The Republicans are the shady people who pull you into a dark alley and fuck you.

The Democrats are the people who see the Republicans fucking you in a dark alley, look concerned, and say they’ll “call for help in a few minutes”.

They want to appeal to the Republicans’ Never Trump demographic again.

The Republicans were spooked. They got big losses in recent elections, public opinion considered them responsible for the shutdown, and Trump was flailing over killing SNAP. And Thanksgiving was going to make things even worse for them.

The Republicans were going to give in. And then the Democrats decided that they were doing too well.

Chuck Schumer is either a moron who can’t keep his senators together, or a traitor who planned a scheme that he knew you would fall for.

The rot goes a lot deeper than those 8.

The problem is that all of the traitors aren’t looking for re-election in 2026.

Clearly the Democrats chose the ones who are most able to take the fall vote yes. An obvious ploy, yet I still see a bunch of people who won’t accept that they’ve been betrayed.

You’re right. He’s the one who gave the marching orders. Important distinction.

I hear stocks on spelunking equipment are going up.

It’s no wonder dystopia / revolution fiction is on the rise.

They would support Senator Adam Sutler with taking the new position of High Chancellor if they could. Maybe they’ll talk about how awful it is that Chancellor Sutler will be taking charge, but they would cave.

That’s what a potential shutdown in Trump’s third term would solve.

For 2028, go with the 2nd term of 47th logic to get Trump in again.

Then, pass a new law to clarify the index logic, and allow for Trump’s time as 47th to transition into 48th in 2032. Shutdown the government to force the Dems to vote yes on it.

Trump remains President until the day he dies.

This is how. I’ll put the relevant amendment part here so we know what we’re working with:

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

The SCOTUS can claim that the office of President renews, and the old one ceases to exist. Thus, they can say that Trump was elected to the 45th and 47th offices of President, each once. They can further state that the 22nd amendment specifically refers to being elected to one of these particular offices of President, of which 47 have existed to date.

The SCOTUS can then conclude that, since Trump has not been elected to the 47th office of President more than twice, he is eligible for a second term of the 47th office of President. To us, this would be his third, but to the SCOTUS, it would be his second.

Oh, I’m sure that the Supreme Court can think up of something to make it legal. There’s a popular theory going around that Trump might go the “first term of the 47th” route to remain in power. If the SCOTUS goes with that definition, then Trump gets a third term without adding any amendments.

It will pass given the proper incentive. Just need to make the Dems sweat a bit, and they’ll pass anything.

Or they can just…you know…ignore that part.

“Vote for the lesser evil”

But why vote for the lesser evil if the lesser evil will vote with the greater evil anyway?

Let’s play a game.

Suppose the Republicans shut the government down in 2026. They want to pass a law that makes Trump president for life. The Dems vote no.

One month passes. What happens?

Now that it’s clear that the Democrats will always surrender unconditionally…

How about the Republicans shut the government down again when the CR expires, and then demand that any Republicans running in the midterms pre-emptively be installed as the winners?

“But the Constitution won’t let…”, come on you know as well as I do that anything is up for grabs if Democrats caving is a given.

Haha my friend owes me $20.

I read a Chinese visual novel where society actual DID manage to eradicate humanity’s greed/lust for power.

The biggest issue with the depicted society is that people live out their lives in ways deemed safe by the state. No one who lives in the society sees any problem with this, since their needs are cared for, and they’re allowed to freely pursue interests the state considers safe. The society determined that any culture that existed before their rise to power has to be destroyed or locked up - introduction of such items can have a majorly destabilizing effect, and bring greed/lust for power back.