from Hacker News

America Is Watching the Rise of a Dual State

by clcaev on 3/23/25, 4:39 PM with 38 comments

  • by sleepyguy on 3/23/25, 4:44 PM

  • by aoki on 3/23/25, 10:02 PM

    As others have said, every state is already a dual state to some degree. But I would like to thank OP for introducing me to this useful term. (I took more poli sci classes than physics classes in college but still somehow never ran across this one.)

  • by lifestyleguru on 3/23/25, 5:06 PM

    Honestly this political system resembles that of many current post-Communist countries so this is the direction US is going, plus aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons. My inner conspiracy theorist says that some US entities might tested implementing such political turnover on that countries. I'm still outraged by the first presidency of Mr. T but then he looked overwhelmed by the institution of president. This time though... things are going at full speed.

  • by ttul on 3/23/25, 4:55 PM

    TL;DR: Trump 2.0 has ushered in a two-tier legal system that won’t be noticed by most people because it continues to function normally unless you’re part of an exclusive or targeted group. By keeping most of the system functioning normally, the leadership prevents major protests from erupting, while accomplishing some of the more radical goals of the administration.

    Scary stuff. And it seems reasonable to draw this parallel with the Nazi state. The targeting of specific law firms such as Paul, Klein, for instance, must surely be chilling other, smaller firms, whose balance sheets would not withstand a direct assault by the state.

  • by lylejantzi3rd on 3/23/25, 5:56 PM

    We already had a dual state. What we're seeing now is that dual state being revealed and threatened.