----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, August, 2018)
-----------------------------------------
"How do you spell ICE in German? GESTAPO." (S. Jonas, May, 2025)
------------------------------------------
First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.
Pastor Martin Niemoller (c. 1946)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As it happens, as both my regular and occasional readers know, for some years now I have been writing columns about Trump --- lots of them, e.g., Click Here). I wrote the first one of Trump-and-the -Presidency in 2015, once Trump had announced for the Republican Presidential nomination. Since I must say that it was not too hard to tell, even back then: a) where this man and the forces behind his candidacy stood on the issues, b) perhaps more importantly at that time, how Trump regarded the Constitution and the office of the Presidency, and c) his path to ascending to the office and what he would do in both policy and process if and when he got there, d) I entitled that first column Is it Hair Trump or is it Herr Trump? (Originally posted on the Click Here, most recently republished in this journal at: Click Here). In that descent and in many subsequent speeches, in the 2016 Republican primaries and the 2016 Presidential election, he expressed broadly and widely the three themes that have defined his campaigns, his Presidency, his anti-Presidency, and his Presidency again: Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia.
So very briefly, where did all of this come from, for Trump himself. First of all, Trump has always been his greatest mouthpiece, and with both voice and text he still is. As he came along politically, slowly at first (as in, in the 1980s, before trial calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five [proven innocent at trial]), then gradually picking up steam, with leading the birtherism campaign against President Obama in 2011-12. Both of which (and other initiatives as well, of course) brought him a great deal of attention, especially from folk not particularly interested in facts.
But as is well-known, Trump did not enter politics full-time until 2015. As is also well-known, he was a businessman, based in real estate in New York City, but also including, for example, a set of Casinos in Atlantic City, a Trump wine, a Trump airline (he had bought the Eastern Airlines Shuttle when it was going out of business), New York Citys Plaza hotel, and a Trump University. They all failed under his leadership, but the way Trump talked about his business acumen, you would never know that, unless you looked it, not even that closely. (They are all easily accessible through Google.)
And why is that? Because while he was a multiple-business failure, he was what I have called Historys Greatest Con Man. Along with those business failures there was much almost magic myth-building. The principal tool he used to do this was what I have called the Six [then Seven] Magic Tricks. They are:
1. He has always had one or more protectors and enablers, either personal, or financial or both.
2. For decades he has had a standard operating procedure when he faces an adversary of any kind. He learned it from his one-time lawyer Roy Cohn (who learned it from Joe McCarthy): "Always attack; Never defend."
3. Also learned from Roy Cohn is the mantra: "when you run into a problem, just sue." You may not win, and it may cost you some money. But a) you might win, and b) with the endlessness with which civil litigation can be drawn out in the U.S. legal system, the other side may just get worn out (or run out of money for lawyers' fees [which Trump, for one reason or another, never seemed to do]).
4. In the whole of his business life, Trump has never been responsible to anyone else, either above him (except for Dad, of course) or even alongside. In the end, he has still been able to escape from one legal (and other) scrape after another, as long as he has had a protector/enabler (see 1., above), also known as the "fixer," on his own.
5. Trump has lived his life surrounded by enemies, whether in business, in his personal life, in his banking and financial life (except for a select few, like Deutsche Bank), certainly in politics, and not just at this time. He has thrived on that state-of-being. In dealing with his enemies/adversaries, as he told us in the "Art of the Deal," the key to winning for him has never been actual deal-making, but rather attempted opponent-crushing. Real negotiation is just not his thing.
6. Trump is indeed history's greatest con man.
7. In dealing with any adversity, large, small, political, personal, reputational, and so forth: "Oh woe is me; everyone is against me, and it's so unfair[!]"
And so on and so forth. And we come to the present place. The establishment of a fascist regime to replace traditional U.S. Constitutional Democracy is staring us in the face. The latter, as I have written on a number of occasions, is first-and-foremost based on the separation of the three principal powers that define the roles of any modern government: the legislative, the executive and the judicial. In the U.S. Constitution, as I (and many, many others, of course) have written, they are clearly spelled out in the Constitution (in that order) as separate entities (branches) of the government precisely because the leadership of the Colonists was rebelling against the unitary (and in their view unfair and repressive) rule of the British monarch. And in the modern world it is the separation of powers that distinguished parliamentary (lower-case p) democracies from, formerly, monarchies-with-real-governmental-power, and since the early 20th century the form of government for capitalist nations that is generally called fascist. (Find the definition of the term that I use [there are numerous ones] at the end of this column.)
It is clear that we are now at the tipping point in our nation --- and hopefully we have not yet tipped over it. Many writers like me have characterized Trump as a fascist, a pseudo fascist, or a wanna-be-fascist. Recall his famous (or infamous) Dictator interview with Sean Hannity (click here). Hannity (believe it or not --- well, it was before the election) kept trying to push Trump to say some version of just one day, and he wouldnt do it, precisely. And so, we are where we are, e.g.: violation of basic tenets of the Constitution; violation of Constitutional norms; committing what amounts to piracy on the high seas without any kind of authorization from Congress; (or the flying by the killer-in-international-waters jets of the skull-and-crossbones flag)
For some current examples of Trump-as-King see:
1. The implementation of central provisions of Project 2025, like the destruction of the Civil Service Act of 1883 as mended without legislative authority.
2. The symbolism of the destruction of the White House structure and updated surroundings, of the Rose Garden (which was originally created by the wife of President Woodrow Wilson, Ellen Wilson, beginning in 1913).
3. The program, well underway, to Destroy the Department of Education (again without legislative authorization).
4. The placing of personal attorneys at a variety of levels within the Justice Dept. and it various branches on the part of Trump has absolutely no precedent in US history.
5. The implementation of tariffs which, according to most interpretations of the text, The Constitution alots to the Congress.
Much of the motivation for these moves/policies have to do with the plan for the destruction of U.S. Constitutional Democracy that is clearly spelled out in P2025. But at least some of it comes from Trumps historically low level of self-esteem. He has to continually make a variety of moves, personal, poltical, and governmental, one-after-the-other, in a desperate attempt to boost it. But of course, as with virtually any person with a similar (un-solved) problem, nothing ever works. (And that truly gigantic ballroom, with his name on it, which will be monumentally under-utilized, wont do the trick either.)
Looking back over the list of Presidents of the United States, never has there been one with such low self-esteem as Trump. No one else comes close, with the possible exception of Pres. Warren G. Harding.
But the struggle to restore Constitutional Democracy to the United States continues. No Kings Day marked a major step forward in U.S. politics and poltical movements. There had never been anything like before in U.S. history. It is going to be a long and difficult struggle. We can only hope, and work hard, for its success.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fascism, a definition:
"There is a single, all-powerful executive branch of government that controls, for the most part, the functions of production, distribution, finance, and exchange. There is no separation of the principal governmental powers: executive, legislative, and judicial. There are no independent media. There is a single national ideology, based on some combination of racism, misogyny, religious bigotry, homophobia, and xenophobia. There is a political party supporting the movement. There is a state propaganda machine using the big and little lie techniques. There may be a full-blown dictatorship, a charismatic leader, engagement in foreign wars, and the use of the mob/private armies to enforce governmental control."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Article changed on Oct 24, 2025 at 12:39 PM EDT)
(Article changed on Oct 25, 2025 at 3:39 PM EDT)
