Impeachment is harder than rolling a PM for sure, but if the Republicans were to reach out to the Democrats in the spirit of bipartisanship, I'm sure they could make it happen.
For that matter, the Republicans could work with the Democrats to build a veto-proof majority to strip Trump of his tariff powers and reverse the tariffs he's already imposed. Somehow, I'm not optimistic.
I think now is a good time to talk about Liz Truss. Now Truss was a fool who announced an inexplicably poor economic policy, which quickly panicked the markets. She was a terrible choice for leader, and choosing her was an indictment of the Conservative Party. But you'll note that one she screwed up badly enough, they got rid of her, quickly. And while I wouldn't call Rishi Sunak a good PM, he at least knew better than to crash the economy.
Which means that while The UK's Conservatism are a dysfunctional mess, they are much less of a disaster than the Republican Party is right now.
It occurs to me that, presuming the isn't bending the knee, what he might be doing is trying to present some kind of alternative to both Trumpism and what the Democrats are currently offering. Assuming the US survives this, some kind of reform will be needed, and that will involve some kind of new right as an alternative to Trumpism. Maybe Bezos is trying to fill that gap.
Which is why very secret things are not discussed over normal networks. Best practice for this kind of conversation is all being in the same room that's under guard 24/7, or paper documents in locked briefcases carried by brick walls wearing black suits.
If you're going to discuss Top Secret things electronically, there's a protocol for that involving specially set-up devices that absolutely do not use 3rd-party networks to carry the information.
One of the reasons I like to talk about the Roswell Incident when it comes to conspiracy theories is that the government actually was covering something up during the Roswell Incident, it just wasn't what the UFO conspiracy people thought it was.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article for the New Zealand Skeptics society where I argued that the Kennedy assassination conspiracies, along with the moon hoax conspiracy and the UFO conspiracy helped lay much of the intellectual groundwork for QAnon.
I really like this suggestion Jaybird, I think it does a good job of combing coordination and individuality.
I also recommend Radley Balko's recent article discussing what the Democrats could do to act as an effective opposition:
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/three-things-the-democrats-can-do
I appreciate that, Europe has been taking advantage of the US for a long time now (not just the military, but paying for drug research as well). And if this whole thing wakes up European leaders from their decades-long stupor then something positive will have come from it.
If Trump was merely pushing Europe to step up more on defense spending, and get serious about cutting back on fossil fuels to starve Russia of funds, than I'd be applauding. But it is clear to me that Europe's complacency is just a justification. Trump is even stopping support to Ukraine that is essentially free, like intelligence sharing. Trump is cutting Ukraine loose because he wants Putin to win. And that mean the coalition of free nations needs new leadership. I'm not sure Macron's ready, but I don't think we have a lot of alternatives.
I think Harris would have been a fairly mediocre choice for President, but she wouldn't be throwing the entire global order into chaos out of a combination of stupidity and malice.
it's not enough for you to destroy yourselves, you have to try and take the rest of us with you.
You say that like there's an abundance of people to put our hopes in. I'd rather have a United States that hadn't lost its fucking mind in charge, but apparently I don't get to have nice things any more.
It looks like Macron might be auditioning for the role of Leader of the Free World. Now the position's vacant, I don't think there are many other contenders. Maybe Merz, depending on how the coalition negotiations go, and whether Germany wants to buck up its ideas.
I wish people would stop comparing Trump to Chamberlain.
Chamberlain was too soft on Hitler, but that's because he was worried that another Great War would destroy the British Empire (which is fair, since it did).
The 1930s English politician that you want to compare Trump to is Oswald Mosley.
That's a good post, the degrowth wing of environmentalism is just the worst. Not only are they actively attempting to sabotage human progress, but their argument is the one least likely to convince the general population to take the environment seriously. If I were conspiratorially-minded (which to be clear, I am not), I might believe that degrowth was invented by oil companies.
