The Trump Playbook - Fabricate, Vilify, Divide, Conquer, Executive Order & Eliminate

   

The Trump Playbook - Fabricate, Vilify, Divide, Conquer, Issue Executive Orders & Eliminate

Then use the federal administrative agencies to overwhelm the judicial system 

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government, and the President of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies.” 

Excerpt from the 1798 Act Respecting Alien Enemies

Four years plus of seething anger, an unrelenting cry of a “rigged election,” a campaign predicated on a commitment – “I am your retribution” – a massive agenda (the 900-page Project 2025), mildly denied, setting forth the path for Trump’s struggle against a “deep state,” combined with Trump’s ability to sell “a more efficient government, free of corruption and waste” to a gullible electorate… remind me of a fairly normal pattern to transition a representative democracy into an unabashed autocracy. Their deep state is replacing whatever deep state they believe existed.

As I listened to Donald Trump’s March 14th speech to senior officials and a substantial cadre of officials at the Department of “Justice,” I watched as Trump openly pressed the DOJ and the FBI, with full support from his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to seek out, investigate, prosecute and imprison his political opponents, including prosecutors involved in Trump cases and a whole pile of individuals on his “enemies” hit list.

What is surprising to me was the disappearance of any pretense of shame and the scattered and most ineffective response of a highly divided Democratic Party. Bereft of direct power on national issues, that party is facing a harsh reality: the United States is not ready for the moral high ground embodied in DEI issues; the electorate is now narrow focused on economic issues. I support those DEI initiatives, the Progressive most basic platform, but if Democrats do not get elected, those initiatives will be obliterated even further. And the MAGA-controlled Congress is giddy with power. Focus on reducing taxes on billionaires while slamming the middle class and killing the most vulnerable “parasite class” of Americans, those living in poverty.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) voted for the stopgap Continuing Resolution as MAGA desired, extending the budget until September (with DOD increases and an empowerment for Trump to continue eviscerating federal agencies). Schumer felt a government shutdown would not only be blamed on Dems, but a stopped government would give the Musk axe-wielders free rein to designate the “essential” federal workers and to slice and dice the rest. The Dems were quickly at each other’s throats, since the CR passed and generated vote of thanks to Schumer from Trump. The majority of Dems felt betrayed.

After Trump openly attacked and severely limited necessary government contact against two prominent law firms (for representing Clinton and clients suing the government by reason of Trump policies, etc.) – that divide and conquer message that was heard across the legal community – but a federal injunction against that targeting was quickly followed by yet another executive order against a third prominent firm. What an effective way to remove due process from the system.

Indeed, Trump can swarm executive orders to dilute any effective overall response. Courts are increasingly attempting to allow some egregious assaults on our rights, and the First Amendment is facing a firestorm of conflict and controversy. In keeping with the autocrat’s playbook, muzzling and controlling the press and using a completely weaponized DOJ/FBI to crush anyone of stature who dares to challenge Trumpism… all the while using Musk as the tip of the spear… knowing, if necessary, Trump could throw him under the bus at any time.

The value of Musk’s corporate holdings was tanking even faster than the stock market drop. Tesla sales were plunging, and Tesla showrooms became convenient places for mass protests. Driving a Tesla, no matter the exculpatory bumper sticker, was now wildly interpreted as supportive of Trump, Musk and DOGE. MAGA zealots hated it so much that, well… “Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and her colleagues appear to be stepping up the pressure on the FBI and the Attorney General to investigate instances of Tesla vandalism as acts of domestic terrorism, which Donald Trump has championed.

“Tesla vehicles and dealerships have been increasingly targeted by vandalism and arson , and Tesla showrooms have become the focal point in growing protests against Elon Musk and his work dismantling the federal government in the Department of Government Efficiency.” The Independent, March 14th.

As tariffs and executive orders began to impact American in ways that were particularly costly to US businesses, a parade of wealthy donor-supplicants, marched into prized meetings with the President seeking waivers and exceptions, some of which were granted. In clear violation of statutes forbidding federal officers to market commercial products suggesting governmental support, Trump went into a full-on commercial in front of the White touting Tesla vehicles House (see above). The same way kings gave exclusive “patents” to favored noblemen.

So what do we have: our stock markets are falling, our “allies” are circling their wagons against us, thousands federal employees have become unemployed, sometimes decimating small communities dependent on that federal presence, we’ve flipped into a favored relationship with war criminal Vladimir Putin (over 80% of those polled neither trust nor like him), the DOJ and FBI have become Trump’s ultra “whatever you want” loyalists ready to investigate and arrest on command, and Trump’s crypto/merchandizing grift is in full swing. All the federal agencies that monitor fraud or serve as watchdogs for the public, a full wholesale elimination of federal Inspectors Generals who might have shut down Trump’s “my department store is open” market… and the list goes on and on and on… are gone or defunded. The IRS was purposely gutted to make detailed audit of billionaires almost impossible. Billionaires want “privatization” of federal programs… adding a nice profit margin to the grift.

I’m Peter Dekom, and if you follow the autocrats’ playbook and ignore “those who do not study history are condemned to repeat its mistakes,” you can watch the United States become an illiberal police state, with greatest levels of corruption and waste we have ever experienced.