To think that the USA is a dictatorship now?

[spoonbillstretford]

Trump appears to have ultimate power. Who can challenge him? Who controls him? Presidents should not be dictating what drug companies charge for medicines on a whim, or indeed any other goods, at the drop of a hat. He says jump and the US says "How High?" What on earth have you done to yourselves and the world to let this evil, thick, orange toddler clown represent you? What the hell were you thinking?

Apart from the fact that I've got friends who I care about over there (who certainly don't like what's going on; Trump doesn't have popular support, his approval ratings are the lowest of any president since records began) I care about what happens in the US because when the US sneezes the world catches a cold.

The Republicans keep fucking up the global economy. And it does always seem to be the Republicans. This isn't the first time that punitive tariffs have been introduced by the Republicans - back in the 1930s the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act doubled unemployment. Even Trump himself has admitted on camera that the Democrats are better on the economy than the Republicans:

So we are a bit pissed off with the fact that 77 million people (a few of whom may have been invented by Elon to tip the balance in the swing states) decided to drive a wrecking ball through the global economy and imperil us all. Just remember that all empires fall eventually.

Universities are being coerced into falling into line. People who oppose the administration's policy on the Middle East get deported or refused entry. You can't even have a meme on your phone lest you get pulled out for checks. Reputable news agencies barred from White House press briefings because they continued to call the Gulf of Mexico "the Gulf of Mexico". Troops on the streets of several cities, foreign journalists being shot with baton rounds...

Give it time and the rest will follow. He wants to be a dictator. The fact that he's not quite there yet doesn‘t change things.

It's a piece of paper, easily torn up.

The Constitution matters little when you've stacked the Supreme Court with political appointees and are prepared to use a violent mob to get what you want.

I do agree we spend too much time following US news particularly Radio 4. If you listen to the World Service the news is much more interesting. I read the New York Times and actually get interesting stories about the UK and Europe in that that I don't find in the news here.

Yup, and Trump's administration has made quite clear it is prepared to ignore the courts if push comes to shove.

It might be premature to call the US a dictatorship but its certainly descending into an authoritarian hellhole.

Rounding up and sometimes deporting citizens - as well as non-citizens, ignoring due process and court orders in carrying out deportations, the National Guard deployed (seemingly as a show of force) against citizens in DC, profound attacks on freedom of the press, ICE agents targeting events from Trump's political rivals, the FBI publishing fraudulent "evidence" against a former political rival, Trump using the justice department to pursue personal vendettas.

And all by a rapist, conman who is most likely a paedophile.

Yes, the UK is a country with profound challenges, and is in a state of decline that seems hard to reverse, but the US...well, frankly its disgusting and I don't truly know whether its still a democracy.

In a global context the US is a very immature democracy really. The country as we know it today is only 250 years old, and arguably has only been a democracy since discriminatory voting was outlawed in 1965!

Compare that to the UK, which one could argue traces its roots to the Union of the Crowns in 1603 in its current form, and to England as it is today which goes back to the 10th century AD when various Anglo Saxon kingdoms united, and the US is just a spotty teenager - and under its current leader, acting like one!!

Even at a democratic level, the various Reform acts of the 1800s established the principle of democracy in the UK. Although, women not getting the vote until 1928 means that democracy as we know it has existed for less than 100 years even here. But, that’s still almost twice as long as in the US…

As a side note, am I the only one that thinks the reason that Americans are brainwashed into thinking they are the land of the free (they really aren’t…) is to keep them in their place? The phrase ‘methinks you doth protest too much’ always springs to mind. Although, that’s a quote from Hamlet which was written in a civilised country 170 years before the foundation of America :)

Re Land of the Free.
Pretty obvious, really, when you think where early immigrants came from.

True…although, like everyone that leaves a partner, a job, a home there is undoubtedly a tendency for self affirmation that the choice made was the right one ;)

Well, it worked for the ancient Athenians.

(Ok, they were watching fiction.)

I'd love to know what history books you've read.

Trumps a bad person but a good president.

My DS, who studied politics at uni and works in a political field believes that the USA is already in a civil war. Because it's the 21st C this does not look like previous ones.

We have very rich people using tax systems to increase wealth - Varoufakis calls it social support for the wealthy.

Trump "invading" American states, using Musk, an unelected, unaccountable individual, as a Gov figure with access to US citizens information.

