How the Republic Falls Constitutional protections suspended. The government purging “alien enemies” and the “enemy within.” Three months into Trumpist rule, despotism is rising in America. New piece: - ThreadSky

thomaszimmer.bsky.social • 18 days ago

How the Republic Falls

Constitutional protections suspended. The government purging “alien enemies” and the “enemy within.”

Three months into Trumpist rule, despotism is rising in America.

New piece:

Comments

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•18 days ago

I wrote about how, since early March, the Trumpist assault on the constitutional order has been most visible in the radicalizing attempt to purge the nation from foreigners the regime deems unwelcome. A chronicle of the past six weeks and a reflection on where we stand.

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•18 days ago

Just three months after Trump took power, we are now at the point where the regime considers the legal status of groups it declares unworthy or unwelcome as entirely conditional. Constitutional rights now come with a disclaimer in America: Unless the regime decides otherwise.

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•18 days ago

The MAGA rage won’t be confined to foreigners. A regime that so aggressively curtails and ignores fundamental rights for one group today will not hesitate to violate and suspend them for others tomorrow. It’s never far from “illegal aliens” and “alien enemies” to “the enemy within.”

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•18 days ago

In the MAGA imagination, America is simultaneously threatened by outsiders and by insidiously subversive forces on the inside. The “enemy within” – those Un-American forces of radical leftism and “globalist” elites – are as acutely dangerous as the invaders from without.

thomaszimmer.bsky.social•18 days ago

Where will this end? We cannot predict the contours of America’s political system or societal order five or ten years from now. In a stable democracy, the range of plausible outcomes should be narrow.

But for America, it now includes complete democratic breakdown and full-blown despotic rule.

andreaskovar.bsky.social•18 days ago

History—and recent examples like Russia, Hungary, and Poland—show where things can lead. The US has two chances left: a general strike and a wake-up call for the Senate majority. Neither is likely to work, as too many lack the awareness that the rule of law and fundamental rights are already gone.

jnowak.bsky.social•18 days ago

Yesterday’s rally in our small-town area was across the street from a home occupied by a MAGAt (Trump 2024 sign showed up in window). That location has been used as a rally site by various groups for years. After a while, we heard gunshots. Police said dude was shooting at a target in his back yard.

jnowak.bsky.social•18 days ago

This, at a busy intersection, with public areas on two corners. Dude proved 1) the rally goers had valid points, and 2) he is too unstable to own a firearm.

sklansky.bsky.social•18 days ago

@skyview.social unroll

skyblu.bsky.social•18 days ago

Incidentally, this is how the economy falls too. Laws that don't apply anymore mean capital is going to leave and it's a pile of dominoes after that

thedesertsage.bsky.social•18 days ago

📌

zvjedavaa.bsky.social•18 days ago

Do you still feel safe?
I hope you are and remain being safe!

ditsy.bsky.social•18 days ago

So is resistance ✊

woolsian.bsky.social•18 days ago

“To what extent is the constitutional order still in effect? If we must ask, we are fully in a crisis situation; once we don’t have to ask anymore, the constitutional order will have already been overthrown.”

This is excellent framing, and clarifying.

davidesdale.bsky.social•18 days ago

I am going to call my Rep and Senators to get on a plane to El Salvador this week. We need to remember Bishop Oscar Romero and the nuns were killed and raped for justice, they had the courage to stand. We stand with them while we still can.

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