Autocracy 101

[kalm]

It’s already here.

“Autocratic breakthrough” is a phrase you’ll be hearing more and more about in coming months. It refers to the moment in time when a wannabe dictator and the oligarchy that supports him push a democratic country toward authoritarianism so far that its political systems “break through” into full-blown autocracy/dictatorship.

My article yesterday about how Republicans in Congress are trying to slam shut the courthouse doors to democracy advocates is one of many indicators that we’re solidly in the middle (second stage) of this process.

It’s a deeply dangerous sign.

Autocratic breakthrough is characterized by 14 steps that typically happen in three stages.

It can be stopped at the first and second stage, although it gets progressively more difficult; when the third stage is reached, reversing autocratic breakthrough requires something akin to a revolution; it typically involves the death or overthrow of the autocrat or a full-blown civil war.

That’s exactly what happened here in the US the last time this happened, in fact, as I’ll detail toward the end of this article.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartm ... medium=ios

[Bobcat]

Its all part of the media driven narrative!

The commercials are already done and the social media blitz it coming

The problem is, its all made up bullshit, just like Russia

[GannonFan]

It’s already here.

“Autocratic breakthrough” is a phrase you’ll be hearing more and more about in coming months. It refers to the moment in time when a wannabe dictator and the oligarchy that supports him push a democratic country toward authoritarianism so far that its political systems “break through” into full-blown autocracy/dictatorship.

My article yesterday about how Republicans in Congress are trying to slam shut the courthouse doors to democracy advocates is one of many indicators that we’re solidly in the middle (second stage) of this process.

It’s a deeply dangerous sign.

Autocratic breakthrough is characterized by 14 steps that typically happen in three stages.

It can be stopped at the first and second stage, although it gets progressively more difficult; when the third stage is reached, reversing autocratic breakthrough requires something akin to a revolution; it typically involves the death or overthrow of the autocrat or a full-blown civil war.

That’s exactly what happened here in the US the last time this happened, in fact, as I’ll detail toward the end of this article.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartm ... medium=ios

Seriously, the drab you read in your echo chamber must be utterly depressing. We aren't in any vicinity of an autocratic breakthrough. It just ain't happening. Even with a nice and tidy list, making the list doesn't make it any more likely to happen. From his list, we've had the past few through the past several years, encompassing at least 3 different Presidents, alternating from party to party - #1 (demonization of opposition), #2 (undermining legitimacy of the press), #4 (executive legislating through executive orders), a part of #5 (the part related to gerrymandering) and #7 (the criminalizing of political opponents). However, #1, #2, and #4 have been the case for at least going back to the Clinton years, so at least 30 years of this. We've had gerrymandering for so long it's named after the guy who kinda invented it was back in 1812. That's a long time without us seeming to fall into autocratic rule. And the #7 was only really done by the Biden administration as they hoped to weaken their political opponent in the lead up to the next election.

But almost everything else on that guy's list just isn't happening. We aren't rewriting the Constitution - heck, we can barely get enough people together to make an amendment. Trump is going to be gone, out of office in January 2029. Again, a weird way for an autocracy to work. And his historical allusions were error filled as well. Who the heck was the strongman in the South that the Confederacy was rallying around? No one's ever really accused the Confederacy of being autocratic - if anything, they were the exact opposite, they had no strong Executive (which was by design) as they really held fast to the idea of separate, strong states. They didn't rig elections - they didn't have to, the voting populace already was behind them, as they had been for really most of the prior 80 years. And while he got the date of Brooks's caning of Sumner correct (1856), he got his history wrong when he said it was that incident that led to the formation of the Republican party, which is odd, considering that the Republican Party started 2 years prior to that. I'm all fine with him blaming the Lost Cause movement for messing up our view of our own history, but he apparently still needs to go back and correct some of his stuff as well.

[Caribbean Hen]

Is Kalm a troll? Let’s start a poll

Klam believes the crap he posts ?

Klam doesn’t believe anything he posts but gets paid to post dumb shit ?

[Bobcat]

Kkkalm is definitely not AI

Maybe a 1st generation myspace bot

[DSUrocks07]

More fear mongering from the Democratic party. Completely ignoring the fact that their own "party of the people" have been guilty of the exact same things over the past century plus.

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using Tapatalk

[Bobcat]

I think TACO is doing a bang up job at stopping wars.

(Take Action Crush Opponents)

Tip one back for Cheetolini!!!

[BDKJMU]

Lol Kalm might want to find a new libtard on Substack to follow.

[kalm]

It’s already here.



https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartm ... medium=ios

Seriously, the drab you read in your echo chamber must be utterly depressing. We aren't in any vicinity of an autocratic breakthrough. It just ain't happening. Even with a nice and tidy list, making the list doesn't make it any more likely to happen. From his list, we've had the past few through the past several years, encompassing at least 3 different Presidents, alternating from party to party - #1 (demonization of opposition), #2 (undermining legitimacy of the press), #4 (executive legislating through executive orders), a part of #5 (the part related to gerrymandering) and #7 (the criminalizing of political opponents). However, #1, #2, and #4 have been the case for at least going back to the Clinton years, so at least 30 years of this. We've had gerrymandering for so long it's named after the guy who kinda invented it was back in 1812. That's a long time without us seeming to fall into autocratic rule. And the #7 was only really done by the Biden administration as they hoped to weaken their political opponent in the lead up to the next election.

But almost everything else on that guy's list just isn't happening. We aren't rewriting the Constitution - heck, we can barely get enough people together to make an amendment. Trump is going to be gone, out of office in January 2029. Again, a weird way for an autocracy to work. And his historical allusions were error filled as well. Who the heck was the strongman in the South that the Confederacy was rallying around? No one's ever really accused the Confederacy of being autocratic - if anything, they were the exact opposite, they had no strong Executive (which was by design) as they really held fast to the idea of separate, strong states. They didn't rig elections - they didn't have to, the voting populace already was behind them, as they had been for really most of the prior 80 years. And while he got the date of Brooks's caning of Sumner correct (1856), he got his history wrong when he said it was that incident that led to the formation of the Republican party, which is odd, considering that the Republican Party started 2 years prior to that. I'm all fine with him blaming the Lost Cause movement for messing up our view of our own history, but he apparently still needs to go back and correct some of his stuff as well.

You raise some fair points but you’re also dismissing some relevant ones. Starting with 1). - yes, an obvious example would be Hillary’s deplorables remark. However, that remained just costly rhetoric from a campaign she lost. Do you not see a difference between the rhetoric of deplorables and accusations of treason followed up with actions? (See California)? Aside from politics, was Hillary wrong?