Whilst he is promoting your ideas he's a good dictator, wait until he isn't. In reality he is only on his own side and, historically evidenced, doesn't care anything about you or anyone.

But he's old, unfit and in poor health. Vance is worse.

Spot on 👏🏻

I agree with @SamPM

Donald Trump’s not a dictator. He’s a wanker.

‘Dictator’ is thrown around by the left too easily. I remember Margaret Thatcher being labelled a dictator by left-wing types all those years ago. In the UK and US, to the left the word ‘dictator’ means “a person I don’t approve of who’s been elected”.

I bet you his ultimate goal is to set up a Trump dynasty, which is after all quite an American tradition...

Our country is in a diabolical mess!! It's a shit show, a complete and utter disgrace.
We have a two tier justice system, we have an incompetent cretin prime minister who is a compulsive liar.

Wake up and look at what's really going on here before you judge other countries.

Our country is in a diabolical mess!! It's a shit show, a complete and utter disgrace.

But we don't have masked strangers picking people up off the streets for being a bit brown - including actual citizens.

We don't have increasing censorship in our school and library system.

We don't have women dying because they're denied abortions.

We don't have a government that decides what our national museums display.

We don't have a Health Secretary who slashes vital research funding into highly promising cancer treatments because he doesn't understand what mRNA is. And our Health Secretary doesn't undermine vaccination programmes either.

We have a two tier justice system, we have an incompetent cretin prime minister who is a compulsive liar.

We don't have a two tier justice system - there's a whole thread on this. Maybe read up about the difference between what happens if you plead guilty compared to pleading not guilty.

Your opinion of the Prime Minister is just that - an opinion. Do I think he's great? No. Do I think he's better than the last lot? Hell yes.

Lastly, if you think it's so awful here, you could always get a job in the US and move over there. I'm sure it'll be great.

From the Cambridge Dictionary; a dictator: someone who rules a country with complete power, has complete control over the armed forces, and destroys any political opposition.

1. complete power: not yet but there are worrying signs regarding removal of checks and balances; Congress is ruled by the GOP which is entirely loyal to Trump and red states like Texas are using extreme gerrymandering to make sure it stays that way, the Department of Justice is now there to serve Trump. FBI and CIA, there to serve Trump etc.
2. control over the armed forces: again, not there yet but numerous generals critical of Trump have been swiftly removed and new generals promoted on the basis of their loyalty to Trump.
3. political opposition: removal of WH press accreditation for news agencies deemed too critical or antagonistic, favouring mouthpieces and propagandists, removal of funding for public service media such as NPR and PBS which were deemed too leftist, pressure on CBS to change the editorial line of 60 minutes (flagship current affairs magazine), cancellation of hosts like Colbert who are deemed too critical. Higher education under attack, spread of censorship in schools and libraries across red states... It's a slippery slope to say the least.

Having said that, there are very important hallmarks of hard dictatorships that are NOT seen at this stage such as imprisonment of political opponents or political assassinations. That line has not been crossed and to be fair that's the main one. Putin crossed that line many years ago. My conclusion is that rule of law is absolutely being dangerously undermined in the US and this administration is playing with fire but we're not at the dictatorship level yet. However, this feels like a very dangerous time right now, not least because the economy is not doing well and social divides are worse than ever.

The Tory party in the UK didn't actually do many conservative things.

Donald Trump is actually doing conservative things.

What is he conserving exactly, apart from the wealth of his cronies?

You do forget that in December 2019 the US economy was booming and thriving. Strong wage growth, record low unemployment.

He's deporting illegal immigrants. His "One Big Beautiful Bill" has some juicy tax cuts.

Can we put the UK bit on one side for a minute? Not arguing about the UK but I think many of us simply don't understand what is happening in the USA. Trump seems to be able to do what he wants but I thought the whole point of US government was checks and balances? Can he do everything on executive orders?
Really interested in how this works. It seems very different practice to the presidents who have gone before.

I think the problem is that the Constitution has always allowed for a strong executive branch. You cannot compare the US system (presidential system, more similar to that of France) with the UK's which is a parliamentary democracy and an appointed PM. That's the crux of it. Trump (well, Trump's lawyers) are constantly testing and stretching the constitution to its limits but it's fast becoming worthless if all branches of power are undermined at the same time.

At what cost? He’s cut off millions of people’s Medicaid.

Thank you. I understand the US system but hadn't realised the executive branch could ride roughshod over all. I thought that Congress/Supreme Court had more power than they seem to, right now.