[Huntsecker]

daily stories coming from the US are pretty crazy, FBI being used as a tool to try and revert something from under the previous administration. Feels like whatever balances and checks that should be in place to stop an autocracy are missing

[kayodelycaon]

In theory, congress can remove a president. Start placing your bets! Does he get removed before he dissolves congress? :)

I’m only partial joking. The check and balances in the country won’t work if half the population wants to replace democracy with theocracy.

[alienthrowaway]

> In theory, congress can remove a president

In practice, the president is threatening to remove any Republican member of congress who crosses him by supporting a primary challenger.

[Alupis]

Just because you are unhappy with how things are being governed doesn't mean democracy is failing, etc. We just had an election, and the current administration won. Midterms are just around the corner. This is exactly how things are supposed to work.

[fransje26]

> The check and balances in the country won’t work if half the population wants to replace democracy with theocracy.

It looks like this entire nonsense is heavily going to hurt the wallets of more than half of the population. So why would they be so keen to vote for a theocracy?

Although at this stage I also wouldn't put it past the clowns in power to actively tamper with elections to get the results they want.

[kristopolous]

Republicans are the right wing party, Democrats are the conservative. That's why their response is to uphold the status quo and existing power structures while they do ineffective, ceremonial, wonky frittering around the edges.

Their progressive policies were adopted after Fortune 500 and major institutions had changed theirs.

Whether it be climate change or gay marriage, established companies like Goldman Sachs and Amazon were there first and the Democrats followed because they desperately align themselves with the status-quo regardless of where it is.

Just scroll through the Google News result for "Democrats". People scratch their heads because they assume they're supposed to be oppositional as opposed to institutional.

Once you understand they're the party of establishment, status quo and hegemony, there's literally no more confusion on their motivations or lack of action.

[salynchnew]

Yeah, I thought it'd be a cold day in hell before I saw the FBI going after Habitat for Humanity and the United Way.

[accrual]

I hope it leads to stronger checks and balances.

[not2b]

A president can revert an executive order from the previous administration. But the Inflation Reduction Act is a law, not an executive order. If Trump doesn't like it, he can get Congress to repeal it. But he isn't the king. The constitution requires that the president "take care that the laws be faithfully executed". It isn't fraud when funds that were allocated by the act were distributed according to the act. If someone cheated then by all means they can bring charges if they have any evidence, which they apparently do not.

[caycep]

the problem is there has to be credible enforcement. Either a credible threat of impeachment, or a separate branch of Us Marshals that works directly for the judiciary or something.

[roamerz]

>>The constitution requires that the president "take care that the laws be faithfully executed".

You mean like Biden enforcing our border laws?

[Terr_]

> to try and revert something from under the previous administration

More-importantly, it's nowhere close to "normal" try-to-reverts, where one President tries to replace an equally "soft" policy put in place by another President.

Here the newly-installed crooks are trying to deny a hard "money shall be spent on X" law passed by Congress, which is an unconstitutional attempt to seize the "power of the purse".

Same legal-vibes as if Trump declared people on his Friends List were exempt from taxes.

[jagged-chisel]

> … as if …

This hasn’t happened already?

[pjc50]

> as if Trump declared people on his Friends List were exempt from taxes

I'll pencil that in for April. After all, the president can direct who is and is not prosecuted..