Read on Twitter
The twitter arguments WRT Trump illegally holding on to power don’t feel productive to me. Perhaps we can untangle them together.
Here are the strands I’ve seen:
A) what should the danger be called? This is not a useful debate to my mind but perhaps I’m missing something.
Here are the strands I’ve seen:
A) what should the danger be called? This is not a useful debate to my mind but perhaps I’m missing something.
B) is Trump competent enough to be a danger? Prudently we should assume he is until proven otherwise. Hopefully this discussion will look silly in a few months from now, but sadly it is still necessary at the moment.
C) are the institutions vulnerable? Since this is entirely contingent, here we should have a wide, contextually-oriented debate to raise awareness of how things stand from many different viewpoints / institutions.
D) are there laws/ norms to safeguard the process? It is important to gain clarity on this but we can’t assume laws will constrain Trump’s actions when / if he gets to the main thrust of his efforts. Strategic obfuscation remains a concern.
E) are there qualified insiders gaming the scenarios and preparing to resist? These discussions are reassuring but not helpful since we can’t be sure the resisters will resist or even be in play when things happen
F) are we stoking fears and increasing odds of violence by discussing this? I don’t understand this point and think those who hold this position should work to clarify what violence is being enabled (rather than prevented) through the discussion.
G) are we insulting / undermining honorable mil professionals by suggesting they might be suckered? I can understand this concern but think the exceptional circumstances warrant investigation. We know the DOD wants to stay out of this but we also know that THAT can embolden Trump
H) does Trump have loyalists willing to push beyond legal restrictions and commit acts of violence to ensure the continuity of his government? I think prudently we should assume he does but clearly more discussion is needed here
& I) is Trump actually planning an illegal seizure of power? (Are you freaked out yet? Will any action freak you out? What is your red line?)
Ultimately we are discussing the future and need to respect varying viewpoints. But silencing is not a helpful strategy (but F, above)
Ultimately we are discussing the future and need to respect varying viewpoints. But silencing is not a helpful strategy (but F, above)
I see no danger whatsoever in openly discussing the looming dangers we all dread and hope by untangling the debates a bit we can move toward more tractable discussions here or the journals/ op-ed/ web/ blog/ podcasts etc where civ-mil expertise informs good democratic practice.
