Tag: Trump autocratic tendencies

Trump wants to seal off the Lincoln Memorial and hold a private Fourth of July party for family, friends and ‘VIPs’: report

AlterNet logoOn Saturday, the Washington Post reported that President Donald Trump is planning a special, private celebration in Washington, D.C. on the Fourth of July for his family and friends, as well as ticketed “VIP” guests.

The Secret Service has said that this event will block off an area from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to around the midpoint of the reflecting pool.

Trump’s celebration, known as the “Salute to America,” will still include many elements viewable by the public, including fireworks, flyovers from Air Force One, the Blue Angels, and military fighter jets, and military bands. But it is not yet clear how the “VIP” section will operate, or whether it will affect the sightline of the celebrations.

View the complete June 29 article by Matthew Chapman on the AlterNet website here.

Trump and the march of ballot box autocrats

To President Trump’s critics, the creeping authoritarianism is in plain view.

Take this week: Democrats on the Hill declared that the United States was in constitutional crisis, a consequence of the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with House subpoenas pertaining to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe and thereby disregard congressional powers of oversight. Separately, my colleague Dana Milbank pointed to the administration’s provocative new steps to revoke the media credentials for White House journalists (including his).

And then, at a rally on Wednesday, Trump laughed along with thousands of cheering supporters about shooting migrants who arrive at the U.S. border. That it fostered only muted outrage and discussion on cable news networks the following day pointed to how inured the American public has become to Trump’s routine demagoguery.

stephanie kotuby@stephaniekotuby

.@RepJerryNadler tells @JudyWoodruff on @NewsHour tonight @realdonaldtrump is trying to establish the presidency as a “dictatorship” by defying all House subpoenas.

83

Twitter Ads info and privacy
49 people are talking about this

In part for that reason, the White House visit next week of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is worth watching. Shunned during the Obama presidency, Orban, an illiberal nationalist, has appeared to find common cause with Trump. While numerous E.U. officials and European statesmen have decried Orban’s majoritarian rule — which they say is actively eroding Hungary’s democracy — the Trump administration has cultivated Hungary and other nationalist governments in Central Europe as like-minded partners.

View the complete May 10 article by Ishaan Tharoor on The Washington Post website here.

Here’s how Trump could lose the 2020 election – and still remain president

At the end of his congressional testimony in February, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer, floated a nightmarish possibility.

“Given my experience working for Mr. Trump,” Cohen said, “I fear that if he loses in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power.”

Cohen’s comments may seem hyperbolic, but they are worth taking seriously. In the aftermath of 2018, Trump told reporters, “Republicans don’t win, and that’s because of potentially illegal votes.” In a 2016 presidential debate, Trump refused to say whether he would accept defeat. “I’ll keep you in suspense,” he declared. Since that election, Trump has routinely said that his popular vote defeat was the product of “millions and millions” of illegal ballots. Now, facing potential legal jeopardy from ongoing investigations into hush-money payments and any number of apparent financial crimes, he might reasonably conclude that staying in office is the only way to avoid being indicted.

View the complete April 13 article by Daniel block on The Washington Monthly on the AlterNet website here.

Trump’s Authoritarian Impulse: The Crisis Is Here And Now

President Donald Trump’ authoritarian instincts have long been transparent. But as his presidency stretches on, he’s figuring out how to take those instincts and apply them to the powers he has — consolidating power within his branch at the cost of others.

A string of events and revelations this week showed how Trump is accruing authority, abusing his power, threatening to violate the law, thwarting the checks on his office, and attempting to install loyalists wherever he can.

The week began with the purge of the Department of Homeland Security. Trump ousted Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen because he reportedly grew frustrated when she repeatedly refused to violate the law. And according to CNN, he told border agents last Friday that they should ignore the law and refuse to admit asylum seekers.

If judges tried to force them to allow asylum seekers into the country, he reportedly said, they should respond with: “Sorry, judge, I can’t do it. We don’t have the room.”

View the complete April 12 article by Cody Fenwick on the National Memo website here.

Trump’s accusations of ‘treason’ are a hallmark of fascism

Trump uses “treason” to demonize political opponents. It won’t end well.

President Donald Trump likes to describe anyone who disagrees with him as “treasonous.” This week, in a span of less than 24 hours, he used the phrase to describe both the individuals who conducted the Mueller investigation as well as Democratic lawmakers who disagree with his border policy. But not only is Trump misusing the word, he’s doing so in a way that appears to intentionally inflame political divisions.

The word “treason” has a very specific — and very narrow — meaning written right into the U.S. Constitution. It refers to “levying war” against the states or “adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” According to U.S. treason law, the word “enemies” refers to a nation or organization with which the United States is in an open or declared war. Continue reading “Trump’s accusations of ‘treason’ are a hallmark of fascism”

The Tyranny Of Donald J. Trump

Two Generations of Tax Cheating, and Now He Holds Himself and His Family Above the Law

Donald J. Trump and his team have now openly declared that he is above the law rather than, as our Constitution provides, a public servant whose duty is to faithfully execute the law.

His administration is taking numerous steps that move us in the direction of a Trumpian dictatorship by defeating the rule of law, something I’ve warned about since 2016. We’ll look at one aspect of this today: Trump family taxes.

Trump and his team insist that no one is ever going to see his tax returns, which he promised voters he would make public as every president has done back to Richard Nixon.

View the complete April 11 article by David Cay Johnston on the DCReports.org website here.

‘First step toward a dictatorship’: Trump expert David Cay Johnston warns of president’s refusal to release tax returns

David Cay Johnston, the author of the 2016 book “The Making of Donald Trump,” sounded the alarm on Monday about Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns.

During a panel discussion on CNN, Johnston said that defying a congressional request for the president’s taxes would be a blatant violation of the law.

View the April 8 post byBrad Reed with Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Trump Wanted to ‘Order’ DOJ to ‘Prosecute’ Hillary Clinton, James Comey: Report

Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, Associated Press

According to The New York Times, President Trump reportedly told then-White House counsel Don McGahn earlier this year that he wanted to “order” the Justice Department to “prosecute” 2016 presidential opponent Hillary Clinton and former FBI director James Comey. In a statement, McGahn’s lawyer denied the president “ordered that anyone prosecute Hillary Clinton or James Comey.”

Sources told the newspaper that McGahn informed the president in the spring that he had “no authority to order a prosecution.” McGahn also reportedly told Trump that while he could request an investigation, such an ask could “prompt accusations of abuse of power.” White House lawyers reportedly wrote a “several-page” memo to Trump—at McGahn’s direction—explaining how asking law enforcement to probe his political rivals “could face a range of consequences,” including impeachment. It is reportedly not clear if Trump read the memo. CNN reported later Tuesday that Trump asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and then-Attorney General Jeff Session’s chief of staff Matthew Whitaker if the DOJ was “progressing” in probing Clinton “multiple times.”

According to the Times, Trump has continued to discuss the matter—including the possible appointment of another special counsel to investigate Clinton and Comey. The president also reportedly called FBI director Christopher Wray “weak” for not “aggressively” investigating Clinton.

View the November 21 article on the DailyBeast.com website here.

Will the Republican Party keep dancing with autocracy?

When a national leader urges that votes be ignored, or that an election result he doesn’t like might best be set aside, we label him an autocrat or an authoritarian.

When it’s President Trump, we shrug. Worse, many in his party go right along with his baseless charges of fraud.

We are in for a difficult two years. Surviving them will require that Republican senators take seriously the pledge they made in their oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” What we have seen so far is not encouraging.

View the complete opinion column by E.J. Dionne, Jr., on The Washington Post website here.