To stop Trump and his equally bloodthirsty henchmen from turning the country into a tyranny Biden could (but won't) do what Trump would do in his place. By Hal M.Brown

Democracy loving Americans, don't deceive yourselves with delusions and denial, Trump and his goons are out for your blood. 

Note that I wasn't the only one to think of monkeys when I envisioned the group of people who will be advising Trump (click here).

 The cartoon refers to this:

Monkey mayhem in South Carolina after 43 primates escape research facility

If Trump intends to, as it so far appears he does plan to do, run his goverment with a group of henchmen (and hench women) as a ruthless dictatorship as soon as possible by making sure Congress goes into recess and making appointments then there's nothing the Democrats or even Republicans can do to stop him except complain.

Once he puts his people in place we will see a vicious juggernaut to upend democracy and make America into a fascist state where only people loyal to Trump will have positions in federal agencies. Congress will become like The Federal Assembly of Russia if Trump decides he even needs a Congress. Congress be damned. He can decide to rule by decree. 

The only way he can be stopped is for Biden to do something now right out of a dictator's playbook. Of course he won't do it, but years from now democracy loving people may look back and wish he had.

If Trump turns the country into a dictatorship he will have to ignore the Constitution. He may have put his hand on some historic Bible and uttered an oath on Jan. 20th but this would have been just for show. 

Every president has taken this oath:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The oath is worded and administered in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution, which requires that “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:”

Under the Constitution, the old president continues to hold full power through 11:59:59, and then power shifts at noon.  Article II, Section 1 requires that the new president, before executing any duties, take a prescribed oath or affirmation. 

Trump can mouth the words. He' doesn't have to mean them. He won't mean them. 

According to law on Jan. 20th, his day one, he will have the power of the president. That is, if he is actually sworn in to be president. The only way for this not to happen is for President Biden, or possibly President Harris, to have used the power of the presidency that Trump may wish he had used before he left office when Biden was sworn in. I am sure Trump wonders what would have happened if he refused to leave office by using the Insurrection Act. 

Biden possibly could, but won't, say that for the good of the country he isn't leaving office. 

He possibly could, but won't, declare the election null and void because Trump cheated by claiming he was running to be a democratic president loyal to the Constitution, but has shown he plans to be a dictator loyal only to himself.

Biden possibly could, but won't, declare a national emergency of some sort, I don't know what it might be, and suspend the transfer of power. He could effectively become dictator himself. He could order Trump arrested for sedition (or something) and placed in custody where he'd be deprived of the ability to communicate with the outside world. No matter what the Supreme Court ruled about this being illegal he could ignore them. After all, this is what Trump would do, or have attempted to do, in his place.

Of course none of this will happen. I am not even sure any of it is possible. Biden will dutifully attend the inauguration even though Trump didn't attend his. He will put on his show of supporting the peaceful transfer of power as if he is handing over the presidency to someone who intends to be a president and not a bloodthirsty dictator bent on revenge against anyone who opposed him in the past and to bleed dry anyone who dares to oppose him in the present and future. 

Before World War II, World War I was known as The Great War or, with grim retrospection, The War to End All Wars. If Biden attempted a coup the Civil War could end up being called the First Civil War because we might have a second one. Right now I say it is better to live under a tyranny than have a war which turned Americans against Americans. Ask me again in four years if I feel the same way.

We have to live as best we can with what those who bought into Trump's lies have wrought. These are the people who laughed off his saying he'd be a dictator only on day one as just a snide remark which he didn't mean. We now know there is evidence that voters who relied on family and trusted friends instead of traditional media for information voted for Trump rather than for Harris (article).

Now that he's won Trump it has become clear through his Cabinet and other top level nominees that he has always wanted to be a dictator not necessarily for four year but for as long as he damn well wants to.

There is no legal mechanism that can stop this. The only possibilty to stop him would be the hitcherto unthinkable military coup.

