Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:31 pm
Former speechwriter for President George W. Bush David Frum laid out some terror Wednesday with an eerie predication of the course of Donald Trump’s impending authoritarianism.
Mind you, these tweets were written by a conservative who wrote speeches for George W. Bush, a president largely accused of expanding and abusing executive branch power.
1) Unlike his analogues in Poland/Hungary/Turkey, I don’t imagine that Donald Trump will immediately set out to build an authoritarian state
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
2) I expect his first priority will be to use the presidency massively to enrich himself.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
3) That program of massive self-enrichment however will trigger media investigations and criticism by congressional Democrats.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
4) As we’ve seen, Trump cannot tolerate criticism. He prides himself on always retaliating against perceived enemies, by means fair or foul
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
5) We’ve seen too that Trump’s advisers and aides share this belief. Chris Christie; Corey Lewandowski – they live by gangster morality.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
6) So the abuses will start as payback. With a compliant Gop majority in Congress, Trump admin can rewrite laws to enable payback
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
7) The courts may be an obstacle. But w a compliant Senate, a president can change the courts – as happened in Poland & Hungary.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
8) Current IRS commissioner’s term runs to end 2018. But (I looked it up) few commissioners serve the full 5 years.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
9) The FBI seems already to have been pre-politicized in Trump’s favor. If Comey resigns, Trump will have another opportunity.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
10) Construction of the apparatus of revenge and repression will begin opportunistically & haphazardly. It will accelerate methodically. END
— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 9, 2016
Frum joined many Republicans in saying that he had voted for Hillary Clinton rather than vote for Donald Trump. Where all of these crossover votes went is anyone’s guess.
Frum’s point about Donald Trump having unfettered access to power is one I’ve been making since he won. Republicans have already proven that they are fine with weaponizing the FBI against Democrats in order to win an election, which places Donald Trump in the odd situation of being elected while acting like Richard Nixon. Perhaps because of it.
Donald Trump will have no checks and balances on his power. The Supreme Court has been stripped of its power by Republicans who refused to even give a hearing to President Obama’s extraordinary nominee Merrick Garland, leaving it wide open for Trump to fill the seat with someone who will embolden his violations of the law.
And the House and Senate are full of Republicans who have already shown that they will use government against opponents. There are no standards here to stop Trump. There are not enough Republicans with ethics and courage to stand in his way.
It isn’t that Donald Trump has a plan to do this, it’s that his nature and opportunity and a willing Republican Party will embolden him in his revenge plots. Donald Trump is already unstable, now we’ve made him the most powerful person on earth and Republicans have destroyed any checks and balances that were supposed to protect us. And them.
Buckle up, America.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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