We are absolutely reaching a tipping point. It is astonishing how quickly the Trump machine has moved, like a crime mob family, only literally with more ruthlessness.
I have advocated for patience, but even I am running out of it. What is most shocking is how easily the MAGA millions have taken the Kool-Aid and capitulated to whatever Tru…
We are absolutely reaching a tipping point. It is astonishing how quickly the Trump machine has moved, like a crime mob family, only literally with more ruthlessness.
I have advocated for patience, but even I am running out of it. What is most shocking is how easily the MAGA millions have taken the Kool-Aid and capitulated to whatever Trump, Musk, and others have said. Unfortunately, the only result that seems even possible is a violent revolution. The country is torn virtually in thirds, one-third supporting Trump, one-third sort of supporting the Democratic "norm," and the other third not even sure if they want to bother.
It is 1860 all over again, and it looks like the endgame may be much worse.
If you Jon, the more patient among patient people and the more legalistic among legalistic people, are asking for radical action in view of the destructive speed of the current regime, the situation must be more severe and dangerous than it appears. Welcome to we the people. Reading today's letter was terrifying.
For anyone paying attention, it is hard to imagine how brutal they would have to be for it to be more obvious.
Sadly, not enough are paying attention. Hopefully, when they finally do wake up, they will blame right-wingers, send Republicans to the political wilderness forever, and amend the Constitution to make a more perfect union.
Yes I agree reading this letter was terrifying but we can't give up. Massive protests must continue all over the states to rebuke project 2025. We can't just depend on Bernie and AOC to reach out to the people. We need several Democratic leaders and Independent leaders to reach out to the people.
Where are the moderate Republican leaders? What are they waiting for?
Absolutely Patricia, we can't give up but it won't be easy. Look at what's happening in Turkey. I think similar will happen here. In reference to the republican leaders, I would call them maga leaders, they are afraid of the scumbag president and his close circle.
You owe it to us, Daniel, to say a few words to put your urging in context.
Goddammit, it's massive this inability of "educated" Americans to cite any reading and put it in any context. Just so normal from the tens of thousands of schools dedicated only to how many points our otherwise dehumanized get on tests.
At present, Republicans hold all the cards. But some, like Bacon and a few like him could negotiate a shared government. I can't speak for Jeffries, but behind the scenes, I bet they are.
I've been sayin' that if I were jeffries I'd offer the chairs of some committees to people like Bacon. MAGA mike removed a couple of chairs who he thought were too pro-Ukraine. These people are staunchly Republicans, but hopefully will salute the same flag we do.
I know for a fact that many are stressed -- like the 3 amigos here. One of them, Mario Diaz Balart's brother, Jose is a talking head at MSNBC. I knew his older brother who just passed away. The Cuban American Fund still has a lot of power -- Trump just reinstated Radio Marti -- and they can't like the way that Cubans are taken as DEI. Rubio's alter ego is Norman Braman, a car dealer -- the newly oppressed minority. Mrs. Rubio used to work there. Maybe she still does.
I can go on for a month -- but we don't have a month.
I was always proud of our melting pot. Can’t imagine a more boring existence than to have the citizenry be Stepford wives and/or some stupid avatars. On second thought, maybe we could replace repubs with avatars. Neither have a heart or soul.
Most of what is happening is choreographed by Koch's A.L.E.C. , the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo. You haven't heard from any of these groups since the election, have you?? They are NOT on vacation. The goal is to eviscerate the government and PRIVATIZE EVERYTHING. A Libertarian's dream.
Most of what is happening is a distraction: Tariffs, terrible, terrible tariffs. Oh Woe!! Dismantling of Social Security ... that is a Really good distraction. It affects the weakest among us .... who wouldn't be angry!?!
The meeting on Signal was a wonderful distraction. We really got mad about that. (Yeah, with good reason.) But ... did anything change?? No one got fired, No one even apologized. Musk is still cutting the legs off our government. And the administration is still jailing people who MIGHT dissent and frightening the universities.
MOST OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IS A DISTRACTION TO THE STEALING OF OUR GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!
I just keep writing GOTV postcards to Democrats. Those in my Indivisible group (now grown in numbers hard to find meeting space for) are in larger and larger demonstrations, but at 91, I am faster and more useful at postcards. Watching WI; 200 postcards written and mailed. A drop in the bucket, so hope there were many more writing.