I don't think that comparison is fair to Chamberlain. He had legitimate concerns that the British Empire wouldn't survive another World War. also, he wasn't on Hitler's side.
Agreed. Also, the Democratic leadership should have acted like Trump was a threat, instead of just saying he was. Biden spending his last few hours pardoning people to protect against Trump's retaliation, while having tea with him at the White House was a bad look.
While I'm wishing for the implausible, the Democrats could have reined in the power of the Presidency in the last four years, like removing the President's tariff powers.
Step 1 hasn’t failed. Trump was (sadly, stupidly, and unlike 2020) legitimately re-elected.
It's a failure because the voters had a chance to punish Trump for his lawbreaking in 2024 and didn't do so. Now he doesn't have to worry about winning any more elections so the electoral constraint on him is now gone.
One thing I've noticed is that Americans tend to have a very formalist view of government - most of people's understanding of how government works is about what is written down. But it's consequences, not words that define people's decisions - laws and norms only affect what happens if there are consequences for breaking them. For a President, that means one of three things:
1) The voters reject them.
2) The legislature impeaches (and convicts) them.
3) The courts rule their actions illegal, and the executive branch refuses to follow those orders.
Steps 1 and 2 have already failed. Whether 3 can hold Trump back remains to be seen. But if it doesn't, a lot of Americans are going to wake up one day soon and discover that the Constitution, and the rights it guarantees, is just a piece of paper.
On “What To Expect When You’re Expecting a Trade War”
Impeachment is harder than rolling a PM for sure, but if the Republicans were to reach out to the Democrats in the spirit of bipartisanship, I'm sure they could make it happen.
For that matter, the Republicans could work with the Democrats to build a veto-proof majority to strip Trump of his tariff powers and reverse the tariffs he's already imposed. Somehow, I'm not optimistic.
"
I think now is a good time to talk about Liz Truss. Now Truss was a fool who announced an inexplicably poor economic policy, which quickly panicked the markets. She was a terrible choice for leader, and choosing her was an indictment of the Conservative Party. But you'll note that one she screwed up badly enough, they got rid of her, quickly. And while I wouldn't call Rishi Sunak a good PM, he at least knew better than to crash the economy.
Which means that while The UK's Conservatism are a dysfunctional mess, they are much less of a disaster than the Republican Party is right now.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/31/25”
That seems plausible, sicne their estimates of the tariffs each country is putting on the US are way off.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25”
It occurs to me that, presuming the isn't bending the knee, what he might be doing is trying to present some kind of alternative to both Trumpism and what the Democrats are currently offering. Assuming the US survives this, some kind of reform will be needed, and that will involve some kind of new right as an alternative to Trumpism. Maybe Bezos is trying to fill that gap.
On “Don’t Go Torching Cyber Trucks”
... just stick to the Hondas and the Fords that you're used to.
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25”
Parliamentary systems don't require election so quickly, they just allow them as a safety measure.
On “Signal Controversy Over Houthi Strikes Deepens”
Which is why very secret things are not discussed over normal networks. Best practice for this kind of conversation is all being in the same room that's under guard 24/7, or paper documents in locked briefcases carried by brick walls wearing black suits.
If you're going to discuss Top Secret things electronically, there's a protocol for that involving specially set-up devices that absolutely do not use 3rd-party networks to carry the information.
On “The JFK Files Drop Today (Supposedly)”
One of the reasons I like to talk about the Roswell Incident when it comes to conspiracy theories is that the government actually was covering something up during the Roswell Incident, it just wasn't what the UFO conspiracy people thought it was.
"
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article for the New Zealand Skeptics society where I argued that the Kennedy assassination conspiracies, along with the moon hoax conspiracy and the UFO conspiracy helped lay much of the intellectual groundwork for QAnon.
On “So Let’s Put Together a Democratic Party Ad Campaign”
Klein has been advancing this argument for a while, I think it has a lot of potential as a political direction.
"
I really like this suggestion Jaybird, I think it does a good job of combing coordination and individuality.
