So the frightening thing us that everything you have written is possible, if Republicans as a whole prioritize it. Trump can’t do it all himself, but Trump + Congress + a compliant Supreme Court definitely can. There are some remaining checks on the whole process, but they are weak and amount to delay tactics.
The biggest check right now is the Military itself. The Military swears an oath to the Constitution, not to the President. That oath will be tested. The Military brass understands their role in all of this. They understand their use on US soil is extremely limited. A lot of the super-fascist stuff will involve them, and they don’t want to be involved. If Trump fires a bunch of Generals right away, that’s a really bad sign, because it means he is going through the various chains of command and trashing it all until he finds a leader willing to violate that oath for him.
So the frightening thing us that everything you have written is possible, if Republicans as a whole prioritize it. Trump can’t do it all himself, but Trump + Congress + a compliant Supreme Court definitely can. There are some remaining checks on the whole process, but they are weak and amount to delay tactics.
The biggest check right now is the Military itself. The Military swears an oath to the Constitution, not to the President. That oath will be tested. The Military brass understands their role in all of this. They understand their use on US soil is extremely limited. A lot of the super-fascist stuff will involve them, and they don’t want to be involved. If Trump fires a bunch of Generals right away, that’s a really bad sign, because it means he is going through the various chains of command and trashing it all until he finds a leader willing to violate that oath for him.
If they haven’t arrested Trump yet then they lack what it takes to do it now.
They don’t need to arrest him, they just need to say “no” if he asks them to do something blatantly unconstitutional.