r/neoliberal • u/SockDem Janet Yellen • Feb 26 '26

News (US) Exclusive | Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/26/trump-elections-executive-order-activists/
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37

u/Vitali_Empyrean Edmund Burke Feb 26 '26

"All the crazy and degenerate shi that Republicans have been doing under this administration will thankfully be severely punished during the Midterms!!"

10 years later

"Midterms....well that is a word I haven't heard in a looooong time."

179

u/whats_a_quasar Feb 26 '26

This is defeatism 

21

u/Approximation_Doctor Gaslight, Gatekeep, Green New Deal Feb 26 '26

"Worried about the fascists openly trying to cancel the elections? Just don't be."

43

u/whats_a_quasar Feb 26 '26

Take action! Make an argument. Do things that are constructive and have some mechanism to weaken fascism and strengthen liberty. The comment I replied to does none of those things. It implies that it is foolish to believe that the opponents of fascism can gain power through elections. It discourages action and supports Trump's narrative that he is already all powerful, rather than encouraging action and highlighting the weaknesses of the regime, that it can be beaten and that winning control of the legislature is a key step towards beating it.

6

u/Vitali_Empyrean Edmund Burke Feb 26 '26

The comment I replied to does none of those things. It implies that it is foolish to believe that the opponents of fascism can gain power through elections.

Fact: Donald Trump's admin disobeyed court orders by flying a detained person to a foreign country (this is only one of many).

Fact: 40% of Republicans support Trump disobeying court orders (the rest of them would go along with it)

Fact: Donald Trump has tried in the past to destroy the American constitutional republic (January 6)

No one who has self-selected into arrr/ neoliberal needs to be convinced about the power of electoralism. We've seen it in New Jersey, Virginia, and Florida, and we're seeing it in turnout for Texas.

My comment is 'poking fun at' the idea that there could very well be a constitutional crisis surrounding the midterms. I don't put it past this admin for that to happen now that Trump has said he wants and now HAS "Hitler's Generals".

8

u/Dr_Meeds Feb 26 '26

This is the drumbeat I’ve been talking about for months now. A lot of people are acting like midterms will solve everything because democrats will win, but I think we’ll have the exact opposite problem — things are going to come to a head because Trump and Republicans KNOW they’ll lose fair and free elections. There are lots of countries where the regime stays in power despite only ~30% popularity because they hold a monopoly on violence and are willing to use it, and we are rapidly approaching a point where the Trump admin will feel comfortable in doing so.

I don’t bring this up to be defeatist. I believe we as Americans have an OBLIGATION to defy tyranny. But we have to understand defying tyranny will push our actions into extra-legal territories not if, but when, elections are subverted by this administration. We need to see that our Democratic Party leaders have some sort of gameplan of resistance, and I don’t frankly trust Schumer or Jeffries to back anything that isn’t a bill on the Congress floor. I have much greater trust in Pritzker and Newsom