Virginia Whitmer, my wife and I, well into our 70s, live in rural northern Minnesota and joined Indivisible in late December, 2024. My wife is helping organize our group. Forty-seven people came to our first meeting in December, a hundred-plus to the January meeting, and now, in March, we're at 350 members. Still growing and, like you, looking for a larger venue.
We've held two demonstrations outside the office of our Congressional District 8 absentee Republican Congressman Pete Stauber, each drawing about 450 demonstrators and we meet for other actions like postcard-writing and one freezing-cold demonstration against Trump in a nearby small town (pop. 12,500 souls). I'm struck by how similar our experience is to yours! It gives us optimism that, though the numbers are small, there is energy to RESIST! even out here in rural America where there was no reason to expect it.
We are inspired more than I can express by @hrichardson 's "Letters", @jesspiper 's "View From Rural Missouri", and others on Substack.
The intended end game is worse. But we don't know what the end game was nearly a century ago. We do know the players today have skills they may not have had a century ago.
I think that the billionaire tech bros very consciously strive to bring about the Apocalypse. That is their end game. This way, they have the White Evangelicals on board. It satisfies the fantasies of both: one group dreams of Rapture and Judgment, fantasizing about Jesus racing onto the plains on a motorcycle with machine guns mowing down “unworthy libs” while they themselves ascend to heaven; the other group fantasizes about “rising and ruling from the ashes” as the new Gods. Think that’s crazy? Some billionaires are already deepfreezing their brains after death, expecting to be either uploaded in a machine, or built into a new cyborg body with technology that (they think) will be available in the future. True story.
Damn, Jesus sure had a makeover. And most of our Christian churches are on board, exactly like you said. When they kicked Jesus to the curb, (like he kicked the money changers out of the temple), the dye was cast and the greedy haters rewrote the script. May they get raptured tonight.
The Jesus people are gonna get fucked as well, WTF will they pray too then when their Orange God kicks them in teeth. We here all know this and watched him use them like a cheap date.
No, generally they are not, but when you look at the old generation in Senate and Congress - they all look constantly befuddled and confused when they're asked about the current events - I bet the vast majority as no idea what eg Signal actually is, they are so far removed from the average people that they don't seem to understand what is happening in the average persons life - except Bernie probably.
When folks I know ask me "can you imagine what it would be like if Bernie won"? I look at them and say "can you imagine what it would be like if Hillary won?".
Thing is, Hugh, that all those who have schemed high-tech “bolt-holes” and private islands are going to need people to “serve & support” them…how long, really, does one expect “allegiance” if it all goes to shit and basic survival is at stake…IMHO what is needed is to build a resilient communities who care for one another NOT fiefdoms!
That is what will happen I suspect - but don't forget that the richo's can run out of food too.. ( Hey - we need to cook Fred - is there any gas left for the barbecue?)
Yep. When the rich crash society, power grids stop working, too. They might have their private armies, but there will be a point where the last bullet is fired, and the factories producing them will be gone. That’s the very latest point where people will do away with the rich Demigods, but I hope it happens way before that point.
The way you are all calmly accepting that it the ALAMO, is also frightening. It is 2025 and the fact that a democratically elected government can get away with this, is horrifying ! For 80 years we have been keeping an eye on Germany in case we have another HITLER, who would have thought that in two months it could happen in the GOOD OLD USA, LAND OF THE FREE. Can't keep that GERMAN blood down !
The white Christian nationalists are not going to be happy with trump's move on fertility treatments, which will scuttle their plan for fetal personhood.
Agree that's the end game. What's interesting is they truly don't believe they themselves will be negatively impacted. That somehow their families and friends will all be protected from this madness. That's not how it will end. What goes around comes around. And, as happens, those in Traitor's favor can fall out of it in the blink of an eye.
"those in Traitor's favor can fall out of it in the blink of an eye."
Exactly! If history has taught us ANY lesson, it should be this. I simply can't understand why people in the Orange Clown's inner circle are thinking "noooo, my Orange Hero will always love ME..."
And yes, I have a hard time to believe that Musk et al can be _so_ naive as to think they and their families will be unscathed by a collapse of the biosphere. On the other hand: the reductionist-materialist thinking is so strong in them, they probably don't see themselves as part of this world anyway...
