- The Trump administration knew full well that the #MuslimBan was likely illegal and that it wouldn’t stand for long. The Executive Order seems to be strategically orchestrated chaos and its only intent was MALEVOLENCE.
- “Mass resignations” at the State Department were actually purges, timed to occur simultaneously with unfilled positions so that Foggy Bottom would be emptied out.
- Trump (and Bannon) are quickly consolidating power within a small group of individuals with those two at the top. Look no further than Bannon being given a seat on the National Security Council. They are bypassing the entire governmental structure and running all decisions not just within the White House, but among the small cabal around Trump including Bannon, Kushner and Preibus.
- I remember studying how former Ukrainian President Yanukovych and his cronies looted the government and funneled away a substantial percentage of Ukraine’s GDP. In the same way, it seems that Trump is setting the stage for the same high-level embezzlement and looting.
- Most concerning of all is that they are testing the “checks and balances” built into the US system by “eliminating any possible checks from either the Federal bureaucracy (State Dept, Dept of Homeland Security etc.), Congress, or the Courts.” The Departments have been emptied. Trump is bypassing Congress by ruling through Executive Orders. Customs and Border Patrol have been reportedly ignoring the Court’s order to stop the detaining and deportation of individuals affected by the Executive Order.
I’ve spent time studying the Yanukovych government in Ukraine, the Erdogan government in Turkey, the Marcos government (and the entire feudal and oligarchic society) in the Philippines, and the rise of fascist governments in Italy and Spain (and the rise of Nazi Germany). While it would be a mistake to equate the Trump government with all of these examples (most importantly, Nazi Germany with the unique nature of the Holocaust), the news of the past week carries echoes from these historical examples and shows the willingness of Trump and his cabal to rule as an authoritarian fascist.