Some of your counters are just opinions. But aside from your issues with this particular article the examples of autocratic behavior are countless. It’s debatable where we sit on the autocracy spectrum but the trend is alarming and requires push back. Arresting judges, physically removing and detaining opposition elected officials. Violation of due process and open desire to suspend habeas corpus. Deployment of militarized and masked federal agents to nab people (incuding legalized immigrants and citizens) off the streets without warrant or identification. Firing of CQ Brown, Lisa Franchetti, and others based on carrying out the policies of previous administrations and/or race and gender. Executive orders that openly support favoritism to oligarchs through deregulation, sale of public lands, the “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections”…to name just few. And there’s very little true justification for these actions. They’re predominately based on removing opposition, favoring the oligarch class and those willing to pay bribes (from law firms to media outlets, and beyond), or simply things the semi-literate, ignorant, wannabe dictator doesn’t like.

Btw…that “echo chamber” includes countless real conservatives and classical liberals. Care to point me in the direction of a well reasoned and credible source that denies this move toward autocracy? Heck even non-credible CRP-magnon pundits like Rogan are now seeing it.

You can whitewash this all you’d like. Guys like you and I haven’t been and may end up not being effected by this but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening or eventually won’t to us or people we care about, or simply innocents. This is a process that goes in steps and takes time. The playbook (Project 2025 is 900 pages after all but it’s being followed closely).

[kalm]

Lol Kalm might want to find a new libtard on Substack to follow.

Said the guy who gets his news and info from libsoftiktok and Benny Johnson.

I guess this one ruffled some feathers. You guys strongly uniting to defend Dear Leader’s actions proves the point.

[Baldy]

Lol Kalm might want to find a new libtard on Substack to follow.

Don't worry, he'll have that other psycho, Heather Cox Richardson to follow.

[Baldy]

Seriously, the drab you read in your echo chamber must be utterly depressing. We aren't in any vicinity of an autocratic breakthrough. It just ain't happening. Even with a nice and tidy list, making the list doesn't make it any more likely to happen. From his list, we've had the past few through the past several years, encompassing at least 3 different Presidents, alternating from party to party - #1 (demonization of opposition), #2 (undermining legitimacy of the press), #4 (executive legislating through executive orders), a part of #5 (the part related to gerrymandering) and #7 (the criminalizing of political opponents). However, #1, #2, and #4 have been the case for at least going back to the Clinton years, so at least 30 years of this. We've had gerrymandering for so long it's named after the guy who kinda invented it was back in 1812. That's a long time without us seeming to fall into autocratic rule. And the #7 was only really done by the Biden administration as they hoped to weaken their political opponent in the lead up to the next election.

But almost everything else on that guy's list just isn't happening. We aren't rewriting the Constitution - heck, we can barely get enough people together to make an amendment. Trump is going to be gone, out of office in January 2029. Again, a weird way for an autocracy to work. And his historical allusions were error filled as well. Who the heck was the strongman in the South that the Confederacy was rallying around? No one's ever really accused the Confederacy of being autocratic - if anything, they were the exact opposite, they had no strong Executive (which was by design) as they really held fast to the idea of separate, strong states. They didn't rig elections - they didn't have to, the voting populace already was behind them, as they had been for really most of the prior 80 years. And while he got the date of Brooks's caning of Sumner correct (1856), he got his history wrong when he said it was that incident that led to the formation of the Republican party, which is odd, considering that the Republican Party started 2 years prior to that. I'm all fine with him blaming the Lost Cause movement for messing up our view of our own history, but he apparently still needs to go back and correct some of his stuff as well.

You raise some fair points but you’re also dismissing some relevant ones. Starting with 1). - yes, an obvious example would be Hillary’s deplorables remark. However, that remained just costly rhetoric from a campaign she lost. Do you not see a difference between the rhetoric of deplorables and accusations of treason followed up with actions? (See California)? Aside from politics, was Hillary wrong?

Some of your counters are just opinions. But aside from your issues with this particular article the examples of autocratic behavior are countless. It’s debatable where we sit on the autocracy spectrum but the trend is alarming and requires push back. Arresting judges, physically removing and detaining opposition elected officials. Violation of due process and open desire to suspend habeas corpus. Deployment of militarized and masked federal agents to nab people (incuding legalized immigrants and citizens) off the streets without warrant or identification. Firing of CQ Brown, Lisa Franchetti, and others based on carrying out the policies of previous administrations and/or race and gender. Executive orders that openly support favoritism to oligarchs through deregulation, sale of public lands, the “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections”…to name just few. And there’s very little true justification for these actions. They’re predominately based on removing opposition, favoring the oligarch class and those willing to pay bribes (from law firms to media outlets, and beyond), or simply things the semi-literate, ignorant, wannabe dictator doesn’t like.

Btw…that “echo chamber” includes countless real conservatives and classical liberals. Care to point me in the direction of a well reasoned and credible source that denies this move toward autocracy? Heck even non-credible CRP-magnon pundits like Rogan are now seeing it.

You can whitewash this all you’d like. Guys like you and I haven’t been and may end up not being effected by this but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening or eventually won’t to us or people we care about, or simply innocents. This is a process that goes in steps and takes time. The playbook (Project 2025 is 900 pages after all but it’s being followed closely).

TBH, you could have thrown the word 'oligarchy' in there at least two or three more times.

[BDKJMU]

Seriously, the drab you read in your echo chamber must be utterly depressing. We aren't in any vicinity of an autocratic breakthrough. It just ain't happening. Even with a nice and tidy list, making the list doesn't make it any more likely to happen. From his list, we've had the past few through the past several years, encompassing at least 3 different Presidents, alternating from party to party - #1 (demonization of opposition), #2 (undermining legitimacy of the press), #4 (executive legislating through executive orders), a part of #5 (the part related to gerrymandering) and #7 (the criminalizing of political opponents). However, #1, #2, and #4 have been the case for at least going back to the Clinton years, so at least 30 years of this. We've had gerrymandering for so long it's named after the guy who kinda invented it was back in 1812. That's a long time without us seeming to fall into autocratic rule. And the #7 was only really done by the Biden administration as they hoped to weaken their political opponent in the lead up to the next election.

But almost everything else on that guy's list just isn't happening. We aren't rewriting the Constitution - heck, we can barely get enough people together to make an amendment. Trump is going to be gone, out of office in January 2029. Again, a weird way for an autocracy to work. And his historical allusions were error filled as well. Who the heck was the strongman in the South that the Confederacy was rallying around? No one's ever really accused the Confederacy of being autocratic - if anything, they were the exact opposite, they had no strong Executive (which was by design) as they really held fast to the idea of separate, strong states. They didn't rig elections - they didn't have to, the voting populace already was behind them, as they had been for really most of the prior 80 years. And while he got the date of Brooks's caning of Sumner correct (1856), he got his history wrong when he said it was that incident that led to the formation of the Republican party, which is odd, considering that the Republican Party started 2 years prior to that. I'm all fine with him blaming the Lost Cause movement for messing up our view of our own history, but he apparently still needs to go back and correct some of his stuff as well.

