If you’re contending that he let go of power peacefully the first time then I have some Jan 6 assault conviction to show you. Let’s not forget that he threw a mob at Congress to prevent certifying his opponent’s win.
There was a deeply unsettling moment there in the waning days of the first term. It’s not unreasonable to be concerned about what may unfold at the end of the next one.
The first time he didn't have a plan and people didn't know how to manage him.
Now they have Project 2025 and people who know how to dismantle the system efficiently.
There won't be a fair presidential election in the US in 4 years unless something drastic happens, like the democrats winning a supermajority in the congress and house.
The entire American political establishment has been on a worrying slide to authoritarianism for most of my life. I remember the flow over here in Australia after 9/11, and the threats that were made on the public if they didn't go along with it.
Didn't get any better under Obama, we saw a massive increase in the surveillance state under his tenure. It was incredible how quickly the media dropped the journo wiretapping scandal.
Let's also not forget the summer of love riots and the behaviour of protestors storming the congress over justice Kavanagh, they've galvanised the right somewhat. Over here we have a growing right wing movement that came from the COVID lockdowns, where our elites and institutions pretty much burned every scrap of goodwill we afforded them for seemingly no end.
The post war paradigm is dead, and I don't think we have the language to describe the new one that's currently forming yet.
> "The entire American political establishment has been on a worrying slide to authoritarianism for most of my life.
Not like this one. The free speech censorship now is hugely worrying, not to mention the recent inhumane treatment to people for things like a denied Visa. It's pretty bad. I'm not sure people are paying enough attention.
> First, the lottery — by design — doesn’t reward top talent. This deficiency, coupled with loose oversight, has made it vulnerable to gaming and doomed to mediocre results. A recent Bloomberg News investigation found that IT staffing firms routinely flood the pool with entries, often for more visas than they need, crowding out companies that play by the rules. These practices — which US officials have called fraudulent — prioritize a sector that tends to pay relatively low wages for routine IT work. (New rules to curb abuse don’t go far enough.) As a result, many of the world’s smartest engineers are shut out from the most lucrative, in-demand jobs, and shortages at the top end persist.
> Second, visa holders with middling skills are more likely to be substitutes for, rather than complements to, American workers. Replenishing the job market with extraordinary talent that can’t be filled domestically increases productivity, innovation and growth; saturating it with lower-paid workers will tend to drive down wages. Official data show that 85% of H-1B petitions are awarded to employers paying well below the median wage, as determined by occupation and location.
The sharks are circling and by "sharks" I mean the same people who lobby the government for link taxes and publish puff pieces on politicians who go after their business rivals.
2. If anything it's "fascism lite" and it's only for 4 years.
3. I'm not sure that forcing some belt tightening on a bloated academia is the worst thing in the world.