It was very clear from his first presidential campaign that Donald Trump was adversarial to the very notion of the USA, to its Constitution, to its judiciary, laws, courts, police, military, schools, to its free speech, its allies and trading partners, and its media. It was very clear from the outset that he intended to be a dictator, not a president, and he cared nothing for established processes, laws, and institutions. He intended to rule by himself, for himself.
And he did, for four years.
He surrounded himself with cronies, sycophants, and incompetent and pliable family members to do his bidding even when it went against everything the office stood for, even when it went against the national interests. When they dared to balk, when they dared to complain or resist his autocratic, unfocused, and often dangerously stupid demands, he replaced them with even more obsequious and oleaginous people until observers believed he could not possibly sink any lower. But he did, again and again.
America’s democracy was only saved by Trump running out of time to implement his worst plans and from siphoning more cash from the office. He lost his re-election bid, albeit not by a very large margin. Americans, with amoeba-short memories, immediately forgot how truly awful those four years were, how great a threat Trump was to their way of life, how many of their compatriots suffered or even died through his stupidity, neglect, and greed. Or how utterly corrupt Trump and his cronies were.
Now he’s back and it is going to be far, far worse than anyone — even his most stalwart opponents — ever imagined a Trump presidency could be.
America as a democracy, as a nation under the rule of law, is finished. It won’t last until another presidential election, and no agency or authority will ever be able to restore the nation from the damage Trump and his MAGA cultists cause. There will be no opposition left, no dissent, no media watchdogs and no editorial voices of concern. Everyone, every institution, every agency remaining will be required to sing his hallelujah or be persecuted, jailed, deported, shut down, fined or otherwise silenced. Perhaps even treated to his final solution. He warned Americans over and over during the campaign, threatening Americans about just what he intended. Millions of Americans, it seems, didn’t listen.
He has nominated for his cabinet positions the least qualified, most conflicted, slimiest, and most anti-democracy people — but most subservient and egregiously loyal — he could find. He reached deeper into the barrel of deplorable than even his followers thought possible. And those nominees have made it obvious their role is not to “make America great” but to dismantle it, to deconstruct its laws, its protections, its freedoms, its institutions. They are there to expedite Trump’s complete takeover so that no one, no agency, no institution has any authority or strength to oppose him. Their primary role is to beat the American public into impoverished and uneducated submission.*
Not that they will have to go far to make Americans any more uneducated than they already are: Trump’s re-election proves that stupidity combined with a complete lack of interest in their own self-interest is a major part of the national character. But with Trump, they add overt racism and misogyny into the toxic mix. Orwell’s fictional Big Brother will be nothing compared to Trump.
Trump has made his intentions clear: he returns to office not as president, but as Enemy of the State dedicated to its overthrow. He is not only proud of that role, by choosing the very worst people as his cabinet choices he has dared all the tame Repugnicans — now utterly reduced to the hapless forelock-tugging Trump MAGA party — in the Senate and Congress to even hesitate to certify his choices. And he has so cowed the national media that even the once-credible New York Times is publishing sycophantic editorials sanewashing his conspiracy-addled choices and praising them rather than risk more of Trump’s wrath.**
Hitler did it to Germany in the 1930s, but Hitler and his core were comparatively inexperienced, and did everything ad hoc. Trump’s followers have the Nazis’ experience to lean on, as well as having developed detailed plans in Project 2025 as to how they plan to reduce America to a one-party, pseudo-Christian theocratic patriarchy under Trump, eviscerating the Constitution and laws as they go. What Hitler’s team accomplished was the work of rank amateurs compared to what Trump’s far-right cronies will do to the USA.
As Carole Cadwalladr wrote in The Guardian recently,
Journalists are first, but everyone else is next. Trump has announced multibillion-dollar lawsuits against “the enemy camp”: newspapers and publishers. His proposed FBI director is on record as wanting to prosecute certain journalists. Journalists, publishers, writers, academics are always in the first wave. Doctors, teachers, accountants will be next. Authoritarianism is as predictable as a Swiss train. It’s already later than you think.**
It is going to get worse. Very, very much worse. Once he assumes office he has nothing and no one to stop him. There is no light at the end of that tunnel. America is over.
Welcome to hell.
