Donald Trump said he would start his second term as a dictator; it’s the one time he told the truth.
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On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised that, if he were to get elected, he would “only” be a dictator on the first day of his administration. Well, he did get elected… and he was a dictator on day 1. However, his promised abuse of power did not stop at the stroke of midnight on January 20.
Ten days into his second term as president, Trump is still acting just like one of those authoritarian strongmen for whom he has expressed so much admiration in the past.
Apart from forcefully addressing immigration, which is something he arguably got a mandate to do, much of the president’s time has been spent on purging the government of anybody not loyal to him, inserting individuals who are, eliminating oversight, bullying US allies, and using his vast powers to eradicate “wokeness” while instilling a right-wing ideology throughout the government.
Although Americans would likely rather have him address rising prices, some of these actions would still be defensible. Trump is the president he always said he would be.
What is problematic, however, is that he is not using only legal means to bend the government — and the country — to his will.
On his first day (admittedly, that was his supposed “dictator day”), he tried to end birthright citizenship, which is enshrined in the 14th Amendment. That attempt was blocked by a federal judge who called this a “blatantly unconstitutional order.”
Trump also illegally fired 18 inspectors general, i.e., the government officials tasked with fighting waste, fraud, and abuse in federal agencies.
It did not stop there.
The president got rid of Democratic appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) without cause and before the expiration of their respective terms. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that this is not legal.
Those moves left both the NLRB and the EEOC without a quorum, which means that disputes over unfair labor practices will not be resolved, and that the EEOC cannot address workplace discrimination. In both cases, that benefits corporations and the billionaires Trump has been surrounding himself with, such as Elon Musk.
But he is not only trying to get rid of Democrat-friendly government workers at the highest level. Trump is also preparing a wholesale purge of federal employees, e.g., by getting them to snitch on each other or quit.
In addition, new staffers are expected to be intensely loyal to him.
Finally, Trump also wants a more MAGA-friendly press room, which would keep actual journalists from asking questions about the things he does.
Demands for blind obedience, as well as avoiding responsibility, accountability, and transparency are major developing themes of this administration… and hallmarks of dictatorships.
As is using the might of the government to pick winners and losers, punish “enemies,” and reward allies.
Trump has done plenty of this with a flurry of executive actions.
The most noteworthy was a government-wide spending freeze that would have paused grants and loans for most federally funded programs.
Since Congress has the power of the purse and appropriates the money that the government can spend (while also designating what for), this was yet another illegal move.
It is noteworthy that the spending freeze is the one action that the president reversed. However, the reason why was not that the order was unlawful, but because the backlash was so extreme.
It stands to reason that Trump will take note: Even dictators have to be careful not to alienate their populace too much… at least until their hold on power is complete.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
