The precedents you set

[billvon 3,078]

I think that something that many Trump supporters miss is that any increase in power in the presidency goes both ways.

They cheer when Trump, for example, deports legal US citizens, defunds universities that do not follow government mantra, ignores parts of the Constitution and uses the FBI as a tool for revenge because all of that is "owning the libs."

But that sort of power doesn't "go away" once someone else is in power.  Imagine a new democratic president that declares an emergency and creates, via executive order, a requirement that anyone who wants to own a gun get a federal license, to save the thousands of children that are killed every year by firearms.  They are not violating the second amendment - heavens no! - because anyone can still get a gun as long as they get a license.  Of course, in order to save money, there won't be many places to get that license; having a lot of licensing centers is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Or an emergency ban on gasoline/diesel for any vehicles over 4000 lbs due to the climate emergency.  There will be exceptions granted, of course, as long as the person can prove their need.  Like politicians who need armored limos and democratic contributors who have proven their loyalty to the government.

Then an executive order (titled something like "protecting your vote from electoral crime") that bans criminals from voting.  Which, of course, include people who own guns but aren't licensed, or people who still drive those over-4000 lb vehicles.  Anyone can still register to vote, as long as you can demonstrate you are not one of those criminals.

Power doesn't go away because "well, we didn't mean for them to do THAT with it!"

[JerryBaumchen 1,445]

2 hours ago, billvon said:

I think that something that many Trump supporters miss is that any increase in power in the presidency goes both ways.

They cheer when Trump, for example, deports legal US citizens, defunds universities that do not follow government mantra, ignores parts of the Constitution and uses the FBI as a tool for revenge because all of that is "owning the libs."

But that sort of power doesn't "go away" once someone else is in power.  Imagine a new democratic president that declares an emergency and creates, via executive order, a requirement that anyone who wants to own a gun get a federal license, to save the thousands of children that are killed every year by firearms.  They are not violating the second amendment - heavens no! - because anyone can still get a gun as long as they get a license.  Of course, in order to save money, there won't be many places to get that license; having a lot of licensing centers is a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Or an emergency ban on gasoline/diesel for any vehicles over 4000 lbs due to the climate emergency.  There will be exceptions granted, of course, as long as the person can prove their need.  Like politicians who need armored limos and democratic contributors who have proven their loyalty to the government.

Then an executive order (titled something like "protecting your vote from electoral crime") that bans criminals from voting.  Which, of course, include people who own guns but aren't licensed, or people who still drive those over-4000 lb vehicles.  Anyone can still register to vote, as long as you can demonstrate you are not one of those criminals.

Power doesn't go away because "well, we didn't mean for them to do THAT with it!"

Hi Bill,

THAT is exactly why Mitch McConnell is not a Trump supporter.  He knows that one day, the other guys will have the same power[s].

Jerry Baumchen

[wmw999 2,546]

They kept screaming about how Obama was taking too much power, turning himself into a king. But they were taking lessons the whole time.

Obama didn’t take the guns (didn’t even try), but Trump is taking all kinds of other control

Wendy P. 

[JerryBaumchen 1,445]

1 hour ago, wmw999 said:

They kept screaming about how Obama was taking too much power, turning himself into a king. But they were taking lessons the whole time.

Obama didn’t take the guns (didn’t even try), but Trump is taking all kinds of other control

Wendy P. 

Hi Wendy,

And, he has just started.

“Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

Bette Davis ~ Fasten your seat belts..it's going to be a bumpy night

Jerry Baumchen

[nigel99 573]

3 hours ago, wmw999 said:

They kept screaming about how Obama was taking too much power, turning himself into a king. But they were taking lessons the whole time.

Obama didn’t take the guns (didn’t even try), but Trump is taking all kinds of other control

Wendy P. 

Don’t worry he’ll take the guns. I don’t think it’s far away

[BIGUN 1,424]

6 hours ago, billvon said:

But that sort of power doesn't "go away" once someone else is in power. 

You mean like if he usurps the 22nd Amendment, the Dems might use that too? Hey Bill, Obama, you want back in the game? :) 

[normiss 858]

6 hours ago, nigel99 said:

Don’t worry he’ll take the guns. I don’t think it’s far away

Yet it's been proven that live bullets do not wound nor kill our Great Felon.