What no one seems to be saying is what I see: the chaos is deliberate. Getting people protesting is what they want. That will GIVE TRUMP AN EXCUSE TO DECLARE MARTIAL LAW. And then he can declare himself king, dictator, whatever he wants. And guess what? WE ARE JUST A FEW SMALL STEPS AWAY FROM THAT SCENARIO! But if we get out on the streets in the millions and protest, they can’t imprison millions. Violent revolution is NOT the answer. Gandhi won independence for India with nonviolent noncooperation, violence-free resistance, by millions of people. MLK won the Civil Rights fight the same way. They can’t win against an enemy who fights, not with guns, but with the presence of MILLIONS STANDING UP IN THE STREETS AND SAYING NO!
Still, if Elise Stefanik had even a speck of self-respect, she’d resign her House seat.
She debased herself in her shameless rise to the middle, went full MAGA, toadyed up to them, in the hopes of eventually getting a reward in exchange for her principles.
So, she did. She got a Cabinet-level job as Ambassador to the UN. Now, Orange has told her that , nope, you’re needed in the House.
But, she’s told her staff to find other jobs, closed her office and there’s someone else in her former job. And that woman isn’t stepping down.
Elise Stefanik should move into the private sector NOW and grab the big bux while she still can.
Commercial media are so complicit here, dispensing pablum. I’m thinking here of the 5pm local news, the big 4 networks, and cable - sattelite tv news. It’s been three decades of brainwashing, I guess it peaked starting with the first and second Gulf wars and things got cranked up to 11 after 9/11.
What I’m seeing in the central plains is a resurgence of local media; good journalists were kicked to the curb when newspapers were bought out and gutted by venture capital. I guess you can’t keep a good journalist down for long.
Support these local journalists. The battle now is local politics. The days are over for federal politics to serve as an anchor, I think red states now must be won over to purple and blue. MAGAs will listen when local issues hit them.
Not only must we slow and reverse the fascist federal tide, but rebuilt a just federal govt. after it is moth-eaten. National Dem. Leadership must be recharged or replaced with new strategies. I’m still getting Act-Blue-based text fundraiser texts and I won’t respond, I wish they’d quit and form a new platform that respects donors instead of exploiting them. I’m giving to local candidates and causes who I know are making a difference.
In general, the military MUST follow the commander in chief unless they are absolutely positive he is giving illegal unconstitutional commands. For instance, if a bunch of illegal immigrants take over a stadium, and he ordered that they assault the stadium and imprison the immigrants, that would be a perfectly legal (if grotesque) order, as those people would be violating the law even if we think they should be given some kind of forgiveness.
So far he has stayed within constitutional boundaries for the most part or at least within a potential presumption of those boundaries. In those cases we are forced to use the courts to try to stop him. To do otherwise would violate the law.
He is going to have to step so clearly outside the boundaries before we can presume that the rest of the country and the world would consider taking up arms against the government to be legitimate.
That is the dilemma. Like it or not he IS the elected President and his legal powers are immense. When he steps over them as he has, in our country we have legal processes we must follow to fight his oversteps.
He would have to go pretty far afield to justify our own violation of our laws.
We are absolutely reaching a tipping point. It is astonishing how quickly the Trump machine has moved, like a crime mob family, only literally with more ruthlessness.
I have advocated for patience, but even I am running out of it. What is most shocking is how easily the MAGA millions have taken the Kool-Aid and capitulated to whatever Trump, Musk, and others have said. Unfortunately, the only result that seems even possible is a violent revolution. The country is torn virtually in thirds, one-third supporting Trump, one-third sort of supporting the Democratic "norm," and the other third not even sure if they want to bother.
It is 1860 all over again, and it looks like the endgame may be much worse.
If you Jon, the more patient among patient people and the more legalistic among legalistic people, are asking for radical action in view of the destructive speed of the current regime, the situation must be more severe and dangerous than it appears. Welcome to we the people. Reading today's letter was terrifying.
For anyone paying attention, it is hard to imagine how brutal they would have to be for it to be more obvious.
Sadly, not enough are paying attention. Hopefully, when they finally do wake up, they will blame right-wingers, send Republicans to the political wilderness forever, and amend the Constitution to make a more perfect union.
From your mouth to you know whom ears Mystic 🤞
Yes I agree reading this letter was terrifying but we can't give up. Massive protests must continue all over the states to rebuke project 2025. We can't just depend on Bernie and AOC to reach out to the people. We need several Democratic leaders and Independent leaders to reach out to the people.