You raise some fair points but you’re also dismissing some relevant ones. Starting with 1). - yes, an obvious example would be Hillary’s deplorables remark. However, that remained just costly rhetoric from a campaign she lost. Do you not see a difference between the rhetoric of deplorables and accusations of treason followed up with actions? (See California)? Aside from politics, was Hillary wrong?

Some of your counters are just opinions. But aside from your issues with this particular article the examples of autocratic behavior are countless. It’s debatable where we sit on the autocracy spectrum but the trend is alarming and requires push back. Arresting judges, physically removing and detaining opposition elected officials. Violation of due process and open desire to suspend habeas corpus. Deployment of militarized and masked federal agents to nab people (incuding legalized immigrants and citizens) off the streets without warrant or identification. Firing of CQ Brown, Lisa Franchetti, and others based on carrying out the policies of previous administrations and/or race and gender. Executive orders that openly support favoritism to oligarchs through deregulation, sale of public lands, the “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections”…to name just few. And there’s very little true justification for these actions. They’re predominately based on removing opposition, favoring the oligarch class and those willing to pay bribes (from law firms to media outlets, and beyond), or simply things the semi-literate, ignorant, wannabe dictator doesn’t like.

Btw…that “echo chamber” includes countless real conservatives and classical liberals. Care to point me in the direction of a well reasoned and credible source that denies this move toward autocracy? Heck even non-credible CRP-magnon pundits like Rogan are now seeing it.

You can whitewash this all you’d like. Guys like you and I haven’t been and may end up not being effected by this but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening or eventually won’t to us or people we care about, or simply innocents. This is a process that goes in steps and takes time. The playbook (Project 2025 is 900 pages after all but it’s being followed closely).

Alarming in your opinion.

Whatever the Trump admin has done PALES in comparison to the banana republic level autocracy the Biden admin and their allies pulled:
-by attempting to throw the top presidential candidate and head of the opposition party in jail in an election year.
-By pressuring social media to censor conservative opinions.
-With the COVID Gestapo lockdowns, mask and shot mandates, shot cards, Stasi hotlines to report neighbors who were ‘gathering‘, etc.

The only current judge arrested was 1 state judge who clearly tried to obstruct ICE from arresting an illegal alien by sneaking him out a back entrance to the courthouse. The other was an EX local magistrate and his wife arrested for tampering with evidence linked to the arrest of an illegal alien suspected of being a member of Tren de Aragua.

That‘s what they were fired for. They not only carried out the policies of the prior admin, but they publicly defended them. That alone is grounds for firing.
Oh, and how many people did the Biden admin hire/promote because of race or gender?
Trump firing generals? Your boy Obama: Hold My Beer.
Obama's Military Coup Purges 197 Officers In Five Years
https://www.investors.com/politics/edit ... -by-obama/
The nex donk admin (might be a while lol) can fire generals that upheld the policies of the conk admin.

They‘re wearing masks because your side is doxxing them.

Cry me a river. ICE is detaining (not necessarily arresting) several thousand people a day. Guess what, there‘s going to be mistakes every day. The lib media won‘t focus on the thousands of illegals arrested, they‘ll focus on the handful of detained legal immigrants and a detained USC. And show me the list of USC who have been deported since Jan 20,2025. And if you‘re a legal immigrant or USC, but you have family members or lots of co workers who are illegal, or hang out with illegals (esp those with criminal records or orders of deportation), your chance of being detained goes way up. No diff than if you are a completely law abiding citizen, but have criminal family members, or work or hang out with some criminals, your chance of being detained by the local police goes way up.

Google AI shows 30,000 people arrested every day in a country of 340 million. Tens of thousands more detained. That would be anything from traffic stops (not free to leave = detained) to handcuffed. Many of those handcuffed are completely innocent but are wrong place/wrong time or mistaken identity. That includes felony stops and at gunpoint. Doesn‘t mean they are arrested.

[UNI88]

It’s already here.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartm ... medium=ios

Seriously, the drab you read in your echo chamber must be utterly depressing. We aren't in any vicinity of an autocratic breakthrough. It just ain't happening. Even with a nice and tidy list, making the list doesn't make it any more likely to happen. From his list, we've had the past few through the past several years, encompassing at least 3 different Presidents, alternating from party to party - #1 (demonization of opposition), #2 (undermining legitimacy of the press), #4 (executive legislating through executive orders), a part of #5 (the part related to gerrymandering) and #7 (the criminalizing of political opponents). However, #1, #2, and #4 have been the case for at least going back to the Clinton years, so at least 30 years of this. We've had gerrymandering for so long it's named after the guy who kinda invented it was back in 1812. That's a long time without us seeming to fall into autocratic rule. And the #7 was only really done by the Biden administration as they hoped to weaken their political opponent in the lead up to the next election.

But almost everything else on that guy's list just isn't happening. We aren't rewriting the Constitution - heck, we can barely get enough people together to make an amendment. Trump is going to be gone, out of office in January 2029. Again, a weird way for an autocracy to work. And his historical allusions were error filled as well. Who the heck was the strongman in the South that the Confederacy was rallying around? No one's ever really accused the Confederacy of being autocratic - if anything, they were the exact opposite, they had no strong Executive (which was by design) as they really held fast to the idea of separate, strong states. They didn't rig elections - they didn't have to, the voting populace already was behind them, as they had been for really most of the prior 80 years. And while he got the date of Brooks's caning of Sumner correct (1856), he got his history wrong when he said it was that incident that led to the formation of the Republican party, which is odd, considering that the Republican Party started 2 years prior to that. I'm all fine with him blaming the Lost Cause movement for messing up our view of our own history, but he apparently still needs to go back and correct some of his stuff as well.

In kalm's defense, the article brings up valid points and IMO we are closer to an autocratic regime than we' have been in my lifetime.