Notes:
* Dr. Andrea Love posted a blog titled, “RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary will be catastrophic for science & public health.” It has the subhead, “If this man who has spent forty years eroding trust in science and public health is installed in this role, there may truly be no turning back.” In her post she adds:
I’ve observed the lucrative podcast ecosystem erode science literacy, critical thinking, and acceptance of factual information. I’ve seen the enormous profit motives that come with having a megaphone to promote disinformation, health conspiracies, and outright lies. I’ve watched as people who pretend to be evidence-based concede ground to those that push dangerous falsehoods – and the mental gymnastics that come with it…
The upcoming administration is diametrically opposed with the pursuit of science and public health. Indeed, in the last few weeks, Donald Trump has elevated RFK Jr., one of the most objectively dangerous people to science and health. Today, November 14, 2024, he nominated him for the next Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary.
Similarly, on MSNBC, Chris Hayes breaks down how conspiracy-addled RFK Jr. brings the ‘us vs. them’ mindset to public health, but leaves science behind, albeit still trying to sanewash Kennedy:
** Trump has already launched his first of many assaults on the US media and on free speech through wide-ranging lawsuits. As the Guardian noted on Nov. 15, He demanded $10 billion the from New York Times and Penguin Random House over articles critical of Trump.
In addition to the New York Times, Penguin Random House and the Daily Beast, Trump and his campaign lawyers have sued CBS News, alleging in a lawsuit last month that its 7 October interview with Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes was edited and was hence “election interference”… In response to Trump’s re-election victory and his repeated attacks against journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists has called Trump’s threats against the press a “clear and direct danger to media freedom”.
These are only the first shots Trump will fire at the media and many more will follow until either the entire media is subserviently loyal or is shut down. On his social media platform [Un]Truth social, Trump has repeatedly criticized late-night talk show hosts for mocking him, as well as insulting and attacking the women who host MSNBC’s The View, and MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, as well as threatening to revoke the broadcast license of media that did not praise him (i.e. CBS), as well as calling journalists and reporters “fake news.”
Words: 1,285
From Lapham’s Quarterly email:
“What joins the Americans one to another is not a common ancestry, language or race, but a shared work of the imagination that looks forward to the making of a future, not backward to the insignia of the past,” wrote Lewis H. Lapham in our Winter 2015 issue, Foreigners. “Their enterprise is underwritten by a Constitution that allows for the widest horizons of sight and the broadest range of expression, supports the liberties of the people as opposed to the ambitions of the state, and stands as premise for a narrative rather than plan for an invasion or a monument. The narrative was always plural; not one story, many stories, all of them given the chance of making sense or love or money. Love of country follows from the exercise of its freedoms, not from pride in its fleets or its armies.”
Sad that his vision was abruptly ended by the election of a wannabe dictator who intends to undo those liberties for everyone except himself and his cronies.
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/?campaign=FE11LQA3
https://anneapplebaum.substack.com/p/time-to-pause-and-reflect
From historian Anne Applebaum:
The threat is what political scientists call autocratic state capture – that they will take control of institutions that should belong to everyone, and transform them into institutions that serve them and their cronies, either politically or financially. In the US we also face a specific version of this threat: unaccountable tech oligarchs may begin to shape our economic and foreign policy in ways that benefit them personally, but are bad for the rest of us.
Why do I think this will happen? As I wrote before the election, Trump’s use of autocratic language, the talk of vermin and “enemies” and of using the police against traitors, is a very old way to build support for the idea that “our side” deserves to break the law, because “their side” is immoral, illegal, or even subhuman. Trump’s use of this kind of language during the campaign could have been, among other things, a way of preparing the electorate for dramatic change, for the transformation of institutions, even for violence (I also thought it might be a way of preparing to steal the election, which in the end wasn’t necessary)…
Other people are writing along these lines too. Timothy Snyder, in his recent substack posts, argues that, “taken together, Trump’s candidates constitute an attempt to wreck the American government.”
https://www.mediaite.com/news/william-shatner-tells-bill-maher-what-scares-him-most-about-trump-win-its-not-going-to-get-better/
William Shatner Tells Bill Maher What Scares Him Most About Trump Win: ‘It’s Not’ Going To ‘Get Better’
Legendary Star Trek actor and author William Shatner told host and comic Bill Maher what scares him most about President-elect Donald Trump’s victory — and it ain’t Tribbles.