Trump enjoys being the center of attention, he enjoys people kowtowing to him, he enjoys women fawning over him, he enjoys playing golf, he can't wait to enjoy flying on Air Force One again, but most of all he enjoys making people suffer and fear him. This is what will earn him the title of bloodthirsty tyrant. 

As Trump implements his version of Project 2025 some members of the public may not even see what is happening. Some will learn about it because they are one of the estimate 50,000 civil service employees fired because they don't pass a loyalty test, others may see goon squads kicking their neighbor's door down, those who live in states like Oklahoma may hear from their children that they had to watch a video announcing a new religious studies department. 

Those who depend of MSNBC for news and opinion may turn on their TV one morning and see a "no signal" message on their screen.

Trump could end up on lists like 

The 10 Cruelest And Most Bloodthirsty Rulers Of All Time

This list begins with Vlad the Impaler:

"Vlad III Dracula, most commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, was the ruthless ruler of Wallachia (in present-day Romania) during the 15th century. And yes, he is the inspiration for the vampire stories we’re so fond today—that’s how bloodthirsty he was. While he was fond of mass murdering, disemboweling, and boiling his enemies alive, his preferred method of torture was impaling his victims (hence the nickname). Stories about his cruelty were spread by friends and rivals alike, so it’s pretty safe to say he earned his reputation."

The list includes Ivan IV of Russia (aka Ivan the Terrible), Hitler, and Stalin. Of course there are longer lists like this one of the 25 deadliest dictators. I chose the shorter list since it has bloodthirsty in the title.

For more about what I think Trump has planned for his presidency read my blog: Trump can make "it" happen here? "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (LINK)"

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website (if you are reading this anywhere else any addtions or corrections will be at this address)

Recommended reading related to this blog if you subscribe to The New York Times.

Masha Gessen begins their essay with:

For those bewildered by why so many Americans apparently voted against the values of liberal democracy, Balint Magyar has a useful formulation. “Liberal democracy,” he says, “offers moral constraints without problem-solving” — a lot of rules, not a lot of change — while “populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.” Magyar, a scholar of autocracy, isn’t interested in calling Donald Trump a fascist. He sees the president-elect’s appeal in terms of something more primal: “Trump promises that you don’t have to think about other people.”

Here's how they conclude:

As for the specifics, we know less than we may think we know. Had Trump been elected to a second term in 2020, Magyar says he would have expected him to try to repeal the 22nd Amendment, which established a two-term limit for presidents. I think he may still try to do it, clearing the way to run again at the age of 82. Much has been written about Project 2025 as a sort of legislative blueprint for the second Trump presidency. The historian Rick Perlstein, in a series of articles in The American Prospect, has argued that some of this coverage is misleading. Project 2025 is a vast, complicated document full of contradictory recommendations apparently made by people with different beliefs and agendas. Consistent with Magyar’s theory of autocracy, the document is more a reflection of the clan of people who empower Trump and are empowered by him than an ideological document. It is not a blueprint for coherent legislative change, but it is a blueprint still: a blueprint for trampling the system of government as it is currently constituted, a blueprint of destruction.

Trump wants more than shock and awe attacks against illegals and their kin, he wants high profile takedowns of people whose names you know, by Hal M. Brown

This is the Wikipedia definition of shock and awe:

Shock and awe (technically known as rapid dominance) is a military strategy based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy's perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight.

Trump won't get over newspaper headlines like those he saw when he was arrested in the E. Jean Carroll case (above) until he has his revenge on those on his enemies list. He wants to see headlines like the one below only with photos of people like Jack Smith on them.

I have no doubt that Trump wants to make a huge show of dominance as soon as possible after he assumes the presidency. 

Trump ran on getting fictional thousands of dangerous rapists, human traffickers, and drug pushers here illegally out of the country. Let's face it, TV coverage of SWAT-type raids on houses is really hohum. Everyone has seen this on news, in movies, and on TV shows. Basically, if you've seen a few of these on TV you've seen them all. Of course Trump wants them becasue he needs them to convince his supporters he is following through on his promise. 

