I’m imagining these stooge’s first day on the job being like the 9/11 terrorists taking flying lessons.

“Don’t worry too much about the details, we don’t need to know how to land.”

The idea that our government is a representative democracy is a farce. The machine has too much inertia, too much power and money

I was trying to wax philosophical about what form of government is next. But, you’re right. There’s something that comes first.

The Great Experiment is over. We had a good run. Time to start thinking about what comes next.

Wet dream

You bet. You’ll see the MSM finally report on a protest somewhere blue, some MAGA plants will create a violent disruption, and bam.

Only nine years too late.

Still, hope this marks the start of a trend.

Which one will resort to political assassination first? That’s who wins. And it is the bottom right square on my 2025 'murica bingo card.

I can’t understand how more people don’t understand this. There’s no depth to any of this. An immature, ignorant, narrow-minded idiot doing immature, ignorant, narrow-minded things. The media’s sane washing is to blame, I guess, if not the straight propaganda from right wing outlets. But at this point if you’re still giving the benefit of the doubt you’re part of the problem.

I had this thought the other day and this seems as good a place to leave it as any. Trump seems to be running the economy like it is a simplified version of the 1980s. Like the macho, bold, no compromise leadership style we would have expected from a white collar “hero” of that time period. As if that’s when he learned what a leader looks and acts like and never changed his mind. Absolutely no consideration for evolving culture or the infinitely more complex, interconnected world we live in. Let alone the complexity of the stock market, global trade, and US consumer economy.

Just oversimplified notions like, “We have to tear it down to rebuild it! You don’t have the balls to do something like that! I’m leader!”

Though, more likely he’s just dementia riddled and controlled by a foreign government and too dumb to realize any of it.

In a properly designed and functioning system, reelection and caring about the people should go hand in hand. Stop caring, treat them like crap, someone gets to replace you.

We are not in a well designed, well functioning system.

TBH, he might turn out to be right and we’ll be begging him to teach us his ways.

Can’t remember where I heard it but someone posited this to me and it stuck: Nobody ever does anything they believe is wrong.

If you take that at face value then how you explain evil is that a person has justified to themselves that death, suffering, pain, and unhappiness are all balanced against what they believe is the right way things should be. I can’t imagine being in a ecosystem of people where the things I believe start justifying the way these people behave. But, I’m not a billionaire. Or religious.

Don’t know why I never thought of this before. Just sorted by sender and was able to crank through a ton of emails.

I’m absolutely guilty of what OP describes as being annoying. My coping mechanisms meant ratcheting down the frequency of monitoring those feeds. No email alerts, ever. Check and respond to email twice daily. Respond to IMs (Teams) hourly. Otherwise, pay attention to the meeting I’m in or the work I’m doing. So if I get sent an email I may not get to it for a while, sometimes not before the meeting I’m being called out on.

But in my role I spend 90% of my day in meetings or joint working sessions. Others with different working profiles would have different strategies and expectations, as does the OP, I suspect.

It is all projection.

Could they deputize, say, the military?

Great advice. Here’s another hint for first timers: you’re going to get it wrong. Spend half a day replacing a faucet, following all the instructions and the collective wisdom of YouTube. Turn the water back on and… drip, drip.

Patching drywall, fixing a drawer slide, replacing a loose electrical outlet… No matter how much you read or watch there is some finesse to each. Practice and experience will make it so you get it right the first time more often, and then when you’re an old person like me you reach a point where you can pretty much do it better than the fly-by-night contractor you’d hire.

One more piece of advice. Don’t mess with live electricity. Wall current can stop your heart instantly or start a fire in the middle of the night. Turn off breakers and be diligent about tightening connections and keeping things to code, but don’t be too afraid of it. A little bit of awareness is all it takes. And the first time you turn that breaker back on it may pop, then you’ll see what went wrong and never make that mistake again.

I know I said one more, but here is one more “one more”. Hit yard sales or estate sales for cheap tools. You’ll have to do this proactively and not when you actually need them. Usually you can pick up stuff for pennies on the dollar. An old caulk gun, adjustable wrench, half box of drywall screws… All good to pickup on the cheap.

I know DIY isn’t everyone’s favorite past time, but after the first few things you tackle you might find it actually enjoyable. I know the combination of saving money, securing my home’s integrity, and completing a job well done is something I look forward to.

Perhaps rebellion?

I appreciate the discourse and that you took the time to link the article. Unfortunately, I think the only thing that article does is lay out an effective strategy for the offending party to delay, escalate, enrich, and flee.

To the final point of the article saying that eventually you would get all sorts of pressure to restabilize from entrenched parties… This administration is incapable of understanding the implications of a destabilized United States. Literally incapable. Their world view is so skewed and their echo chamber so closed that it would be like a cancer having to realize that limiting its growth is good for both it and the host. It doesn’t have the mechanisms to self regulate. Neither does our current oligarchy.

Backed up by what? Stern talking to? Fear of embarrassment? Public pressure? A moral compass? Perhaps there is another Amendment that applies when all else has failed…