1. Demonization of political opponents - has been happening for centuries but trump and MAQA yahoos calling anyone that opposes them unhinged, lunatic, extremists along with Marxists, socialists, fascists, etc. while whining like little pussies anyime some calls trump a fascist/Nazi is hypocritical and should be called out.
2. Attacks on the press - what trump has done to agencies that won't toe the line (AP, CBS) is worse than anything that I can remember (in my lifetime).
3. Politicization of law enforcement and intelligence agencies - trump has pretty much admitted to this - is it even debatable?
4. Elevation of the executive above co-equal branches of government - again, is this even debatable? What they've done or are attempting with federal funding, with agences such as the Department of Education or USAID. The executive branch can't thumb their noses at Congress and unilaterally choose to not spend money that Congress has allocated or disband an agency that Congress created. Congress might have chosen to allocate funds in a way that people think is frivolous but it's not waste or fraud. Not spending it as allocated is closer to fraud.
5. Election manipulation - this has been going on forever. I have no problem with making sure that only citizens are voting but I definitely oppose attempt to make it more difficult to vote (limiting or no mail voting shortening windows, etc.). Voting for the most part is the responsibility of the states. It's hypocritical to say you're a proponent of state's rights and support trump's attempts to dictate how states will regulate voting.
6. Judicial capture - admittedly, I'm less worried about this than I am at the executive branch ignoring or attempting to undermine the judiciary. This is a HUGE problem, especially if they're enabled by spineless weasels in Congress.
7. Criminalization of the opposition - both sides do this but trump might be taking it to another level. biden for all his faults (and they were/are many) appropriately named a special counsel to create appropriate space to investigate trump's criminal actions. trump doesn't even pretend, appointing people based on loyalty to him (over competence and qualifications) and overtly telling them who he thinks should be investigated.
8. Militarization of domestic law enforcement - I'm less worried about this than I am about using the military for domestic law enforcement. Posse Comitatus is there for a very, very good reason. trump sending the Marines and National Guard to LA could be the start of a slide down a slippery and dangerous slope that could destroy this country. This is domestic war-mongering and why MAQA yahoos are careful to use the word foreign when saying that trump is against foreign war-mongering.
9. Fusion of party and state is a critical step in which open loyalty and fealty to the regime or party becomes necessary for state employment, and government media becomes indistinguishable from party propaganda - once again, is this debatable? trump has been open about laying off as many government employees as possible, removing civil service protections and making ideology and loyalty (to him) a prerequisite for employment.
10. Abolition or nullification of meaningful elections - hasn't happened yet and if trump were to attempt it it would be the time that the Secret Service, DoJ, DHS (and military) need to step up and arrest him. Their oath to the Constitution supersedes any oath to protect the POTUS.
11. Loss of civil liberties including freedom of assembly, speech, and movement - trump's rhetoric makes this a valid concern. Plus his use of executive orders to try and undermine civil liberties and our Constitutional rights should concern all rational Americans. It isn't about rewriting the Constitution, it's about selectively undermining it.
12. Constitutional overhaul or emergency rule - trump's deployment of the Marines and National Guard to LA increased the threat level on this one.
13. Exile, imprisonment, or assassination of opposition begins - hasn't happened yet but there has been calls to deport ilhan omar and elon musk (and yes morons on both sides say stupid things).
14. Strongman cult of personality replaces institutional legitimacy - anyone who doesn't think trump believes he should be in charge and that what he wants should be legal and what he doesn't like should be illegal hasn't been paying attention.

Speaking of echo chambers, you call kalm out when he pushes too far and will point out one MAQA yahoo poster's absurd posts but you aren't as hard on BDK, CH, and SG when they spew bullshit pulled from MAQA yahoo echo chambers. My guess is that that's because trump has so normalized he (and MAQA yahoos) spewing conspiracy bullshit and it happens so frequently that it's exhausting to call them out on it. I think that's intentional on their part - spread conspiracy bullshit that favors you as much as possible and cry like a pussy when the same tactic is used against you.

[kalm]

Seriously, the drab you read in your echo chamber must be utterly depressing. We aren't in any vicinity of an autocratic breakthrough. It just ain't happening. Even with a nice and tidy list, making the list doesn't make it any more likely to happen. From his list, we've had the past few through the past several years, encompassing at least 3 different Presidents, alternating from party to party - #1 (demonization of opposition), #2 (undermining legitimacy of the press), #4 (executive legislating through executive orders), a part of #5 (the part related to gerrymandering) and #7 (the criminalizing of political opponents). However, #1, #2, and #4 have been the case for at least going back to the Clinton years, so at least 30 years of this. We've had gerrymandering for so long it's named after the guy who kinda invented it was back in 1812. That's a long time without us seeming to fall into autocratic rule. And the #7 was only really done by the Biden administration as they hoped to weaken their political opponent in the lead up to the next election.

But almost everything else on that guy's list just isn't happening. We aren't rewriting the Constitution - heck, we can barely get enough people together to make an amendment. Trump is going to be gone, out of office in January 2029. Again, a weird way for an autocracy to work. And his historical allusions were error filled as well. Who the heck was the strongman in the South that the Confederacy was rallying around? No one's ever really accused the Confederacy of being autocratic - if anything, they were the exact opposite, they had no strong Executive (which was by design) as they really held fast to the idea of separate, strong states. They didn't rig elections - they didn't have to, the voting populace already was behind them, as they had been for really most of the prior 80 years. And while he got the date of Brooks's caning of Sumner correct (1856), he got his history wrong when he said it was that incident that led to the formation of the Republican party, which is odd, considering that the Republican Party started 2 years prior to that. I'm all fine with him blaming the Lost Cause movement for messing up our view of our own history, but he apparently still needs to go back and correct some of his stuff as well.

In kalm's defense, the article brings up valid points and IMO we are closer to an autocratic regime than we' have been in my lifetime.

1. Demonization of political opponents - has been happening for centuries but trump and MAQA yahoos calling anyone that opposes them unhinged, lunatic, extremists along with Marxists, socialists, fascists, etc. while whining like little pussies anyime some calls trump a fascist/Nazi is hypocritical and should be called out.
2. Attacks on the press - what trump has done to agencies that won't toe the line (AP, CBS) is worse than anything that I can remember (in my lifetime).
3. Politicization of law enforcement and intelligence agencies - trump has pretty much admitted to this - is it even debatable?
4. Elevation of the executive above co-equal branches of government - again, is this even debatable? What they've done or are attempting with federal funding, with agences such as the Department of Education or USAID. The executive branch can't thumb their noses at Congress and unilaterally choose to not spend money that Congress has allocated or disband an agency that Congress created. Congress might have chosen to allocate funds in a way that people think is frivolous but it's not waste or fraud. Not spending it as allocated is closer to fraud.
5. Election manipulation - this has been going on forever. I have no problem with making sure that only citizens are voting but I definitely oppose attempt to make it more difficult to vote (limiting or no mail voting shortening windows, etc.). Voting for the most part is the responsibility of the states. It's hypocritical to say you're a proponent of state's rights and support trump's attempts to dictate how states will regulate voting.
6. Judicial capture - admittedly, I'm less worried about this than I am at the executive branch ignoring or attempting to undermine the judiciary. This is a HUGE problem, especially if they're enabled by spineless weasels in Congress.
7. Criminalization of the opposition - both sides do this but trump might be taking it to another level. biden for all his faults (and they were/are many) appropriately named a special counsel to create appropriate space to investigate trump's criminal actions. trump doesn't even pretend, appointing people based on loyalty to him (over competence and qualifications) and overtly telling them who he thinks should be investigated.
8. Militarization of domestic law enforcement - I'm less worried about this than I am about using the military for domestic law enforcement. Posse Comitatus is there for a very, very good reason. trump sending the Marines and National Guard to LA could be the start of a slide down a slippery and dangerous slope that could destroy this country. This is domestic war-mongering and why MAQA yahoos are careful to use the word foreign when saying that trump is against foreign war-mongering.
9. Fusion of party and state is a critical step in which open loyalty and fealty to the regime or party becomes necessary for state employment, and government media becomes indistinguishable from party propaganda - once again, is this debatable? trump has been open about laying off as many government employees as possible, removing civil service protections and making ideology and loyalty (to him) a prerequisite for employment.
10. Abolition or nullification of meaningful elections - hasn't happened yet and if trump were to attempt it it would be the time that the Secret Service, DoJ, DHS (and military) need to step up and arrest him. Their oath to the Constitution supersedes any oath to protect the POTUS.
11. Loss of civil liberties including freedom of assembly, speech, and movement - trump's rhetoric makes this a valid concern. Plus his use of executive orders to try and undermine civil liberties and our Constitutional rights should concern all rational Americans. It isn't about rewriting the Constitution, it's about selectively undermining it.
12. Constitutional overhaul or emergency rule - trump's deployment of the Marines and National Guard to LA increased the threat level on this one.
13. Exile, imprisonment, or assassination of opposition begins - hasn't happened yet but there has been calls to deport ilhan omar and elon musk (and yes morons on both sides say stupid things).
14. Strongman cult of personality replaces institutional legitimacy - anyone who doesn't think trump believes he should be in charge and that what he wants should be legal and what he doesn't like should be illegal hasn't been paying attention.

