Donald Trump wants to rule over a corrupt regime forever
Apr 17, 2020 09:05:23 #
Donald Trump is not a supervillain from a comic book. He is a simple man, almost primal in his drives and impulses. For those who choose to see the world as it actually exists, there is no great mystery about what Trump wants: His goal is to be president forever and to use the power of the office to enrich himself and his inner circle, while taking revenge on anyone and everyone who dare to oppose him, or who he thinks has wronged him.
This article first appeared in Salon.
After nearly four years of Trump’s public contempt for the rule of law, democracy, the Constitution and norms of human decency, there are still too many Americans — especially among the news media and pundit class — in a state of denial about the reality of this dire situation.
They have forgotten the wisdom of Occam’s razor: the simplest explanation is more likely than not the correct one. This is orders of magnitude true in the case of Donald Trump, very simple man and de facto American emperor.
Seeing opportunity in the c****av***s p******c, Donald Trump has repeatedly shown the American people and the world who he really is.
The most recent example: During a “c****av***s briefing” on Wednesday, Trump threatened to adjourn both houses of Congress — a brazen attack on the Constitution and the rule of law — unless that body surrendered to his will by immediately appointing his handpicked nominees to key government positions.
In 2017, Yale historian Timothy Snyder, author of the New York Times bestseller “On Tyranny,” warned the public about Trump’s obvious plan to use a crisis to suspend democracy and the Constitution. Here’s what he told me then:
Let me make just two points. The first is that I think it’s pretty much inevitable that they will try. The reason I think that is that the conventional ways of being popular are not working out for them. The conventional way to be popular or to be legitimate in this country is to have some policies, to grow your popularity ratings and to win some e******ns. I don’t think 2018 is looking very good for the Republicans along those conventional lines — not just because the president is historically unpopular. It’s also because neither the White House nor Congress have any policies which the majority of the public like.
This means they could be seduced by the notion of getting into a new rhythm of politics, one that does not depend upon popular policies and e*******l cycles.
Whether it works or not depends upon whether when something terrible happens to this country, we are aware that the main significance of it is whether or not we are going to be more or less free citizens in the future.
My gut feeling is that Trump and his administration will try and that it won’t work. Not so much because we are so great but because we have a little bit of time to prepare. I also think that there are enough people and enough agencies of the government who have also thought about this and would not necessarily go along.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump declared that he had “total authority” over the country’s governors and the individual states they were elected to lead. In making that declaration Trump also threatened to force the country’s governors to cease social distancing and other rules put in place to slow down the spread of the c****av***s p******c. His argument, of course, is that those restrictions are damaging “the economy” and therefore Trump’s chances of being re-elected in 2020 (assuming a p**********l e******n even takes place).
After a public outcry Trump walked back his position, saying that he will “be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening.”
Of course, Trump does not have any such power under America’s federal system of government. Such a fact is of little importance: Like other authoritarians, he is testing and breaking political norms so that he can shatter them later.
Such rule-breaking behavior has been an ongoing theme of Trump’s rule.
Trump has repeatedly “joked” that he will not leave office, publicly solicited the interference of hostile foreign powers to help him steal the 2020 e******n, and has threatened the Democratic Party, the news media and others who dare to oppose him with imprisonment (or worse) for “treason.”
Donald Trump is also trying to defund the U.S. Postal Service, perhaps to prevent mail-in v****g. Such an outcome will force the American people — and Democratic v**ers most of all — to wait in line where they may well be exposed to the c****av***s. Refusing to permit mail-in v****g during the c****av***s p******c will clearly suppress v**er turnout, an outcome that will help Trump remain in office. Shutting down the Postal Service will all but guarantee, arguably, that Trump will win a second term.
Trump has also refused to send lifesaving ventilators and other much-needed medical equipment to states or localities run by Democrats. Instead, he’s distributing urgently needed equipment like a dictator or mafia boss, as rewards to his court and other sycophants. In essence, Trump is intentionally hurting and k*****g those Americans who he deems to be “disloyal” to him and his regime.
In a recent essay for The Atlantic, Kristy Parker and Yascha Mounk warned that Trump’s blatant use of the authoritarian’s playbook during the c****av***s crisis will create an opportunity to further undermine American democracy:
Recent history shows that authoritarian populists engage in six categories of assaults on democracy, of which seizing raw executive power is but one. As president, Trump has engaged in each of these behaviors: spreading disinformation, quashing dissent, politicizing independent institutions, amassing executive power, delegitimizing communities, and corrupting e******ns….
