Posted on 12/23/2016 5:41:05 PM PST by hiho hiho
There has been a great deal of hand-wringing lately, particularly in progressive circles, about how a Trump presidency could destroy American democracy: the end of free speech and a free press, the influence of money in politics rising to the level of a true oligarchy, Supreme Court appointments that end cherished civil rights, like abortion rights, voting rights, and equal protection. These changes could be coming, and they could be every bit as destructive to the core values of our democracy as many people fear.
But a Trump presidency poses a far more direct, permanent, and existential threat to our democracy that has had almost no notice in the media: the threat that a Trump presidency would trigger a coup. Not an armed rebellion, but a bloodless coup brought about by a reckless and indefensible presidential order, and a refusal of Trump's subordinates to carry it out.
Imagine for a moment that Trump ordered a nuclear first strike of China because the Chinese Premier insulted him on Twitter. Or imagine that Trump ordered the armed take over of Saturday Night Live to stop Alec Baldwin's unflattering caricatures of him. Now imagine that the Joint Chiefs or the FBI SWAT team or the missile-silo commanders simply refused to carry out the order. For most of us, that refusal would be a good, responsible, reassuring response. It would also be a coup. Under our constitutional structure, the President is the chief officer of the executive branch of government and the commander in chief of the military.
This is the scenario that I have been playing in my head since the election, and it is not nearly as far-fetched as it sounds. All it takes is a reckless, dangerous, abuse of power by Donald Trump (and that sentence pretty much writes itself). That would leave the fate of our democracy in the hands of the people to whom he gives orders. If they comply: World War III, autocracy, the end of life as we know it. If they refuse, we are Turkey, Burma, Pakistan - a titular democracy whose continued existence ultimately depends on the whims of its generals.
Whatever one may think is broken with our democracy - campaign finance, government surveillance, executive power - we are still fundamentally a democracy. A country in which military leaders and bureaucrats have to decide whether to follow a president's orders (and can and must decide not to, if human survival depends on doing so) is not.
Carrie Leonetti is a professor of criminal and constitutional law at the University of Oregon School of Law.
If you read it as a crazed Onion-esque parody, it’s pretty funny.
Imagine, imagine, imagine....
These ass-clowns care not about the Obama/Clinton destabilization of the ME.
“Imagine for a moment that Trump ordered a nuclear first strike of China because the Chinese Premier insulted him on Twitter. Or imagine that Trump ordered the armed take over of Saturday Night Live to stop Alec Baldwin’s unflattering caricatures of him.”
Puleeze. These leftist idiots actually believe something like this could happen. Liberalism is a mental disorder.
I wonder if she and others will have the intelligence and the integrity to admit how wrong they were a couple of years from now. I doubt it.
This woman should be sitting outside a bus station with a shoebox in her lap and a sign saying "Blowjobs. 50 cents 20 cents 10 cents make offer."
Uh, no.
Carrie Leonetti is a lunatic who needs to be institutionalized so that she can get the care that she needs, before she becomes even more of a danger to herself and to the community.
Is Carrie Leonetti operating under the influence of powerful psychoactive drugs? Or is she just an idiot? It's hard to be sure, isn't it? A good argument could be made that she is both.
Bring it. Please. Make it widespread. Give it your best shot.
Then, we’ll finish it.
“Colleges should be dismantled and rebuilt.”
No. They should be dismantled and education made virtual.
Throw the education racket grifters out on their backsides.
These stupid morons keep making things up and then trying to sell their imagined stories as real....
How about we imagine that this author self ignites and goes up in flames tomorrow screaming I’m sorry I’m a liberal liar...
This is about as likely to happen as his conspiracy theories of Trump starting a nuclear war.
The liberals are really looking like irrational juvenile idiots at this point in time...
They need to join reality and focus on the FACT that they lost this election and have zero control in our national government because of Hillary. Not the Russians, not Trump, and not the head of the FBI.
Hillary had no message and most of America did not trust her, like her, and believed she was, is, a criminal.
Hillary lost the election for the democrats!!! Figure it out and get used to it, get over it, and get on with life as adults.
OMG we’re going to attacked by snowflakes carrying their teddy bears. That’s what real nightmares are made of!
Try it. It will be anything but bloodless and you SOBS better be ready for the transfusions.
I've said it before and I say it again: Trump didn't just defeat them, he broke them.
It is amazing how many Freepers were openly anti-Trump. Yet the can still post on here.
Was this...opinion piece originally written in crayon?
As Rush says, whey these people are out of power they’re funny.
I think you’re right.
That is so funny. The left specializes in curbing free speech and money (selling favors) in politics.
“we are Turkey, Burma, Pakistan...”
Oh, you mean some of Hillary’s favorite places?
“Imagine for a moment that Trump ordered a nuclear first strike of China because the Chinese Premier insulted him on Twitter.”
Imagine, imagine, imagine . . . .
“Imagine there’s no countries
“It’s easy if you try”
blah blah blah
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