Where are the moderate Republican leaders? What are they waiting for?
Is it surprising that GOP "leaders" aren't responding when our OWN leaders are totally missing in action?
Absolutely Patricia, we can't give up but it won't be easy. Look at what's happening in Turkey. I think similar will happen here. In reference to the republican leaders, I would call them maga leaders, they are afraid of the scumbag president and his close circle.
Thanks for your reply 👍
So, what you are saying is ~ in essence, really no, in reality, they have declared war on America and the question is how will they be stopped?
“ in reality, they have declared war on America and the question is how will they be stopped?”
Yes.
Read Feathers of Hope.
You owe it to us, Daniel, to say a few words to put your urging in context.
Goddammit, it's massive this inability of "educated" Americans to cite any reading and put it in any context. Just so normal from the tens of thousands of schools dedicated only to how many points our otherwise dehumanized get on tests.
At present, Republicans hold all the cards. But some, like Bacon and a few like him could negotiate a shared government. I can't speak for Jeffries, but behind the scenes, I bet they are.
I've been sayin' that if I were jeffries I'd offer the chairs of some committees to people like Bacon. MAGA mike removed a couple of chairs who he thought were too pro-Ukraine. These people are staunchly Republicans, but hopefully will salute the same flag we do.
I know for a fact that many are stressed -- like the 3 amigos here. One of them, Mario Diaz Balart's brother, Jose is a talking head at MSNBC. I knew his older brother who just passed away. The Cuban American Fund still has a lot of power -- Trump just reinstated Radio Marti -- and they can't like the way that Cubans are taken as DEI. Rubio's alter ego is Norman Braman, a car dealer -- the newly oppressed minority. Mrs. Rubio used to work there. Maybe she still does.
I can go on for a month -- but we don't have a month.
Nobody wants to be taken as DEI. Weird, isn’t it, as 90% of us are in some fashion. That pure white race is a myth of cosmic proportions
I expect even Hitler figured that out at some point. And Germany preWW2 was way more "pure" than the US has EVER been.
I was always proud of our melting pot. Can’t imagine a more boring existence than to have the citizenry be Stepford wives and/or some stupid avatars. On second thought, maybe we could replace repubs with avatars. Neither have a heart or soul.
Here, even the a-hole Donalds is willing to work with Moakowitz to introduce bi-partisan legislation that tweaks Trump's nose. https://enewspaper.sun-sentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?edid=17239899-8920-40ad-b637-1a709cd303c7
I wonder whether Moskowitz has asked him whether he joined the axis of evil?
Whether he likes discrimination against Balcks?
Most of what is happening is choreographed by Koch's A.L.E.C. , the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo. You haven't heard from any of these groups since the election, have you?? They are NOT on vacation. The goal is to eviscerate the government and PRIVATIZE EVERYTHING. A Libertarian's dream.
Most of what is happening is a distraction: Tariffs, terrible, terrible tariffs. Oh Woe!! Dismantling of Social Security ... that is a Really good distraction. It affects the weakest among us .... who wouldn't be angry!?!
The meeting on Signal was a wonderful distraction. We really got mad about that. (Yeah, with good reason.) But ... did anything change?? No one got fired, No one even apologized. Musk is still cutting the legs off our government. And the administration is still jailing people who MIGHT dissent and frightening the universities.
MOST OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IS A DISTRACTION TO THE STEALING OF OUR GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!!
I just keep writing GOTV postcards to Democrats. Those in my Indivisible group (now grown in numbers hard to find meeting space for) are in larger and larger demonstrations, but at 91, I am faster and more useful at postcards. Watching WI; 200 postcards written and mailed. A drop in the bucket, so hope there were many more writing.
Virginia Whitmer, my wife and I, well into our 70s, live in rural northern Minnesota and joined Indivisible in late December, 2024. My wife is helping organize our group. Forty-seven people came to our first meeting in December, a hundred-plus to the January meeting, and now, in March, we're at 350 members. Still growing and, like you, looking for a larger venue.
We've held two demonstrations outside the office of our Congressional District 8 absentee Republican Congressman Pete Stauber, each drawing about 450 demonstrators and we meet for other actions like postcard-writing and one freezing-cold demonstration against Trump in a nearby small town (pop. 12,500 souls). I'm struck by how similar our experience is to yours! It gives us optimism that, though the numbers are small, there is energy to RESIST! even out here in rural America where there was no reason to expect it.