The healing is like nothing the world has ever seen. People are like SIR! You grew an entire new ear! You can't see any fake injury ANYWHERE! It's a miracle!! <insert cult jebus donations here add shipto:chinesecrap>cultmembers

But wait there's MOAR!!! The jebus miracle happened a second time and the libruhl assassin was unable to even lift his weapon to fire!!

Just wait. There's gonna be a big boom.

 

 

//s

 

[jakee 1,564]

8 hours ago, BIGUN said:

You mean like if he usurps the 22nd Amendment, the Dems might use that too? Hey Bill, Obama, you want back in the game? :) 

The Supreme Court has already ruled that Constitutional bars cannot stop a candidate standing for President if he's really really popular.

[kallend 2,108]

On 4/15/2025 at 12:35 PM, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi Bill,

THAT is exactly why Mitch McConnell is not a Trump supporter.  He knows that one day, the other guys will have the same power[s].

Jerry Baumchen

"In the long run we're all dead"; John Maynard Keynes.

[base698 20]

On 4/15/2025 at 10:29 AM, billvon said:

I think that something that many Trump supporters miss is that any increase in power in the presidency goes both ways

During the Bush years that was the maxim.  Give ultimate power to chase terrorists and eventually they'll be scraping your cellphone data.  Unfortunately we had a massive authoritarian abuse of power in recent memory.

You probably cheered when the government arrested mothers taking kids to parks, arrested surfers, closed businesses, threatened jobs, and bulldozed skate parks.  

Most Trump supporters aren't going to shed a tear over illegals and judges after the extent they went after regular people.

[wmw999 2,546]

5 hours ago, base698 said:

During the Bush years that was the maxim.  Give ultimate power to chase terrorists and eventually they'll be scraping your cellphone data.  Unfortunately we had a massive authoritarian abuse of power in recent memory.

You probably cheered when the government arrested mothers taking kids to parks, arrested surfers, closed businesses, threatened jobs, and bulldozed skate parks.  

Most Trump supporters aren't going to shed a tear over illegals and judges after the extent they went after regular people.

So as long as the perpetrators of that feel enough pain, it's OK? 

Wendy P.

[JoeWeber 2,836]

6 hours ago, base698 said:

During the Bush years that was the maxim.  Give ultimate power to chase terrorists and eventually they'll be scraping your cellphone data.  Unfortunately we had a massive authoritarian abuse of power in recent memory.

You probably cheered when the government arrested mothers taking kids to parks, arrested surfers, closed businesses, threatened jobs, and bulldozed skate parks.  

Most Trump supporters aren't going to shed a tear over illegals and judges after the extent they went after regular people.

Your perception skills are a tad skewed, methinks. Certainly your understanding of how Bill thinks isn't even close. Your admission that Trump supporters, including you, are believers in weaponizing the legal system to attack their enemies does naught but confirm all that we've been saying all along. So you just carry on not seeing how your political views are destroying the fabric of the nation and making a mockery of the Constitution, our apparently fragile separation of powers, and the judicial system that was supposed to hold it all together. You see, the thing of it is we all need to be able to hold our noses and accept what we do not like in the name of holding together the nation; that is in fact job one. What Trump is now doing and what supporters such as yourself are now doing is the polar opposite of that but you just keep pretending it will all rebalance nicely once your pet peeves, personal agenda, and identified enemies are dealt with properly.

[billvon 3,078]

13 hours ago, wmw999 said:

So as long as the perpetrators of that feel enough pain, it's OK? 

The politics of vengeance and retribution.  Which, again, republicans will not appreciate next time there is a democrat in charge.

[base698 20]

On 4/26/2025 at 12:24 PM, JoeWeber said:

So you just carry on not seeing how your political views are destroying the fabric of the nation and making a mockery of the Constitution, our apparently fragile separation of powers, and the judicial system that was supposed to hold it all together.

My point was that all of this was done to regular people when the Democrats were in power.  We know we aren't going to like it because they already showed the worst authoritarian tendencies 4 years ago.  Not judges, not people with political power, moms and regular people.

[JerryBaumchen 1,445]

32 minutes ago, base698 said:

My point was that all of this was done to regular people when the Democrats were in power.  We know we aren't going to like it because they already showed the worst authoritarian tendencies 4 years ago.  Not judges, not people with political power, moms and regular people.