https://www.qasimrashid.com/p/trump-nominees-are-not-just-a-joke
Trump Nominees Are Not Just A Joke — They Are Dangerous
They lack qualifications, have histories of sexual abuse, have zero regard for human rights, and point to a broader MAGA hypocrisy
A kakistocracy is defined a “government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.” Donald Trump’s nominees to key cabinet positions represent the unholy fusion of incompetence, white supremacy, and cruelty—a living breathing example of kakistocracy. And while MAGAs love to lecture the world about “meritocracy,” Trump’s shortlist for several critical roles doesn’t just defy meritocracy—it mocks it. It is a parade of unqualified individuals with deeply troubling accusations against them, yet they’re being considered for immense power. Indeed, beyond mockery, their attempted appointments undermine the safety of our entire Republic.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/rfk-jr-comes-home-anti-vaccine-group-commits-break-us-infectious-disea-rcna123551
From 2023 (ICYMI): RFK Jr. comes ‘home’ to his anti-vaccine group, commits to ‘a break’ for U.S. infectious disease research
He has suggested without evidence that researchers and pharmaceutical companies are driven by profit to neglect chronic conditions.
At an anti-vaccine conference in Georgia on Friday, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed his commitment to the cause and spoke to his base about how he, as president, would serve the movement he built.
“I feel like I’ve come home today,” he said to a standing ovation, crediting the assembled audience with his candidacy.
He then laid out his vision for a Kennedy presidency, which would include telling the National Institutes of Health to take “a break” from studying infectious diseases, like Covid-19 and measles, and pivoting the agency to the study of chronic diseases, like diabetes and obesity. Kennedy has suggested without evidence that researchers and pharmaceutical companies are driven by profit to neglect such chronic conditions and invest in ineffective and even harmful treatments; he includes vaccines among them.
“I’m gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all,” Kennedy said. “Thank you for public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”
Kennedy’s remarks came at the end of the first day of a conference for the country’s largest anti-vaccine organization, Children’s Health Defense. Kennedy signed on with Children’s Health Defense in 2015 and served as its chairman and chief litigation counsel until April, when he announced he would go on leave to run for president.
https://canadahealthwatch.ca/newsletter/2024/11/b-c-h5n1-case-has-mutations-linked-to-higher-transmissibility
Vaccine stocks plummet after RFK Jr. tapped for health secretary role.
RFK Jr.’s nomination signals disruptive shifts in health policy, raising uncertainty for vaccine manufacturers and related sectors.
Why it’s important: At an anti-vax conference last week, Kennedy proposed to pivot the NIH away from infectious disease research for eight years.
Despite claiming he is not anti-vax, Kennedy’s activism in Samoa contributed to a decline in measles vaccinations that led to a 2019 outbreak which killed 83 people, mostly children. His policy and rhetoric could further erode trust in vaccines, weaken pandemic response, and amplify health disinformation well beyond America’s borders.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/vaccine-maker-stocks-tumble-after-trump-picks-rfk-jr-for-health-secretary-1.7111646
Vaccine maker stocks tumble after Trump picks RFK Jr. for health secretary
Shares of prominent vaccine makers plunged Thursday after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump announced his pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
An hour before the market closed Thursday, as news reports of Trump’s choice began trickling out, COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna dipped as much as six per cent, and Pfizer fell almost two per cent. Novavax, which created a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, fell almost six per cent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2whtdFQw2w
Trump transition team ‘blindsided’ by sexual assault accusation involving creepy Pete Hegseth
Claire McCaskill, Former Democratic Senator from Missouri and Betsy Woodruff Swan, Politico National Correspondent join Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House with reaction to Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary, far-right Fox Newz talking head Pete Hegseth admitting to paying a settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault, and if it will impact his confirmation prospects in the Republican controlled Senate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bex5LyzbbBE
Expert Explains Why, Essentially, You’re Fucked | Onion Now: Focus.
Dr. Andrea Worth, a researcher at Harvard University, explains how her team’s work over the past three years has concluded that you are completely and utterly goddamn boned.
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/the-grievance-babies-are-just-getting
the grievance babies are just getting started
the MAGAsphere has never been treated so unfairly!
imagine having everything — and being never satisfied.
imagine being born into obscene wealth, and being handed every opportunity on a silver platter. imagine being allowed to fail repeatedly, upwards and ever upwards, bailed out in turn by your father, the banks, and Russian mobsters, until finally, you fall ass-backwards into the United States presidency — not once, but twice.
imagine having your own hand-picked Supreme Court declare that you are A Very Special Boy who can do all the criming you want, forever, without consequence.
imagine having all that — and at the same time, never ever shutting the fuck up about how no one has ever been treated so unfairly as you have.
welcome to the grievance-fueled world of being Dear Leader.