Now, these same tendencies are shaping President Trump’s response to the current p******c…. Perhaps the only authoritarian play Trump hasn’t yet made is corrupting the upcoming e******n with the p******c as an excuse. But we are in the early days of this crisis, and the prospects for him to do so — or to abuse his powers in other ways — are manifold.
Why do so many members of the news media, the chattering class and the public en masse continue to treat Donald Trump and his threats to democracy and the rule of law as “jokes” performed by an incompetent buffoon who deserves mockery? (Which is truly a waste of energy, since Trump has proven himself to be a malignant narcissist with no sense of shame.)
Moreover, why do so many of these same people still believe that Trump’s defeat is somehow inevitable, or that there will definitely be a p**********l e******n in November?
In a previous essay for Salon, I described these people as the “hope peddlers”:
[T]he people who tell the public that everything will be OK, that the danger of the Trump regime has been somehow exaggerated, that matters are not as dire or extreme as they appear and that a return to “normalcy” is “inevitable” if we somehow muddle through the present moment.
The hope peddlers are so personally, emotionally and financially invested in “the system” that they are existentially incapable of admitting that Donald Trump and his regime are authoritarians and white neo-f*****ts who represent an existential threat to the United States of America.
The hope peddlers are also engaged in fantastical thinking where they truly believe that if they repeatedly disseminate narratives about nonexistent Democratic Party victories against Donald Trump’s regime, such victories will somehow magically appear through sheer force of will.
Some of the other people who cannot admit to themselves (and the public) what and who Donald Trump really is are still stuck in the bargaining and denial stages of grief. Approaching the end of Trump’s fourth year in office, such people are lost and may never come to terms with America’s horrible reality as failed democracy fully run by neoliberal gangster capitalists, white neo-f*****ts and Christian nationalists.
Other Americans who are still stuck in the stages of grief about the age of Trump are behaving like children hiding under the bed from monsters. Children do not yet know that human monsters are real, and that hiding from them will bring no salvation. Adults have no excuse for engaging in such fallacious thinking.
Then there are others who do not understand the difference between hope and optimism. Activist and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow explained this in a 2016 essay:
Hope is why you tread water if your ship sinks in the open sea: Not because you have any real chance of being picked up, but because everyone who was picked up kicked until the rescue came.
Kicking is a necessary (but insufficient) precondition for survival. There’s a special kind of hope: the desperate hope we have for people who are depending upon us. If your ship sinks in open water and your child can’t kick for herself, you’ll wrap her arms around your neck and kick twice as hard for both of you.
Hope involves taking agency and control over one’s own destiny and then taking action to achieve that goal. Optimism is passive. Optimism is also assuming that someone else will do the hard work and that you can be a type of free rider for other people’s labor and struggle and sacrifices.
Optimism will not defeat Donald Trump and his authoritarian assault on American democracy and freedom. It is hope made real by the hope warriors which will defeat Donald Trump and his movement.
Donald Trump may not be a supervillain. But defeating him does require that the Fourth Estate and good Americans embrace alternative ways of thinking.
These new guidelines are:
Do not assume that Donald Trump is telling the t***h. He has repeatedly shown himself at least 16,000 times to be a habitual liar.
Do not assume that Donald Trump is a decent human being, acting in the best interests of the country. He has repeatedly shown himself to be a corrupt, self-interested person who has no love for the United States and its people.
Do not assume that Donald Trump is an emotionally, intellectually or mentally healthy and normal human being. He has repeatedly shown that he is an obvious malignant narcissist, likely sociopath and apparent cult leader.
Stop assuming that Donald Trump is anything other than what he has shown himself to be. There is no alternate explanation for Trump’s evil behavior. Trump is not kidding; Trump means what he says.
The American people in general, and especially the members of the media class, should have learned these rules four years ago, and internalized them. With E******n Day 2020 only a few months away, it is almost too late.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/donald-trump-wants-to-rule-over-a-corrupt-regime-forever/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4328#
This article first appeared in Salon.
After nearly four years of Trump’s public contempt for the rule of law, democracy, the Constitution and norms of human decency, there are still too many Americans — especially among the news media and pundit class — in a state of denial about the reality of this dire situation.
They have forgotten the wisdom of Occam’s razor: the simplest explanation is more likely than not the correct one. This is orders of magnitude true in the case of Donald Trump, very simple man and de facto American emperor.
