Quote:
Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus
So the state of Nevada has a 50 person indoor gathering rule from Governor Steve Sisolak 'D' but Trump holds an indoor rally in Henderson against the city's wishes.
Amazing to think but he's already acting like a king
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It's a great illustration of the point I was making earlier. What's the governor going to do about it?
The law itself has no power. The power of a law only comes from either willing compliance through fear or someone having the will and capacity to actually enforce the law with some form of violence (financial, physical, reputational etc.). Additionally, the interpretation of law and decisions made can be heavily influenced by having access to good lawyers who don't even need to prove the correctness of their own side to gain a legal victory as they can get the practical victory for their client just by obfuscating the truth or by delaying and avoiding judgment until it doesn't matter anymore. The legal process can be used to abuse the law, and adherence to legal process is a significant constraint in fighting against a powerful person who has no respect for legal processes.
Trump has spent his whole life taking advantage of this by cheating people who he knew couldn't do anything back to him and intimidating those he cheats into not even responding. He understands these vulnerabilities in the law well and has repeatedly proven it to be the case. And now, he has not just money to throw around to avoid and abuse the law. Now he has the power of the presidency, the attorney general, much of congress, judges, senators, congressmen, business leaders and more. He also has his social media platform, Fox News, OAN, other media sources and maybe 100+ million loyal followers who believe in him 100%. For a large portion of the population, he has the power to shape the truth and reality through his words alone.
Who wields the power to stop him when he shows no respect for law? Military leaders could, if they have the conviction necessary to step in and force a president out of office. That will take some huge cajones when the real results of the election are obscured and they would face 100+ million Americans that would view it as a military coup of a legitimate president. Maybe someone else also has the power. Who? Whoever it is, will they have the will and resolve to act?
I'm not saying that Trump will for sure succeed, but I do think he is testing the system in fundamental ways and his chances of success are high enough to be worried about. History is full of events like these, and in a system that hasn't yet had any good answers to his abuses, the election is just the last legal process he needs to corrupt in order to have torn it all down.