Peter Wehner: Trump's Plan Is Now Out in the Open

[Nevilledog]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/10/trump-authoritarianism/684773/?gift=SCYx-5scVta3-cr_IlgTycZVJ5XIuN2TEJ2V7uM-e_E

Give Donald Trump this much: He has never tried to hide his malice, his lawlessness, or his desire to inflict pain on others. These were on vivid display when he engaged in a multipart conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and stood by as a mob of supporters sought to hang his vice president. These were displayed, as well, every day during his 2024 vengeance campaign. Yet more than 77 million Americans decided that he was the man with whom they wanted to entrust the care of this nation.

For more Americans than not, and for many more evangelical Christians than not, Trump is the representative man of our time. His ethic is theirs. So are his corruptions. And for those of us who, in our younger years, revered America as a shining city upon a hill, a nation of nations, the “last, best hope of earth,” this is quite a painful period. America has lost its moral bearings; as a result, it has also lost its moral standing in the world.

A curtain of darkness is settling over our nation. And it’s getting ever harder to avoid connecting the authoritarian dots.

Trump is in the process of building his own paramilitary force. He is invoking wartime powers to deport people without due process, even suggesting that American citizens may be sent to foreign prisons. He has deployed National Guard troops to cities over the objections of local officials. In a speech to American troops in Japan, he warned: “If we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard.”

Trump has signaled that he is open to invoking the Insurrection Act, an 1807 law that allows the president to deploy the military in the United States. And he has claimed, without legal justification, that he has the right to order the military to summarily kill people suspected of smuggling drugs on boats off the coast of South America. (The administration has yet to provide evidence to support its claims that the individuals who have been killed were cartel members or that the vessels were transporting drugs.)

*snip*

[erronis]

1. I appreciate The Atlantic acknowledging what almost all of us knew several years ago.

I don't mean any snark - I think they are one of the best "opinion" papers around. And they, like many other paid subscriptions, can grab some of the best known and intelligent columnists.

But this doesn't help get the message out to people who don't subscribe to these "elitist" publications. It doesn't put these opinions on the T.V. that so many Americans are addicted to.

My rantings on DU don't go any further than those that visit this site - perhaps once a year?

Put these messages on non-liberal forums. The medium is the message.

[ananda]

3. Agree.

We knew this when he won in 2016.

Nothing about Trump has ever been a secret.

[Evolve Dammit]

2. Sounds Anti-Christ like to me; at a minimum.

[KS Toronado]

4. His plan is to be a King or dictator like his boss Putin.

He'll whine to get his way.