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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2699 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 26, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Is there anything to this: "The Coup We've Feared Has Already Happened"?

The coup we’ve been fearing has already happened. Utterly servile to Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson refuses to convene the House of Representatives for even pro forma business (and by extension Congress) indefinitely, thereby shielding Trump from all manner of inquiry and accountability, not least the Epstein files, and giving him de facto full dictatorial powers. The longer the shutdown continues, the more irrelevant Congress becomes. Next expect unilateral executive decrees on assuming full funding authority, essentially rendering Congress defunct. It may never reconvene. Suspension of the Constitution cannot be far behind. Dictatorship came to us while we slept.

Is this what it seems like to me — just more lefty pearl-clutching and crying wolf — or is there something to the arguments James Bruno and Tonoccus McClain are making?

I’m generally inclined to say no, since by default, I assume Substack thinkpieces are hysterical grifts.

But the arguments in this thread are. Uh. Not reassuring.

My model of Trump is that he would very much like to have dictatorial powers, and will not turn down any scheme that would bring them closer, even if it is never one of his personal initiatives. He really, really likes that sort of decentralized strategy—see the voter fraud investigations or the Musk RIFs. The natural result is lots of tiny power grabs. His attention serves as a strategic reserve.

With that in mind, I guess I wouldn’t expect an explicit claim to funding authority. Not unless the current advance stalls out. But I’m not even sure how Congress or the courts could stall this approach without openly opposing an executive order.

I really should call my Congressman, if nothing else.

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