I also recommend Radley Balko's recent article discussing what the Democrats could do to act as an effective opposition:
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/three-things-the-democrats-can-do
On “Open Mic for the week of 3/3/2025”
I appreciate that, Europe has been taking advantage of the US for a long time now (not just the military, but paying for drug research as well). And if this whole thing wakes up European leaders from their decades-long stupor then something positive will have come from it.
If Trump was merely pushing Europe to step up more on defense spending, and get serious about cutting back on fossil fuels to starve Russia of funds, than I'd be applauding. But it is clear to me that Europe's complacency is just a justification. Trump is even stopping support to Ukraine that is essentially free, like intelligence sharing. Trump is cutting Ukraine loose because he wants Putin to win. And that mean the coalition of free nations needs new leadership. I'm not sure Macron's ready, but I don't think we have a lot of alternatives.
"
And I have now reached the point where I have no idea what you're talking about.
"
This, but unironically.
I think Harris would have been a fairly mediocre choice for President, but she wouldn't be throwing the entire global order into chaos out of a combination of stupidity and malice.
it's not enough for you to destroy yourselves, you have to try and take the rest of us with you.
"
You say that like there's an abundance of people to put our hopes in. I'd rather have a United States that hadn't lost its fucking mind in charge, but apparently I don't get to have nice things any more.
"
it would fit with the stated mew direction - opposing tarrifs is a free-market position.
"
It looks like Macron might be auditioning for the role of Leader of the Free World. Now the position's vacant, I don't think there are many other contenders. Maybe Merz, depending on how the coalition negotiations go, and whether Germany wants to buck up its ideas.
"
I wish people would stop comparing Trump to Chamberlain.
Chamberlain was too soft on Hitler, but that's because he was worried that another Great War would destroy the British Empire (which is fair, since it did).
The 1930s English politician that you want to compare Trump to is Oswald Mosley.
"
That's a good post, the degrowth wing of environmentalism is just the worst. Not only are they actively attempting to sabotage human progress, but their argument is the one least likely to convince the general population to take the environment seriously. If I were conspiratorially-minded (which to be clear, I am not), I might believe that degrowth was invented by oil companies.
On “Group Activity The Full, Unedited Trump, Zelenskyy, and Vance Video”
I don't think that comparison is fair to Chamberlain. He had legitimate concerns that the British Empire wouldn't survive another World War. also, he wasn't on Hitler's side.
On “In Times Without Norms, All Laws Fall Silent”
Agreed. Also, the Democratic leadership should have acted like Trump was a threat, instead of just saying he was. Biden spending his last few hours pardoning people to protect against Trump's retaliation, while having tea with him at the White House was a bad look.
While I'm wishing for the implausible, the Democrats could have reined in the power of the Presidency in the last four years, like removing the President's tariff powers.
"
It's a failure because the voters had a chance to punish Trump for his lawbreaking in 2024 and didn't do so. Now he doesn't have to worry about winning any more elections so the electoral constraint on him is now gone.
"
One thing I've noticed is that Americans tend to have a very formalist view of government - most of people's understanding of how government works is about what is written down. But it's consequences, not words that define people's decisions - laws and norms only affect what happens if there are consequences for breaking them. For a President, that means one of three things:
1) The voters reject them.
2) The legislature impeaches (and convicts) them.
3) The courts rule their actions illegal, and the executive branch refuses to follow those orders.
Steps 1 and 2 have already failed. Whether 3 can hold Trump back remains to be seen. But if it doesn't, a lot of Americans are going to wake up one day soon and discover that the Constitution, and the rights it guarantees, is just a piece of paper.
On “Supreme Court issues Stay”
Thanks for clarifying.
Once Trump started ignoring the law, there were only two options and the other was declaring Trump King. I think this was the better path here.
"
What orders are these stays for?
I know there was a push from some on the left a few years back for Judicial review to be sidelined. Good thing that never went anywhere.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.