Speaking of echo chambers, you call kalm out when he pushes too far and will point out one MAQA yahoo poster's absurd posts but you aren't as hard on BDK, CH, and SG when they spew bullshit pulled from MAQA yahoo echo chambers. My guess is that that's because trump has so normalized he (and MAQA yahoos) spewing conspiracy bullshit and it happens so frequently that it's exhausting to call them out on it. I think that's intentional on their part - spread conspiracy bullshit that favors you as much as possible and cry like a pussy when the same tactic is used against you.

Thanks UNI.

The degree of autocratic threat is subjective but there is indeed a threat that’s already being pushed as you highlighted. Hartmann’s take is more serious than many - especially the establishment media. But he’s also not alone including many conservatives who share his concerns.

FTR: Hartmann is not going to be enjoyed by everyone. He is an old lefty for sure (Bernie was on his show weekly for years) but still has less of an issue with centrists than say, a TYT or Sam Seder. Hartmann also has some serious journalism chops and life experience having founded several companies, worked for a German NGO where he handed out food and medical supplies in South Sudan and while Germany, befriended former Nazis who had survived WWII. He’s also authored something like 27 books on topics ranging from ADHD to U.S. history to economics and the environment.

Like all sources I’m simultaneously skeptical but also open minded to his takes.

Hardly an echo chamber.

[Baldy]

Seriously, the drab you read in your echo chamber must be utterly depressing. We aren't in any vicinity of an autocratic breakthrough. It just ain't happening. Even with a nice and tidy list, making the list doesn't make it any more likely to happen. From his list, we've had the past few through the past several years, encompassing at least 3 different Presidents, alternating from party to party - #1 (demonization of opposition), #2 (undermining legitimacy of the press), #4 (executive legislating through executive orders), a part of #5 (the part related to gerrymandering) and #7 (the criminalizing of political opponents). However, #1, #2, and #4 have been the case for at least going back to the Clinton years, so at least 30 years of this. We've had gerrymandering for so long it's named after the guy who kinda invented it was back in 1812. That's a long time without us seeming to fall into autocratic rule. And the #7 was only really done by the Biden administration as they hoped to weaken their political opponent in the lead up to the next election.

But almost everything else on that guy's list just isn't happening. We aren't rewriting the Constitution - heck, we can barely get enough people together to make an amendment. Trump is going to be gone, out of office in January 2029. Again, a weird way for an autocracy to work. And his historical allusions were error filled as well. Who the heck was the strongman in the South that the Confederacy was rallying around? No one's ever really accused the Confederacy of being autocratic - if anything, they were the exact opposite, they had no strong Executive (which was by design) as they really held fast to the idea of separate, strong states. They didn't rig elections - they didn't have to, the voting populace already was behind them, as they had been for really most of the prior 80 years. And while he got the date of Brooks's caning of Sumner correct (1856), he got his history wrong when he said it was that incident that led to the formation of the Republican party, which is odd, considering that the Republican Party started 2 years prior to that. I'm all fine with him blaming the Lost Cause movement for messing up our view of our own history, but he apparently still needs to go back and correct some of his stuff as well.

In kalm's defense, the article brings up valid points and IMO we are closer to an autocratic regime than we' have been in my lifetime.

1. Demonization of political opponents - has been happening for centuries but trump and MAQA yahoos calling anyone that opposes them unhinged, lunatic, extremists along with Marxists, socialists, fascists, etc. while whining like little pussies anyime some calls trump a fascist/Nazi is hypocritical and should be called out.
2. Attacks on the press - what trump has done to agencies that won't toe the line (AP, CBS) is worse than anything that I can remember (in my lifetime).
3. Politicization of law enforcement and intelligence agencies - trump has pretty much admitted to this - is it even debatable?
4. Elevation of the executive above co-equal branches of government - again, is this even debatable? What they've done or are attempting with federal funding, with agences such as the Department of Education or USAID. The executive branch can't thumb their noses at Congress and unilaterally choose to not spend money that Congress has allocated or disband an agency that Congress created. Congress might have chosen to allocate funds in a way that people think is frivolous but it's not waste or fraud. Not spending it as allocated is closer to fraud.
5. Election manipulation - this has been going on forever. I have no problem with making sure that only citizens are voting but I definitely oppose attempt to make it more difficult to vote (limiting or no mail voting shortening windows, etc.). Voting for the most part is the responsibility of the states. It's hypocritical to say you're a proponent of state's rights and support trump's attempts to dictate how states will regulate voting.
6. Judicial capture - admittedly, I'm less worried about this than I am at the executive branch ignoring or attempting to undermine the judiciary. This is a HUGE problem, especially if they're enabled by spineless weasels in Congress.
7. Criminalization of the opposition - both sides do this but trump might be taking it to another level. biden for all his faults (and they were/are many) appropriately named a special counsel to create appropriate space to investigate trump's criminal actions. trump doesn't even pretend, appointing people based on loyalty to him (over competence and qualifications) and overtly telling them who he thinks should be investigated.
8. Militarization of domestic law enforcement - I'm less worried about this than I am about using the military for domestic law enforcement. Posse Comitatus is there for a very, very good reason. trump sending the Marines and National Guard to LA could be the start of a slide down a slippery and dangerous slope that could destroy this country. This is domestic war-mongering and why MAQA yahoos are careful to use the word foreign when saying that trump is against foreign war-mongering.
9. Fusion of party and state is a critical step in which open loyalty and fealty to the regime or party becomes necessary for state employment, and government media becomes indistinguishable from party propaganda - once again, is this debatable? trump has been open about laying off as many government employees as possible, removing civil service protections and making ideology and loyalty (to him) a prerequisite for employment.
10. Abolition or nullification of meaningful elections - hasn't happened yet and if trump were to attempt it it would be the time that the Secret Service, DoJ, DHS (and military) need to step up and arrest him. Their oath to the Constitution supersedes any oath to protect the POTUS.
11. Loss of civil liberties including freedom of assembly, speech, and movement - trump's rhetoric makes this a valid concern. Plus his use of executive orders to try and undermine civil liberties and our Constitutional rights should concern all rational Americans. It isn't about rewriting the Constitution, it's about selectively undermining it.
12. Constitutional overhaul or emergency rule - trump's deployment of the Marines and National Guard to LA increased the threat level on this one.
13. Exile, imprisonment, or assassination of opposition begins - hasn't happened yet but there has been calls to deport ilhan omar and elon musk (and yes morons on both sides say stupid things).
14. Strongman cult of personality replaces institutional legitimacy - anyone who doesn't think trump believes he should be in charge and that what he wants should be legal and what he doesn't like should be illegal hasn't been paying attention.

