2y ago

Let Trump Be Dictator for a Day, 74 Percent of Republicans Say

www.rollingstone.com

New poll reveals Republicans are authoritarian curious, while Americans are starkly divided on Trump’s 2020 guilt

The Joe Biden presidential campaign is positioning the 2024 election as a referendum on democracy. But a new poll suggests that defending America’s constitutional system of checks and balances is no longer an electoral slam dunk.

A startling 39 percent of Americans, including 74 percent of Republicans, think it’s a decent idea for Donald Trump to act as a dictator for a day to begin his prospective second term, according to a University of Massachusetts Amherst survey released Wednesday.

46 comments

Ah yes, the famous Dictator For A Day Program where the guy who wants to be a dictator famously chooses to not use his powers to install himself for life.
- It all makes sense when you learn political conservatism was created to "conserve" the power of monarchs, landowners, and the entire elite post democratic revolutions.
  It's not surprising that supporters of an ideology created to support dictators and authoritarians would want to be ruled by a king.
  
  This was super clear to anyone who was paying attention to this weird, creepy side of the Internet in 2016. There is a large conservative movement that truly does want to have a king. And they also want it to be a theocracy with a king.
  I was trying to tell people about this that whole year, as I was researching accelerationists, but I was consistently downvoted on the other system for being alarmist. And here we are. The only things that I didn’t foresee was how incompetent his people were.
- And eliminate all opposition with impunity.
Oh, man... Quoting Benjamin Franklin in this case would come perilously close to breaking the "advocating violence" clause.
Lemme just say this... Franklin is the reason we have the ability to impeach Presidents. He considered the alternative too terrible to contemplate:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/american-presidents-can-be-impeached-because-benjamin-franklin-thought-it-was-better-assassination-180961500/
- For those not in the mood to read, saved you a click but thank you for the link @jordanlund!
  The history of impeachment in the United States is important to understanding the Bill Clinton saga. The Founding Fathers wrote impeachment—originally a Roman political institution—into the constitution for the purpose of removing an official who had “rendered himself obnoxious,” in the words of Benjamin Franklin. Without impeachment, Franklin argued, citizens’ only recourse was assassination, which would leave the political official “not only deprived of his life but of the opportunity of vindicating his character.”
  It would be best, Franklin argued, “to provide the Constitution for the regular punishment of the Executive when his misconduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal when he should be justly accused.”
  The bottom line here is that if anyone manages to eliminate prosecution for acts performed while they are president, expect the Punisher. In fact, while I don't normally support violence, I'd have to say it's a patriot's duty.
- Bennie Franklin truly was the greatest president 😉The best president was never president at all
- Docr. Franklin was for retaining the clause as favorable to the executive. History furnishes one example only of a first Magistrate being formally brought to public Justice. Every body cried out agst this as unconstitutional. What was the practice before this in cases where the chief Magistrate rendered himself obnoxious? Why recourse was had to assassination in wch. he was not only deprived of his life but of the opportunity of vindicating his character. It wd. be the best way therefore to provide in the Constitution for the regular punishment of the Executive when his misconduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal when he should be unjustly accused.
  The records of the Federal convention of 1787, volume 2, p. 65
  There is nothing about him thinking "the alternative too terrible to contemplate". He merely thought it would deny the executive a chance of redemption - Does anyone think Trump could redeem himself in his last few years of old age when he never has prior?
  To think a man who only a few years prior had been a key political figure in fighting a revolutionary war, something that famously leads to bloodshed, would be abhorred by the concept and become a staunch pacifist is a bit silly. Not to mention the whole aforementioned quote you won't share and which I'm not going to repeat here for that reason.
  Also Franklin was not the sole reason, they all debated on this topic.
It's time for Republicans to update their flag:
Lol. He didn't want to give up the office after 4 years, do you really think he would stop after one day? Fucking idiots.
- This is a feature for many of these respondents, not a bug.
- Note the date stamp:
  https://imgur.com/a/03YkbLV
- Shit. I didn't even put 2 and 2 together. Good point....
Ok so we're up to 40% open fascists, regardless of if they have enough functioning brain cells to realize that's what they are.
Yep. I'm sure we can vote our way out of this, just like all the other times that literally never worked!
- It worked in 2020. Democrats even overperformed in 2022. We outnumber the fascists. We need to outvote them.
A lot of people want to be controlled.
- Bruh.....I upvoted the fuck out of this, but lemmy tell ya, I didn't feel good about it 😂
  
