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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#290526: Sep 19th 2019 at 6:06:38 PM

He's definitely pulling off a coup. He's actually not very popular with a lot of the higher ups in the military. The CIA, to my understanding, really doesn't like him very much at all. And well, if you're wanting to establish yourself as a dictator, the shadowy secret agency with flying robot assassins and a long history of overthrowing governments are definitely not people to make enemies with.

What's more likely is just that some alt-right douchebags get pushed over the edge by his loss and begin hurting people.

@Charles Phipps I thought the AR-15 was a very common rifle? My dad owns one. It's a pretty great rifle.

Leviticus 19:34
Imca (Veteran)
#290527: Sep 19th 2019 at 6:48:44 PM

Its COLT, and COLT alone that is ceasing production....

Colt through a series of mismanagement is about bankruptnote  , and this is just the final stages of them dieing off, while they were the original manufactures of the AR-15, nearly every company makes a variant because it is one of the most popular sporting rifles in the west, and very cheap.

[up] Your correct, the headline wasn't read throughaly and conclusions were jumped too.

Edited by Imca on Sep 19th 2019 at 6:51:21 AM

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#290528: Sep 19th 2019 at 6:51:58 PM

Yeah, according to my sources it's the single most popular firearm in the US IIRC.

Leviticus 19:34
Imca (Veteran)
#290529: Sep 19th 2019 at 6:56:07 PM

Longarm, not firearm.

Though that is still why you hear about them in the news so much, you pick a random rifle in the US and it is most likely going to be an AR-15 of some kind.

Both pistol sales and crimes vastly outnumber rifle sales and crimes though, which is why the longarm distinction is important.

Edit: Then again, despite making 72% of the market, there is a lot more verity to pistol types, so you MIGHT still be correct, but its like not the majority of over all gun sales, jut over all rifle sales.

Edited by Imca on Sep 19th 2019 at 6:58:06 AM

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#290530: Sep 19th 2019 at 7:27:46 PM

Colt ending AR sales is almost laughable. They’re a third-tier manufacturer at best, they barely sell any ARs any more.

AR-15s represent 10 million of the 300 million firearms in the US. They’re the single most popular pattern available, including handguns. Though, I’ll point out that despite being so widespread they only account for a tiny fraction of gun deaths.

Edited by archonspeaks on Sep 19th 2019 at 7:33:29 AM

They should have sent a poet.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#290531: Sep 19th 2019 at 8:11:07 PM

The call between Trump and a "foreign leader" that the whistleblower brought to attention is reportedly one made to the new president of Ukraine.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#290532: Sep 19th 2019 at 8:29:04 PM

He'll never concede, but he's also not going to pull a coup. He'll just go back to Mar-a-Lago and constantly bray about how he's the President people really wanted, but the (((Democrats))) stole the people's votes from them.

This.

Trump is a delusional egomaniacal asshole, but he's also a coward. He would never put himself in the firing line, which an attempted military coup demands. The worst we can expect from him in that regard is that he'll probably make comments that insinuate, but never directly state, that people should take their own initiative and go shoot Dems/the new President.

But he'll never do anything that might expose him to direct violent retaliation from legitimate authority. Military coups are for people who don't hide behind their bone spurs.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Sep 19th 2019 at 9:30:06 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#290533: Sep 19th 2019 at 8:40:34 PM

Yeah. AR-15-type rifles are very popular among hunters (it's actually an excellent hunting weapon) and wannabe badasses alike. But Colt itself is dying.

Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#290535: Sep 20th 2019 at 2:26:26 AM

I wonder if this is what living in a tyranny is like: watching people constantly break the law but absolutely nothing can be done about it.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#290536: Sep 20th 2019 at 2:33:25 AM

No, living in a tyranny is more like constantly worrying about whether or not you or anyone you know will be "disappeared" by Secret Police.

It'd be like what the ICE is doing to undocumented immigrants these days, except on an even greater scale, not just limited to undocumented immigrants, and nobody willing to report on it because they don't want to be "disappeared" too.

And instead of an inhumane holding facility with awful conditions, it's a ditch.

Things aren't great in the USA right now by any means, and there's definitely a valid concern that things may get worse, but we're not in a tyranny yet.

Edited by M84 on Sep 20th 2019 at 5:37:30 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#290537: Sep 20th 2019 at 3:27:49 AM

Well. Or at least not as bad a tyranny as it could be. We don't have to go as far as mass graves to be in a tyranny.