Speaking of echo chambers, you call kalm out when he pushes too far and will point out one MAQA yahoo poster's absurd posts but you aren't as hard on BDK, CH, and SG when they spew bullshit pulled from MAQA yahoo echo chambers. My guess is that that's because trump has so normalized he (and MAQA yahoos) spewing conspiracy bullshit and it happens so frequently that it's exhausting to call them out on it. I think that's intentional on their part - spread conspiracy bullshit that favors you as much as possible and cry like a pussy when the same tactic is used against you.

[kalm]

In kalm's defense, the article brings up valid points and IMO we are closer to an autocratic regime than we' have been in my lifetime.

1. Demonization of political opponents - has been happening for centuries but trump and MAQA yahoos calling anyone that opposes them unhinged, lunatic, extremists along with Marxists, socialists, fascists, etc. while whining like little pussies anyime some calls trump a fascist/Nazi is hypocritical and should be called out.
2. Attacks on the press - what trump has done to agencies that won't toe the line (AP, CBS) is worse than anything that I can remember (in my lifetime).
3. Politicization of law enforcement and intelligence agencies - trump has pretty much admitted to this - is it even debatable?
4. Elevation of the executive above co-equal branches of government - again, is this even debatable? What they've done or are attempting with federal funding, with agences such as the Department of Education or USAID. The executive branch can't thumb their noses at Congress and unilaterally choose to not spend money that Congress has allocated or disband an agency that Congress created. Congress might have chosen to allocate funds in a way that people think is frivolous but it's not waste or fraud. Not spending it as allocated is closer to fraud.
5. Election manipulation - this has been going on forever. I have no problem with making sure that only citizens are voting but I definitely oppose attempt to make it more difficult to vote (limiting or no mail voting shortening windows, etc.). Voting for the most part is the responsibility of the states. It's hypocritical to say you're a proponent of state's rights and support trump's attempts to dictate how states will regulate voting.
6. Judicial capture - admittedly, I'm less worried about this than I am at the executive branch ignoring or attempting to undermine the judiciary. This is a HUGE problem, especially if they're enabled by spineless weasels in Congress.
7. Criminalization of the opposition - both sides do this but trump might be taking it to another level. biden for all his faults (and they were/are many) appropriately named a special counsel to create appropriate space to investigate trump's criminal actions. trump doesn't even pretend, appointing people based on loyalty to him (over competence and qualifications) and overtly telling them who he thinks should be investigated.
8. Militarization of domestic law enforcement - I'm less worried about this than I am about using the military for domestic law enforcement. Posse Comitatus is there for a very, very good reason. trump sending the Marines and National Guard to LA could be the start of a slide down a slippery and dangerous slope that could destroy this country. This is domestic war-mongering and why MAQA yahoos are careful to use the word foreign when saying that trump is against foreign war-mongering.
9. Fusion of party and state is a critical step in which open loyalty and fealty to the regime or party becomes necessary for state employment, and government media becomes indistinguishable from party propaganda - once again, is this debatable? trump has been open about laying off as many government employees as possible, removing civil service protections and making ideology and loyalty (to him) a prerequisite for employment.
10. Abolition or nullification of meaningful elections - hasn't happened yet and if trump were to attempt it it would be the time that the Secret Service, DoJ, DHS (and military) need to step up and arrest him. Their oath to the Constitution supersedes any oath to protect the POTUS.
11. Loss of civil liberties including freedom of assembly, speech, and movement - trump's rhetoric makes this a valid concern. Plus his use of executive orders to try and undermine civil liberties and our Constitutional rights should concern all rational Americans. It isn't about rewriting the Constitution, it's about selectively undermining it.
12. Constitutional overhaul or emergency rule - trump's deployment of the Marines and National Guard to LA increased the threat level on this one.
13. Exile, imprisonment, or assassination of opposition begins - hasn't happened yet but there has been calls to deport ilhan omar and elon musk (and yes morons on both sides say stupid things).
14. Strongman cult of personality replaces institutional legitimacy - anyone who doesn't think trump believes he should be in charge and that what he wants should be legal and what he doesn't like should be illegal hasn't been paying attention.

Speaking of echo chambers, you call kalm out when he pushes too far and will point out one MAQA yahoo poster's absurd posts but you aren't as hard on BDK, CH, and SG when they spew bullshit pulled from MAQA yahoo echo chambers. My guess is that that's because trump has so normalized he (and MAQA yahoos) spewing conspiracy bullshit and it happens so frequently that it's exhausting to call them out on it. I think that's intentional on their part - spread conspiracy bullshit that favors you as much as possible and cry like a pussy when the same tactic is used against you.

[UNI88]

In kalm's defense, the article brings up valid points and IMO we are closer to an autocratic regime than we' have been in my lifetime.

