It's very obvious that America has a dictatorial government, and I'm baffled why you would deny this. The dictator-in-chief has argued explicitly and repeatedly that the written laws of the land don't constrain him; he can shut down departments Congress ordered him to run, levy taxes they didn't authorize, and overrule or rewrite any statute he feels isn't correct. He seized 10% of Intel Corporation without even a fig leaf of legal basis!

Perhaps you're confused that the normal system of laws is still operating? That's just the nature of dictatorship in a large country. The dictator only has so much time in the day, and if he has to delegate anyway he might as well use the preexisting courts and civil servants. He just has to put supervisors on top who can credibly threaten to invoke his wrath if people step too far out of line.

Does threatening to prosecute office supply store workers unless they print certain flyers count as the behavior of a dictator? That doesn't sound like the behavior of a government respecting the First Amendment.

No need for that. I was just asking someone to clarify what they were saying.

Regardless of what you think about the government, that wasn’t a statement in the above. The statement was about tech companies. So it wasn’t clear.

Obvious only to those with their head in the sand https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/ice-ra...