(Dobbs) Wave Goodbye to "Of The People, By The People, For The People"
Trump is looking toward dictatorship, not democracy.
For those of us who see through Donald Trump, for those of us who see and fear his authoritarian ambitions, it has been hard ever since he moved from the fabricated setting of reality TV to the foul reality of his presidency to prioritize the worst attributes and categorize the worst threats of the man. During his four years in the Oval Office, there were many. Since he got booted out, there have been even more. Racism, sexism, lying, bullying. And above it all, an unrepentant disregard for the Constitution.
In a kinder world, we wouldn’t have to think about this guy any more. But that’s the next reality: we must, because it is not impossible that Donald Trump will end up back at the White House. If he does, our nation will be tragically transformed. In the newest sign of an autocrat-in-the-making, a story reported yesterday by The New York Times had the headline, “Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025.”
What would this mean? It’s no secret, because the Trump team is trumpeting it. His main campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung brazenly projects the day when they will “eradicate the deep state that works against Americans once and for all.” Forget about a diverse government of the people, by the people, for the people. Those deemed disloyal would be purged. Listen to the language of those who would be in charge: Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s time, told The Times, “What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them.”
These people could chill you to the bone.
They’re planning a power-grab that comes right out of the playbook of some of the world’s oppressive leaders: Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, China’s Xi Jinping, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing.
Trump in the past has openly admired some of these dictators. They too “forged plans to increase presidential power.” And they preside over one-party states, which apparently is what Trump too would prefer. “We will drive out the globalists” he wrote on his website. “We will cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists. And we will throw off the sick political class that hates our country.” That might not sound so alarming if not for the fact that Trump has defined Democrats who simply oppose him as communists, Marxists, and fascists. We already know what he and his acolytes think about equal voting rights for all.
Toward his evil end to “demolish the deep state,” Trump would corral federal agencies long-independent of direct presidential control and put them under his thumb. We already know how he calls journalists “enemies of the people,” so imagine a less independent FCC reshaping media in the Trump mold. The Federal Reserve’s job is to control inflation and interest rates, so imagine a less independent Fed putting Trump’s political preferences ahead of fiscal policy and suddenly, for example, making it cheaper for voters to borrow money just a week before a key election. Imagine him impounding funds that Congress has appropriated and refusing to spend them because he doesn’t approve of their purpose. Imagine him firing federal employees from the Department of Defense, the State Department, the intelligence agencies, because he repeatedly says they are “the sick political class that hates our country.”
Those images aren’t far-fetched. John McEntee, a former Trump personnel chief who just joined what’s called Project 2025, an incubator for the plan at the right-wing Heritage Foundation, told The Times, “Our current executive branch was conceived of by liberals for the purpose of promulgating liberal policies.” The president of Heritage, Kevin Roberts, says it’s all about “dismantling this rogue administrative state.” They conveniently forget that conservative presidents, and conservative policies, still managed to prosper in this “rogue” state.
The images aren’t unique, either. The Hoover Institution’s Larry Diamond, who tracks democracy’s global trends, wrote late last year, “The world is mired in a deep, diffuse, and protracted democratic recession.” Meanwhile, in its own survey, Freedom House reports that in 2022, “global freedom declined for the 17th consecutive year.”
It might seem that the odds are against Trump winning and having his way, and maybe they are. It’s easy to believe that with every additional breach of the law, he sheds more potential supporters. It’s harder to believe that very many new ones sign on to his candidacy. One of his popular lines lately at rallies is, “I’m indicted for you,” as if he’s some kind of martyr. It goes down well with his sycophants but the reality is, the indictments and criminal counts against him won’t likely do him any favors with anyone else.
On the other hand, look at the assets he’s working with as he looks to election day.
There’s an incumbent president, Joe Biden, who has an impressive and indefatigable list of achievements but an unwarranted reputation for being tired and slow. There’s a Democrat with the eternal glamour of the Kennedy name running against Biden, who some analysts believe is being funded by Republicans and who will likely siphon off some votes. There’s a new effort at a third party, called No Labels, which could siphon off even more.
So we have to face the reality: if his stars align next year and he fends off the competition in his own party, Donald Trump could win. That’s why we still have to think about this guy. That’s why we still have to pay heed to everything that comes from Trump’s team and Trump’s mouth.
Prompting unnerving parallels to Joseph McCarthy and his infamous question in the 1950s, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?,” Trump has written on his website that he will “find and remove the radicals who have infiltrated the federal Department of Education.” He seems to think the Constitution supports him. “I have Article 2,” he declared when he was still in the White House, “where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” You might be comforted to know, he has that wrong. Most of Article 2 deals with who can run for president and vice president and how they shall be elected, and also, as Trump would be wise to note, how they can be removed. What it confers with the powers of the presidency are serving as Commander in Chief, nominating judges and ambassadors, and making treaties. It also covers the oath of office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” He already has failed at that.
I don’t know how else to look at it: from his actions and from his words, Donald Trump wants our country to be less like the democracy it has been and more like the authoritarian nations of Putin and Xi, of Kim, Orban, and al-Assad. I can only hope that come election day, most of us want something else.
Over more than five decades Greg Dobbs has been a correspondent for two television networks including ABC News, a political columnist for The Denver Post and syndicated columnist for Scripps newspapers, a moderator on Rocky Mountain PBS, and author of two books, including one about the life of a foreign correspondent called “Life in the Wrong Lane.” He has covered presidencies, politics, and the U.S. space program at home, and wars, natural disasters, and other crises around the globe, from Afghanistan to South Africa, from Iran to Egypt, from the Soviet Union to Saudi Arabia, from Nicaragua to Namibia, from Vietnam to Venezuela, from Libya to Liberia, from Panama to Poland. Dobbs has won three Emmys, the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and as a 37-year resident of Colorado, a place in the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame.
Reflects our take perfectly, Gregg!
I agree and pray we can support our current President who unlike Trump has a mind and works for the people and not self centered idiot.