We are inspired more than I can express by @hrichardson 's "Letters", @jesspiper 's "View From Rural Missouri", and others on Substack.
I honestly hate to say it, but: I told you so.
Indeed, some tried to find ears, but not enough interested…
Sadly…
Nobody is gloating - but also don't expect too much sympathy. You were told over and over again, you never wanted to listen.
It's your problem. I just hope the rest of us can stay out of that vortex and regroup successfully.
I’m definitely not gloating: I sincerely wish I was wrong…
No, I was answering to Elizabeth, who deleted her comment - something about not gloating and that it's no time for big egoes, along these lines.
I probably should delete mine as well, it looks/reads weird now. 😄
Oh, you’re right, I see it now: “comment deleted”…
The intended end game is worse. But we don't know what the end game was nearly a century ago. We do know the players today have skills they may not have had a century ago.
I think that the billionaire tech bros very consciously strive to bring about the Apocalypse. That is their end game. This way, they have the White Evangelicals on board. It satisfies the fantasies of both: one group dreams of Rapture and Judgment, fantasizing about Jesus racing onto the plains on a motorcycle with machine guns mowing down “unworthy libs” while they themselves ascend to heaven; the other group fantasizes about “rising and ruling from the ashes” as the new Gods. Think that’s crazy? Some billionaires are already deepfreezing their brains after death, expecting to be either uploaded in a machine, or built into a new cyborg body with technology that (they think) will be available in the future. True story.
Damn, Jesus sure had a makeover. And most of our Christian churches are on board, exactly like you said. When they kicked Jesus to the curb, (like he kicked the money changers out of the temple), the dye was cast and the greedy haters rewrote the script. May they get raptured tonight.
The Jesus people are gonna get fucked as well, WTF will they pray too then when their Orange God kicks them in teeth. We here all know this and watched him use them like a cheap date.
They deserve it, such self-cretins. With a tad of racism
For my part, they can rapture yesterday. They might be in for a surprise, though, when they meet the real God.
Proof that their belief is crap. They would be quaking in their booties if they really believed things Jesus advocated.
Damn right you are, JD.
The only good thing is - they are woefully incompetent in the real world. I mean - just look at Musk!
In my opinion really the only option is people power - general strike, protests, walk-outs, and sadly violence is a very likely future scenario.
You left the old people too long in power - I'm afraid it looks like they by-passed your systems and conventions.
I wonder if a resistance can be built quickly and strongly enough.
Old people are not necessarily a negative force.
No, generally they are not, but when you look at the old generation in Senate and Congress - they all look constantly befuddled and confused when they're asked about the current events - I bet the vast majority as no idea what eg Signal actually is, they are so far removed from the average people that they don't seem to understand what is happening in the average persons life - except Bernie probably.
When folks I know ask me "can you imagine what it would be like if Bernie won"? I look at them and say "can you imagine what it would be like if Hillary won?".
Turned into a Bernie bro in my old age, at least he looks alive. Guess we’re about the same age.
The best president the US never had, imo
And given what they are doing - I very much doubt that the freezers will still be working.. (maybe try Albertson's <grin>)
Thing is, Hugh, that all those who have schemed high-tech “bolt-holes” and private islands are going to need people to “serve & support” them…how long, really, does one expect “allegiance” if it all goes to shit and basic survival is at stake…IMHO what is needed is to build a resilient communities who care for one another NOT fiefdoms!
That is what will happen I suspect - but don't forget that the richo's can run out of food too.. ( Hey - we need to cook Fred - is there any gas left for the barbecue?)
Yep. When the rich crash society, power grids stop working, too. They might have their private armies, but there will be a point where the last bullet is fired, and the factories producing them will be gone. That’s the very latest point where people will do away with the rich Demigods, but I hope it happens way before that point.
The way you are all calmly accepting that it the ALAMO, is also frightening. It is 2025 and the fact that a democratically elected government can get away with this, is horrifying ! For 80 years we have been keeping an eye on Germany in case we have another HITLER, who would have thought that in two months it could happen in the GOOD OLD USA, LAND OF THE FREE. Can't keep that GERMAN blood down !
I've been saying this, too. But that was "so exaggerated"...
Absolutely right, Barbara. “Together” is the key. The billionaires only believe in “ME”.
The white Christian nationalists are not going to be happy with trump's move on fertility treatments, which will scuttle their plan for fetal personhood.
