<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/22/trump-revenge-game-plan-alarm>
"Donald Trump’s talk of punishing his critics and seeking to “weaponize” the US
justice department against his political opponents has experts and former DoJ
officials warning he poses a direct threat to the rule of law and democracy in
the US.
Trump’s talk of seeking “retribution” against foes, including some he has
branded “vermin”, has coincided with plans that Maga loyalists at rightwing
thinktanks are assembling to expand the president’s power and curb the DoJ, the
FBI and other federal agencies. All of it has fueled critics’ fears that in a
second term Trump would govern as an unprecedentedly authoritarian American
leader.
Trump is currently the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination
for 2024 and has long maintained hefty polling leads over his party rivals. At
the same time a slew of recent polls has also shown him ahead of President Joe
Biden, including in key battleground states.
But scholars and ex-justice officials see increasing evidence that if they
achieved power again Trump and his Maga allies plan to tighten his control at
key agencies and install trusted loyalists in top posts at the DoJ and the FBI,
permitting Trump more leeway to exact revenge on foes, and shrinking agencies
Trump sees as harboring “deep state” critics.
Ominously, Trump has threatened to tap a special prosecutor to “go after” Biden
and his family.
Trump’s angry mindset was revealed on Veterans Day when he denigrated foes as
“vermin” who needed to be “rooted out”, echoing fascist rhetoric from Italy and
Germany in the 1930s.
“I’m hard-pressed to find any candidates anywhere who are so open that they
would use the power of the state to go after critics and enemies,” said Steven
Levitsky, a Harvard government professor and co-author of
How Democracies
Die.
“This is one of the most openly authoritarian campaigns I’ve ever seen. You
have to go back to the far-right authoritarians in the 1930s in Europe or in
1970s Latin America to find the kind of dehumanizing and violent language that
Trump is starting to consistently use.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
