cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/28102
US military leaders previously warned Trump that they were ‘not ready’ to respond to Iran’s anticipated retaliation and required additional time to prepare
From thecradle.co via This RSS Feed.
Sure, but that just puts the administration in a double bind.
If they appeal to the idea that actually its still a war even without a formal declaration, that means that there have been dozens of elections held during “Wartime.”
If they try to go the other way, that means they need to actually get a formal declaration of war, which hands the power back to Congress. In no way shape or form does Trump want to do that. And even if he did, they’d still have to explain how this constitutes a greater crisis than WW2, which didn’t get in the way of holding elections.
Only if the GOP/trump cared about optics which they never have
They absolutely care about optics. That’s why they’re talking about cancelling the midterms in the first place. That’s why they’re pulling ICE out of Minnesota. That’s why they’re trying to cover up the Epstein files.
They wouldn’t lie so much if the truth wasn’t dangerous. Never forget that.
We have vastly different ideas on optics, especially since they did not actually pull ice out and people that care about optics wouldn’t be floating canceling elections.
They wouldn’t be talking openly about cancelling elections, but they’d certainly be discussing it internally. And you’ll notice that the rest of the administration isn’t talking openly about it. Trump is, because he’s a raging ball of id who’s too stupid to keep his mouth shut. Important distinction there.
And remember, we’re talking about optics, which means whether or not they actually pulled ICE out of Minnesota is irrelevant. What matters is that they felt the need to say they’re pulling out. Why would they, if they didn’t care about what people think?
Don’t ever get drawn into the trap of thinking that authoritarians don’t need to care about public opinion. All governments ultimately exist by the consent of the governed. Democracy just turns that process into a formalized and largely bloodless one. There is no amount of tyranny that can keep a government in power if a sufficiently large portion of the populace doesn’t want them in power.
And Trump’s regime has not even achieved tyranny yet. They’re working on it, very hard and at a terrifying pace. But they can only get there if people let them.