His designee for Border Czar Tom Homan vowed there will be "shock and awe" on day one of President-elect Donald Trump's administration when he takes charge of the border. 

What Trump needs to satisfy his lust for revenge and publicity may begin with a 3 AM SWAT type raid (roll cameras) on a suburban DC McMansion, but the money shots will be from the body cams worn by his goons breaking into the bedroom of one of his well known enemies, dragging them out of bed, cuffing them, and leading them outside in their pajamas where you can be sure there will be high definition cameras to capture every Trump-glorioius moment. Trump wants them to make the morning news on every TV station and be the above the fold picture illustration for the headline story in every newpaper.

I anticipate a day of dual shock and awe forays. It will involve raids on places where people who are known to be here illegally, and one or more raids on the homes of well known people who have gone against Trump. My hunch is that Jack Smith will be in the running to be the first notable person to be arrested. Gen. Mark Milley has also been mentioned as someone Trump may want to punish by recalling him to active duty and having him face a court martial for disloyalty.

I hope Michael Cohen has a top-notch legal team lined up to defend him because he not only played Brutus to Trump's Caesar but went on TV countless times to disparage him. I am sure Trump wants to see him punished.

I resist being crude in describing the visceral rush Trump will get out of seeing pictures like the AI one below. Let's just say this will get his juices flowing.

It wouldn't surprise me it Trump targets this church in my home state of Oregon, a sancturary state, which is offering a safe place to live for undocumented immigrants facing deportation. We know that there's no love lost between Trump and the city of Portland. See: Trump calls Portland a ‘burned down hulk of a city’ during interview.

Since his goons won't get any assistance from Oregon law enforcement he could try to send the Idaho National Guard if he wants to have such a massive roundup. If he does this it could be very interesting since, as I well know because I drive by one of their bases frequently and see long lines of their armored vehicles, we have our own large National Guard. 

I have no doubt that many of Trump's supporters will be as thrilled by his goon attacks as he is by watching him exact revenge on both the faceless people he has demonized and his well known enemies.

For more about what I think Trump has planned for his presidency read my blog from yesterday: Trump can make "it" happen here? "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (LINK)"

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website.

Trump can make "it" happen here? "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." By Hal M. Brown, MSW

 

I sleep worrying about what our country was becoming so I was up writing this between 11:30 PM and 3:30 AM.

When we lived near Boston and visited the city frequently we almost always paid our respects at the New England Holocaust Memorial. 

At the New England Holocaust Memorial you walk down a pathway over grates with steam representing smoke rising up and glowing fake coals, and you pass through tall glass towers etched with 6 million numbers representing those killed in the Nazi death camps. Each tower symbolizes a different major extermination camp (Majdanek, Chełmno, Sobibor, Treblinka, Bełżec, and Auschwitz-Birkenau), as well as menorah candles, the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust (one million per tower), and the six years that the mass extermination took place, 1939-1945. 

You see the short version of the peom by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, First They Came (Wikipedia) shown on the top of this page on a monument. The poem is about the silence of German intellectuals and clergy—including, by his own admission, Niemöller himself—following the Nazis' rise to power and subsequent incremental  purging of their chosen targets, group after group. (Wikipedia)

Nazi Germany was predicted by the great American novelist Sinclair Lewis in 1935. More about than later. While there are many books written with a similar theme (see a list here) this one stands out to me.

Before I get into the book, let's look at the man just more than half of those who cared enough about the country to vote decided to elect and what, by every indication, he intends to turn this country into and how he is showing this with his nominess for the Cabinet and other top positions.

Trump, unlike Hitler, is not singling out people of a particular religion as his primary focus to demonize and destroy (Muslims aren't a high priority for him.) Like Hitler did, he is designating as enemies anybody who is against him. Aside from this difference, there are many parallels between what Hitler did as he rose to and assumed power and what Trump has done and is clearly telegraphing his intentions of doing once he becomes president.

