‪Mark Jacob: How Trump can exploit an emergency or national tragedy

[Dennis Donovan]

Mark Jacob‬ ‪
@markjacob.bsky.social‬
19m
Some may think I’m paranoid when I warn people that Trump could exploit a national tragedy to declare an emergency, suspend civil rights and impose a dictatorship. After all, he’s never attempted a coup or anything in the past, right? Right? Here’s my thread warning about Trump “emergencies.” 1/7 🧵


‪Mark Jacob‬ ‪
@markjacob.bsky.social‬
19m
Trump is a serial abuser of laws on emergency powers. He gained his unilateral tariff authority by declaring a “national emergency” based on trade conditions that have been around for years. To justify deporting Venezuelans without hearings, he cited a supposed “invasion” by gang members. 2/7 🧵


‪Mark Jacob‬ ‪
@markjacob.bsky.social‬
18m
Lots of dictators use “emergencies” to justify crackdowns. Ferdinand Marcos did it in the Philippines. The Chinese communists did it in Tiananmen Square. South Korea’s president tried it in December and was stopped by people power. It’s what authoritarians do, and Trump is an authoritarian. 3/7 🧵

‪Mark Jacob‬ ‪
@markjacob.bsky.social‬
18m
Trump and his fascist gang talk about invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows a president to use the military domestically to quell civil disorder. Will Trump’s abuses of power inspire sustained mass protests that he’ll deem to be “disorder”? Will he cite immigration as a pretext? 4/7 🧵


‪Mark Jacob‬
‪@markjacob.bsky.social‬
17m
Another possibility is that an actual act of terrorism will occur and be exploited by Trump to crush dissent. That’s what happened with the Reichstag Fire in 1933 Germany. It remains unclear who burned Germany’s parliament building, but the Nazis took full advantage to suspend civil rights. 5/7 🧵


‪Mark Jacob‬ ‪
@markjacob.bsky.social‬
14m
Another example occurred in Russia in 1999. Bombings killed 300 people, and a new leader named Vladimir Putin blamed Chechen rebels and launched a crackdown that increased his popularity and allowed him to eventually amass dictatorial power. Some suspect Putin himself was behind the bombings. 6/7 🧵


Mark Jacob
‪@markjacob.bsky.social‬
If a national tragedy occurs in the U.S., don’t trust Trump to tell the truth about it. (See my attached newsletter from January about the hyping of tragedies.) Please don’t stop protesting out of fear he’ll use our activism as an excuse. Stay active. And beware of a Reichstag Fire. 7/7 🧵

April 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM

If a national tragedy occurs in the U.S., don’t trust Trump to tell the truth about it. (See my attached newsletter from January about the hyping of tragedies.) Please don’t stop protesting out of fear he’ll use our activism as an excuse. Stay active. And beware of a Reichstag Fire. 7/7 🧵

— Mark Jacob (@markjacob.bsky.social) 2025-04-08T18:18:30.989Z

[RockCreek]

1. The most important part is at the end:

"Please don’t stop protesting out of fear he’ll use our activism as an excuse. Stay active. And beware of a Reichstag Fire."

[Native]

2. this is exactly what i've been thinking for about a week now, and

everytime he does something that makes us more vulnerable to an attack, it just makes me more certain he's advertising for something to happen so he can declare an emergency. I mean, all the cybersecurity firings? wtaf?