Okay, first off, I admit I’m confused. I mean, I understand that Donald Trump, with the assistance of a cadre of feral Christo-fascist authoritarians and the support of a cartoonist collection of buffoons, is conducting an aggressive frontal assault on the US Constitution. And so far it’s been mostly effective.
Unlike a LOT of folks, I’m inclined to think Trump has a plan. It’s a very simple, very very stupid, and very selfish plan, to be sure. It’s the sort of plan you’d expect from a cartoon villain. But it’s still a plan. As I see it, Donald Trump’s plan is as follows:
Make everybody dependent on the whims and wishes of Donald Trump.
It’s ridiculous, isn’t it. What Trump really wants, of course, is loyalty and respect. Two things he’ll never get. He’ll never get the respect he wants (and thinks he deserves), and I suspect he knows that. Nor will he ever get real loyalty, because loyalty is reciprocal; you earn loyalty by being loyal to others. Trump is loyal to nothing and nobody. Who’s going to respect of be loyal to this guy?
Since he can’t/won’t get the respect and loyalty he truly wants, Trump has to settle for a shabby substitute–unquestioned obedience. The problem for Trump, even as POTUS, is that there are HUGE intentional limits to presidential obedience in a representative democracy.
The president’s actual job is to preside over the government, not to rule it. ‘Preside’ literally means “to sit in front of.” The president is basically like an orchestra leader. In order for Trump to command unquestioned obedience, he has to first weaken or destroy the Constitutional constraints on presidential power.
That’s exactly what he’s doing. In his first term, Trump converted the entire Republican Party to so-called MAGA loyalists (I say ‘so-called’ because many/most of the GOP are just sycophantic cowards or craven opportunists, not actual loyalists). He also stacked the Supreme court with ‘loyalists’. The only check on his authority came from the professionals who occupied the Cabinet posts and the various governmental agencies. Now, in his second term, he’s replaced the Cabinet secretaries and the heads of every government agency with more so-called loyalists. He’s basically removed or degraded almost every federal administrative constraint on his authority (there are still some federal judges who remain independent, though they’re under attack now).
There are a few other social constraints that can challenge the president: independent law firms, universities, business interests, and independent news sources. Trump is making every effort to hobble or undermine them, threatening retaliation either in the form of investigations or by removing federal financial aid and federal contracts. In order to avoid this sort of persecution, these social institutions are being required to appeal to Trump personally. To humiliate themselves by publicly kissing his ring. You want to avoid tariffs on products you need? Humbly ask Trump to remove them for YOUR company. You want federal financial aid for teaching or research? Humbly ask Trump to restore the funding he denied. You want to practice law or receive federal contracts? Humbly ask Trump to overlook any earlier opposition and publicly promise to support him. You want access to the Trump administration as a news source? Humbly agree to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. What kind of person or institution would humble themselves before this guy?
But hey, it’s working. Some large law firms and some universities have already compromised themselves; many news agencies have modified their coverage of Trump and are parroting his bullshit; a lot of businesses threatened by Trump’s trade practices are considering personal appeals to Trump and praising his harmful policies. Intimidation works. But c’mon, how could anybody be intimidated by this guy?
I find truly astonishing that so many people and institutions are afraid of this guy. He’s a cartoonish nitwit; he’s more a malignant Elmer Fudd than an evil genius. The sheer mass of his ignorance could bend light. He’s ten pounds of racist bullshit in a five pound bag. He’s a coward and a liar. People are afraid of taking on this guy?
This guy?
gregfallis.com 
I still think he has an 800 pound bear behind him whispering advice in his ear. The rapid unscheduled dismantling of the executive branch seems too coordinated and efficient for “this guy” to be calling the shots all by hisself.
Maybe he’s getting advice from Hank Tough?
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The thing is, Trump’s plan to make everybody dependent on his whims, ties in perfectly with more serious thinkers and organizers who want to destroy representative democracy.
It’s sort of a perfect storm of authoritarianism.
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It’s easier to herd a loose cannon when they have wanted to go in the same direction you want for their entire lives.
He’s the perfect tool for that job.
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Yeah, I don’t get it either. And some people even think he’s the Messiah.
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It makes NO SENSE AT ALL. But here we are. The US is catastrophically fucked for at least a generation (assuming we’re ever able to recover).
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My goodness, where did you find that photo? It’s truly the most awful I’ve seen of him yet. Looks like he didn’t bother with his corset that day. Or to put his brain in.
I’m not sure “humble” is the right word for me where this is concerned, although it’s a good word. For me “grovel” is more akin to what he wants. He wants everyone from the GOP representatives on the Hill, to the dean of the local collage, to the CEO of Ford, to Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen to grovel, cap in hand, Uriah Heap-like.
He wants the world on bended knee to the mighty lump of idiotic lard – Donald J Trump. Whose only real ability is to sign his name in Sharpie and bankrupt casinos. Well look at him now, bankrupting everyone.
Look what he’s doing to poor countries like Cambodia and Vietnam who were just starting to pull themselves up from the dirt. Countries that the USA has more than a duty of care to look after considering what they did to them. The only person who will never bend the knee and who is laughing at this catastrophe as it unfolds is Putin. Head of Russia, the only country not to have tariffs heaped on it. Even the penguins got more of a kicking than Putin.
I read yesterday that NY is seeing an upsurge in Russian oligarchs, clutching their Golden Visas, hunting out the best and most expensive properties to buy and either live in to escape Russia or to use as a place to wash their dirty laundry in. Yet out there, in the industrial and agricultural heartlands of America, the populace are still cheering him on (according to the BBC).
I hope you manage to get out on your bike Greg. Nature is a salve at times like this.
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Russian oligarchs and gangsters have been buying Trump properties in the US for decades. Whole floors in Trump Tower in Manhattan, same in Trump condos in Florida. They don’t necessarily LIVE there, they just buy the property. It’s as close to money laundering as you can get without actually getting charged.
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But surely under Biden that was stopped for a while? They couldn’t get into America then I assume, hence the golden visas now?
It’s the same in the most expensive parts of London. Beautiful big houses, mansion houses. But if you walk down the street at night there are no lights on. Ever. Except for security systems and sometimes guards. It’s a ghost town. Very sad to see. They have bought up masses of office blocks too. After the Grenfel Tower fire there were so many families traumatised and homeless that there was great outcry that they could not open up these empty office blocks and let people live in them until other provision could be made. But no. They don’t belong to anyone interested in helping actual Londoners.
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The late great Senator Allan Simpson said this about Donald Trump: “if you gave the guy an enema, you could bury him in a shoebox.”
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I’ll donate the shoe box if some other person will…naw, it’s too much to ask.
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