And the most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men; sometimes a matter of less moment, an expression or a jest, informs us better of their characters and inclinations, than the most famous sieges, the greatest armaments, or the bloodiest battles whatsoever.
—Plutarch, “Life of Alexander”
In a closed-door speech to Republican donors on March 3, 2018, President Donald Trump proved the accuracy of Plutarch’s observation.
He praised China’s President, Xi Jinping, for recently assuming full dictatorial powers: “He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.”
The statement was greeted with cheers and laughter by Republican donors.
And, in making that unguarded statement, Trump perhaps has revealed his ultimate intention: To overthrow America’s constitutional government.
Since taking office as the Nation’s 45th President, Donald Trump has attacked or undermined one public or private institution after another.
Donald Trump
Among these:
- American Intelligence: Even before taking office, Trump refused to accept the findings of the FBI, CIA and NSA that Russian Intelligence agents had intervened in the 2016 election to ensure his victory.
- “I think it’s ridiculous,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “I think it’s just another excuse. I don’t believe it….No, I don’t believe it at all.”
- And when FBI Director James Comey dared to pursue a probe into “the Russia thing,” Trump fired him without warning.
- American law enforcement agencies: Trump has repeatedly attacked his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for not “protecting” him from agents pursuing the Russia investigation.
- He repeatedly attacked the integrity of Deputy FBI Director Andrew G. McCabe until the latter resigned.
- He has threatened to fire Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian subversion of the 2016 election.
- He intended to fire Mueller during the summer of 2017, but was talked out of it by aides fearful that it would set off calls for his impeachment.
- American military agencies: In February, 2017, Trump approved and ordered a Special Forces raid in Yemen on an Al Qaeda stronghold. The assault cost the life of Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William “Ryan” Owens.
- Disavowing any responsibility for the failure, Trump said: ““This was a mission that was started before I got here. This was something they wanted to do. They came to me, they explained what they wanted to do–the generals–who are very respected, my generals are the most respected that we’ve had in many decades, I believe. And they lost Ryan.”
- The press: On February 17, 2017, Trump tweeted: “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
- Seven days later, appearing before the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 24, Trump said: “I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It’s fake, phony, fake….I’m against the people that make up stories and make up sources. They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name. Let their name be put out there.”
- The judiciary: Trump has repeatedly attacked Seattle US District Judge James Robart, who halted Trump’s first travel ban.
- In one tweet, Trump claimed: “Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!”
- At Trump’s bidding, White House aide Stephen Miller attacked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: “We have a judiciary that has taken far too much power and become, in many cases, a supreme branch of government.”
- President Barack Obama: For five years, Trump, more than anyone else, popularized the slander that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya—and was therefore not an American citizen.
- Even after Obama released the long-form version of his birth certificate—on April 27, 2011—Trump tweeted, on August 6, 2012: “An ‘extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that @BarackObama‘s birth certificate is a fraud.”
Barack Obama
- On March 4, 2017, in a series of unhinged tweets, Trump accused former President Obama of tapping his Trump Tower phones prior to the election: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
Trump was later forced to admit he had no evidence to back up his slanderous claims.
* * * * *
Donald Trump isn’t crazy, as many of his critics charge. He knows what he’s doing—and why.
He intends to strip every potential challenger to his authority—or his version of reality—of legitimacy with the public. If he succeeds, there will be:
- No independent press to reveal his failures and crimes.
- No independent law enforcement agencies to investigate his abuses of office.
- No independent judiciary to hold him accountable.
- No independent military to dissent as he recklessly hurtles toward a nuclear disaster.
- No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge him for re-election in 2020.
- No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge his remaining in office as “President-for-Life.”
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TRUMP: THE NATION’S CHIEF LAWBREAKER
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Politics, Social commentary on April 10, 2019 at 12:15 amA President plays many roles. Among these:
It’s with his role as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer that Donald J. Trump has jeopardized his continued role as President of the United States.
Since taking office on January 20, 2017, Trump has fired:
Among those law enforcement officials he has forced to resign:
In addition, Trump has ruthlessly attacked members of the judiciary who have dared rule against him:
Donald Trump
And as recently as April 5, Trump once again demonstrated his notorious contempt for rule-by-law—and his desire to replace it with “rule-by-Trump.”
This occurred during his visit to Calexico, on the border of California and Mexico. He was there to inspect a section of fencing for his still-uncompleted border wall between the United States and Mexico.
He also attended a briefing on immigration and border security hosted by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As part of this, he read a statement addressed to Central American migrants wanting to enter the United States:
“It’s a colossal surge and it’s overwhelming our immigration system, and we can’t let that happen. So, as I say, and this is our new statement: The system is full. Can’t take you anymore. Whether it’s asylum, whether it’s anything you want, it’s illegal immigration….Our country is full….So turn around. That’s the way it is.”
Illegal aliens entering the United States
Nor did Trump have any use for those claiming asylum:
“Asylum—you know, I look at some of these asylum people; they’re gang members. They’re not afraid of anything. They have lawyers greeting them. They read what the lawyer tells them to read. They’re gang members. And they say, ‘I fear for my life. I…’ They’re the ones that are causing fear for life. It’s a scam. Okay? It’s a scam.”
That was for public consumption. What was not were words Trump spoke in a private meeting with Border Patrol agents.
According to CNN, “the President told border agents to not let migrants in.”
That, in fact, is illegal, especially if they are seeking asylum. And Secretary of Homeland Security Krisjen Nielsen had told Trump so two weeks earlier.
“Tell them we don’t have the capacity,” said Trump, reported CNN. “If judges give you trouble, say, “‘Sorry, judge, I can’t do it. We don’t have the room.'”
This was clearly an order for Federal law enforcers to break the law.
It also qualifies as “obstruction of justice”—an article of impeachment filed against President Richard Nixon in 1974.
Once the President left the room, read the CNN report, “agents sought further advice from their leaders, who told them they were not giving them that direction and if they did what the President said they would take on personal liability. You have to follow the law, they were told.”
Attending that meeting was Nielsen. Early on, she thanked Trump “always for coming out to the field to listen to the men and women. We greatly appreciate your support.”
Krisjen Nielsen
Two days later, she would be ousted by Trump as Secretary of Homeland Security.
Trump had won election in 2016 partly on promises to build a border wall and crack down on illegal immigrants. For his base, that remains the overriding issue. If Trump can’t make good on his promise, he’s unlikely to be re-elected by that base.
And Trump didn’t believe that Nielsen had been ruthless enough in stemming the tide of legal and illegal immigration from Central American countries.
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