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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
You know, Russia is a pretty fucking bad place, but from a purely political perspective it couldn't hurt to get a better relationship with Russia. On one hand, Russia is definitely going to throw around its proverbial big stick to boss around the less powerful nations near it as it has been as of late, on the other it would be nice to not be constantly butting heads with Putin on every issue. Now it's China that hates us. And as much as I want to say that the US should be protecting democracy and the good of the people across the globe... after several decades of trying that in the Middle East I'm somewhat more okay with letting other nations deal with it for once. It's no ideal, but it's the bright side to a bad situation.
I agree that we have no choice but to hope for a passable Trump presidency. Shit's going south right now, but it could still even out. And as easy as it is to hope for Trump's America to bomb harder than a mediocre slasher flick.... I live here.
At this stage in the game Trump is our check against Congress.
edited 16th Nov '16 11:03:34 AM by InAnOdderWay
Well, as my ex Air Force friend is eager to keep telling me, members of the military swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution.
edited 16th Nov '16 11:09:55 AM by Elle
Well, he's been floating Flynn as Sec Def, hasn't he? From all I've heard saying that Flynn is unpopular with most of the military establishment is the understatement of the century, even outside of his " I might or might not be a Russian turncoat" aura.
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Constitutionally or legally? No. If you're talking a real military coup though then both of those are out the window.
Legally though, both American and international law require soldiers to refuse to obey "illegal orders". There is only so far they can be bullied. And Trump trying to force such orders through might be grounds for impeachment that might even pass the Republican Congress.
edited 16th Nov '16 11:23:59 AM by Elle
You know, I thought we could have a coup on our hands if Trump did anything too extreme, but I didn't expect our generals to already be thinking about one behind everyones' backs. That is if they are actually are. And with any luck, they aren't. (We hope.)
edited 16th Nov '16 11:26:07 AM by kkhohoho
It would be extremely ugly, and would forever change the relationship between the US military and civilian government. Democracy would probably be restored eventually, like it typically was in Turkey when similar coups happened, but that's a door that, once opened, couldn't be closed again.
edited 16th Nov '16 11:41:27 AM by CaptainCapsase
I was only just talking about it and I didn't want to bring it up again, but a military coup is absolutely one of the worst possible things that could happen to the US. You all want to avoid that at any cost. It would set a horrific precedent that would completely destabilize the democracy of the US for the future at large.
As Capsase said, eventually such a regime would come to an end in all likelihood, but there's no telling how long it would last, and after the fact there would always be factions of the military wanting to get back in power afterwards, and stupid people lionizing a regime that in all likelihood compromised their civil rights, all because of the lack of information that said regime fed them about their corruption and incompetence as leaders.
edited 16th Nov '16 11:59:48 AM by Draghinazzo
I wonder if he's read enough Roman history to realize that withholding Secret Service pay is a dumb idea?tongue
If you told a Russian that Russia deserves antipathy because they influenced our elections, he'd probably laugh in your face. For good reason.
For the most part Russia and the USA are hitting the same targets. ISIS targets account for about half of those hit by Russian warplanes, with Al-Nusra and its allies accounting for most of the rest.
edited 16th Nov '16 12:07:50 PM by MonsieurThenardier
"It is very easy to be kind; the difficulty lies in being just."
Baloney. They used a false-flag operation to suborn Ukranian democracy then illegally annexed a part of it, like some two-bit imperial power from the early 20th century. Putin jails and murders his political opponents, crushes journalistic freedom, and "free elections" are a joke. Trump admires Putin because he's the kind of two-bit imperial dictator that Trump aspires to be.
edited 16th Nov '16 12:06:42 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Bit of a sobering article about the Democrat's 2018 chances.
The math is simple: If the electoral map stays the same colors between now and 2018, the Democrats could stand to gain just one Republican seat while losing 10 of their own, leaving them with an even smaller minority than they held when they lost their majority in the 2014 midterms.
And then there’s the House. Currently, Republicans hold a wide majority, with 239 Republican congressmen to just 192 Democrats. And with Republican gerrymandering, the Democrats could face an uphill battle trying to flip that many seats in 2018.

If it's true that the Kremlin has a hold on Trump through blackmail as some security people have theorized, well there's that too.