Perhaps there’s an opportunity here. When we concentrate power in the hands of a few, we rely on those few to have the best interests of all of us at heart. That system started about 700 years ago when communications, education, and complexity of the world situation were far simpler. Our system is outdated. Our Members of Parliament (MPs) represent political parties, rather than each of us – and with an average of 80,000 voters per electoral district, how could they represent each of us? We need to adjust how we do democracy. With the technology and education we have now we could be voting on major social and taxation issues through secure on-line secret ballot, so we each have a say, diffusing the power to all of us rather than concentrating that power in the hands of a few. A new pharma-care system? Tell us how it would be implemented, sustained over the next few decades in the face of demographic changes, and what it would cost each taxpayer annually…then let us each vote on it. Daily business would still be conducted by MPs – major social and taxation issues would rest with each of us. Perhaps we would all feel a little more “heard” and a little less frustrated and angry – and possibly protect ourselves from the “autocratic state capture”.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2024/11/15/Here-Come-Trump-Concentration-Camps/
Here Come Trump’s Concentration Camps
If his promised deportations go ahead, America as we know it will change forever.
The United States under president-elect Donald Trump is committed to a program of rapid mass deportation of undocumented migrants — at least 11 million of them, perhaps more. It will fail, but that’s scant reassurance because it will still inflict enormous economic, political and institutional damage on the United States and on Canada. The damage is the point.
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In an interview with Time magazine before the election, Trump said he would go after 15 million to 20 million undocumented migrants, though the Pew Research Center estimates the true number is about 11 million — down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007.
Trump also told Time that the deportations would be so swift that there would be no need for massive concentration camps where migrants would be detained. His new “border czar,” Tom Homan, has also said, “It’s not going to be concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, the stocks of private prison corporations have risen since the election, signalling that investors anticipate a flood of federal money to pay for building migrant detention centres.
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/rfk-jr-public-health-threat-vaccines
RFK Jr. is a massive public health threat
Dems like Jared Polis shouldn’t pretend otherwise.
“Kennedy has articulated a vision that will, if enacted, lead to the deaths of untold numbers of people, many of whom have not even been born. It’s difficult to overstate the long-term danger he poses.”
Kennedy can kill huge numbers of people, nationally and even globally, by undermining trust in vaccines. But he’s interested in promoting other public health disasters as well.
RFK Jr. wants to roll back regulations on raw milk — even though increased consumption of raw milk this year led to a salmonella outbreak which caused 171 people to fall ill. Kennedy also wants to remove fluoride from drinking water, claiming (falsely, of course) that it causes serious health problems. Water fluoridation has reduced tooth decay by some 25 percent in adults and children.
Kennedy is also dangerous because he often links his nonsense conspiracy theories and lies to open bigotry. He’s claimed that vaccine-caused autism (again, not a real thing) is comparable to the Holocaust — a comment that is insulting to people with autism, to Jews, and not least to neurodivergent Jews (like, for example, me).
I see the hosts of Morning Joe (who have been telling everyone that watches their show that the end of the world is nigh) just went to Mar-a-lago to have a chat with Trump. Politics as usual folks!
https://newrepublic.com/article/188663/trump-judge-overtime-pay-media
A Trump Judge Just Nixed Overtime Pay for Millions—and Media Yawned
Remember the right-wing frenzy over “Rich Men North of Richmond”? Well, this ruling exposes Trump-MAGA hypocrisy on the working class—and reveals a big media failure.
You probably missed it, because it created barely a ripple in the media, but last Friday, a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump struck down one of President Biden’s most pro-worker policies: his effort to ensure that far more Americans benefit from overtime pay. Around 4 million salaried workers with lower incomes are the losers in this decision, yet it generated startlingly few news stories and no outraged missives from leading columnists.
This type of rigging is exactly what Biden’s overtime policy would combat. His administrative rule, proposed last year, would raise the income threshold for many workers to qualify for extra pay for hours beyond the 40-hour week under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Right now, that threshold is only around $35,000 per year. The rule would raise it to around $58,000.
Around 4 million additional people would qualify for overtime protections under this change. These are people who make more than $35,000 but less than $58,000 per year, but don’t currently qualify for overtime; to oversimplify, bosses have reclassified many of these workers as managers, exempting them from federal overtime protections.