Seeing opportunity in the c****av***s p******c, Donald Trump has repeatedly shown the American people and the world who he really is.
The most recent example: During a “c****av***s briefing” on Wednesday, Trump threatened to adjourn both houses of Congress — a brazen attack on the Constitution and the rule of law — unless that body surrendered to his will by immediately appointing his handpicked nominees to key government positions.
In 2017, Yale historian Timothy Snyder, author of the New York Times bestseller “On Tyranny,” warned the public about Trump’s obvious plan to use a crisis to suspend democracy and the Constitution. Here’s what he told me then:
Let me make just two points. The first is that I think it’s pretty much inevitable that they will try. The reason I think that is that the conventional ways of being popular are not working out for them. The conventional way to be popular or to be legitimate in this country is to have some policies, to grow your popularity ratings and to win some e******ns. I don’t think 2018 is looking very good for the Republicans along those conventional lines — not just because the president is historically unpopular. It’s also because neither the White House nor Congress have any policies which the majority of the public like.
This means they could be seduced by the notion of getting into a new rhythm of politics, one that does not depend upon popular policies and e*******l cycles.
Whether it works or not depends upon whether when something terrible happens to this country, we are aware that the main significance of it is whether or not we are going to be more or less free citizens in the future.
My gut feeling is that Trump and his administration will try and that it won’t work. Not so much because we are so great but because we have a little bit of time to prepare. I also think that there are enough people and enough agencies of the government who have also thought about this and would not necessarily go along.
On Tuesday, Donald Trump declared that he had “total authority” over the country’s governors and the individual states they were elected to lead. In making that declaration Trump also threatened to force the country’s governors to cease social distancing and other rules put in place to slow down the spread of the c****av***s p******c. His argument, of course, is that those restrictions are damaging “the economy” and therefore Trump’s chances of being re-elected in 2020 (assuming a p**********l e******n even takes place).
After a public outcry Trump walked back his position, saying that he will “be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening.”
Of course, Trump does not have any such power under America’s federal system of government. Such a fact is of little importance: Like other authoritarians, he is testing and breaking political norms so that he can shatter them later.
Such rule-breaking behavior has been an ongoing theme of Trump’s rule.
Trump has repeatedly “joked” that he will not leave office, publicly solicited the interference of hostile foreign powers to help him steal the 2020 e******n, and has threatened the Democratic Party, the news media and others who dare to oppose him with imprisonment (or worse) for “treason.”
Donald Trump is also trying to defund the U.S. Postal Service, perhaps to prevent mail-in v****g. Such an outcome will force the American people — and Democratic v**ers most of all — to wait in line where they may well be exposed to the c****av***s. Refusing to permit mail-in v****g during the c****av***s p******c will clearly suppress v**er turnout, an outcome that will help Trump remain in office. Shutting down the Postal Service will all but guarantee, arguably, that Trump will win a second term.
Trump has also refused to send lifesaving ventilators and other much-needed medical equipment to states or localities run by Democrats. Instead, he’s distributing urgently needed equipment like a dictator or mafia boss, as rewards to his court and other sycophants. In essence, Trump is intentionally hurting and k*****g those Americans who he deems to be “disloyal” to him and his regime.
In a recent essay for The Atlantic, Kristy Parker and Yascha Mounk warned that Trump’s blatant use of the authoritarian’s playbook during the c****av***s crisis will create an opportunity to further undermine American democracy:
Recent history shows that authoritarian populists engage in six categories of assaults on democracy, of which seizing raw executive power is but one. As president, Trump has engaged in each of these behaviors: spreading disinformation, quashing dissent, politicizing independent institutions, amassing executive power, delegitimizing communities, and corrupting e******ns….
Now, these same tendencies are shaping President Trump’s response to the current p******c…. Perhaps the only authoritarian play Trump hasn’t yet made is corrupting the upcoming e******n with the p******c as an excuse. But we are in the early days of this crisis, and the prospects for him to do so — or to abuse his powers in other ways — are manifold.
Why do so many members of the news media, the chattering class and the public en masse continue to treat Donald Trump and his threats to democracy and the rule of law as “jokes” performed by an incompetent buffoon who deserves mockery? (Which is truly a waste of energy, since Trump has proven himself to be a malignant narcissist with no sense of shame.)
Moreover, why do so many of these same people still believe that Trump’s defeat is somehow inevitable, or that there will definitely be a p**********l e******n in November?
