Democratic norms have been eroded for years, writes Vinnie Rotondaro, with the cooperation of the same liberal establishment that now acts scandalized by Trump’s every defiance.
Protest sign in Washington, D.C., during Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Jan. 20. (Diane Krauthamer, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
By Vinnie Rotondaro
Common Dreams
U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest defiance of the courts — this time refusing to follow an appellate judge’s order to halt migrant deportations — has triggered another round of liberal outrage. Critics are calling it an authoritarian move, a blatant assault on the rule of law, and a warning sign that American democracy is on its last legs.
But if this is the end of democracy, it’s been ending for a long time. And not just at Trump’s hands.
The central truth we keep missing — especially on the left — is that Trump is not an aberration. He’s a grotesque continuation. The playbook he uses was written by both parties over decades of eroding democratic norms, consolidating executive power, and circumventing meaningful checks on authority. Trump didn’t invent the impulse to rule by fiat; he just brings it out into the open.
If we want to stop the next Trump, or the next expansion of executive lawlessness, we can’t keep pretending he came out of nowhere.
Consider the legal justification Trump has floated for ignoring the courts: The United States is “at war.” Therefore, he claims, wartime powers apply — even domestically, even over immigration courts. To many, this sounds like a dystopian twist. But it’s eerily familiar. Because the same logic has been used, repeatedly, by both Republican and Democratic administrations since 9/11.
Congress Granted War Powers
After the attacks on the Twin Towers, Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which gave the executive branch sweeping powers to pursue terrorism around the world. That one document has served as the legal scaffolding for 20-plus years of undeclared wars and covert operations in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere.
[Related: The War on Terror Is a Success — for Terror]
No further congressional approval was needed. The public never had a say. The war powers clause of the Constitution became symbolic — if not obsolete.
Former President Barack Obama inherited that framework and expanded it. His administration developed the now-infamous drone kill list, justified targeted assassinations (including of U.S. citizens) and defended the government’s right to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects without trial.
Obama didn’t officially suspend habeas corpus, but in practice, he upheld a system that made the writ meaningless for hundreds of detainees held at Bagram and Guantánamo. The position of his Department of Justice was clear: The executive has the authority to detain and kill, beyond judicial oversight, because we are at war.
Protesting Guantanamo in Washington, D.C., on 13th anniversary of the opening of the prison camp, Jan. 11, 2015. (Debra Sweet, Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
This is the true bipartisan legacy that paved the way for Trump. The removal of checks and balances didn’t happen overnight. It was built incrementally, piece by piece, under the banner of national security — with the cooperation and silence of the same liberal establishment that now acts scandalized by Trump’s every defiance.
In Yemen, Trump Resumes Forever-War Posture
It’s worth asking: Why wasn’t there more pearl clutching when the executive branch was unilaterally deciding who lived or died abroad, without congressional debate or judicial process? Why didn’t more alarm bells ring when Democrats joined Republicans in handing over war-making powers and then refused to take them back? Why was it acceptable to rule by emergency decree when the emergency was foreign — but suddenly unacceptable when the same logic is turned inward?
Trump is now openly talking about “eradicating” the Houthis in Yemen — an aggressive military escalation that directly contradicts the MAGA-era promise of no new foreign wars. So much for populist anti-interventionism. In lockstep with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel, Trump appears eager to resume the forever war posture. And once again, no one’s talking about congressional approval.
This is the cycle we’re caught in. Trump exposes the tools others helped create. He strips them of their moral veneer, revealing the ugly core. And rather than confront the system itself, liberals point at Trump as a singular villain — as if everything was working just fine before he came along.
The truth is harder to face: If we want to stop the next Trump, or the next expansion of executive lawlessness, we can’t keep pretending he came out of nowhere. We need to reckon with the fact that our democracy has been undermined from within — by both parties, for years. We need to challenge not just the man, but the machine.
And that’s something the Democratic Party, in its current corporate and security-state-aligned form, seems unwilling — or unable — to do. It would require renouncing its own legacy, from the Clinton-era crime bill to Obama-era surveillance and drone wars. It would require fundamentally rethinking how power is distributed in this country, and how easily it can be abused.
Until that happens, we shouldn’t be surprised when the next Trump defies the next court order. We shouldn’t act shocked when the language of war is used to suspend due process. We shouldn’t cling to the fantasy that our institutions will save us, when those institutions have been hollowed out by decades of bipartisan compromise.