On the Matt Distraction:

Considering the groundswell developing against Matt Gaetz being confirmed as Attorney General I view his nomination as just a distraction. I am assuming he doesn't make it. Trump won't go to the mat for Matt. I see it as having been a trial balloon for Trump to see just how far he could go. I view it as having been a way to distract from other nominees who would be easier to get confirmed.  

Trump has already shown us what he plans to do as president with his other selections. He does want to be dictator. He  wants to turn the country into a fascist autocracy. The more reasonable seeming nominees will be just as willing to do his bidding but they will be easier to get confirmed. He doesn't care how they follow out his orders. He just wants them to do what he tells them do do without objection.

For every off-the-wall person he picks who is rejected by the Senate you can bet he has someone waiting in the wings who will be as bad or worse.

Whether Trump achieves the implementation of Project 2025 lock, stock, and possibly smoking barrel in its entirety is irrelevant. He doesn't need a playbook passed to him by a bunch of think tank intellectuals who he probably has distain for anyway because of their highfalutin ways. I suspect he'd rather get his ideas from himself and his core of sociopaths like Steven Miller, Boris Epshteyn and whoever else reinforces his malevolent revenge crusade and his belief that only he has what it takes to be a dictator. 

He still may not have learned that he is easily manipulated by people who flatter him. Or he may not care. There seems to be list of those who are doing this for their own gain whether they like or admire him or not. This may include people like Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabard, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and no doubt many others who are vying for postions in his administration. Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon may have hopes of getting some kind of position or he may communicated with them and we know Trump has gotten ideas from them in the past. 

Trump is not that many steps away from being able to achieve his ultimate goals of turning the country into what would be the most prosperous and powerful authoritarian fascist dictatorship the world has ever seen.

It wouldn't take him long to get things underway. The mechanisms exist. There may be things the Democrats and a few Republicans can do to slow him down but there is little if anything that can be done to stop him. 

First, I see Trump getting his Cabinet in place and their begin to eliminate the departments Trump has promised to get rid of. Whoever ends up as Attorney General will start the revenge campaign.

Protests against all the draconian things Trump does will come from both the Democrats and a few Republicans in Congress, from the media, and from members of the public some of whom will be demonstrating in the streets.  Trump, the manic Machiavellian megalomaniac I wrote about yesterday wants to prove he is the all powerful furious fighter of a Führer. His image is vitally important to him. I don't know who he sees when he looks in the mirror or sees recent photos of himself, like those showing him bending over while putting with a visible fat butt , a protruding belly, and what appears to be a Dowager's Hump, it is not along the lines of the images of himself that he has on his trading cards. Looking as he does, not being able to fight off the ravages of aging, will psyschologically exacerbate his need to prove his manliness by behaving more as a ruthless bully.

Because the Supreme Court has given him immunity Trump feels emboldened. For now the Supreme Court thinks they have relevance because they are so niave that they don't think Trump wouldn't hesitate to disband them if it suited him... he may do this anyway because, basically, he won't need them if he gets the goverment he wants.

Consider the following list of the things I think Trump can do, or attempt to do, it he's thwarted in achieving his goals by getting people to roll over for him:

1. Invoke the Insurrection Act
2. Declare marital law
3. Suspend habeous corpus under Article I, Section 9, Clause 2: (The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.) Reference
4. Take control of the media so the only media is Trump run media
5. Make it a  crime to question Trump policy
6. Declare all registered Democrats to be enemies of the people including members of Congress and members of the judiciary.
7. Use Schedule F or some other means (see article) to fire federal employees that don't meet a loyalty test and prove they believe in the values of MAGA.
8. Declare the Constitution null and void 
9. Declare MAGA as the new and only political party and require sworn membership for people to have the rights of citizenship.
10. Either suspend Congress or make it a rubber stamp for appearances sake.
11. Once the infrastructure and the personnel are in place to carry out deportations of those he deems to be illegally in the country it will begin in earnest. It will only be a trial run because once it is accomplished those personnel and the housing built to accommodate them in transit if deemed necessary, it will be used to round up and house those found guilty of crimes against MAGA tribunals for those acused of crimes againt the state.

