Update: January 6, 2024. Biden kicked off his campaign for re-eleciton and went on attack accusing Trump as being a danger for democracy. Biden delivers speech on his 2024 reelection bid (youtube.com)
It is time for all good "normal people" to support the calls for Biden to stop talking about the economy and instead attack Trump about democracy v dictatorship..Trump just raised public interest on the issue himself with his being a dictator for a day on two issues. The problem is Trump has promoted many other dictatorlike policies on record before this and day one will be more crowded than these two regarding gas prices and closing the border. Trump is the obvious GOP nominee, and the trials will do little to change polls unless there is a jury trial of his peers before November 2024 that would dramatize Trump's coup, the history of his attack on democracy... For that reason Jack Smith has shortcutted lower court delays by asking the Supreme Court on 12/11 to rule on the question of whether Trump is above the law or is covered by some immunity law or the Constitution. 12/13/23, the DC Court of Appeals also agreed to expedite the resolution of the question if a president is immune from criminal prosecution. The trial date was put on hold pending all of this, but given the quick work of both SCOTUS and the DC appeal court may keep the trial schedule closer to the original dates. .
Update 12/14/23 The GOP has been gambling that voters are still sour on the economy a year from now, so sour, they will vote for TrumpMAGA. The Federal Reserve 12/13 noted that inflation was below 3%, on its way down to the goal of 2%. The predicted recession never happened, as we are still at full employment, with wages rising faster than inflation. That is all good news, but consumers are not feeling it. One reason is that business profits have soared, meaning there has been some price gouging and greedflation in both the food and fuel areas, per some observers. I paid under $3 a gallon for gas yesterday, a welcome lower price, and competition in consumer sectors may also force lower prices. The chances that the economy will be even in better shape in a year, consumers will feel the ower prices and interest rates, and the GOP eggs in their basket in 2023, the economy, will be rotten in 2024. It is too early for Biden to crow now, but in the meantime he can still lay the groundwork for his support of continuing Democracy as we have known it v Trump planning to act like a dictator if he wins. Greedflation: corporate profiteering ‘significantly’ boosted global prices, study shows | Inflation | The Guardian Fed interest rate decision December 2023: Fed holds rates steady, indicates 3 cuts coming in 2024 (cnbc.com ‘Greedflation’ study finds many companies were lying to you about inflation | Fortune Europe
Continuing with the original post:The public is not going to take Trump and MAGA seriously about his advocacy of what looks and smells like a dictatorship unless the issue gets attention in prime time. Biden can do that best. Timing is always an issue, but inflation is almost under control. with belief the Fed will lower interest rates in 2024, and gas prices are down, so when consumers are feeling the improvements is the time for Biden to take a credible victory lap, but not yet. Abortion will still be a significant voter-driver turnout issue from now to November 2024, but opposition to federal bans is well-organized, sustained, and vocal. All of these issues will come to a head in time for the presidential elections and can all be revisited when the public is more focused than it is now. In the meantime, Biden can use this time to get his ducks in a row regarding democracy v dictatorship and build up that campaign platform plank as he and his party would preserve idemocracy and Trump would destroy it...
The test of whether Trump is just joshing or not is that his public plans call for replacing civil service and cabinet and their top brass with only loyalists. There is no political party to tell him "no", a GOP that has been totally taken over by Trump loyalists, with 48 percent of Republicans OK for an authoritarian president and 80% still believe the 2020 election was stolen. This attitude will be reflected in the House of Representatives. There will be no DOJ telling him he cannot do what he has promised publicly he will do, no political party bucking him at the primary level, no generals disagreeing with his orders that they should send in active military and tanks to put down opposition demonstrations, and any wannabe opposing party officials, D or R, or journalists having to choke down fear of the FBI knocking in their doors at night as Trump seeks revenge and defacto control of the press and directs the FBI to find evidence to indict his political enemies. If the judiciary tries to stop him, Trump has already demonstrated he can delay, delay, delay, tie the process in knots, intimidate, primary, and appoint loyalists. Even if rulings are adverse to him, those instructed to enforce rulings will already have been replaced with his loyalists, per Plan 2025. That is all "day one," or within 2025.. " Day two" is to rewrite the Constitution to benefit his staying in power and eliminate and or limit checks and balances, and civil rights. Day three and four? Democracy is toast.
Trump: Constitution should be terminated due to "massive" election fraud (axios.com)
Repeat of an earlier post follows with source citations and what a second term Trump means for certain public policy issues.
It is also true about democracy v autocracy. About 18% of Americans want an autocracy; another 22% lean that way or are tolerant. That 40% either favor or don't care whether we have a democracy or actually support a dictatorship like Trump is promising is frightening, but not a majority either. However, 48% of Republicans favor authoritarianism. The good news is that there is a 20% tilt for continuing democracy as we know it, and there are some of the 20% of fellow travelers favoring autocracy are not that solid. https://www.prri.org/research/threats-to-american-democracy-ahead-of-an-unprecedented-presidential-election/.
From the Washington Post article, here's why the legal issue facing Trump has little or no resonance with Republicans. 4 out 5 think it is political persecution: "Despite the obvious evidence for Trump’s wrongdoing — the Capitol riot, the documents found at Mar-a-Lago, the attempts to overturn the election results in Georgia — most Americans told YouGov pollsters in August that they viewed the charges as intended to block Trump politically. About 4 in 5 Republicans held that view." The significance of these trials is that they fortify fear of a second-term Trump. Still, the worst-case scenario is that they will not be resolved and will be slow walked to after November 2024 and fence-sitting voters will be left in ignorance about whether the Big Lie was truth or fantasy. It is central to the democracy v dictatorship issue but not fatal because Trump's recent words about his future plans are plenty to make the case: he is a wannabe dictator.
MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump is running on a platform to become a dictator, updated 12/11/2023
MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What is the definition of a dictator and does Trump fit it? Yes, every criterion
A lot of Americans embrace Trump’s authoritarianism - The Washington Post
Trump Is an Authoritarian. So Are Millions of Americans - POLITICO
Americans are sleepwalking into a Trump dictatorship (msn.com)
Biden Attacks Trump, Treating Him as De Facto Republican Nominee (msn.com)
Almost a third of Americans still believe the 2020 election result was fraudulent (nbcnews.com)
Per Huff Post, democracy extremely important in 2022: New Polling Shows Democracy Mattered In The 2022 Midterms | HuffPost Latest News
"Six in 10 voters cited protecting democracy as an extremely important reason that they decided to vote in November. This put the issue ahead of inflation (53%), abortion (47%) and crime (45%). When asked to choose the top two issues that motivated them to vote, 50% chose protecting democracy, second only to inflation at 55%.
These findings are largely in line with preelection surveys from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, NBC News, Quinnipiac University Poll and the Grinnell College National Poll, as well as exit polling from The Associated Press, NBC News and CNN."
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