Michael Halila 🏳️‍⚧️Jul 1, 2024

I still think it's interesting to ask what form of government the US is exactly. In a sense, a democracy, with a franchise limited by overt racism (voter suppression, gerrymandering and so on) and subject to almost dictatorial oversight by a Supreme Court elected for life and functionally immune to accountability.

Now they've decided that a president can try to overthrow democracy as part of his official duties. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jul/01/supreme-court-decision-trump-immunity-ruling

US supreme court rules Trump has ‘absolute immunity’ for official acts

Court rules former presidents entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution

The Guardian
Show threadMichael Halila 🏳️‍⚧️Jul 1, 2024
If you look at Trump's coup attempt, and the way the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court are behaving, I don't know how you see this as anything other than a concerted effort to impose minority rule. Such democracy as the US has is too much for these people, and they're working determinedly to scrap it.
Show threadMichael Halila 🏳️‍⚧️
The US Supreme Court isn't really a court of law any more, in the sense that a European would think of one. The closest equivalent that I can think of is Iran's Guardian Council: a theocratic body with veto powers over basically all functions of government, dedicated to maintaining religious supremacy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardian_Council
Guardian Council - Wikipedia

Jul 1, 2024 at 5:33pmWeb
Show threadDavidJul 1, 2024
@mhalila I wouldn't be surprised if the Supreme Court Republicans one day decide they can appoint their own successors.
Show threadpaulJul 2, 2024
@mhalila
Show threadThreadbaneJul 2, 2024
@mhalila
This was EXACTLY my analogy yesterday, musing out loud about the court's decision. All six are Roman Catholics (yes, even Gorsuch was raised Catholic), toeing the line for the Vicar of Christ. They have literally taken us back to the Dark Ages, before the Magna Carta. We seem to be transitioning to a system of justice that more resembles the Inquisition, as the states replace separation of church and state with the Ten Commandments to raise a generation of compliant believers.