We have seen this with the J6 pardons, with the threat to employ arbitrary tariffs even against our closest allies, and now with the stop work orders on foreign aid , his first foray into impounding congressionally authorized funds
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He is trying to create a chaotic environment in which normal order is broken down and replaced by rule by fiat. Cruelty to disfavored out groups may well be a welcome outcome, but I think instead the point is not to hurt people but instead is to hurt our very system of government
I think you are right, I just think a word like "collapse" or "breakdown" would be a better fit, because chaos makes it sound like anything can happen, when what's actually happening is specifically the breakdown of the normal order.
It's always bothered me when people say that Putin or Trump want "chaos" but now from your thread, I think I have a better idea of what they meant by that, so thank you.
The TikTok saga is a perfect encapsulation of this. He promised as pres-elect he would work something out. Chaos ensures. And then when he takes office he doesn’t use the provision of the law that would let him, legally, put the ban on hold. Rather, he instead orders that the ban not be enforced
By creating chaos, and then resolving that chaos with extralegal or illegal actions that replace legal processes with him as the sole decision maker, he not only seizes power in the short term but make the affected parties more reliant on him in the long term.
Chaos (which he creates) is the means by which he justifies ending normal order, state of exception by which he replaces institutional authority with individual authority. So if you look around and say “what the hell is happening”, remember, that chaos is the point
I do not disagree with anything posited here. I would only add, that I do not think he thinks about any of this strategically. He, in football terms, is "read and react". He does this all on an instinctual level. Which I think is import to point out when considering ways to combat his actions.
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their cruelty knows no bounds.