  wow
  
  You could modify the end to say "Daddy Trump," sell this at a Trump rally, and I think we're at the point where large numbers of those people would unironically buy it, because that's literally their fetish.
No, 4 years was enough thank you.
As dictator for 1 day, my first act is to change all historical documents and records to show that I stated I would be dictator forever and that 100% of Americans support this.
Oh also if anyone protests or says they don’t support this it’s treason and they will be sentenced to death.
- I think that if he gets voted in then that's what should happen. It is as advertised.
  I hope he doesn't, but if he does nobody will be surprised. Good luck America!
Just the tip
- I promise, I wont put it all the way in.
Okay. But I get to be a dictator for a day first.
I would totally not do dictator things. honest. Cross my Heart and fart.
- Dick-taker. Oh. He already does that for daddy putes.
39% were willing to admit it to a surveyor. It's probably higher, no? Is this really going down like this?
- The means of communication are owned by the few and it reprogrammed a lot of people. Don't let them tell you it comes out of nowhere. They are constantly flooded with lies about the state of things.
That’s the thing about dictators…they don’t really respond well to timers.
No.
I will preface by saying that I absolutely despise using the “r-word.” I think it’s insulting, demeaning, and repugnant to label human beings with such a disgusting term where the simple use of mentally handicapped would be more… let’s say- “politically correct”….
But in this case, I’ll make an exception:
Those dipshits are such republicans.
74% of the #GOP are #fascists.
I'm not sure why that comes as a surprise to anyone here.
@MicroWave I just want to get Covid for a day, just to see what it's like.
- Just drink enough to give yourself mild alcohol poisoning, get under a heated blanket turned on full blast, and then have someone hit all your major joints with a hammer every once in a while.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The UMass Amherst poll posed the following questions to 1,064 respondents: “Donald Trump recently said that if elected, he would be a dictator only on the first day of his second term.” It then asked, “Do you think that this is a good or bad idea for the country?”
Only 44 percent of adults completely rebelled at the notion of giving the former president — who is currently facing 91 felony charges — dictatorial authority, calling it “definitely bad” for America.
“The lone holdouts are conservatives, Republicans, and Trump voters who seemingly would welcome a dictator in the White House, believing such an administration would be a good thing for the nation,” says Nteta.
“As Trump is facing a likely close contest with Biden, it comes as no shock that he has recently attempted to walk back these comments, in hopes of broadening his electoral coalition, but the damage may already be done.”
The UMass Amherst poll also delivered several other eye-popping findings relating to the fallout from the 2020 election — including that 40 percent of the nation believes that Americans convicted of crimes for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol are “probably” or “definitely” deserving of a pardon.
In addition, the poll asked about the nation’s high court, which is likely to have a final say on issues ranging from whether Trump can claim presidential immunity for his acts leading up to Jan. 6 and whether states can boot him off the ballot as an insurrectionist.
The original article contains 729 words, the summary contains 253 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Just like School Shootings this is EXACTLY what the Founders intended!
Man it's so sad to see that I can't tell what percentage of these people are just trying to meme. I would hope that it's only a minority of these people who truly think this is a good idea. But man are his supporters filled with idiots
- Even if they are just trying to "meme" - it doesn't matter. They support this fascist asshole, even if only to "own the libs" and they think it's all ironic and fun or something. Won't matter why they voted if they put this idiot in the WH.
  I'm sure even when it's their turn up against the wall - and usually, things like this tend to backfire on a lot of people - even then, they won't realize their mistake, I bet.
- Nah, they're not meming. They hate what they think the U.S. has become/is becoming under (small d) democratic rule. They know that in a fair democracy, the Republican party would lose all federal power in a decade or so. So, they want to destroy democracy, and try to roll things back.
We just have to vote harder
- It's an election year and we live in a democracy. We need to vote in record numbers. Democracy is our best tool to enact systemic change. There is no dictator that agrees with you.
Let me be dictator for a day and I could turn this whole shitshow around.

46 comments