Trump didn’t break democracy. He just took the mask off.
Vinnie Rotondaro’s work has appeared in Vox, Vice and Narratively, where he won the 2014 New York Press Club award for “best internet feature.” Currently, he is a doctoral student at the California Institute of Integral Studies where he is studying the intersections of identity, power structures, and historical consciousness, with a focus on the Italian American experience.
This article is from Common Dreams.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
Liberals squawking about Trump are a joke.
As the author notes, they acquiesced in the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) in October 2002. In the far earlier days of email and the internet, Massachusetts residents inundated Sen. John Kerry’s offices with pleas not to vote to give Bush II power to invade Iraq. Scuttlebutt from his office was the mail and phone calls were running 180 to 1 for a NO on the vote. Guess who “managed” the yes vote for the Dems: Joe Biden. That was the first time I noticed his name.
Liberals/ Dems whatever you want to call them said nothing about the many expanses of executive power by Obama and Biden. Not a peep when Biden openly defied the SCOTUS regarding canceling student loans. Nary a peep out of them as Biden armed the Israeli genocide and led the Ukraine down the garden path in an undeclared war. Mum when Nord Stream was blown up, obviously by the USA.
The Dems/liberals are not only total hypocrites, they are totally reactive. Trump seems to be the only force that they notice.
For those with genuine curiosity as to the expansion of executive power in the USA government (yes—books have been written about this) and seek a quick overview, Wikipedia has a useful table on all of the EOs written by US presidents. You may be surprised at who really wrote the most. Check it out, educate yourselves, and stop shrieking about Trump and treating him as sui generis.
hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_executive_orders
Trump’s shakeup of US politics is a positive if it educates the whole populace and opens eyes to the actual dangers to the United States.
I always knew that MAGA would run into the huge boulder that is Zionist influence on Trump (not to mention the rest of the US govt.). Now we are seeing it more clearly.
The awfulness of US politics is bipartisan. Get over it. Grow up and get over Trump.
Did you even read the article? Dude said BIPARTISAN. It’s in the title as well. Get it? Sprichst Du Englisch?
Liberals? Time to update the 20th century vocab: there is no such thing as a “liberal” or “conservative” anymore, only the Oligarchy. Wake up and smell the stench of institutional corruption.
I hear you! But you are making the mistake that you are pointing out: Trump isn’t some unintended palliative; he (and his crew) is the expected and more extreme continuation of the processes of expropriation of power you describe. Usurpation of power can only go so far before it has to flip to full on tyranny.
pssst…anyone ever hear of capitalism?
fs
Pssst….yes! However, your intention isn’t at all clear. If you are saying that capitalism is ‘full-on tyranny’ then I suggest that you haven’t understood it. Capitalism is soft-gloved tyranny; and an economic system more than a political one, though it thrives best under authoritarian government. I hope that answers your question.
“The executive has the authority to detain and kill, beyond judicial oversight, because we are at war.“U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest defiance of the courts,” Vinnie Rotondaro
….Word! “Primus inter pares,” means the first among equals, i.e., “The Constitution envisions Congress as primus inter pares.” Concluding, DJTrump, is NOT “primus inter pares,” the first among equals, i.e., USPresidents 42-46, to blatantly, defy the courts.
Hearken back to the report “Hurd’ ‘round the world.” Basically, declaring POTUS #46 non compos mentis; BUT, what everybody “Hurd” is POTUS #46. IS an“Elderly Man with a Poor Memory.” Totally neglecting the fact that, THAT! “elderly man,” THE “Executive” was & still is “unable to make decisions because of a mental issue, whether it be psychological, physical, or through a disease like dementia.”
“We” had four (4) years of #46 being shuffled, shielded, handled w/care. Basically, M.I.A. “Living, FREE,” from Accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity. Now, in his “golden” years, he’s been assured, “Nobody F*C%’S w/a Biden.” They’re Done & Dusted! Their legacy is f.u.b.a.r!!!
