Here’s One Big Way You’ll Know if We’re in a Presidential Dictatorship
slate.com
If Trump successfully defies the courts, the only remaining obstacle to dictatorship will be public revulsion and national popular protest.

Summary

Trump’s defiance of court orders—refusing to release funds or reinstate officials—signals a dangerous drift toward dictatorship.

Courts use civil and criminal contempt to enforce orders, yet their power relies on DOJ-controlled agencies like the Marshals and Bureau of Prisons.

If the DOJ ignores or pardons contempt findings, judicial authority is undermined.

With Congress failing to check executive overreach, Trump’s persistent noncompliance erodes the rule of law.

The situation risks transforming government into a dictatorship unless public outrage and political resistance reverse this trend.

  • kibiz0rEnglish
    18·
    5 days ago

    Huh. TIL:

    The looming obstacle to deployment of civil contempt against Trump’s merry band of constitutional arsonists is the reality that judges do not arrest or imprison people themselves. Nor does the judicial branch have its own armed employees to arrest those who defy its orders or its own jails in which to hold prisoners. Those jobs are performed by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons … which are both components of the DOJ and are thus subordinate to the attorney general, who is subordinate to Trump. Even an order imposing a fine can be enforced only against a noncompliant defendant by action of the Justice Department.

    Pretty good article on why refusing to enforce a contempt order would really be the South Bank of the Rubicon.