He said he wanted to be a Dictator on Day 1. How many dictators have you ever heard of that gave up power? The American Experiment (executive leaders peacefully giving up power) was such a unique thing because it’s so unheard of. Also fitting that Trump ended that tradition on Jan 06.
If Trump or any Republican gets elected again, expect the end of our democracy and the start of the fascist dictatorship. I wish I could convey how absolutely literal I’m being.
How many dictators have you ever heard of that gave up power?
I get what you are saying and agree, but it is kind of noteworthy that basically every dictator before Caesar did that. Famously there was some retired consul or something in the early republic who was granted the dictatorship, saved Rome from seemingly assured destruction in combat, and then immediately retired back to his farm. Always forget the name… But even people like Sulla, who used his dictatorship to wage a civil war and is to my knowledge the first Roman general to march troops into Rome, eventually resigned their dictatorship. It was originally never intended to be a permanent position, which is why Caesar claiming it for life was such a turn of an era.
I guess what I’m saying overall is Trump might, even if elected to a second term, still turn out to be the American Sulla instead of the American Caesar if you catch my drift.
Disclaimer: Non-American here. Dictatorship bad. All of this is bad.
you should shut the fuck up with your ‘well actually’ de facto dictator apologia
Rome didn’t have that many ‘dictators’ give up power
the vast majority of societies with authoritarian dictators are dysfunctional
again: shut the fuck up.
Wow, ok. User name does not check out.
Jokes aside though I feel attacked and my defence mechanism is to braindump, so consider what is to follow to be on you.
you should shut the fuck up with your ‘well actually’ de facto dictator apologia
As I was trying to make clear with the implicit disclaimer at the beginning of my comment and the explicit disclaimer at the end of my comment, that was not my intention. What I was trying to do was expand on the historical context as @Soulg@sh.itjust.works already pointed out (thanks btw). I am well aware that the term dictator has lost its connotation of “temporary office” long ago, and it is today used pretty much in the sense of absolute monarchy.
Rome didn’t have that many ‘dictators’ give up power
The GP asked “how many do you know”, and essentially I replied “at least two but pretty sure it’s more” to that.
But ok, you posit I test. Here is my counterargument. With knowing Wikipedias love for lists and a search you land here: List of Roman dictators.
List starts 501 BCE, ends 44 BCE, with Julius Caesar by the way. I would eyeball its length at ~80-100 entries. That would amount to a dictatorship once every five years roughly.
The article helpfully explains a few Latin terms it uses, among them “abdicavit – abdicated, or resigned”. Ctrl+F says 7 occurrences, minus the one explaining it that are 6 mentions of the term, so my new guesstimate would be there are at least 6 dictators (in ancient Rome) who relinquished their office willingly. And I would bet you could get that number higher if you dig into the details, and start looking at term limits and stuff.
So all I’m saying is essentially the dictatorship was an office that was regularly employed for nearly 500 years by an ancient state, and was then abused to bring about the destruction of its system of government. Remind you of anything? Like the presidency? Trump?
the vast majority of societies with authoritarian dictators are dysfunctional
Like those that exist right now? Not only the vast majority, all of them are dysfunctional and I never doubted that. Seriously you are preaching to the choir here. I was literally at court today because a number on a piece of paper was too low, and I couldn’t pay to get a newer piece of paper. Luckily the case was dismissed, so I’m pretty fond of the rule of law and separation of powers at the moment, but also equally aware of the monopoly on violence the state claims for itself and how fragile that makes it.
I sense that you are angry, and most likely afraid, and I empathise with that. And due to that level of distress I would assume you are from the US. I’m not sure what to tell you except trying to resist the slide into dictatorship the best you can. Caesar was assassinated, and Hitler only narrowly escaped assassination several times is all I’m saying.
again: shut the fuck up.
Yeah, no, you little dictator. :P
I guess what I’m saying overall is Trump might, even if elected to a second term, still turn out to be the American Sulla instead of the American Caesar if you catch my drift.
This is stupid. You are an idiot. Shut the fuck up.
I’m not quite sure what exactly you are taking offence from in that statement but feel free to enlighten me. In my defence I tried to indicate that it is a rough metaphor.
P.S. to rephrase, it seems you did not in fact catch my drift.
If Trump is elected to a second term it will be a disaster and there is no ambiguity as to the nature of Trump for he has already declared civil war against the will of the American people. You are an idiot.
If Trump is elected to a second term it will be a disaster and there is no ambiguity as to the nature of Trump for he has already declared civil war against the will of the American people.
And please show me where the fuck I ever doubted that. Do you not know who Sulla was? Did you not read me saying he fought a civil war and was the first general to march on Rome? Like right above the section you quoted out of context?
What I said is Trump might not turn out to be the one to kill the republic but the one to irreparably damage it instead. Think for example him getting elected to a second term and then dying a month into it without achieving much of his dictatorial agenda.
You are an idiot.
That I am, given that I am still arguing with you.
I really feel like his coup attempt should at the fucken least bar him from running. This race really shouldnt be happening right now and we all know it. I fucken hate this place. He should have had harsh consequences, not whatever the fuck we’re looking at now.
In the past, the coup attempt would have barred him from running again because when he was impeached after it, the Senate would have unanimously convicted him which would have disqualified him. But since the entire republican party is complicit, they acquitted him instead, which allowed him to run again.
The entire republican party and 2/3 of the Supreme Court are completely on board with project 2025 establishing an authoritarian christian dominionist regime, which means the normal government checks and balances have already been corrupted and neutralized.
We the voters are the only remaining barrier that can stop it, the only way to do that is keep the Democratic party in power. We did it in 2020, partly in 2022 (we lost the House), we have to do it again now in 2024, and we’ll have to keep doing it every election until they are finally destroyed as a viable party. We’ve been barely hanging on with the thinnest of margins.
They can keep trying again and again–we can only fail once (like we did in 2016). One more failure and they win for good because they’ll implement Project 2025 and it’s over.
Yeah I’m not doing that. Fuck eternal vigilance. If the Republicans dont stop they should be dissolved as a party. If I have to spend every election like this, I will instead advocate for eliminating the domestic terrorists. We deserve real choices with real candidates that really care about the American people. This is not it in the slightest. I’ve only ever gotten to vote against this shit stain. I want real choices. And I’ll fucken carve them out of my state, my country, if I have to and I won’t be alone. In reality I’ll probably be arrested after my first Molotov but I dont see the FBI acting which means they’re compromised too.
Yup. And the world had much rejoicing.
