"You cannot bring a firearm, loaded, with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It's that simple."

[paleotn]

38. That is where you're wrong. They do. They have to.

That's what makes governments work in the west. To a great degree everywhere. Even Putin worries about his perception among the Russian populace. But that's particularly true in a nation with no history thus no genetic memory of authoritarianism.

The only thing holding this regime in power is R's perception that Trump controls their base of voters and they can't win primaries without that. When they discover they can push back hard on Trump and still win, or that not doing so means they lose the general, Trump is doomed. That calculus is based on how many "bridges too far" this regime is taking. Quite a few of late. Even THINKING about actually canceling 2026 elections and it's game over. They'll impeach and convict his ass with votes to spare.

One of several reasons he dropped the whole Greenland thing when some here thought invasion was a done deal. There are limits and much of that is based on the perceptions of the people.