In a previous essay for Salon, I described these people as the “hope peddlers”:
[T]he people who tell the public that everything will be OK, that the danger of the Trump regime has been somehow exaggerated, that matters are not as dire or extreme as they appear and that a return to “normalcy” is “inevitable” if we somehow muddle through the present moment.
The hope peddlers are so personally, emotionally and financially invested in “the system” that they are existentially incapable of admitting that Donald Trump and his regime are authoritarians and white neo-f*****ts who represent an existential threat to the United States of America.
The hope peddlers are also engaged in fantastical thinking where they truly believe that if they repeatedly disseminate narratives about nonexistent Democratic Party victories against Donald Trump’s regime, such victories will somehow magically appear through sheer force of will.
Some of the other people who cannot admit to themselves (and the public) what and who Donald Trump really is are still stuck in the bargaining and denial stages of grief. Approaching the end of Trump’s fourth year in office, such people are lost and may never come to terms with America’s horrible reality as failed democracy fully run by neoliberal gangster capitalists, white neo-f*****ts and Christian nationalists.
Other Americans who are still stuck in the stages of grief about the age of Trump are behaving like children hiding under the bed from monsters. Children do not yet know that human monsters are real, and that hiding from them will bring no salvation. Adults have no excuse for engaging in such fallacious thinking.
Then there are others who do not understand the difference between hope and optimism. Activist and science fiction writer Cory Doctorow explained this in a 2016 essay:
Hope is why you tread water if your ship sinks in the open sea: Not because you have any real chance of being picked up, but because everyone who was picked up kicked until the rescue came.
Kicking is a necessary (but insufficient) precondition for survival. There’s a special kind of hope: the desperate hope we have for people who are depending upon us. If your ship sinks in open water and your child can’t kick for herself, you’ll wrap her arms around your neck and kick twice as hard for both of you.
Hope involves taking agency and control over one’s own destiny and then taking action to achieve that goal. Optimism is passive. Optimism is also assuming that someone else will do the hard work and that you can be a type of free rider for other people’s labor and struggle and sacrifices.
Optimism will not defeat Donald Trump and his authoritarian assault on American democracy and freedom. It is hope made real by the hope warriors which will defeat Donald Trump and his movement.
Donald Trump may not be a supervillain. But defeating him does require that the Fourth Estate and good Americans embrace alternative ways of thinking.
These new guidelines are:
Do not assume that Donald Trump is telling the t***h. He has repeatedly shown himself at least 16,000 times to be a habitual liar.
Do not assume that Donald Trump is a decent human being, acting in the best interests of the country. He has repeatedly shown himself to be a corrupt, self-interested person who has no love for the United States and its people.
Do not assume that Donald Trump is an emotionally, intellectually or mentally healthy and normal human being. He has repeatedly shown that he is an obvious malignant narcissist, likely sociopath and apparent cult leader.
Stop assuming that Donald Trump is anything other than what he has shown himself to be. There is no alternate explanation for Trump’s evil behavior. Trump is not kidding; Trump means what he says.
The American people in general, and especially the members of the media class, should have learned these rules four years ago, and internalized them. With E******n Day 2020 only a few months away, it is almost too late.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/donald-trump-wants-to-rule-over-a-corrupt-regime-forever/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4328#
Apr 17, 2020 09:39:50 #
All true. Unfortunately, the maggot hat wearing morons on this site will refuse to see it and still cheer him on.
This man has repeatedly shown he is unfit for office and is running a cartel out of the White House and repeatedly his followers cheer him on.
I remember the Republican party when it was made up of patriotic Americans and now I watch as Russian assets and useful i***ts waving American f**gs cheer on a would-be dictator.
Truly a sad state of affairs.
This man has repeatedly shown he is unfit for office and is running a cartel out of the White House and repeatedly his followers cheer him on.
I remember the Republican party when it was made up of patriotic Americans and now I watch as Russian assets and useful i***ts waving American f**gs cheer on a would-be dictator.
Truly a sad state of affairs.
Apr 17, 2020 09:47:21 #
Kraken wrote:
Donald Trump is not a supervillain from a comic bo... (show quote)
Lol bloviated f**e news crapola opinion again. Lol
Apr 17, 2020 09:48:15 #
Frank T wrote:
All true. Unfortunately, the maggot hat wearing morons on this site will refuse to see it and still cheer him on.
This man has repeatedly shown he is unfit for office and is running a cartel out of the White House and repeatedly his followers cheer him on.
