{"id":32694,"date":"2024-11-17T16:46:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T21:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=32694"},"modified":"2024-11-17T17:16:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T22:16:39","slug":"enemy-of-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/enemy-of-the-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Enemy of the State"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Enemy<\/a>I<\/span>t was very clear from his first presidential campaign that Donald Trump was adversarial to the very notion of the USA<\/strong>, to its Constitution, to its judiciary, laws, courts, police, military, schools, to its free speech<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

And he did, for four years.<\/p>\n

He surrounded himself with cronies, sycophants, and incompetent and pliable family members<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Now he’s back and it is going to be far, far worse than anyone \u2014 even his most stalwart opponents \u2014 ever imagined a Trump presidency could be.<\/p>\n

America as a democracy, as a nation under the rule of law, is finished.<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

He has nominated for his cabinet positions the least qualified, most conflicted, slimiest, and most anti-democracy people<\/a> \u2014 but most subservient and egregiously loyal \u2014 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.*<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 now utterly reduced to the hapless forelock-tugging Trump MAGA party \u2014 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<\/a> and praising them rather than risk more of Trump’s wrath.**<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

As Carole Cadwalladr wrote in The Guardian<\/a> recently,<\/p>\n

Journalists are first, but everyone else is next. Trump has announced multibillion-dollar lawsuits against \u201cthe enemy camp\u201d: 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\u2019s already later than you think.**<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Welcome to hell.<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/h5>\n

*<\/span><\/strong> Dr. Andrea Love posted a blog<\/a> 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:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve observed the lucrative podcast ecosystem erode science literacy, critical thinking, and acceptance of factual information. I\u2019ve seen the enormous profit motives that come with having a megaphone to promote disinformation, health conspiracies, and outright lies. I\u2019ve 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…
\nThe 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Similarly, on MSNBC, Chris Hayes breaks down how conspiracy-addled RFK Jr. brings the \u2018us vs. them\u2019 mindset to public health, but leaves science behind, albeit still trying to sanewash Kennedy:<\/p>\n