Radley Balko: Trump's second run is shaping up to be a fascinating -- and potentially horrifying -- experiment. What if an American presidential candidate openly promised corruption, kleptocracy, autocracy, and mass civil liberties violations . . . and won?

Trump's second run is shaping up to be a fascinating -- and potentially horrifying -- experiment. What if an American presidential candidate openly promised corruption, kleptocracy, autocracy, and mass civil liberties violations . . . and won?

Get ready to see stuff like: -- "It can't be a crime because he said he was going to do it -- and the people elected him." -- "We knew what we were getting. This is what the country wants."

Chunks of the press are regrettably addicted to these framings.

They don't regret it. ... Yet

Most of the people yearning for a dictatorship have never lived in a dictatorship. They assume dictatorships work well and further assume they'll be the ones doing the dictating. They are wrong.

That makes good sense - the stories of the survivors that the West gets to hear are from the people who had the resources to escape - which is the group doing the oppression. Moscow on the Hudson stories would no longer serve political expediency if American elite acts the same as Russian elite.

when president-elect AOC wins on promises to dissolve the supreme court, surely it will be met with equally submissive takes from the ivory tower

Mencken, but taken literally

www.rawstory.com/trump-quietl...

Trump quietly working with GOP on bill making it impossible to prosecute him: reportwww.rawstory.com Former President Donald Trump is reportedly laying the groundwork to make it so he can be effectively above the law if elected to a second term this November.According to a Friday report in Rolling St...

That's exactly what my abusive ex-wife said, too.

He seems to be debunking the idea that no one is above the law. It's a catchy phrase, but American presidents seem to be well above the law.

Pundit: "It's already priced in."

WASHINGTON, July 4, 2025 U.S. Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that the DOJ will not investigate President Trump after he posted sensitive nuclear secrets on his social media site, Truth Social...

Also Putin might nuke Springfield if Trump is not elected.

"It was the best secrets ever, nobody has seen secrets like this before... " And it will be the truth.

can someone from the left who keeps saying we also can't vote for Biden tell me what the other realistic option is? I'm not supposed to vote for the guy who has done quantifiable good things and is at least persuadable on changing course when he's wrong vs. the guy who is promising the 4th Reich

"Here's hoping!" -- New York Times

As long as he is ‘owning the libs’, they don’t care.

"I don't care if I don't win as long as 'they' lose!"

That's the problem. Politics has devolved into a team sport, where no one budges as long as the other side (and the rest of the country) suffers. No more elegant speeches, democracy, diplomacy, or doing their real jobs - to take care of the state of the country and the people.

Performative contrarianism. It feels as though anything Democrats do, Republicans will automatically oppose it just because. Look at the border bill. It always reminds me of this…

President Obama Meets with the GOP - Key & Peeleyoutu.be President Obama and Republican leaders can’t agree on anything. About Key & Peele: Key & Peele showcases the fearless wit of stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele as the duo takes on everything from "Gremlins 2" to systemic racism. With an array of sketches as wide-reaching as they are cringingly accurate, the pair has created a bevy of classic characters, including Wendell, the players of the East/West Bowl and President Obama's Anger Translator. Subscribe to Comedy Central: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsN5ZwHx2kILm84-jPDeXw?sub_confirmation=1 Watch more Comedy Central: https://www.youtube.com/comedycentral Follow Key & Peele: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeyAndPeele/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/keyandpeele Watch full episodes of Key & Peele: http://www.cc.com/shows/key-and-peele Follow Comedy Central: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ComedyCentral Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComedyCentral/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comedycentral/ #KeyandPeele

Bad timing for David Leonhardts new take about how neopopulist and anti-corporate the GOP and DC are now

Well, then the great experiment will have failed. The information age has become ironically named.

The oil industry’s market is shrinking due to electric vehicles, solar & renewables - they want Daddy Trump to protect them. Fellow travelers.

Per Don Henley - "We get the government we deserve" Especially if we're stupid enough to elect Trump again.

Per The Grandmaster

Don't forget [possible] jail time and 90+ indictments.

I mean it’s the end of the Republic. Point blank.

Then we haven't kept the republic.

We will fragment as a country - and it won't be the liberal states pulling away first Just like in the Civil War - its always the rightwingers who can't stand the other side not totally capitulating some of these militias they have been encouraging will go rogue on them

It will be “ Noah, get the boat.” cleansing time. The psychological torment for society will be unbearable in a 2nd trump admin. Everything will suck except booze sales

I personally have $200 on Trump, or one of the Three Primary Children, to be sworn in on Jan 20, 2025. We were promised manned Mars expeditions by 2025, but we got Trump's second term. Do you think you, personally, will avoid the camps?

Imagine running a country the way Twitter is run. "Vox Populi, Vox Dei!"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassi... Is it a perfect solution? No. Is it a reminder to the assholes they're not bulletproof? Yep. Sometimes Occam's Razor isn't pretty.

Assassins (musical) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

I don't like how South Africa and the US are tracking each other with regards political speech. We have one group openly wanting to bring back traditional leaders and their tribal authority. None of this constitutional nonsense.

Well, if that happens we will get exactly what we've been promised and I hope people are ready for it!

Biden should lower the price on my Big Macs then!

Is this revolutionarily different from the standard: pretend you are on the side of the masses, lie, take bribes, and dismantle people's rights while you pretend you aren't? www.npr.org/sections/its...

How Congress Quietly Overhauled Its Insider-Trading Lawwww.npr.org With no fanfare, Congress moved to undo large parts of the popular law known as the STOCK Act, and President Obama has signed the watered-down measure into law. Insider trading is still illegal, but d...

In January of 2029, he’ll be an enemy combatant if he so much as opens his mouth.

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