Dictator To Be…
Photo by Sawindu Abeyanayake
Sorry for the brief hiatus. But I am back and back with a vengeance! Things have gotten out of hand since Trump has taken office. Our lives have deteriorated to the point that if we do not stop and start to fight then who knows when the nightmare will end. My first piece in awhile deals with this very point. How far is Trump willing or even planning to go? Was this all in the Project 2025 plan? Is our Democratic Republic doomed?
History is filled with instances of citizens who could not believe that their country’s leadership would take things as far as they did. Yet despots continued to push until they had absolute power and the people, as usual, were the ones baring the brunt of the suffering.
Adrienne LaFrance recently wrote an article for the Atlantic entitled “A Ticking Clock On American Freedom” detailing the rise of an authoritarian Trump regime and how it models after many dictators and autocrats’ methods of taking over their respective countries.
Gary Kasparov, chess grand master and former Russian champion is now a dissident. His opinion is that America is running out of time. He says, “If this sounds alarmist, forgive me for not caring. Exactly 20 years ago, I retired from professional chess to help Russia resist Putin’s budding dictatorship. People were slow to grasp what was happening there too.”
Many of us stand aghast at what is happening to the United States that we know, while many stand on the sidelines and cheer. The ignorant masses who voted for Trump are probably applauding each move. But they have no idea what is really happening. The stupid dolts are on the verge of losing all of the freedoms they thought they were voting to keep. Trumpers do not understand that they are next.
Maria Ressa is a journalist, activist and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. In the article she describes how quickly President Duterte destroyed democracy in the Philippines “faster than you can imagine”. The similarities we see in the US right now are remarkable and frightening. Ressa warns us that if we wait, then we have already lost.
Many of us think that we will only have to wait 4 years and it will be over. But two points have to be considered. What has happened so far is the result of just a few months. What will look like in four more years? Secondly, will this really end in four years? I fear what we will see next.
What I find terribly frightening is another comment in the article. “When an authoritarian tells you he’s going to do something, believe him. Each outlandish statement is a trial balloon, one step closer to action.” So that when it actually does happen, it might just be enough that it flies under our radar. “Sometimes, when you know what’s coming, that can be enough to let it happen.” How many statements have already spewed out of the mouth of Trump that we have all laughed at or shook our heads in disbelief. Are those statements just laying the groundwork for future measures? Are Canada, Greenland and the Gulf of America the next dominos to fall? Is the armed takeover of Greenland and the fall of NATO soon to come?
Where are we going? How long until Republican legislators abandon Trump for the crazed despot he is becoming? Do they have the guts or are they too cowardly? Is re-election that important? Maybe the masses will swing away from the crazed madman and vote the other way. The midterm elections in 2026 should be very interesting. Trump has already dismantled or is in the process of shutting down any type of oversight that the country has over the executive branch. Our system of checks and balances that we have been so proud of for well almost 250 years is falling by the wayside as we watch oblivious to it all. Wake up people and take your power back! Before Putin Jr. takes it all.
