How would you go about stopping a dictator?

[Naydyonov]

From both the right and the left there is a lot of talk about the end of democracy. Trump is a fascist, Biden is a commie, this guy is Hitler, that guy is Stalin.

But what if some president were to actually literally declare himself, in no uncertain terms, to be the dictator of the United States? In this scenario, we can't make it easy on you by assuming the military or government will stop him. Assume that government institutions bow down to this dictator. Only regular people such as yourself may decide to take action.
As a citizen, what do YOU do to stop him? What is the plan?

I ask this because I think we talk about the prospect of dictatorship without any idea of how we'd actually stop it. Militias exist. But I wonder whether they even have a tangible plan. Do they respond by attacking the local police station? Do they attack an army base?

Thinking about this, I think it becomes obvious that there's really no contingency plan. If such a scenario were to play out, there'd be a very chaotic response by the population, because nobody has ever really thought about this possibility seriously. And the less unified the response, the greater the chance the dictator holds on to power successfully.

[BCA6010]

Oh, I promise you that the pushback from the US military would be far less than what most folks actually think. There are way too many career yes-men and people who just do whatever they're told without a second thought, especially after the last decade or so. That said however, that is also the only organization capable of making an even remotely cohesive immediate retaliation, and even then, it would be very sloppy. The military broadly, is very slow to mobilize even in the best of times. You are correct though - there is no militia group in the country that has any sort of coherent plan for retaliation, and the overwhelming majority of people who run their mouths online would either do nothing, or just stand and fight and die in their homes, completely wasted. A major part of that is because the people who actually know how to front an armed resistance against an imminent tyrannical threat wouldn't assemble prematurely and put a target on their backs.

As far as a civilian resistance, it would actually be very easy to sustain - I won't give specific details but an insurgency only needs support from about 10% of the population to sustain itself indefinitely, and frankly regardless of what kind of person were to suddenly seize power, they'd instantly have at least 60% in opposition on principle alone. That would make a total and sudden seizure of power an overwhelmingly stupid move, which is why the actual centralization of power that really began to start during the great depression has been an ongoing process for almost a century now. In other words, it'll happen when the majority of masses cry out for it to happen, which if I had to make a guess, that will be the 2032 election if there isn't a major shift in trends with the youngest generation, though by then I don't think sentiments would shift enough to make an effective insurgency unfeasible by then though, so it would probably take even longer to soundly pull that radical of a shift in government off.

[Naydyonov]

the type of answer I hoped for, thanks

[exitseven]

America is the only thing standing between freedom and domination by billionaires. This is why they hate America so much and are spending millions to destroy it.

[Naydyonov]

This isn't the question.

[exitseven]

We need to vote the democrats out of office to save this country and stop there having a dictator. It is the last chance.

[Naydyonov]

You believe he is a dictator but can be voted out?

[exitseven]

The next election might be our last.

[Naydyonov]

Okay, but what if Biden were to become a total dictator? On a practical level, how would you stop him?

[exitseven]

I would figure out a way to not pay income taxes. I would concert all my assets into gold and not pay any more taxes. I would get a tax attorney to advise the bast way to do this and I would put it out on the internet and get others to join the resistance.

[Naydyonov]

So, basically: you'd focus on cutting off the government's source of financing, correct?

[exitseven]

Yes, I would try and starve the beast.

[exitseven]

Thanks for the MHO😎

[Naydyonov]

:D ;)

[NamerOfStars]

Realistically? The same way I did it last time: run. I doubt both my willingness to kill other innocents and my ability to kill a presumably guarded strongman, and I KNOW I can't handle authoritarianism, so there's really no other choice.

[Naydyonov]

So you'd run in an election against a dictator?

[Joshuabenitez]

You put Trump in jail. That's how you stop him.