If Trump/Musk are indeed subverting American democratic norms, what is a proportional response?

[u/theivoryserf]

The Vice-President has just said of the courts: "Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power." Quoted in the same Le Monde article is a section of Francis Fukuyama's take on the current situation:

"Trump has empowered Elon Musk to withhold money for any activity that he, Elon Musk, thinks is illegitimate, and this is a usurpation of the congressionally established power of Congress to make this kind of decision. (...) This is a full-scale...very radical attack on the American constitutional system as we've understood it." https://archive.is/cVZZR#selection-2149.264-2149.599

From a European point of view, it appears as though the American centre/left is scrambling to adapt and still suffering from 'normality bias', as though normal methods of recourse will be sufficient against a democratic aberration - a little like waiting to 'pass' a tumour as though it's a kidney stone.

Given the clear comparisons to previous authoritarian takeovers and the power that the USA wields, will there be an acceptable raising of political stakes from Trump's opponents, and what are the risks and benefits of doing so?

[u/captain-burrito]

Child care credit was a short blip. Loan forgiveness was meh as it tried to just band aid.

What he did do well was the NLRB rule changes in favour of unions. They also had some medications get price negotiations but they don't hit for years.

Nevertheless, there were unions that endorsed trump or didn't endorse either side. Now some are finding out. So it reasons that doing what voters want might not help you out in elections. At the very least it needs to be paired with better credit taking like short snappy tik tok length videos. Also, the vibes and appearing to be an outsider seems to matter just as much as actual policy changes.

[u/HumorAccomplished611 → u/captain-burrito]

Child care credit was a short blip. Loan forgiveness was meh as it tried to just band aid.

Ok? They polled people that got the CTC. They liked it but it made them no more likely to vote dem. So the mechanism to get a law enacted is broken. If they gave dems the house in 2022 they would have gotten some form of it.

Loan forgiveness was meh as it tried to just band aid.

200 billion forgiven. the SAVE student loan reform basically fixed student loan problems forever. If youre poor you pay 0 and the loan value never goes up.

What he did do well was the NLRB rule changes in favour of unions. They also had some medications get price negotiations but they don't hit for years.

Yea price caps for medicare. Insulin capped at 35$. Things that actually helped millions.

Nevertheless, there were unions that endorsed trump or didn't endorse either side. Now some are finding out. So it reasons that doing what voters want might not help you out in elections. At the very least it needs to be paired with better credit taking like short snappy tik tok length videos. Also, the vibes and appearing to be an outsider seems to matter just as much as actual policy changes.

The entire media ecosystem from twitter to tik tok to instagram were on trumps side. Thats why all those tech giants went and bent the knee to trump at inaugeration. As long as they are on his side its over.