While the palindromic structure of that command is pleasing to mine eye, LMDE basically called me a frickin' idiot for trying.

I know it always asks Continue [Y/n] and there's no yes | or echo | to force that, so I was reasonably sure I'd get away with it, but I don't think I could argue with the sentiment had it actually said that.

(Also, I have Timeshift, so that would have saved my bacon but for the inconvenience of having to go through a rollback.)

Anyway, here's what it said (scrolling may be required to see the last line which is clearly code for "you're an idiot"):

REMOVING:                       
  apt       apt-utils          mint-meta-cinnamon  mintsources  mintupdate       sudo
  apt-file  command-not-found  mint-meta-core      mintsystem   python3-repolib

WARNING: The following essential packages will be removed.
This should NOT be done unless you know exactly what you are doing!
  apt

Summary:
  Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Removing: 12, Not Upgrading: 1
  Freed space: 52.3 MB

Error: Removing essential system-critical packages is not permitted. This might break the system.