I remember the Republican party when it was made up of patriotic Americans and now I watch as Russian assets and useful i***ts waving American f**gs cheer on a would-be dictator.
Truly a sad state of affairs.
This man has repeatedly shown he is unfit for office and is running a cartel out of the White House and repeatedly his followers cheer him on.
I remember the Republican party when it was made up of patriotic Americans and now I watch as Russian assets and useful i***ts waving American f**gs cheer on a would-be dictator.
Truly a sad state of affairs.
Lol why so you lie so much?
Apr 17, 2020 09:54:09 #
OlinBost wrote:
Both of you are blithering i***ts!
Even if that were true, we're still a lot more intelligent than you are.
Apr 17, 2020 09:54:59 #
EyeSawYou wrote:
Lol why so you lie so much?
Prove I'm lying and I'll take you seriously.
Or, you can stay in Mom's basement playing video games.
Either way, I really don't care.
Apr 17, 2020 10:00:17 #
The sad state of affairs will end Jan 20, 2021, when Moron the First is put in the trash can of history.
Apr 17, 2020 10:19:16 #
Frank T wrote:
Even if that were true, we're still a lot more intelligent than you are.
So, here you are admitting you are elitists...Just as we always knew... You think you are so much more intelligent but you are only deluding yourselves...
Apr 17, 2020 11:28:15 #
Screamin Scott wrote:
So, here you are admitting you are elitists...Just as we always knew... You think you are so much more intelligent but you are only deluding yourselves...
Poor Scott.
How sad it must be to be you.
Apr 17, 2020 11:40:06 #
Frank T wrote:
All true. Unfortunately, the maggot hat wearing morons on this site will refuse to see it and still cheer him on.
This man has repeatedly shown he is unfit for office and is running a cartel out of the White House and repeatedly his followers cheer him on.
I remember the Republican party when it was made up of patriotic Americans and now I watch as Russian assets and useful i***ts waving American f**gs cheer on a would-be dictator.
Truly a sad state of affairs.
This man has repeatedly shown he is unfit for office and is running a cartel out of the White House and repeatedly his followers cheer him on.
I remember the Republican party when it was made up of patriotic Americans and now I watch as Russian assets and useful i***ts waving American f**gs cheer on a would-be dictator.
Truly a sad state of affairs.
LOL... Frank, you are a nasty bum and not at all smart, Russia was a h**x and you are still talking about Russia and Russian assets, you really display a lack of smarts as well as a really thick skull. You do know that FBI documents have been released that shows no predication for the FISA warrants, the whole thing with Russia was a setup.
Barr will finish what your side started, it is coming Frank and you will in your stupid way try and deny by discrediting Barr, you are such a lemming following your media down rabbit holes as you do... So sad Frank.
Apr 17, 2020 11:44:16 #
Apr 17, 2020 12:06:18 #
Frank T wrote:
Poor Scott.
How sad it must be to be you.
How sad it must be to be you.
Further proof of my statement....
Apr 17, 2020 12:08:48 #
LWW
Loc: Banana Republic of America
Screamin Scott wrote:
So, here you are admitting you are elitists...Just as we always knew... You think you are so much more intelligent but you are only deluding yourselves...
Sorry, you have that one wrong.
To paraphrase Sammy Davis Jr when he met Archie Bunker “He ain’t better than anybody.”
Apr 17, 2020 13:11:15 #
Kraken wrote:
Donald Trump is not a supervillain from a comic bo... (show quote)
Thye very first paragraph of this piece betrays the basic ignorance of it's authors. First Trump has lost a large fortune as a result of his serving for president. He did not need this job. For the money, or the fame. He had both before taking office. If he wanted to remain in office forever he woulod not even run for a second term. He woud declare martial law and ignore the constitution. He wouod ignore congress and appoint a cadre of czars (sound familliar) with tyhe power to make new law on the spot. He would use the powere of executive orders to make "new law" at a whim. He would appoint familly members to high office and they could unlease ridigid condirions on the public. All that absurdity aside, the very worst thing that could befall this country is a Biden Presidency. You think things are bad now? Not even close if Biden is elected.
Apr 17, 2020 13:22:43 #
Frank T wrote:
Prove I'm lying and I'll take you seriously.
Or, you can stay in Mom's basement playing video games.
Either way, I really don't care.
Or, you can stay in Mom's basement playing video games.
Either way, I really don't care.
Your words speak for themselves... "I, FRANK, AM A LIAR!" is all they say and nothing more.
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