Hi 698,

Complete & total bullshit.

Jerry Baumchen

[billvon 3,078]

2 hours ago, base698 said:

My point was that all of this was done to regular people when the Democrats were in power. 

Nope.  You have GOT to turn off FOX News.

Quote

We know we aren't going to like it because they already showed the worst authoritarian tendencies 4 years ago.

Why?  Because they made people wear masks during a pandemic that killed over a million Americans? 

I thank God we didn't have today's republicans during the 1940's.   We'd all be speaking German.  "Hell NO I won't serve!  Make someone else serve, like those lazy immigrants, and all those DEI blacks, Jews and women!  It's all Hoover's fault anyway."

[JoeWeber 2,836]

1 hour ago, base698 said:

My point was that all of this was done to regular people when the Democrats were in power.  We know we aren't going to like it because they already showed the worst authoritarian tendencies 4 years ago.  Not judges, not people with political power, moms and regular people.

A completely ridiculous equivalency. Governments are supposed to be concerned with the public welfare which often includes attenuation of some personal freedoms. Speeding in school zones and spreading disease are just two. Attenuating your freedom to walk the streets of a country of which you are a legal resident or just to speak your mind, in particular if you are a journalist, wouldn't be two. You really need to get out of your news box and get back to thinking objectively.

[jakee 1,564]

4 hours ago, base698 said:

We know we aren't going to like it because they already showed the worst authoritarian tendencies 4 years ago.  Not judges, not people with political power, moms and regular people.

Moms and regular people did that when Trump was in power.

[kallend 2,108]

5 hours ago, base698 said:

My point was that all of this was done to regular people when the Democrats were in power.  We know we aren't going to like it because they already showed the worst authoritarian tendencies 4 years ago.  Not judges, not people with political power, moms and regular people.

Sure is some Kool Aid in that post. 

[thelivo 10]

2 hours ago, kallend said:

Sure is some Kool Aid in that post. 

It's just what he's been told to think.

 

[base698 20]

8 hours ago, billvon said:

Why?  Because they made people wear masks during a pandemic that killed over a million Americans?

Because they arrested people outside at the beach and shutdown businesses.  1/3 of the places I regularly went to closed permanently.

[wmw999 2,546]

5 minutes ago, base698 said:

Because they arrested people outside at the beach and shutdown businesses.  1/3 of the places I regularly went to closed permanently.

Most of that happened in 2020. Why was that Biden's fault?

Wendy P.

[BIGUN 1,424]

3 hours ago, wmw999 said:

Most of that happened in 2020. Why was that Biden's fault?

It was Base's fault. Him and those like him failed to adhere to a shutdown. Let's not make a virus allow us to blame either side. Everybody did the best they could with a 100 year event. Mistakes? Absolutely. Instead of playing the blame game - how about a major non-culpible lessons-learned communicated to the people.

[normiss 858]

7 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

It was Base's fault. Him and those like him failed to adhere to a shutdown. Let's not make a virus allow us to blame either side. Everybody did the best they could with a 100 year event. Mistakes? Absolutely. Instead of playing the blame game - how about a major non-culpible lessons-learned communicated to the people.

If only said people would actually LISTEN to those lessons. Yet they continue to refuse science and facts.

See you in camp!

[wmw999 2,546]

30 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

It was Base's fault. Him and those like him failed to adhere to a shutdown. Let's not make a virus allow us to blame either side. Everybody did the best they could with a 100 year event. Mistakes? Absolutely. Instead of playing the blame game - how about a major non-culpable lessons-learned communicated to the people.

And here's an honest start. I heard an interview with one of the authors of this paper with a meta-analysis of papers about the effects of various things that were done, including the lockdown. And nope, the lockdown was probably not worth it. In retrospect. Because the last global pandemic we had was before germ theory was thoroughly ingrained, and experiences like the hugely increased mortality in Philadelphia due to the 1918 flu and their holding of a big military parade (at least that's what's thought to be the cause for Philadelphia's outsized death toll).

The interview (and I don't remember when I heard it other than the last month or so, and where other than NPR) was really good; the author said that only an honest appraisal of what didn't work would make a difference next time

Wendy P.