sorry to post low hanging fruit, but this kinda shook me a little. imo, a much clearer sign of the decay of the bourgeois state than Trump's comments about not committing to peaceful transfer of power. (which have received significant national media attention.) Trump is a buffoon, one guy who is at risk of being assassinated if he refuses to accept the election results.

but this breakdown in the states is organic, something going with its own inertia. it's the first really frightening sign for me, that our liberal democracy, rickety as it may be, is actually at risk of coming apart. even if Trump loses and goes peacefully, I don't see a Biden admin using federal power to do anything at all about this, and neither will the 6-3 supreme court.

https://twitter.com/carterforva/status/1309354062853406720

    • LeninWalksTheWorld [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      The "upside" of Biden is that he poses 0 threat to capital. Litterally harmless to their interests. No one is going to shoot him besides some crank like taxi driver dude who shot Reagan. If anything would probably be some Q guy fulfilling the prophecy or whatever they believe in now.

    • Pezevenk [he/him]
      1·
      4 years ago

      Bruh do you think modern states operate like some medieval fantasy where the king just yells "arrest them!" at his guards and they just follow his commands? The state extends far beyond Trump, or any other dumb senile figurehead. If he decides he still wants to be president out of some sort of personal petulance then too bad, it won't happen, and he won't even have to be assassinated or anything like that. If a much larger group of institutions and authorities decides it's old school fascism time, then he stands a chance. But that won't happen now.

        • Pezevenk [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Being a president is something you are because you are institutionally deemed to be that. No one will have to "stop" him. He will just stop having that function. He is free to keep claiming he is president, but that has about as much bearing on anything as Guaido declaring himself president of Venezuela, or people insisting Hillary Clinton won.

      • kilternkafuffle [any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        I agree. Trump keeping power by force would endanger the elites' ability to peacefully settle disputes between themselves. If he somehow repeats Bush-Gore 2000 (the way Matt Chrisman suggests), where the veneer of legality was preserved, then the status quo is safe. But if he becomes a threat to other elites - not just the personal careers of Clintons/Bidens, but actually violates basic laws that keep the party going, he'll be pushed out.

        Institutions are far more powerful than individuals.