainly he need have no worry about his own personal legal liability: the Court has already found that he is immune from prosecution, at least for acts committed in his “official capacity.” But who would even attempt to bring him to justice? The senior levels of the Department of Justice are filled with political allies or his personal lawyers.

The Congress? But both houses are controlled, narrowly, by the Republicans, and while Congresses in the past have been willing to face down a President of their own party, the current GOP is made up of individuals who either share his dictatorial world view or are too frightened of him, and even more of his followers, to stand up to him. That is only likely to grow in line with his powers.

Ah, but there are next year’s midterm elections. Mr. Trump’s approval rating is mired in the high-30s. The Senate may be out of reach, but surely the Democrats can retake the House. Then the process of reeling in Mr. Trump can begin.

But you haven’t been paying attention. What do you think all that gerrymandering is about? Why do you think Trump is ranting about mail-in ballots? What else do you suppose is being arranged at the state level, out of reach of the national media? The chances of a free and fair election in 2026 must be rated at 50-50 at best.

Opinion: Donald Trump is making America a monarchy again

Suppose the Democrats do retake the House. How do they enforce their will on a President who does not recognize the legitimate authority of Congress? By appealing to the Supreme Court? But we know Mr. Trump’s view of the rule of law. How many divisions does the Supreme Court have?

And as you ponder all this, remember: It’s only going to get worse. We are still in the very early days of this presidency. Mr. Trump’s behaviour has grown steadily more outlandish throughout, trashing norms and stepping over boundaries previously considered inviolable even by him. How much more outlandish is it likely to get between now and 2028, when Mr. Trump’s term is supposed to end?

Emphasis on: supposed to. As others have observed, Mr. Trump has not been carrying on like someone who expects to leave office in three-and-a-bit years. (That US$200-million ballroom he is building off the White House – or perhaps the White House is off it – is a clue.) He seems entirely unconcerned by the political opposition his actions have aroused, except to revel in the possibilities for repression they open up.

So 2028 rolls around. Maybe Mr. Trump runs again, as he sometimes muses, in violation of the Constitution. Or maybe he doesn’t. Maybe the election is free and fair, or maybe it isn’t. Maybe he just stays on, indefinitely. But whatever happens, how exactly is Mr. Trump to be removed from the White House? I mean physically.

By that time he will have replaced the entire command structure of the military with his loyalists. And of the intelligence agencies. And of the FBI. D.C. will have been under martial law for three years. Who, or what, is going to arrest him?

If this sounds over the top, then again you have not been paying attention. Everything Mr. Trump does defies belief, let alone precedent. Mr. Trump’s dash for dictatorship is rapidly approaching the point of no return. So the question that has always hovered in the air is now the urgent question of the hour: How can he be stopped – before it is too late?

That Mr. Trump is bent on making himself dictator is no longer in doubt. That he is well on his way to doing so should not be. If democracy in America is to be saved, its defenders must pour all their thought and energy into devising creative ways to frustrate his ambitions. Because they are running out of options, and out of time.

With a court and congress unwilling to act, no it cannot be stopped.

It’s honestly hard to see how it could be stopped at this point. He has a supreme court that has shown a willingness to rubber-stamp anything he wants, and red-state governors that are willing to send arm trooped wherever he wishes. There doesn’t seem to be any obvious mechanism to stop it.

We could have stopped him. But y’all didn’t want that lady so

If the Military doesn’t remove him then it’s probably going to take an entire civil or worst case scenario a world war to stop him.

he can be stopped if we have the will

The problem is 1/3 of the country would love it, and 1/3 of the country won’t care

He’s actively getting worse by the day health wise so it’s not going to get to that point, thankfully. And with him going, so goes MAGA. JD Vance’s potato charisma ass isn’t going to be someone anyone gets behind.

„On the brink“

Oh sweety, we are so past the fucking brink.

Proper title: „Donald Trump is a dictator. Will the Americans get their act together and stop him? “ 

All Congress ha to do is grow a pair. But they’re too busy profiting off this fuckery to care about what best for the masses.

If he could have been stopped. He would have been already. So…. No.

YES!! Never give up… NEVER SURRENDER

He wasn’t stopped, and it’ll probably take a large amount of violence to get rid of him and/or his enablers.

Don’t worry.. every major country is now backing away from the United States.. America has lost all credibility.. watch out for China.. they will be the next superpower.. it’s already begun.. that orange turd and his brilliant wisdom has made America the laughing stock of the world 🤡😂🖕

Becoming?

Nope. Enjoy the enshittification of the America we thought we knew.

God damn America and malice to every maggat voter for what they have wrought.

He IS. What fucking rock do these jokers live under, anyway?

Nope, not this time. There’s no Red Army nor a strong enough anti-fascist, pro-socialist movement to resist him.

The ruling class will settle with fascism until it kills them, literally, and even then there won’t be a strong enough working class force of opposition to stop him without foreign invasion… which will not happen.

The Grim Reaper has yet to have his say 😉

The Supreme Court has chosen not to

On the brink? We’re already there unfortunately.

It can only be stopped through a massive and prolonged general strike.

There’s an upside down Italian somewhere that tells you dictators can always be stopped 👍