[ExI] Trump suggests letting Iran 'take out' Los Angeles and San Diego

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 12/10/2026 21:51, spike wrote, re. the constitution:
> It doesn’t enforce itself.  The military and the militia enforce it.


Spike, you previously said, in answer to my question of what actually enforces the constitution, "The supreme court". Now you're saying it's the military and the militia.

So if the supreme court decides that something the president decides to do is illegal, and order him to stop, and he takes no notice, then the military and the militia can force him to stop. In theory.

I see one big problem with that theory. The president is the commander of both the military and the militia. And as we've seen recently, the military have been told that they should not obey the law if they are commanded to do something that is against the law.

So I'm still in the dark about what can, in practice, stop the president from doing whatever he likes, constitution or no constitution.

The secret service, that protect the president, who do they obey? The law, or the president? If a policeman marched into the white house and tried to arrest the president for disobeying the supreme court (if such a policeman could be found), what would happen? Would the secret service be obliged to stand aside and let the arrest take place?

Oh, but I'm forgetting that the president can't actually commit a crime, as he has absolute criminal immunity for any official acts. So he cannot be arrested for doing anything at all, as long as it's 'official', and of course that includes doing things that the constitution forbids, there is no exemption that I know of for this.

This seems to suggest that he can ignore the 22nd amendment without any consequences. Or indeed any other part of the constitution. As far as he is concerned, it might as well not exist.

I'm sure my thinking on this must be at fault. But I can't see where. Any thoughts?

I think we can all agree that never in the last 250 years has a POTUS established the same cult of personality that the current one has, and none of them have loaded so many official positions with their loyal supporters, and removed so many opponents. Never before has the deck been so loaded in favour of a president being able to take over the government.

The statement "He cannot" has no power on its own. It needs to be backed up with the means to enforce it, like fair and unbiased courts, police and armed forces loyal to the law and not to an individual. All of which seem to be missing or under threat.

I find it ironic that so many americans take pride and comfort in their political system being modelled on the roman republic, while also apparently being blind as to how it ended.

-- 
Ben
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." - Pablo Casals, via Albert Einstein