In 2002, Mark Bowden, journalist and the author of “Black Hawk Down,” wrote this passage in the May issue of The Atlantic: “The sheer scale of the tyrant's deeds mocks psychoanalysis. What begins with ego and ambition becomes a political movement. [He] embodies first the party and then the nation.”
The three sentences, published in the roiling wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were part of a large piece, “Tales of the Tyrant,” about Saddam Hussein, whose country, Iraq, the United States invaded in March 2003 to oust the tyrant from power.
After nearly 24 years. Hussein achieved absolute control over the country, not just politically, but culturally; he insinuated himself into the daily lives of Iraqis. They thought about him, talked about him, and feared him. Every day.
As president of the United States, Donald Trump has accomplished this feat, thanks to the technology of mass communication, his bullying personality, his demagoguery, and a Republican Party willing to accept the disembowelment of our democratic institutions and presidential actions and declarations that challenge our Constitutional rights and principles and undermines American democracy’s foundation.
Is Trump like Saddam Hussein? They share the same authoritarian tendencies that are abetted by the political party in power. For Saddam, it was the Baathist Party, who tolerated and abetted their autocratic leader’s behaviors for their own quest for power and wealth. Confident they could control him, they lost control, and Saddam led their country to near destruction.
We witness the same with the Republican Party. They chose to abet his behavior once they realized they could not control Trump who enjoys overwhelming support among Republican voters. The GOP is Machiavellian because Trump fulfills their agenda. He redistributes the wealth with a massive tax cut to ensure the wealthy are wealthier and the poor are poorer; hollows out government with that same tax cut so services for helping people in need are no longer available; and marches GOP conservatives to absolute control over the American judiciary to ensure their agenda is upheld for a generation.
An iron-clad conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme, with the confirmation of nominee Brett Kavanaugh, could be the GOP’s crowning achievement. For Republicans, the ends have justified the means. Trumpism has triumphed, but not because the GOP achieved its agenda.
From his Tweets to his rousing political rallies, Trump’s demagoguery is masterful. He finds something to announce or do every day that is inappropriate to most people. He threatens to use the awesome power of the presidency to punish enemies. He is outlandish for the sake of outlandishness. He lies with the bravado of a strongman. He admires strongmen not because he aspires to be one of them, but because he is one of them; he never apologizes, never cares.
Trump has accomplished what authoritarian figures like Saddam Hussein accomplished. He has Americans thinking about him, talking about him, and worrying (if not fearing) him. Every day.
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