Obviously, Biden’s-Harris’ Inc., Board of Executioners’ “footprint,” LIVES, Large!!! Indeed, “THEY”set the precedence. “THEY” spent Four (4) Years shufflin’ US, into the consequences, i.e., the “Gemini’s” scheme! Aka #47, “U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest defiance of the courts.” The blueprint is a page outta “Biden-Harris Inc., Board of Executioners’ “PLAYBOOK,” @ “Setting Precedence. Mastering “Defiance,”
….i.e., November 21, 2024: The FOURTH (4) Veto! The FOURTH Time!! ON 11.21.24, the U.S., “blocked a Gaza ceasefire draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council. This is the FOURTH Time, the U.S., used its veto power during the conflict to shield its ally, Israel.” Robert Wood, Deputy US ambassador to the UN, said, “The document “abandoned” the necessity for there to be “a linkage between a ceasefire and the release of hostages.”
Consequently, “The Butcher, The Banker. Ukraine’s “Hay-Maker,” France, were “rebuked” by the UNSC. The criminals response, “eh! “Big f/Deal.” In between “Hearings,” the three Amigos & Volodymyr “El Chapo” Zelensky courted the US Congress w/flags & thanks, for “making the money pile up, higher! &, keeping the MADness (Mutually Agreed Deception, Destruction, Death, endless!” The U.S. Congress’ forté.
No doubt about it, Trump-Vance, Inc. “Got” this in 1, 2, 3 Months,“Shake Down. Crack Down. Shut Down!”
January 28, 2018, “ONCE Democratic INSTITUTIONS are HOLLOWED OUT], a process begun before the election of Trump, [first term], despotism is inevitable. The press is shackled. Corruption and theft take place on a massive scale. The rights and needs of citizens are irrelevant. Dissent is criminalized. Militarized police monitor, seize and detain Americans without probable cause. The rituals of democracy become farce.”. Chris Hedges/Mr. Fish @ “The Useful Idiocy of Donald Trump.” hxxps://www.truthdig.com/articles/useful-idiocy-donald-trump/
…… “None of the liberal institutions, including the universities, the commercial media and the Democratic Party, will defend us.” Chris Hedges @ “Surrendering to Authoritarianism” – “Stomp of Approval” – by Mr. Fish. 3.27.25
No doubt, the wholly TRUTH, the synchronicity & solidarity, “LIVES,” i.e., “Democratic norms have been [ERODED For YEARS], with the cooperation of the same liberal establishment that now acts scandalized by Trump’s every defiance.” “We shouldn’t cling to the fantasy that our institutions will save us, when those institutions have been hollowed out by decades of bipartisan compromise.” Vinnie Rotondaro.
….The Democrats inspiration is “FEAR!” Hence, Fuhgeddabout, “Em!
TY, Vinnie Rotondaro, Chris Hedges, Mr. Fish, CN, et al., “KEEP IT LIT!!!”
I’m amazed at the bewilderment of the D party loyal upper middle class admin and professionals. Decades ago, the neolib Ivy D elite dumped the New Deal (including financial regs) and abandoned the majority working class. After the ’08 crash, they bailed out the Wall St. vultures; for the millions who lost jobs, pensions, homes? Nothing!
If the D party were sincere about the climate crises, they’d challenge the assumptions of the econopathy defining away devastation of human communities and entire ecosystems as mere externalities. And fight the deep unfairness of a system rigged for trickle up.
For sure as of the Biden admin even that thin justification “lesser of two evils” no longer applies. Cheney’s PNAC trained neocons ran the Biden Dept. of State. And would have under Harris–why Cheney endorsed her.
The D faithful don’t want to see the reality of a dual aspect monoparty–heads the neolib/neocons win, tails we lose. The D party “leadership” wants to blame everyone but themselves for their losses. Yet obviously the horror didn’t start with Trump.
Good article, but one thing that people don’t talk about enough is that the Executive branch isn’t consolidating power in a vacuum. None of this would have been possible if the Legislative hadn’t spent the past century or so abdicating it’s responsibilities to Executive branch administrative agencies. And the Judicial branch didn’t help things with their (until recently) adherence to the Chevron deference, basically allowing Executive branch agencies to write their own (administrative) laws outside of the legislative process. And now the Judicial branch is even trying to cross over and adjudicate explicit article II powers that belong solely to the Executive. All three branches of government are both abdicating and expanding their their powers wily-nily without any rhyme or reason. It’s a damn mess.
Yes, Caitlin Johnstone, Chris Hedges and others have also pointed this out. Simply put: “The US is an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery”
There is no “left” or “right” anymore – only the oligarchy who are stealing even MORE of our resources and asset-stripping the country.
Forget the Ds and Rs, they are just hired puppets. The DT2 regime is just the logical conclusion of years of institutionalized corruption.
