@StarkRG
Theoretically there are still guardrails. It's not clear, for example, how Republicans in Congress will react as Trump keeps stretching the limits. At some point, those unhappy already might get organized and launch a resistance.

Then there's the midterms, provided they'll take place, which could shift the majority in the House at least.

Of course, to actually remove Trump it'd need a 2/3 majority in the Senate, not a realistic scenario. But he could be contained.

@cqd_sos Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting it's become *entirely* fascist, but I definitely feel like it's significantly more than halfway there.

Trump's already disregarding court orders, so I doubt that even a 100% vote to impeach would make much of an impact.

@StarkRG
You can consider it "halfway" when you think of what's happening as a pendulum, which hopefully is going to swing back at some point.

The reason why no immediate means of containment are in place is bc we're in uncharted territory, where the various parts of the system don't really know who has to do what. Meaning it is, in fact, a constitutional crisis.

There's still reason for optimism though, that things get sorted out once people fully realize what the challenge is.

@StarkRG

But that's what I'm saying.

If you were an employee of the executive branch, as long as he's the president, nominally, he's still your boss. Meaning, while you totally would have the right to refuse following his orders, he'd also have the right to fire you immediately. Your refusal would equate to a resignation, a fact you probably would have in mind when weighing your options. And there have been resignations, if I remember correctly.

@StarkRG

He "controls" the enforcement agencies only as long as they keep following his orders. And when he's not the boss, and can't fire anyone, anymore, the question is whether they would keep doing it anyway.

In which case those employees would actually opt for having a dictator at the helm. And that's, I'm quite confident, not how the majority of them, which may be considered a cross-section of the American people, thinks like.

@StarkRG

Well, an impeachment isn't a conviction. So he'd still be the president. That's a distinction we obviously have to make.

Like I said, uncharted territory. In former times an impeachment would have been enough to make a sitting president resign. Not any longer, as we've learned during his previous term. So the system has to learn now how precisely it wants to react to this new set of norms, rules and circumstances.

@Billtempleton Additional options:
d) Complicit
e) Communicating with Representatives
f) Protesting
g) All of the Above

I suspect B has the largest numbers. The current POTUS does "Love the poorly educated"