He has moved well beyond mere extreme narcissism now. Trump is rapidly moving toward a Louie XIV state of mind, where he starts to equate himself with “The State” and vice versa. He has gotten away with virtually everything for all of his life, and now that he has been reelected to the most powerful position in the world, he has started to believe that his will is unstoppable, that all will eventually bend to his dictates when he fully asserts himself. It has been his life experience. European leaders who once laughed behind his back are no longer laughing, as they struggle to find approaches that might shield them from the consequences of his capricious rages.
The legal system that once threatened to imprison Trump is now increasingly under his thumb. The Department of Justice that once prosecuted him has become his lapdog. The Intelligence services that once exposed his treachery are now all subservient to him. Small wonder that Trump believes that no one is capable of stopping him. Those inside the Federal Government, and those active in Republican politics, who played any role in opposing Trump have systematically been marginalized and are increasingly under direct attack.
As Trump moves to impose his will on widening circles of American society, he senses no force is capable of effectively opposing him, so he presses on with less and less lip service played to constitutional constraints or the norms that once defined our political system for well over a century.
Congress is mere window dressing on his rule as the Republican Party bends to service all of his mandates, with no regard given to whether they fly in the face of everything that political party professed to believe in less than ten years ago. The vestiges of time honored checks and balances are crumbling fast. Trump orders Republican Governors to convene special legislative sessions, and they do. He orders corporations to change their policies, and they do. He orders museums to alter history, and they do.
Nothing is too small to be of direct concern to him. He takes over the Kennedy Center, plasters the oval office with gold, paves over the rose garden, and plans major structural changes to the White House so that he can have a grand ballroom. He openly demands tributes from those who seek anything from our government, and punishes those who refuse to fall in line with his views. Disaster aid to citizens living in blue states is held hostage as leverage to force capitulation to his mandates.
It is the rate of the collapse of all political norms that is both so staggering and alarming. Individually, Trump’s actions raise grave concerns. Collectively they represent a menacing consolidation of power in his hands. Trump has already invaded two cities run by Democratic mayors with his federalized forces, with plans now to occupy more. He asserts non existent “emergencies” as a pretense for unconstitutional assertions of raw power, from imposing arbitrary tariffs on trading partners, to deporting residents legally here in America to nations where they have zero ties.
In Trump’s mind, Executive Orders are the equivalent of Royal Decrees, giving him the right and authority to change virtually everything about the way government functions. While the leaders of our military are continually being shuffled as Trump seeks those with unquestioned loyalty to him personally. Meanwhile Trump is amping up his assault on media outlets that anger him, most recently calling for ABC and NBC TV stations to lose their broadcasting licenses.
Trump literally believes that he alone knows what is best for America. That is delusional. Increasingly Trump seems to take seriously the Far Right fever dream that God blessed and elevated him to leadership as part of some greater purpose. Kim Jong Un, it seems, has a fellow traveler seeking worship from the masses.
We are only seven months into Trump’s four year presidential term. The mid term elections that Democrats pin so much hope on are still over fourteen months away, twice as long to endure as the siege our democracy has already been subjected to. Politics as usual will not save us this time. A true opposition party has to be at the forefront of the resistance. The time is rapidly approaching when elected Democratic leaders must take to the streets themselves at the front of massive marches opposing federal occupation of our cities, or forfeit their leadership in the fight to save America