IMO, anyone who still speaks of electoral politics, Ds and Rs is tilting at windmills, while the Kleptocrat Oligarchy Inc. pillage the place. As George Carlin said in Plain English years ago. “forget the politicians, they don’t give a f@#k about you, at all.”
Meanwhile, if you live in the Imperial Homeland, get ready for more price increases – the oligarchy needs more. Health Care Extortion, food, fuel, electricity, and consumer goods are going to go up even MORE. If you can afford to pay the extortion, you should feel fortunate, as millions cannot afford it and are in debt up to their eyeballs and on the verge of bankruptcy.
If you are wealthy, I hear that Soylent Green futures will be all the rage soon, get in on the ground floor and “make a killing”
Bill Clinton cozied up to big money and effectively castrated the Democratic party, rendering it the Republican Lite party. Then came Citizens United, cementing corruption and criminality as the daily fare of politics in the U.S. As noted above, Trump is simply the logical extension of what has been going on inside the Beltway for a long time–a closed circle of monied elites who care nothing for the majority of people. Conversely, we get sent off to make war on people we don’t even know, doing the dirty work of corporate America.
Regardless of country, regardless of political party, regardless of leaders…it all boils down to the same: flipping the bird to all of us with impunity.
Thank you for your excellent article, Mr. Rotondaro.
I would say then, that it’s lucky Trump has such contempt for ‘little people’, else his actions wouldn’t have so carelessly highlighted the reality of the historic fascade of voting for ‘a side’ in the highly lucrative business of politics.
Those ruling in Biden’s stead saw a need to keep up the pretence, whereas it seems Trump believes people are too stupid to notice or care nowadays, that is, if he even considers the possibility of any successful electorate interference at all.
Here in the UK, you can vote until your eyes bleed and you’ll still never move the country from the course it’s been set on by its literal Lords. Voting here is awesome if you want to feel like you got to decide when your bins get emptied, but that’s about the extent of pleb power when push comes to shove. This is because those used to holding the reins of power naturally tend to consider their plans beyond the minds of ‘lesser’ folk and are forever seeking ways and means to ensure their ambitions are realised, which includes ‘by any means necessary’ when it comes to Perfidious Albion politics.
We will never be able to successfully counter elitist insanity (or the ongoing and rampant exploitation and theft of others’ resources) until we ‘little people’ can learn to recognise a carrot hanging from a stick.
P.S: “Twin Towers”. Iconic…but we should never forget the Third Tower.
You know, the one that ruins the official version of events for that day, consequentally revealling the sham of the whole ‘War on Terror'(-oh my, where did all that oil come from!!) impetus.
Yeah, That third Tower sort of gives the power grab away.
One point … the Senate used to have stricter rules on filibuster so a group of 40 in the minority could block more than today. It was largely under Obama that the Dems got arrogant and got rid of some of the protections because Mitch was blocking Obama. The Dems had power and in their view this was a permanent condition so they got rid of the protections that the minority used to have. So, if you hear of Trump passing a nasty bill on a fillibuster proof basis, that’s their handiwork. And the Heck-Of-A-Job-Brownie Award goes to ….
Yep
You can thank Harry Reid for that. You can also thank Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin for what remains of the filibuster. They took a metric TON of crap from Democrats for not helping them to eliminate it altogether. Now, thanks to them, it is available for Democratic minority to use against Trump’s Republican majority. Democrats successfully chased Sinema and Manchin out of congress, which resulted in them losing Manchin’s seat to Republican Jim Justice. Another Pyrrhic victory.
thank you for reminding us of the fact that #47 does openly what
his predecessors thought ‘wise enough’ to hide from public view.
as to forever drone wars, my EU country hosts a huge US air base
which helps those drones manage the earth’s curvature on their way
to ‘faraway lands’ where ‘potential enemies deserve to die’.
my country’s policy makers are not bothered one bit by the fact that
they violate both our constitution and international law – which no
f.lawmaker cares about anymore anyway.
unimaginably huge sums of money are now spent to further increase
military armament – we’ll become indebted for decades on end – and
are told that these “special assets” are an inevitable investment plus
the only solution to the threat posed by russia and so many others.
sadly, madly amazing how effectively brainwashing machineries
do their job … and how many victims they cause in the process.
