Trump’s wannabe despot checklist:
✓Call press “enemy of the people”
✓Scapegoat minorities
✓Call to jail political opponents
✓Fire people investigating you
✓Politicize law enforcement
✓Lie to boost cult of personality
✓Host strongman military parade
✓Call press “enemy of the people”
✓Scapegoat minorities
✓Call to jail political opponents
✓Fire people investigating you
✓Politicize law enforcement
✓Lie to boost cult of personality
✓Host strongman military parade
Trump’s wannabe despot checklist (part 2):
✓Appoint generals and unqualified family members as top advisers
✓Appoint cronies like the family wedding planner to top posts
✓Encourage violence at rallies
✓Pardon political loyalists
✓Use public office to generate personal income
✓Appoint generals and unqualified family members as top advisers
✓Appoint cronies like the family wedding planner to top posts
✓Encourage violence at rallies
✓Pardon political loyalists
✓Use public office to generate personal income
Trump’s wannabe despot checklist (part 3):
✓Violate ethics norms by refusing to divest from international business interests
✓Call political opponents treasonous for not clapping enough
✓Demand loyalty pledges from public servants
✓Praise other despots (Putin, Duterte, Xi)
✓Violate ethics norms by refusing to divest from international business interests
✓Call political opponents treasonous for not clapping enough
✓Demand loyalty pledges from public servants
✓Praise other despots (Putin, Duterte, Xi)
Trump’s wannabe despot checklist (part 4):
✓Attack individual judges who rule against you
✓Threaten to revoke media licenses from critical press outlets
✓Threaten to “open up” libel laws
✓Call to ban a religion from entering the country
✓Say all negative polls are “fake”
✓Attack individual judges who rule against you
✓Threaten to revoke media licenses from critical press outlets
✓Threaten to “open up” libel laws
✓Call to ban a religion from entering the country
✓Say all negative polls are “fake”
Trump’s wannabe despot checklist (part 5):
✓Do nothing in the face of foreign attacks on democracy
✓Retweet neo-fascists, white supremacists, and call those who march alongside them “very fine people”
✓Try to fire an independent special counsel
Trump is a menace to democracy.
✓Do nothing in the face of foreign attacks on democracy
✓Retweet neo-fascists, white supremacists, and call those who march alongside them “very fine people”
✓Try to fire an independent special counsel
Trump is a menace to democracy.
This is an incomplete list of Trump’s authoritarian impulses & behaviors. He is a Despot’s Apprentice, a man who does not respect democratic institutions or norms. It’s straight out of the despot’s playbook. And it cannot stand in the US. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/151073…