In 1935 Sinlcair Lewis wrote "It Can't Happen Here." The first editon is shown on the top of the page.

This is from Wikipedia:

It Can't Happen Here is a 1935 dystopian political novel by American author Sinclair Lewis. Set in a fictionalized version of the 1930s United States, it follows an American politician, Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who quickly rises to power to become the country's first outright dictator (in allusion to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany).

The novel was published during the heyday of fascism in Europe, which was reported on by Dorothy Thompson, Lewis's wife. The novel describes the rise of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government via self-coup and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of European fascists such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Having previously foreshadowed some authoritarian measures to reorganize the government, Windrip outlaws dissent, incarcerates political enemies in concentration camps, and trains and arms a paramilitary force called the "Minute Men" (named after the Revolutionary War militias of the same name), who terrorize citizens and enforce the policies of a corporatistregime. One of Windrip's first acts as president is to eliminate the influence of Congress, which draws the ire of many citizens as well as the legislators themselves. The Minute Men respond to protests harshly, attacking demonstrators with bayonets. In addition to these actions, Windrip's administration, known as the Corpo government, curtails women's and minority rights, and eliminates individual states by subdividing the country into administrative sectors. The government of these sectors is managed by Corpo authorities, usually prominent businessmen or Minute Men officers. Those accused of crimes against the government appear before kangaroo courts presided over by military judges. A majority of Americans approve of these dictatorial measures, seeing them as painful but necessary steps to restore American power. 

I hope that across America that enough of the voters who bought into Trump's promises and lie and saw him as their savior and perhaps accepted that the country needed a more authoritarian leader than other presidents, but didn't think he'd ever turn into a despot will see that they were betrayed and deceived. 

Other than a military coup they only thing I can see happening to stop the Trump dictatorship juggernaut and the country becoming authoritariam and fascist is for Congress to be controlled by Democrats in two years. Even then the president holds incredible power. The Supreme Court would have to put the brakes on his attempts to ignore the Constitution. If Trump ignores their rulings against him or disbands them they become irrelevant. 

If if comes to pass, Trump's MAGA America won't go the way of Nazi Germany unless it allies itself with Russia and goes to war with NATO and other Democratic countries we now have treaties with even if Trump breaks them. This would be a true World War III.  If nuclear weapons were employed it could be the end of civilization.

A more likely outcome would be a United States which would be torn apart because the population is so equalty divided, at least now, to be 50/50 pro-Trumpism - pro-MAGA vis pro-democracy. There would be demonstrations and these would likely turn violent. 

Trump would try to use the military against civilians but there would be those who would refuse to follow orders which went against the Constitution they swore an oath to, and this could lead to actual civil war. Rather than this being a war between the northern and southern states it would be a war between the red states and the blue states. 

Not only would the National Guards of states take up arms against each other but I see entire divisions of active military taking one side or another. We could have bombing raids and missile attacks conducted against both sides. 

The Civil War was the deadliest of all American wars. No one disagrees with that. But how many died has long been a matter of debate. For more than a century, the most-accepted estimate was about 620,000 dead. A specific figure of 618,222 is often cited, with 360,222 Union deaths and 258,000 Confederate deaths. (Reference)

With modern weaponry there is no doubt the number of deaths and casualties would be in the millions and much of our infrastructure would be destroyed.

Does Trump, his minions, and the gullible and misguided people who vote for him not realize that changing a country from a democracy to a fascist autocracy will come with death and destruction.

George Santayana in 1905 first said it in several ways but the message is always the same:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Winston Churchill had a slightly different version, as did a number of other well known people.

The basic message boils down this:

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website.

Addendum: How long before I tune in to Morning Joe and see this?