If we are to get to the root of the thing, we can begin with this bit of Ezra Pound (before his unfortunate struggle to make whole a world in a world that had no whole place):
“Democracy implies that the man must take the responsibility for choosing his rulers and representatives, and for the maintenance of his own ‘rights’ against the possible and probable encroachments of the government which he has sanctioned to act for him in public matters.” [Ezra Pound, “ABC of Economics,” 1933]
It seems a fact that no one can be trusted to represent another without being watched, especially as wealth and power are the prizes. When the people stop watching, self-interest and corruption will build its engines. Jefferson pointed out that the nation would very likely need a revolution of some sort every so often to maintain itself…meaning to my mind that he was thinking of how to keep sufficient vigilance by the people that the corrupting force of power would be restrained. There is much truth in this article, but it leaves out that dysfunction of governance will always follow the failure of the people to maintain vigilance no matter how well designed the norms and laws. That it is too much to expect, and too too difficult is just another reality.
“Trump is self-evidently a toxic authoritarian demagogue advocating morally monstrous positions, but in most cases where elite outrage is being vented, he is merely a natural extension of the mainstream rhetorical and policy framework that has been laid, not some radical departure from it. He’s their id.”
Source:
Glenn Greenwald, “Donald Trump’s Policies Are Not Anathema to U.S. Mainstream, but an Uncomfortable Reflection of It,” The Intercept, March 4, 2016
—
“Put yourself for a moment in the position of people like FBI director Christopher Wray, or his predecessor, James Comey. Looking out upon Trump’s foreign policy vandalism, you would feel deep concern. If, like the majority of DC elites, you see American global leadership as fundamentally moral, even vital and indispensable, then Trump’s brazen attacks upon it are extremely dangerous. From such a vantage point, the truly responsible thing to do would be to sabotage Trump’s policy, his legitimacy, his base, and the possibility of his reelection.
[…]
Trump threatened the entire system of US global hegemony. He threatened it for different reasons and in different ways than might grassroots, socialist, anti-imperialists, but he threatened US empire nonetheless.”
Source:
Christian Parenti, “Trump Against Empire: Is That Why They Hate Him?,” The Grayzone, February 15, 2023
If we could get over the idea that we need an empire we might all be better off.
America First is an attempt to take a few baby steps back towards George Washington’s warning about avoiding foreign entanglements. The post-WWII norm of American interference around the globe needs to be reigned in. The original America Firsters who wanted to stay out of WWII have taken way too much crap from historians who condemn their isolationism. In reality, America was still reeling from WWI that wiped out a generation of young men and the Great Depression that wiped out the wealth of the majority of Americans. Of course they were resistant to jumping in on another pointless ‘European war’. It may look bad in hindsight, but is totally understandable considering the circumstances of the time.
I agree.
To paraphrase one of my previous comments on a separate Consortium News article (concerning the appearance of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a member of the Azov Battalion before the Greek Parliament around three years ago):
“It is a great shame that so many people are doomed to confuse and conflate the anti-war advocacy of Smedley Butler, Charles A. Beard, and Jeannette Rankin with the views espoused by the likes of Charles Lindbergh, Father Coughlin, and Wallis Simpson.”
Excellent. “And rather than confront the system itself, liberals point at Trump as a singular villain — as if everything was working just fine before he came along.” There is now a whole media/news/entertainment system built on this premise. However, the status quo has been suicidal in earnest since the neocon, or neolib, takeover of the Democratic Party blossomed in 2016. Wealth concentration into fewer and fewer hands, war and conflict all the time and everywhere, and ongoing environmental destruction and climate change effects are the effective status quo that Biden promised to bring us back to. And true to his word… In effect, there is no opposition party.
When the people themselves give up on democracy, then it truly is dead. Only the facade remains.
It’s become a ‘Year Zero’ cult, where history began on June 16, 2015, the day Trump rode down the escalator to announce his presidential candidacy.
As far as the neocon/neolib takeover of the Democrat party goes, that began in the 1990s with Clinton, not in 2016. It became manifest when Obama bailed out Wall Street and prosecuted no one while leaving Main Street Americans to twist in the wind during the 2008 financial crisis.
Exactly. The job of the Democrats is to block the left from gaining power. Those still supporting the Dems seem blissfully unaware how far to the right (minus identity politics) they have been dragged. They don’t seem to want to know. In a way, we can thank Trump for revealing just how vacuous liberal politics have become.
Fully agree that both “major” parties have proceeded apace with pretty much the same ideology …. including the concept of “identity politics”, the only difference being that the Rs have focused on different “identities” …. They are divisive, IMO, no matter who practices them ….