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#290538: Sep 20th 2019 at 3:33:12 AM

We still have elections that actually kind of mean something. We still have media that isn't all state press sucking up to the dictator. At the very least, we can still complain without worrying too much about being sent to Guantanamo or a pit.

A shitty democracy does not a tyranny make. It's still shitty, but there's a difference.

Edited by M84 on Sep 20th 2019 at 6:36:15 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#290539: Sep 20th 2019 at 3:36:47 AM

Sure. We're not there yet. Worrying amounts of the requisite elements are creeping in, but we're not there yet.

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#290540: Sep 20th 2019 at 3:48:23 AM

I don’t think Trump taking over and becoming a dictator is really something we should realistically be worrying about.

It’s perfectly possible for democracies to do all kinds of shitty things and still be a democracy. Let’s worry about what’s actually in front of us.

They should have sent a poet.
RJ-19-CLOVIS-93 from New Zealand (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#290541: Sep 20th 2019 at 4:36:19 AM

I'm pretty sure Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson have demonstrated more dictatorial traits as president than Trump has at this point. BTW, I'm bringing up past presidents mainly to find who we can compare to Number 45. I'm hoping Trump isn't unique so we can learn from the past and tackle the orange one

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#290542: Sep 20th 2019 at 4:40:40 AM

Given that all of the intelligence organizations and groups with martial power in the US really hate Trump's guts and just want him gone it's safe to say a dictatorship is pretty much out of the question.

Oh really when?
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#290543: Sep 20th 2019 at 4:45:37 AM

A dictator (or a wannabe dictator) would be consolidating power and influence within military leadership and intelligence divisions. Trump instead has regularly argued with them and mocked them. He hasn't even really taken steps to replace them with his cronies, at least not in significant enough numbers to matter.

Disgusted, but not surprised
GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#290544: Sep 20th 2019 at 4:56:36 AM

I'm more concerned about the willingness to vote in strongman populists on obviously racist platforms like Trump than I am about Trump himself. Trump isn't focused or motivated enough to become a true dictator. The same might not be true of future candidates who would attempt to get into the Oval Office on the same kind of appeal.

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#290545: Sep 20th 2019 at 6:17:53 AM

We'll burn those bridges when we come to them.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#290546: Sep 20th 2019 at 6:18:07 AM

Recall that he still claims to have won the popular vote. In fact I fully believe that he fully believes that he did and that he was robbed due to illegals voting. Remember that he installed a commission to "prove" it. Fortunately it failed. Also call back to the recent hurricane flap. That he used a sharpie to alter the map is childish and ridiculous. That his cronies in the NOAA threatened people's jobs in order to make them agree with him is not. He's probably too incompetent to carry off a coup but he's completely capable of trying and the Republicans would cooperate if they thought it would let them keep a permanent majority in Congress.

Trump delenda est
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#290547: Sep 20th 2019 at 6:22:11 AM

Yeah, let’s not worry about a maybe future dictator. Just fight the white supremacy and authoritarianism that’s in front of us, that’ll do the trick.

[up] Honestly, I can’t see Trump trying for a coup. He’s obsessed with the election because he wants to prove he’s popular, a coup would basically be an admission he’s not popular.

If he loses the election he’s just going to spend the rest of his life screaming on a Trump-brand media platform about how he really won the election and how he was the best president in history.

Edited by archonspeaks on Sep 20th 2019 at 6:25:08 AM

They should have sent a poet.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#290548: Sep 20th 2019 at 6:23:06 AM

Trump believes all his lies when he says them. Then doesn't when he says something else. It is useless to talk about what he believes, since it changes from moment to moment.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#290549: Sep 20th 2019 at 6:23:08 AM

[up]x4, [up][up] It's certainly a future problem. But societies also take a while to be primed to be receptive to certain ideas. Like how the private media in the UK spent the last 40 years priming the public to blame the EU for everything. So, starting the shift to counter such narratives should start as soon as possible really.

Edited by GoldenKaos on Sep 20th 2019 at 2:23:50 PM

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#290550: Sep 20th 2019 at 6:43:30 AM

[up][up] There are a few things he is thoroughly committed to. His obsession with dismantling everything accomplished by Obama, his commitment to the Wall, his isolationism etc

Trump delenda est

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