Trump Cabinet Picks: Manic Machiavellian megalomaniac runs amok, by Hal M. Brown, MSW

Let me lean back this morning and light up my metaphorical Freudian cigar and try to burn back a few layers of the multiple layers that encircle the inner core of Donald Trump which fuel his nuclear reactor of a mind.

So far we have three Trump Cabinet picks that have caused pundits to speculate why Trump would select three uniquely unqualified people to serve in positions vitally important to the security of the country. 

When you consider that Pete Hegesth for Secretary of Defense is the least bad of the three (Update: Although as new information comes out you have to reassess him - read here) you have to wonder who could be worse than he is. Who is the second worst? That would be the nominee for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard who repeated Russian propaganda about Ukraine housing U.S.-funded bioweapons labs. Then we get to the top of the bottom and it is a mind blower, Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. (Update: We have just found out that even though she was on the plane with him when he made the selection Susie Wiles was not aware that he was going to do this. Read story)

There is well deserved hand wringing among Republican members of Congress over these choices. They bought it, Trump broke it, but they have to own it. Think of a sign in a pottery store: "If the owner breaks it, sorry sucker, you have to buy it."

Among the punditry there is speculation as to why Trump would have picked these people. I've heard some MSNBC panelists suggest this may have been a tactic on Trump's part so he would have one or more of them not get confirmed by the Senate to make way for a more qualifed person who would turn out to be just as bad  but more effective at being bad.

I propose that Trump's motivation was not strategic. I think he is in a manic state and wants to lash out at all of his critics. John Bolton said it well:

"I thought [Gabbard] was the worst Cabinet-level appointment in history until I heard the Matt Gaetz appointment," Bolton said. "Really, my reaction was that this is like the legend of Caligula, the Roman emperor who wanted to nominate his horse as a Roman consul. You had to be a Roman senator at the time to be a consul, and it was intended to show how demeaned and degraded the Roman Senate had become. RawStory

Trump is not just riding high on his victory. My assessment is that he is in a manic state. He feels he can do anything.

He's always been a megalomaniac. By "always" I don't mean just as an adult. 

A strict Freudian interpretation of Trump's megalomania is that he never fully resolved a normal stage of psychological development. Freud and Freudians believe that at a young age children go though a phase when they feel omnipotent. They believe that a "child lives in a sort of megalomania for a long period; he knows only one yardstick, and that is his own over-inflated ego ... megalomania, it must be understood, is normal in the very young child". (Wikipedia)

In normal psychosocial development children pass through the various phases or stages but some have portions of their personality fixated, or stuck, at some stages for reasons having to do with family dynamics too complex to go into here.

For more information read 

Freud’s Psychosexual Theory And 5 Stages Of Human Development

Here's an illustration from that article:

Click above to enlarge

In the above chart you can see how partial fixations in each phase can lead to characteristics we see in Tump.

Add to all of the above is that Trump is a psychopath. This is how psychoanalyst Dr. Justin Frank puts it in the Chauncey DeVega Salon article: 

"Criminal labels and orange jumpsuits": Experts on how Trump weaponizes his own fears.

Lacking a conscience or morality to limit his sadism, and believing in his worth above all others, leads Trump to think he has the right to destroy anyone who does not submit to him. Without the innate capacity for empathy toward others and a sense of right and wrong, Trump is an extreme outlier in human psychology.

DeVega himself wrote:

It is true that Donald Trump is a pathological liar. But he has been remarkably honest and transparent in his desires and plans to become America's first dictator and unleash a reign of revenge and tyranny.

The only way to understand Trump and what he does is to understand that the why. The only way to understand the why is to realize that Trump has a personality that fits what is called the Dark Triad. 

Wikipedia describes the dark triad as:

All three dark triad traits are conceptually distinct although empirical evidence shows them to be overlapping. They are associated with a callous-manipulative interpersonal style.

.

• Narcissismis characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.
• Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulationand exploitation of others, a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interestand deception.
• Psychopathy is characterized by continuing antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness.

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website.