They got into the habit of having fake differences that they would argue loudly about. They would argue loudly over some detail about Abortion or Gun Control or something like that. While agreeing that the Business of America is War and that the Rich must get a whole lot Richer.
————-
The main goal of Identity Politics was obliterating the notion of Solidarity across movements. The new left might have to go look up that word, and how the old left used to operate (they might even see a more powerful left?). It used to be an important word. The rather old tactic of Divide and Conquer has been successful, at least so far … and we really should fix that. Personally, I go back to Dr. King and the notion that content of character matters most of all. And I’ve always been fond of whoever was next to me behind a barricade.
We used to protest to a chant that went …. “The People …. United …. Will Never Be Defeated!”
We’ve forgotten both the parts about the People and United. We don’t fight for The People, and we are not United. And guess what we are? … so far.
Agreed
During the 2016 presidential campaign, there was FAR more establishment hate for Bernie Sanders than for Donald Trump (until Bernie was vanquished, then Sauron turned his eye on the Bad Orange Man).
Sadly, Bernie knuckled under like a simp and has done untold damage to his own movement by becoming a craven Renfield who slavishly obeyed the DNC Dracula for the next eight years. Many of the energized 2016 Bernie Bros have now become non-voters or even migrated across the aisle to Trump. Now he’s trying to pass the torch to AOC, but IMO she lacks Bernie’s gravitas and appeal to the common man. A pipe-welder in Ohio or an oil field technician in Montana or a truck driver in Alabama saw grumpy frumpy old Bernie as one of their own, while seeing glamorous couture wearing AOC who attends all the cool society parties and rubs elbows with celebrities as an elite. Young professional women may love AOC, but Democrats already dominate among young professional women. They need someone who can win over swing voters, and that’s not AOC’s wheelhouse.
Agreed – no doubt it’s true that “an oil field technician in Montana or a truck driver in Alabama saw grumpy frumpy old Bernie as one of their own,”
I am not a fan of AOC, but tell me, does that rule out any woman … could any woman appeal to “an oil field technician in Montana or a truck driver in Alabama “
Sure
The GOP has a bunch of women who appeal to blue collar men … and all of them are outcasts in polite Washington society and don’t get fawning interviews in fashion magazines. Which buys them ‘outsider’ credibility. When was the last time you saw Cosmo or Vogue do a feature on a Republican ‘boss bitch’? Sorry, those are the ‘wrong kind’ of women and have been ostracized from ‘elite society’. Which works in their favor among disaffected voters.
All of this harks back to the theory propounded by German legal theorist Carl Schmitt, who in the 1930s advised Hitler about how to seize power. Every democracy, he theorized, has provisions for dealing with emergency situations. These provisions allow for the executive branch to have extraordinary powers to deal with emergencies. All that is necessary, then, is for the executive to proclaim an emergency and the power will be theirs for the grabbing. AUMF was created to deal with one kind of emergency, but one can always find, or invent, others.
And neither Party sees fit to declare what is arguably the greatest emergency of all – climate change …
Sorry, second hurdle. Number one Doomsday is still World War 3 ending human society in any form recognizable to us. Then, after we survive this current world without blowing us all to kingdom come, we have to somehow then quickly clear the second hurdle of Climate Boiling.
And no, humanity will not be graded on a curve. There will be no partial credit given. For those of you entering the exam late, the time will not be extended. Good Luck.
I have believed for some time that there are 4 existential threats to, at least human, existence – climate change, nuclear war, genetic engineering, AI – the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse, if you will, in no particular order … climate change is inevitable, at a pace faster than many life forms, including ours, can well adapt to, I do not think nuclear war is inevitable, GE with its capacity to unleash pandemics is accelerating, and AI, in its aim to be “transhuman”, already in the process of replacing humans, also proceeds apace …
What ties them altogether is human arrogance and hubris …. We are not a life affirming species …
Yes. And perhaps that was one of the calculations behind 9/11 from the outset.
Interesting time line … Carl Schmidt in the 1930’s. Then, it was after WW2 that America really started putting in the rules that gave the President ”emergency powers.” FDR didn’t seem to have them, although he had just expanded government power in his own way with The New Deal. But, this stuff about “emergency powers”, that all came after WW2. So, with the example of Germany in recent memory, the American elites then said “we need more emergency powers.”