1. Demonization of political opponents - has been happening for centuries but trump and MAQA yahoos calling anyone that opposes them unhinged, lunatic, extremists along with Marxists, socialists, fascists, etc. while whining like little pussies anyime some calls trump a fascist/Nazi is hypocritical and should be called out.
2. Attacks on the press - what trump has done to agencies that won't toe the line (AP, CBS) is worse than anything that I can remember (in my lifetime).
3. Politicization of law enforcement and intelligence agencies - trump has pretty much admitted to this - is it even debatable?
4. Elevation of the executive above co-equal branches of government - again, is this even debatable? What they've done or are attempting with federal funding, with agences such as the Department of Education or USAID. The executive branch can't thumb their noses at Congress and unilaterally choose to not spend money that Congress has allocated or disband an agency that Congress created. Congress might have chosen to allocate funds in a way that people think is frivolous but it's not waste or fraud. Not spending it as allocated is closer to fraud.
5. Election manipulation - this has been going on forever. I have no problem with making sure that only citizens are voting but I definitely oppose attempt to make it more difficult to vote (limiting or no mail voting shortening windows, etc.). Voting for the most part is the responsibility of the states. It's hypocritical to say you're a proponent of state's rights and support trump's attempts to dictate how states will regulate voting.
6. Judicial capture - admittedly, I'm less worried about this than I am at the executive branch ignoring or attempting to undermine the judiciary. This is a HUGE problem, especially if they're enabled by spineless weasels in Congress.
7. Criminalization of the opposition - both sides do this but trump might be taking it to another level. biden for all his faults (and they were/are many) appropriately named a special counsel to create appropriate space to investigate trump's criminal actions. trump doesn't even pretend, appointing people based on loyalty to him (over competence and qualifications) and overtly telling them who he thinks should be investigated.
8. Militarization of domestic law enforcement - I'm less worried about this than I am about using the military for domestic law enforcement. Posse Comitatus is there for a very, very good reason. trump sending the Marines and National Guard to LA could be the start of a slide down a slippery and dangerous slope that could destroy this country. This is domestic war-mongering and why MAQA yahoos are careful to use the word foreign when saying that trump is against foreign war-mongering.
9. Fusion of party and state is a critical step in which open loyalty and fealty to the regime or party becomes necessary for state employment, and government media becomes indistinguishable from party propaganda - once again, is this debatable? trump has been open about laying off as many government employees as possible, removing civil service protections and making ideology and loyalty (to him) a prerequisite for employment.
10. Abolition or nullification of meaningful elections - hasn't happened yet and if trump were to attempt it it would be the time that the Secret Service, DoJ, DHS (and military) need to step up and arrest him. Their oath to the Constitution supersedes any oath to protect the POTUS.
11. Loss of civil liberties including freedom of assembly, speech, and movement - trump's rhetoric makes this a valid concern. Plus his use of executive orders to try and undermine civil liberties and our Constitutional rights should concern all rational Americans. It isn't about rewriting the Constitution, it's about selectively undermining it.
12. Constitutional overhaul or emergency rule - trump's deployment of the Marines and National Guard to LA increased the threat level on this one.
13. Exile, imprisonment, or assassination of opposition begins - hasn't happened yet but there has been calls to deport ilhan omar and elon musk (and yes morons on both sides say stupid things).
14. Strongman cult of personality replaces institutional legitimacy - anyone who doesn't think trump believes he should be in charge and that what he wants should be legal and what he doesn't like should be illegal hasn't been paying attention.

Speaking of echo chambers, you call kalm out when he pushes too far and will point out one MAQA yahoo poster's absurd posts but you aren't as hard on BDK, CH, and SG when they spew bullshit pulled from MAQA yahoo echo chambers. My guess is that that's because trump has so normalized he (and MAQA yahoos) spewing conspiracy bullshit and it happens so frequently that it's exhausting to call them out on it. I think that's intentional on their part - spread conspiracy bullshit that favors you as much as possible and cry like a pussy when the same tactic is used against you.

I can't refute your points so I'm going to make a lame attempt to ridicule you ...

FYP

[Caribbean Hen]

Seriously, the drab you read in your echo chamber must be utterly depressing. We aren't in any vicinity of an autocratic breakthrough. It just ain't happening. Even with a nice and tidy list, making the list doesn't make it any more likely to happen. From his list, we've had the past few through the past several years, encompassing at least 3 different Presidents, alternating from party to party - #1 (demonization of opposition), #2 (undermining legitimacy of the press), #4 (executive legislating through executive orders), a part of #5 (the part related to gerrymandering) and #7 (the criminalizing of political opponents). However, #1, #2, and #4 have been the case for at least going back to the Clinton years, so at least 30 years of this. We've had gerrymandering for so long it's named after the guy who kinda invented it was back in 1812. That's a long time without us seeming to fall into autocratic rule. And the #7 was only really done by the Biden administration as they hoped to weaken their political opponent in the lead up to the next election.

But almost everything else on that guy's list just isn't happening. We aren't rewriting the Constitution - heck, we can barely get enough people together to make an amendment. Trump is going to be gone, out of office in January 2029. Again, a weird way for an autocracy to work. And his historical allusions were error filled as well. Who the heck was the strongman in the South that the Confederacy was rallying around? No one's ever really accused the Confederacy of being autocratic - if anything, they were the exact opposite, they had no strong Executive (which was by design) as they really held fast to the idea of separate, strong states. They didn't rig elections - they didn't have to, the voting populace already was behind them, as they had been for really most of the prior 80 years. And while he got the date of Brooks's caning of Sumner correct (1856), he got his history wrong when he said it was that incident that led to the formation of the Republican party, which is odd, considering that the Republican Party started 2 years prior to that. I'm all fine with him blaming the Lost Cause movement for messing up our view of our own history, but he apparently still needs to go back and correct some of his stuff as well.

In kalm's defense, the article brings up valid points and IMO we are closer to an autocratic regime than we' have been in my lifetime.

1. Demonization of political opponents - has been happening for centuries but trump and MAQA yahoos calling anyone that opposes them unhinged, lunatic, extremists along with Marxists, socialists, fascists, etc. while whining like little pussies anyime some calls trump a fascist/Nazi is hypocritical and should be called out.
2. Attacks on the press - what trump has done to agencies that won't toe the line (AP, CBS) is worse than anything that I can remember (in my lifetime).
3. Politicization of law enforcement and intelligence agencies - trump has pretty much admitted to this - is it even debatable?
4. Elevation of the executive above co-equal branches of government - again, is this even debatable? What they've done or are attempting with federal funding, with agences such as the Department of Education or USAID. The executive branch can't thumb their noses at Congress and unilaterally choose to not spend money that Congress has allocated or disband an agency that Congress created. Congress might have chosen to allocate funds in a way that people think is frivolous but it's not waste or fraud. Not spending it as allocated is closer to fraud.
5. Election manipulation - this has been going on forever. I have no problem with making sure that only citizens are voting but I definitely oppose attempt to make it more difficult to vote (limiting or no mail voting shortening windows, etc.). Voting for the most part is the responsibility of the states. It's hypocritical to say you're a proponent of state's rights and support trump's attempts to dictate how states will regulate voting.
6. Judicial capture - admittedly, I'm less worried about this than I am at the executive branch ignoring or attempting to undermine the judiciary. This is a HUGE problem, especially if they're enabled by spineless weasels in Congress.
7. Criminalization of the opposition - both sides do this but trump might be taking it to another level. biden for all his faults (and they were/are many) appropriately named a special counsel to create appropriate space to investigate trump's criminal actions. trump doesn't even pretend, appointing people based on loyalty to him (over competence and qualifications) and overtly telling them who he thinks should be investigated.
8. Militarization of domestic law enforcement - I'm less worried about this than I am about using the military for domestic law enforcement. Posse Comitatus is there for a very, very good reason. trump sending the Marines and National Guard to LA could be the start of a slide down a slippery and dangerous slope that could destroy this country. This is domestic war-mongering and why MAQA yahoos are careful to use the word foreign when saying that trump is against foreign war-mongering.
9. Fusion of party and state is a critical step in which open loyalty and fealty to the regime or party becomes necessary for state employment, and government media becomes indistinguishable from party propaganda - once again, is this debatable? trump has been open about laying off as many government employees as possible, removing civil service protections and making ideology and loyalty (to him) a prerequisite for employment.
10. Abolition or nullification of meaningful elections - hasn't happened yet and if trump were to attempt it it would be the time that the Secret Service, DoJ, DHS (and military) need to step up and arrest him. Their oath to the Constitution supersedes any oath to protect the POTUS.
11. Loss of civil liberties including freedom of assembly, speech, and movement - trump's rhetoric makes this a valid concern. Plus his use of executive orders to try and undermine civil liberties and our Constitutional rights should concern all rational Americans. It isn't about rewriting the Constitution, it's about selectively undermining it.
12. Constitutional overhaul or emergency rule - trump's deployment of the Marines and National Guard to LA increased the threat level on this one.
13. Exile, imprisonment, or assassination of opposition begins - hasn't happened yet but there has been calls to deport ilhan omar and elon musk (and yes morons on both sides say stupid things).
14. Strongman cult of personality replaces institutional legitimacy - anyone who doesn't think trump believes he should be in charge and that what he wants should be legal and what he doesn't like should be illegal hasn't been paying attention.

