Is Trump Going to Rule Like a Dictator?
Is Trump Going to Rule Like a Dictator?
Trump, Uniquely Skilled at Channeling His Inner Hitler
A claim I’ve consistently heard this election cycle is that Donald Trump, when reelected, will rule as a dictator, much like an American Adolf Hitler.
Yet, when Barack Obama was elected in 2008 with a supermajority in Congress and an enormous groundswell of popular support, he either couldn’t or didn’t rule like a dictator. For example, Obama said he wanted a single-payer option akin to Medicare, but what we got with the Affordable Care Act was a version of Romneycare, a thoroughly privatized for-profit health care system designed and developed by Republicans.
Why didn’t Obama, with commanding majorities in the House and Senate, rule with an iron fist to get what he allegedly wanted? Why can only Trump rule as a dictator?
Is Trump so uniquely skilled at politics—so effective at projecting power and intimidating his opponents—that only he can ape Hitler’s ruthlessness and depravity? It didn’t happen during his first term in office. But maybe he’s learned since then how to assume dictatorial control of America. Perhaps he already has his own SS/Gestapo ready to round up his opponents into concentration camps. Rachel Maddow sure seems to think she’s headed for the camps.
By no means am I dismissing the threat of fascism to America. Indeed, if you define fascism as the fusion of corporate and governmental power, you could argue America is already fascist. The recent election only decided which figurehead voters preferred.
Of course, it’s true Trump quipped he’d rule like a dictator on day one, as if he could. I’m sure the MICIMATT, Deep State, and other powerbrokers are going to step aside and let Trump indulge his wildest fantasies and settle his deepest grudges. Because that’s just how America’s political system works. We have no checks and balances. All hail the leader!
Trump wasn’t the person I wanted to win this election. But it’s not because I think of him as “the next Hitler.” Rather, I see him as an aging plutocrat who’s driven by his own narcissism and ego, a man who’s too full of himself and, far too often, full of it as well.
Finally, two obvious points. The first is that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris congratulated Trump on his victory. I assume if they truly believed Trump 2.0 is going to be the next Hitler, they wouldn’t have done so. Second, a Republican minority was able to hamstring the Democrats (Obama and Biden) over the last 16 years. So why can’t the Democrats hamstring Trump? Are they so feckless, so unskilled, so weak, so disorganized that they can’t oppose him effectively?
If Democrats are so ineffective as the “resistance,” maybe it’s because they’re more closely aligned to Trump’s agenda than they’re willing to admit.
Readers, what do you think?
It's not that the Dems are feckless & unskilled. It's that they play for the same team - the Oligarchy. They are simply one wing of the that two-winged oligarch-owned, warmongering, imperialist, capitalist "bird" known as the Duopoly.
They will feign opposition, but give the billionaires & war profiteers everything they want, hoping for campaign cash next election cycle.
Sorry to be so cynical. I don't believe anything will change until we upend the present corrupt political system.
Thank you for all your insights and writing!
I think the Democrats will not hamstring the Republicans because DEMOCRATS want the SAME policies as Republicans, they are the same party with the same wishes. Democrats only pretend to care about the working, class , minorities etc because they want a turn at the largesse every once and while. DEMOCRATS ARE REPUBLICANS like wolves in sheep's clothing