Third, with the authority of the Supreme Court and the Insurrection Act behind him, he’ ll suspend the elections“ until the present emergency subsides” and essentially declare himself king for life.
And now he’ s ordered his so-called Department of War to begin testing nuclear weapons. He’ s not only trying to lock down America and turn us into a dictatorship, but he clearly has serious plans to use the threat of nuclear war to further solidify his hold over America; presidents during or on the edge of a time of war have extraordinary emergency powers.
Just ask the descendants of Eugene V. Debs, who President Wilson threw into prison for opposing World War I( then called“ the Great War”) and who then ran for president from his jail cell.
The question then becomes:“ Who will he choose as America’ s allies?”
Will it be Europe, Ukraine, Australia, and the democracies of Asia( Taiwan, Japan, South Korea)? Or will it be the authoritarian and nearly-authoritarian regimes of China, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Russia, and Israel?
Is Trump leading America into a new Allies vs Axis conflict where the“ allies” are the countries run by authoritarians who praise and fund him and his family? If so, is there any doubt he’ ll replicate their domestic strategies for political repression and holding power? He’ s already echoing Putin’ s rhetoric about the“ lying press” and“ the enemy within.”
Is there any part of Donald Trump‘ s behavior that we’ ve seen in the last decade that causes us to think he might join with France or Ukraine instead of with Putin or Xi, if given the chance? Just ask Volodamir Zelenskyy or Taiwan’ s people about that.
Adding a final touch, Trump announced this week that he’ s ordering the National Guard to create“ Quick Reaction Forces” in all 50 states specifically to deal with domestic unrest.
He apparently wants a dozen violent Kent State-type events that he can use as an excuse to militarize the entire country, and a shocking number of elected Republicans and rightwing media celebrities are explicitly cheering on such an authoritarian crackdown.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is telling anybody who will listen that the 2028 presidential election will be a“ Putin [ style ] election” if Democrats don’ t“ stand up” and fight back now to block Trump’ s plans to militarize the country and declare an insurrection.
“ I’ ll tell you what,” Newsome told ABC News’ s Jonathan Karl in an interview Wednesday,“ we won’ t have a country. We won’ t have an election that’ s fair and free if we don’ t stand up, we won’ t. There will not be a fair and free election— it’ ll be a Putin election.”
Trump appears well aware of his weakness, his collapsing poll numbers, and the precipice the American economy is teetering at the edge of. He sees the same disaster coming in next week’ s elections— and its presaging the GOP’ s 2028 losses— just as clearly as the rest of us do.
And it appears that he has a plan to deal with it, a plan that takes John Adams’ imprisoning newspaper editors, Nixon’ s Kent State massacre, and LBJ’ s Vietnam War up to such Putin-like levels of intimidation, repression, and violence that the 2028 elections are at risk.
62 The Trial Lawyer