Speaking of echo chambers, you call kalm out when he pushes too far and will point out one MAQA yahoo poster's absurd posts but you aren't as hard on BDK, CH, and SG when they spew bullshit pulled from MAQA yahoo echo chambers. My guess is that that's because trump has so normalized he (and MAQA yahoos) spewing conspiracy bullshit and it happens so frequently that it's exhausting to call them out on it. I think that's intentional on their part - spread conspiracy bullshit that favors you as much as possible and cry like a pussy when the same tactic is used against you.

You put a lot of effort into demonizing Trump, all the while wiping the ass of the entire perverted and dysfunctional JoBozo Biden family…. And the crimes they committed against the United States of America.

[Gil Dobie]

You can say the same thing about the Donks moving the country to an Autocracy.

[kalm]

In kalm's defense, the article brings up valid points and IMO we are closer to an autocratic regime than we' have been in my lifetime.

1. Demonization of political opponents - has been happening for centuries but trump and MAQA yahoos calling anyone that opposes them unhinged, lunatic, extremists along with Marxists, socialists, fascists, etc. while whining like little pussies anyime some calls trump a fascist/Nazi is hypocritical and should be called out.
2. Attacks on the press - what trump has done to agencies that won't toe the line (AP, CBS) is worse than anything that I can remember (in my lifetime).
3. Politicization of law enforcement and intelligence agencies - trump has pretty much admitted to this - is it even debatable?
4. Elevation of the executive above co-equal branches of government - again, is this even debatable? What they've done or are attempting with federal funding, with agences such as the Department of Education or USAID. The executive branch can't thumb their noses at Congress and unilaterally choose to not spend money that Congress has allocated or disband an agency that Congress created. Congress might have chosen to allocate funds in a way that people think is frivolous but it's not waste or fraud. Not spending it as allocated is closer to fraud.
5. Election manipulation - this has been going on forever. I have no problem with making sure that only citizens are voting but I definitely oppose attempt to make it more difficult to vote (limiting or no mail voting shortening windows, etc.). Voting for the most part is the responsibility of the states. It's hypocritical to say you're a proponent of state's rights and support trump's attempts to dictate how states will regulate voting.
6. Judicial capture - admittedly, I'm less worried about this than I am at the executive branch ignoring or attempting to undermine the judiciary. This is a HUGE problem, especially if they're enabled by spineless weasels in Congress.
7. Criminalization of the opposition - both sides do this but trump might be taking it to another level. biden for all his faults (and they were/are many) appropriately named a special counsel to create appropriate space to investigate trump's criminal actions. trump doesn't even pretend, appointing people based on loyalty to him (over competence and qualifications) and overtly telling them who he thinks should be investigated.
8. Militarization of domestic law enforcement - I'm less worried about this than I am about using the military for domestic law enforcement. Posse Comitatus is there for a very, very good reason. trump sending the Marines and National Guard to LA could be the start of a slide down a slippery and dangerous slope that could destroy this country. This is domestic war-mongering and why MAQA yahoos are careful to use the word foreign when saying that trump is against foreign war-mongering.
9. Fusion of party and state is a critical step in which open loyalty and fealty to the regime or party becomes necessary for state employment, and government media becomes indistinguishable from party propaganda - once again, is this debatable? trump has been open about laying off as many government employees as possible, removing civil service protections and making ideology and loyalty (to him) a prerequisite for employment.
10. Abolition or nullification of meaningful elections - hasn't happened yet and if trump were to attempt it it would be the time that the Secret Service, DoJ, DHS (and military) need to step up and arrest him. Their oath to the Constitution supersedes any oath to protect the POTUS.
11. Loss of civil liberties including freedom of assembly, speech, and movement - trump's rhetoric makes this a valid concern. Plus his use of executive orders to try and undermine civil liberties and our Constitutional rights should concern all rational Americans. It isn't about rewriting the Constitution, it's about selectively undermining it.
12. Constitutional overhaul or emergency rule - trump's deployment of the Marines and National Guard to LA increased the threat level on this one.
13. Exile, imprisonment, or assassination of opposition begins - hasn't happened yet but there has been calls to deport ilhan omar and elon musk (and yes morons on both sides say stupid things).
14. Strongman cult of personality replaces institutional legitimacy - anyone who doesn't think trump believes he should be in charge and that what he wants should be legal and what he doesn't like should be illegal hasn't been paying attention.

Speaking of echo chambers, you call kalm out when he pushes too far and will point out one MAQA yahoo poster's absurd posts but you aren't as hard on BDK, CH, and SG when they spew bullshit pulled from MAQA yahoo echo chambers. My guess is that that's because trump has so normalized he (and MAQA yahoos) spewing conspiracy bullshit and it happens so frequently that it's exhausting to call them out on it. I think that's intentional on their part - spread conspiracy bullshit that favors you as much as possible and cry like a pussy when the same tactic is used against you.

You put a lot of effort into demonizing Trump, all the while wiping the ass of the entire perverted and dysfunctional JoBozo Biden family…. And the crimes they committed against the United States of America.

Your first reply didn’t land so you tried again? I admire your pluck.

[kalm]

You can say the same thing about the Donks moving the country to an Autocracy.

There are indeed autocratic policies coming from both sides but we’re talking degrees here Gil, and constitutional freedoms. Start a Dem list of examples and we can discuss.

[kalm]

I’m by starting a couple of omissions in the piece.

1). Lacking observation

2). Denial