this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
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We unfortunately have been conditioned to not recognize the oligarchical coup because the only coups we've seen were military invasions of a government. But rest assured THIS IS A COUP

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[–] shoulderoforion@fedia.io 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

No. When you attempt to redefine inflammatory words, which do not correctly represent the current facts on the ground, you make those words less meaningful and impactful, when we actually need to employ them. What's happening is very very fucked up and illegal, but it's not a coup.

While that's what was attempted on January 6th 2021, and may happen again in January of 2029, it's not what's transpiring now.

What it happening at the moment, is a Constitutional Crisis led by the Executive Branch (Trump, and his minion Musk with Trumps permission and direction) disregarding Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution is known as the "taxing and spending clause." Clause 2 is known as the "borrowing clause.", against the Legislative Branch (Congress), namely Congresses right to determine what taxes are collect and how they are distributed, and in what amounts, which will ultimately be decided by the Judicial Branch (The Supreme Court)

The very bad news is all 3 Branches of US Government are squarely in control of Republicans, since the last election in November, who are blindly supporting Trump

[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

A coup d'état (/ˌkuːdeɪˈtɑː/ ⓘ; French: [ku deta] ⓘ; lit. 'stroke of state'),[1] or simply a coup, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership.[2][3] A self-coup is when a leader, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means.[3]

A self-coup, also called an autocoup (from Spanish autogolpe) or coup from the top, is a form of coup d'état in which a political leader, having come to power through legal means, stays in power illegally through the actions of themselves and/or their supporters.[27] The leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers. Other measures may include annulling the constitution, suspending civil courts, and having the head of government assume dictatorial powers.[28][29]

In a self-coup, which is a form of coup, the leader may dissolve or render powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assume extraordinary powers.

I'd say this qualifies, although it's in an unusual form. I think it applies better than "constitutional crisis" to the current events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

I don’t know man, you’ve been passing round your opinion in exactly those same words now for the past couple of days. But I don’t see much of a crisis here. The conflict between different parts of government should be a little more pronounced for a constitutional crisis. As you mention, the relevant parts of government are already in the hands of the Republicans. If there is not going to be a substantial fight from the departments and institutions that are being dismantled now, there won’t be much of a crisis. And then it won’t matter much how we are going to call this.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] joshcodes@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That article is vague and not what the above described. Can I offer the following: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_coup

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 23 hours ago

Yes. Thank you!