Tag: Donald Trump authoritarian tendencies

‘Nakedly authoritarian’: Trump taunts security guard for not being rough with woman protester

AlterNet logo“One of his ugliest and most troubling performances in recent memory,” one observer said of Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania.

During a campaign rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania Tuesday night, just hours after House Democrats unveiled articles of impeachment, President Donald Trump criticized an arena security guard for not being sufficiently rough while removing a woman who protested the event.

“Get her out. Get her out,” Trump demanded as his supporters pointed and yelled at the demonstrator, who was wearing a #MeToo hat and holding a sign that read, “Grabbing Power Back.”

“See, these guys want to be so politically correct,” Trump said of the security guard attempting to escort the demonstrator out of the arena. “You see that? I’ll tell you, law enforcement’s so great. That particular guy wanted to be so politically correct.”

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Trump a ‘clear and present danger,’ says Democratic investigator in impeachment hearing

The Hill logo President Trump’s efforts to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden was meant to interfere in next year’s election and “is a clear and present danger” to fair elections and U.S. national security, a Democratic staff investigator presenting impeachment evidence testified Monday.

Intelligence Committee investigator Daniel Goldman accused Trump of an “unprecedented campaign of obstruction of Congress” in his opening statement.

“President Trump’s persistent and continuing effort to coerce a foreign country to help him cheat to win an election is a clear and present danger to our free and fair elections and to our national security,” Goldman said.

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Trump Says Founders Never Wanted Congress To Impeach A President

Donald Trump complained on Tuesday that America’s founders didn’t want presidents to be impeached, going so far as to say it is something they “never thought possible.” Trump’s comments came just before he presided over a Cabinet meeting.

“It’s a scam,” Trump said of the House impeachment inquiry. “They’re doing something that the founders never thought possible, and the founders didn’t want. And they’re using this impeachment hoax for their own political gain to try and damage the Republican Party and damage the president.”

Trump falsely claims that the impeachment hearings “have had the opposite effect,” saying with no evidence that “I’m the highest I’ve ever been in the polls.” In fact, a recent poll showed the majority of Americans support impeaching Trump, and his average approval rating continues to hover at just 41 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight.

View the complete November 19 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.

Military parades are about ego and power. Of course Trump wants one.

The following article by Ishaan Tharoor was posted on the Washington Post website February 8, 2018:

It’s unclear whether President Trump will get the military parade he so keenly desires. My colleagues first reported Tuesday that the White House is pushing the Pentagon to stage a grand spectacle down Pennsylvania Avenue in the same vein as France’s Bastille Day parade — which Trump not coincidentally attended and admired last year. In the same week we heard the president call his political opponents “treasonous” for not clapping at the State of the Union address, we now contemplate his excitement for the sort of martial display these days more associated with single-party states and irredentist autocrats.

Trump, who fondly refers to “my generals” and espouses a decidedly militarist agenda, now thinks it’s his turn. “We’re all aware in this country of the president’s affection and respect for the military,” Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. “We have been putting together some options. We will send them up to the White House for decision.” Continue reading “Military parades are about ego and power. Of course Trump wants one.”