Thread by @arthistorynews

It took me a while, as a Brit, to see why Trump/Musk wanted to seize federal payment systems. But once you see the similarities between the Presidency Trump wants, and the kind of monarchy we used to have in England, do things become clearer? 🧵

Trump wants the powers of an ancient regime monarchy, and is being alarmingly clever at how to get them. Here’s a thesis >

It starts before the English Civil War. Then, the Crown was the executive branch of government. The legislature, Parliament, was at least partly independent. If the Crown wanted money, it had to ask parliament, and didn’t always get it.
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Charles I, for reasons we don’t need to explore here, wanted to rule without parliament. But without being able to raise taxes, he used prerogative powers to raise money from things like Tonnage & Poundage (customs fees, or tariffs).
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Charles I’s period of ‘Personal Rule’ lasted from 1629-1640. (It might have lasted longer, but he upset the Scots, who invaded.)
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Then we had the Civil War, after which Parliament seized control of the executive from the Crown, and cut off Charles’ head. That’s why our Prime Minister sits in the Commons, and controls the legislature, and thus the raising and spending of revenue.
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We call this model of government 'the Crown in Parliament'. The Prime Minister effectively wields the power of the Crown. (It's one reason why the political pendulum, and hence policy, swings so sharply in the UK).
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But the US constitution was built with the pre-English Civil War model in mind; an executive presidency existing separate from a tax raising Congress. Congress could also say how it wanted taxes spent.
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Hence the fabled US system of the separation of powers, and the checks and balances - a system designed to keep things broadly stable.
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Now, by giving Musk/DOGE control of the government payment system, Trump effectively gives himself the ability to direct spending, ignoring Congress.
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And tariffs give him the means to raise revenue, as Charles I did with Tonnage & Poundage. (Trump can only raise tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, hence the claim Canada is flooding the US with fentanyl.)
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Remember, Trump has explicitly said he wants to replace income taxes (raised by Congress) with tariffs (raised by him).
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So is that the play – Trump wants a period of personal rule, like Charles I did. How does it end?