Agree that's the end game. What's interesting is they truly don't believe they themselves will be negatively impacted. That somehow their families and friends will all be protected from this madness. That's not how it will end. What goes around comes around. And, as happens, those in Traitor's favor can fall out of it in the blink of an eye.
"those in Traitor's favor can fall out of it in the blink of an eye."
Exactly! If history has taught us ANY lesson, it should be this. I simply can't understand why people in the Orange Clown's inner circle are thinking "noooo, my Orange Hero will always love ME..."
And yes, I have a hard time to believe that Musk et al can be _so_ naive as to think they and their families will be unscathed by a collapse of the biosphere. On the other hand: the reductionist-materialist thinking is so strong in them, they probably don't see themselves as part of this world anyway...
What no one seems to be saying is what I see: the chaos is deliberate. Getting people protesting is what they want. That will GIVE TRUMP AN EXCUSE TO DECLARE MARTIAL LAW. And then he can declare himself king, dictator, whatever he wants. And guess what? WE ARE JUST A FEW SMALL STEPS AWAY FROM THAT SCENARIO! But if we get out on the streets in the millions and protest, they can’t imprison millions. Violent revolution is NOT the answer. Gandhi won independence for India with nonviolent noncooperation, violence-free resistance, by millions of people. MLK won the Civil Rights fight the same way. They can’t win against an enemy who fights, not with guns, but with the presence of MILLIONS STANDING UP IN THE STREETS AND SAYING NO!
Still, if Elise Stefanik had even a speck of self-respect, she’d resign her House seat.
She debased herself in her shameless rise to the middle, went full MAGA, toadyed up to them, in the hopes of eventually getting a reward in exchange for her principles.
So, she did. She got a Cabinet-level job as Ambassador to the UN. Now, Orange has told her that , nope, you’re needed in the House.
But, she’s told her staff to find other jobs, closed her office and there’s someone else in her former job. And that woman isn’t stepping down.
Elise Stefanik should move into the private sector NOW and grab the big bux while she still can.
"If Elise Stefanik had even a speck of self-respect, she’d resign her House seat."
Wait... please repeat that. I actually thought you said "If Elise Stefanik had even a speck of self-respect..."
So I am absolutely positive you must be drinking or something like that... LOL!
Been coming for a long time, before chump
Let patience turn to resolve.
Commercial media are so complicit here, dispensing pablum. I’m thinking here of the 5pm local news, the big 4 networks, and cable - sattelite tv news. It’s been three decades of brainwashing, I guess it peaked starting with the first and second Gulf wars and things got cranked up to 11 after 9/11.
What I’m seeing in the central plains is a resurgence of local media; good journalists were kicked to the curb when newspapers were bought out and gutted by venture capital. I guess you can’t keep a good journalist down for long.
Support these local journalists. The battle now is local politics. The days are over for federal politics to serve as an anchor, I think red states now must be won over to purple and blue. MAGAs will listen when local issues hit them.
Not only must we slow and reverse the fascist federal tide, but rebuilt a just federal govt. after it is moth-eaten. National Dem. Leadership must be recharged or replaced with new strategies. I’m still getting Act-Blue-based text fundraiser texts and I won’t respond, I wish they’d quit and form a new platform that respects donors instead of exploiting them. I’m giving to local candidates and causes who I know are making a difference.
I keep thinking about all of those guns that MAGA has .
I am worried about whether our own police ,& military will follow the Constitution, or Their Commander in Chief !
In general, the military MUST follow the commander in chief unless they are absolutely positive he is giving illegal unconstitutional commands. For instance, if a bunch of illegal immigrants take over a stadium, and he ordered that they assault the stadium and imprison the immigrants, that would be a perfectly legal (if grotesque) order, as those people would be violating the law even if we think they should be given some kind of forgiveness.
So far he has stayed within constitutional boundaries for the most part or at least within a potential presumption of those boundaries. In those cases we are forced to use the courts to try to stop him. To do otherwise would violate the law.
He is going to have to step so clearly outside the boundaries before we can presume that the rest of the country and the world would consider taking up arms against the government to be legitimate.
That is the dilemma. Like it or not he IS the elected President and his legal powers are immense. When he steps over them as he has, in our country we have legal processes we must follow to fight his oversteps.
He would have to go pretty far afield to justify our own violation of our laws.