"We're losing a lot of people because of the internet," Trump said. "We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, 'Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.' These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people."

He said this in 2015, folks. And we still elected him. We're fucked.

"He could invoke powers we've never heard a President of the United States invoke—potentially to shut down companies or turn off the internet or deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil," he added. "We don't know because the things that are in there, the emergency powers of the president, aren't widely known to the American people.

Wow, it’s almost like we’ve consolidated too much power in the Executive Branch and should do something about it before a despotic asswipe gets elected by an unhinged, manipulated populace.

No matter where an election is coming up - people tend to vote against their interests. This meme popped up in my head when I read this thread:

He's also promising to go into people's houses at night and wreck up the place.

"Things the person speaking does not fully understand for $200."

If Trump elected, America has "turned off its brain", I say

Thankfully, he thinks unplugging the router in the Oval Office breaks it for everyone else, too.

My thoughts and prayers have started ringing to the tune of "please gods may Trump have a heart attack / stroke at the worst possible time for the Republicans and spare the rest of the world another term of American foreign policy behaving as though it was conceived by racist, classist and eight kinds of phobic Elmer Fudd "

Please Donald piss off the wrong people. I double dog dare you.

It was built to survive a nuclear war.

It will survive Trump.

Even if I have to drive a station wagon full of backup tapes myself.

He already turns everyone else off, so why not?

The internet has gone to shit. Let’s hear him out. Speaking as a web developer who just sat through a wireframe meeting, I’m not completely averse to the internet disappearing.

That's the sort of thing that leads to actual unrest.

His MAGAlings must be shocked that he said he'd consult Bill Gates. Of course, cognitive dissonance is like water off a duck's back to them, so that won't last long.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Donald Trump may turn off the internet if elected to a second term in the White House, a former staffer has warned.

Miles Taylor, Trump's former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, was asked on MSNBC about what potential damage the former president, who is the frontrunner in the GOP primaries, could do in government without breaking the law.

I think Americans still don't understand the full extent of the president's powers and things Donald Trump could do, bubble-wrapped in legalese, that would be damaging to the republic."

"He could invoke powers we've never heard a President of the United States invoke—potentially to shut down companies or turn off the internet or deploy the U.S. military on U.S. soil," he added.

In a Republican debate later that month, Trump said he was "open to closing areas" of the internet to prevent terrorism.

Removing internet service in certain areas of the U.S. would require multiple companies to turn off their cell towers and fiber networks, and to restrict satellite access to people living in those regions.

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