Many breathless headlines have appeared in the mainstream media over the past couple of weeks about the impending dictatorship of Donald Trump if he were to win the election next fall. All the major newspapers and magazines have finally begun to delve into exactly what Trump and his henchmen have in store to exact his revenge and enact the white nationalist agenda of the MAGA far right. It's about time. Let's hope they keep it up.
Here are just a few of the proposals that we know about. He plans to gut the Environmental Protection Agency and drill in Alaska under the illusion that somehow the "profits" will pay for Social Security and Medicare. (It's a totally absurd proposal.) He's going to use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military to quell domestic dissent and he'll ban homeless camps in cities and put the unhoused in "tent cities." And there are very detailed plans to round up millions of migrants and put them in detention camps before mass deportation. (We're going to have a whole lot of "camps" in America under Donald Trump.) He plans to pardon "a large portion" of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and "go after" Joe Biden and other political enemies using the Department of Justice as well as the media. And he's going to pull out of NATO, abandon Ukraine and back the right-wingers in the Israeli government. He will essentially declare war on blue states, particularly the cities where he plans to send in what amounts to an occupying federal force.
If you can believe it, those are just some examples of what has been proposed. The entire program is beyond belief and there's something new every day.
Trump appeared with his favorite courtier, Sean Hannity, this week and was asked very politely if he had any intention of becoming a dictator. Trump said only on day one when he planned to close the border and drill, drill, drill. "After that," he said, "I won't be a dictator." But everyone should realize that Trump has always believed that he had unlimited power as president and continuously patted himself on the back for restraining himself from overusing them.
He's not going to be a "dictator." He just plans to use the power he believes he already had, that's all.
But for all his dictatorial impulses, it is also true that Trump has a fatally disorganized mind and a tendency to lose focus and there is no way that he will be able to accomplish any of this by himself. So the big question on everyone's mind is just who is he going to get to help him fulfill his goals? We know that the top qualification for all jobs in the administration will be that they can demonstrate 100% fealty to Donald Trump. In fact, that may be the only requirement.
Axios reported that job questionnaires are already being circulated and they match what was being used in the final days of the first Trump term when a wholesale reshuffling of the Executive Branch took place. The questions included:
What part of Candidate Trump's campaign message most appealed to you and why?"
"Briefly describe your political evolution. What thinkers, authors, books, or political leaders influenced you and led you to your current beliefs? What political commentator, thinker or politician best reflects your views?"
This tracks with the questions in the "Talent Database" that's being assembled by the Heritage Foundation which, as I wrote about here, has a very spotty record of accomplishment in similar endeavors.
But what about the big jobs that everyone will see — Cabinet members and department heads? Or powerful White House positions? It's highly unlikely anyone who isn't already in the Trump inner circle will stick his or her neck out "for the sake of the country" after what happened to those who did that in the first term, nor would Trump want anyone like a General Mattis or even a Bill Barr in the Cabinet this time. He will put his closest cronies into "acting" positions wherever he can, just as he did in the last year, and if the Republicans take the Senate, I expect they'll be happy to change the filibuster to give him anyone he wants.
So who are we looking at? Axios had another report this week that revealed the top contenders.
For vice president, Trump is considering Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, MAGA superstar Kari Lake, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Byron Donalds, R-Fl., is also on the list as is fellow Floridian Matt Gaetz. Melania Trump is reportedly pushing for Tucker Carlson. Seriously. (Nobody thinks he would be a good fit, however, because "he can't be controlled," which is hilarious.)
Carlson and Trump are on the horn regularly, however, and he is apparently advocating for the odious Stephen Miller, the mastermind of Trump's heinous immigration program, for, wait for it, attorney general because he's "a serious person." It's not a bad guess that this is being considered since Miller is currently working on the recruitment of an army of right-wing lawyers to staff a MAGA-dominated executive branch.
Then there is the swashbuckling Mike Davis, the former general counsel to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. Davis announced that he would immediately launch a "three-week reign of terror" in which he would "put kids in cages" and jail prosecutors and journalists who have gone after Trump. That's exactly what Trump wants to hear so don't be surprised if he is chosen.
Podcaster Steve Bannon, who was fired from the first Trump administration but is back in the in-crowd is being discussed as chief of staff, and Kash Patel, the man Trump promoted from the ranks to sabotage the Pentagon is assumed to be Trump's CIA pick. Trump's former body man and enforcer Johnny McEntee is expected to be given a powerful position, possibly even in the Cabinet and Ric Grenell, the erstwhile Twitter troll turned ambassador in the first term, is generally considered to be the front runner for secretary of state.
Uber wingnut Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ar., is mentioned for Defense Secretary and Jared Kushner is definitely on the list for something if he wants it. There's no mention of Michael Flynn but don't be too surprised if he turns up too. It's a pretty thin bench.
Just look at that list. What a rogues gallery. It's nothing but the worst MAGA blowhards and the last standing retreads from the first term so the list isn't very long. Would they end up having to choose from nutty failed candidates like Pennsylvania's Doug Mastriano or Herschel Walker? Maybe Kanye West could be Treasury Secretary and Alex Jones could be the White House Counsel. Why not? Would they be any worse than Marjorie Taylor Greene?
It's really not a joking matter actually. All the people mentioned in the Axios piece may be third-rate political figures but they are also dangerous authoritarians and Trump sycophants who would have no compunction about pushing whatever buttons they have at their disposal to punish their enemies and vanquish the political opposition. What they lack in integrity they make up for in malevolence and it's simply unthinkable that the U.S. government would be in their hands.
