Look. If things go that far, you and your. 38 or. 45 or shotgun, etc. will mean little. A hell fire missile from a drone will blow you up as a declared terrorist from 30 km away. The idea that the people will keep the government in check with their personal firearms is silly.
Goddamn. This is where the CT goes off the rails. Do you understand what needs to happen for your scenario to occur?
For Trump to assume dictatorial power within the US... he needs no resistance from Congress,
Not no resistance; Just no effective resistance. As long as the majority party in Congress supports him , he will be fine.
and no resistance from the Judicial branch,
Again, just no effective resistance. As long as he has the support of a majority of the Supreme Court, he will be fine.
and no resistance from the military.
That's the missing piece right now; But how likely is it that the military (or even a large fraction of it) will oppose the Commander in Chief?
Somehow, he needs to get a supermajority of a congress that he does not entirely control to side with him and support his usurpation of power.
Which he can do using 'salami tactics'. He isn't going to declare himself Führer all of a sudden and expect people to go along.
He needs to convince the Judicial branch, whose duty is the interpretation of the constitution, to support him in directly violating that constitution.
If he can persuade 30% of the people to support him, and that he isn't violating the constitution (or that his violation of it is unimportant) then he shouldn't have any trouble finding judges to appoint who agree with that position
And he needs the support of the US military, whose duty is to uphold the OFFICE of the President (not the acting president) and to act in accord with the constitution, to violate their sworn oaths and the UCMJ and turn their arms against the citizens of the US who are acting in accord with their constitutional rights in protecting themselves from a violation of the constitution.
Except that it's salami tactics. They won't be "turn[ing] their arms against the citizens of the US who
are acting in accord with their constitutional rights"; They will be protecting the US against domestic terrorists.
What on earth makes you think that will happen? Why do you think that the entire military apparatus will meekly go along with the desires of a self-proclaimed dictator in direct violation of their duty?
Why not? It's happened many times before in many places. What's so special about the USA? He's not going to proclaim himself dictator until the last stage. It's easy to decide not to do something as serious as revolution, while the dictator leaves you with room to doubt that he is really staging a coup. All he has to do is not proclaim anything other than that he is defending you against terrorists and illegals.
What makes you think that law enforcement would kow-tow to orders that directly violate their role and responsibility to the people of the united states?
The War on Terror. And the prevention of an invasion by 'Illegals'. Terrorists and illegals are, by definition, unworthy of the protection of law. That's how the police and military will see this.
Trump doesn't have nearly enough support to pull this off. Not even remotely close.
Oh, it's definitely remotely close. It's perhaps even frighteningly close. And it keeps getting closer.
Salami tactics. Nobody takes over a country by simply declaring themselves Führer and expecting everyone to fall into line; That's the LAST step of the takeover, not the FIRST.
[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKbDKsNsjac[/YOUTUBE]
Watch the above video, and consider that a popular revolution to oust the dictator is the nuclear option - starting a revolution is a huge commitment from a fragmented populace. When do the people rise up to overthrow Trump?
When he bans Muslims from coming to the US? When he locks up children to deter immigrants from Mexico? When he appoints one, or two, or three religious and conservative justices to the Supreme Court? When he postpones the Presidential elections pending an investigation of illegal voting? When that postponement drags on, and he appoints an 'emergency congress' to pass budgets and legislation until fair elections can be resumed? When he arrests journalists who speak out against this, and suggest that the people exercise their second amendment rights, on the basis that they are inciting terrorism?
People with far less than 30% support have taken over countries in the past. It's difficult to persuade the army to revolt against someone who can show at least the pretense of legitimacy. As long as Trump was elected once, and the prospect of elections 'soon' can be dangled in front of the powers that be until they can be replaced by hand-picked cronies and 'reliable' supporters of the regime, it's really not that hard to make it happen.
Your people didn't rise up and defend democracy when Al Gore won the presidency and was overthrown by the Bush family in Florida. Why the fuck do you think they will do so under any foreseeable circumstances?
Tyranny doesn't declare itself and invite you to fight it. It sneaks in and erodes any possible organization against it, getting a bit more power and a bit more difficult to oust day by day, month by month, until suddenly people are saying 'If only we had acted sooner; But now it is too late'.