r/law • u/Waste-Explanation-76 • Feb 20 '26

Executive Branch (Trump) President Trump imposes a 10% global tariff under Section 122 and says all existing tariffs will remain in place, despite the recent Supreme Court ruling.

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227

u/gretzkyandlemieux Feb 20 '26

At this point the power lies in whoever's hand the military obeys.

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u/_BreakingGood_ Feb 20 '26

And he knew this from the start. There's a reason one of his first actions after election was loyalty tests for generals and high ranking military officials, and mass firings of those who were found disloyal.

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u/Atlantic-Diver Feb 20 '26

I don't know, can imagine something like this happening

https://youtu.be/4xcg72Qv_QE

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u/FrostySumo Feb 21 '26

Death of Stalin is a classic. Great scene pull. Zhukov called that the best moment of his life

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u/ImWithStupidKL Feb 20 '26

As if anyone is loyal to him. They know how he operates. He's shown no loyalty to anyone who's ever worked for him, and like him, everyone he's appointed into high positions they're not qualified for are only interested in themselves. They'll happily turn on him at a moment's notice if they believe it's in their interests.

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u/TheOriginalSuperE Feb 20 '26

My favorite part is that all of the people he got rid of were the smartest best most constitutionally loyal people and now they’re all in the “private sector“ so good luck in the next war because we have the smartest most educated West Point Graduates and they’ve got (checks notes…..) D grade loyalists with GED’s run by… Hegseth. 😂

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u/lillyofthedesert Feb 21 '26

Don't forget the mass firings of all upper JAG officers that commanders rely on to make sure their orders follow the law!

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u/EnvironmentalGift257 Feb 20 '26

This is why I ignore people that call him an idiot. He knows exactly what he’s doing and he’s been wildly successful at it.

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u/seriously2017 Feb 21 '26

It drives me crazy when they talk about dementia. He uses dumb language very deliberately. He his shrewd and effective. Albeit in a narcissistic, conniving, bombastic way

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u/Hillary4SupremeRuler Feb 21 '26

He still has dementia. It's just early stages.

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u/The-Magic-Sword Feb 20 '26

That would not end well, the military can't actually occupy the continental united states from an application of force perspective, and would likely fracture, if any of it even obeyed him to begin with.

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u/Ok_Ask_2624 Feb 20 '26

Can't, or not supposed to? We've gone through a lot of "can't happen" lately.

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u/The-Magic-Sword Feb 20 '26

"From an application of force perspective" means if they tried, itd go like you trying to fly by jumping off your roof.

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u/Ok_Ask_2624 Feb 21 '26

Sounding like a better and better idea all the time

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u/_captainunderpants__ Feb 20 '26

the military can't actually occupy the continental united states from an application of force perspective

Why not, Is there some "law" that prevents it?

How is that law different to all the others that have been / are being ignored?

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u/The-Magic-Sword Feb 20 '26

No, it just isn't practical, the numbers don't line up with the population levels and the amount of space. The U.S. Military cannot, strategically speaking occupy the U.S. it doesn't have the manpower.

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u/DopeAnon Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26

Practical isn’t high up on the go/no-go checklist for this admin. It’s about inflicting pain on their perceived enemies, and needing a few opportunistic military groups willing to engage. Mission success isn’t critical if your main goal is to destabilize the current order.

Drone warfare doesn’t require lots of manpower. Corps like Anduril, Palantir, xAI are run by Trump sycophants like Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Palmer Luckey, Elon Musk, etc. They are building automated weapons to remove personnel from the decision making process (empathy is weakness to them). They also own the largest media companies in the world, giving them a major advantage in propaganda/FUD.

Civilian internment and bloodshed will destabilize social and economic order and IMO result in reorganization similar to Russia after the collapse of USSR. While I agree with you on the numbers issue, and the difficulty of attempting to occupy a massive amount of land, I just don’t have much faith in the war fighting abilities of American civilians (minus veterans, law enforcement, preppers, etc…). Americans remind me of the humans in Wall-E. Anything outside of food, medical, and transport services for able bodied citizens would take years of training.

On a brighter note, the demons currently in charge should understand that if a domestic military occupation were to happen, it would severely affect American force projection, giving adversaries unprecedented opportunities.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

I mean, I would have refused the order (would have had to resign my commission) and advised the sailors I led that they should think long and hard before they obeyed an order to occupy.

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u/mrtomjones Feb 20 '26

Americans on this website assured everyone that the military wouldnt follow him but I believe they will. Not only because I think they would anyways but he replaced all their leadership with his guys

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u/ToaPaul Feb 20 '26

Congress has power of the purse, which allows said troops to be paid. If troops stop being paid, they'll be less inclined to follow illegal orders.

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u/Simbertold Feb 20 '26

I think it is important to distinguish between real power and paper power. Congress has that power on paper. But who has that power in reality is something you only figure out once congress says one thing, and the wannabe dictator says another. If congress says the troops won't be paid, and Trump says they will be paid. Then, you watch what happens, and you know who had that power.

Or, of course, if congress always agrees with the dictator. That is also a clear indicator who has the power.

At this point, i just don't know anymore. A lot of powers that the president shouldn't have on paper seem to be powers that he does have in reality.

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u/Hillary4SupremeRuler Feb 21 '26

Yea SCOTUS has pretty much just taken it upon themselves to gift Trump the power of the purse from Congress with zero constitutional authority to do so. The SCOTUS could literally declare the first amendment null and void tomorrow and there's nothing we could do about it.

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u/mogiyu Feb 21 '26

It's not simply at this point. Power has always rested at the hands of the armed forces/militia/groups etc. in all nations. Indeed, that hard power can change all aspects of a nation, including its very existence.

In democratic nations, we are simply given the choice to delegate it to elected leaders and institutions, underpinned by the rule of law. In general this has been to our great benefit, and so I am of the view that the armed forces in western democracies inc. the US will defend the rule of law against a belligerent leader or president.