An Authoritarian America Is Almost Here
A Dictatorship Rising
President-elect Donald Trump, center, sits with, left to right, businessman Howard Lutnick; Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst; Ernst chief of staff Lisa Goeas; and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, last weekend. Ernst gave Musk a letter about suggested cuts in government spending. (Photo courtesy of Ernst’s office).
This column is also posted at Matt’s Substack “Growing New Leaders: Perspectives from Coyote Run Farm.”
Since Republicans took control of both the Presidency and Congress on Inauguration Day, Americans have been waking up every morning to a radically changing nation. For those not paying attention, it seems like just more of the same political posturing. The reality is that in less than three weeks Republicans have taken a wrecking ball to the rule of law. Billionaires are flooding the zone with actions and edicts that were telegraphed but few took seriously before President Trump was sworn in.
Yale historian Timothy Snyder, in his book The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe. America, outlines some of the strategies and tactics of how dictators have gained control throughout history. Using Snyder’s framework, the patterns of history he describes make it clear that the United States is on the cusp of becoming a dictatorship under President Donald Trump, with the assistance of the billionaire class, including Elon Musk.
It’s not a matter of whether this is happening or not. It is. The question is how far along are we to authoritarian rule? Each day Americans must decide if we will keep advancing towards a dictatorship or if we will self-correct and defend our Constitution. At best Republicans appear to believe this is a temporary disruption that will not get out of control and are complicit in all the Trump White House is doing. At worst, they are in on the game and willing to disregard the Constitution to assume permanent minority rule.
It's a race against time. Democrats are acting like there is plenty of time. The media, the business community, farm groups, higher ed, labor unions, and the list goes on, are all making plans and spending resources as if there is plenty of time. Republicans know that they have to act fast and be unified to compromise the courts, where all of this is heading. Republicans are playing by the minute. Democrats are playing by the election cycle.
Trump exhibits nearly every behavior that dictators have used for generations. According to Snyder:
Dictators create a sense of crisis either external, internal, or both. Trump has done both by demonizing immigrants (an invasion at the border), the LGBTQ+ community, minority communities, and DEI efforts. Trump, with plenty of help, has created the “culture wars.” This polarizes society, the bread and butter of dictatorships. To us, the “culture wars” is a misnomer. Persecuting marginalized groups is fascism.
Dictators undermine democratic norms and institutions. Trump has cowed nearly every Republican member of Congress into complying with his will, and much of the judicial branch. Trump is continuing to undermine the checks and balances inherent in our constitution. He’s even expressed an interest in “suspending the constitution.” Purging civil servants who have taken an oath to the Constitution and putting in loyalists is a direct attack.
Photos from Donald Trump for President's Facebook Page and Ernst’s website.
Trump’s cabinet is the most unqualified in history on so many fronts. Senator Joni Ernst’s vote for the disgraced Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense may be the most egregious betrayal of Iowans and the values she has told us she believes in--no, wait, even worse, it has to be punching down with Representative Feenstra at SNAP payments for the poorest among us while letting the billionaire Musk capture the Treasury payment system.
Senator Chuck Grassley, the self-described “watchdog” of the public interest, shows his cowardice as he weakly objects and then capitulates to Trump’s firing of over a dozen inspector generals who are the true watchdogs of public spending.
Trump has attacked the free press for years. Much of the legacy media is either complying with his threats of lawsuits or is under threat. The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post are cutting critical stories about Trump and softening headlines out of fear. Some of their best reporters are resigning in protest. NPR and PBS are being investigated by Trump’s FCC chief. He has sued CBS, ABC, CNN, Simon & Schuster Publishing, and more. Expect more lawsuits. In our own state, Trump is suing The Des Moines Register for an inaccurate poll. Kissing Trump’s ring, Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks and sore loser ex-Iowa State Senator Brad Zaun have joined in that ridiculous lawsuit that’s only goal is intimidation.
Dictators cultivate a “Leader Myth,” portraying themselves as saviors and protectors of a nation, something Trump has done with the support of the “Christian” right who seek a White Nationalist “Christian” nation, which builds their loyalty and creates enemies. Much of the US Catholic Church’s leadership joined the evangelicals in rallying around the idea that God uses flawed individuals as an instrument of his will in their full-throated support for a second Trump presidency.
Dictators use propaganda to create disinformation and misinformation. Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, Sinclair, the Epoch Times, and more are MAGA media. All create propaganda that portrays Trump and MAGA Republicans in only the most positive light, and sharing little of what he is doing that even the most ardent supporter would find objectionable. Contrastingly, everything Democrats do is portrayed as evil, or stupid. All of these MAGA media organizations are lying to the public.
Here in Iowa, while the news departments of WHO-Radio and WMT-Radio tend to do a good job, their opinion programs are pure MAGA radio. Unfortunately, their legitimate news coverage tends to provide legitimacy to the hate, lies, disinformation, and divisiveness that WHO and WMT deliver to our homes, places of work, and vehicle radios every day. WHO and WMT are toxic.
Dictators also discredit political rivals through smear campaigns, imprisonment, or elimination. Look at what Trump and MAGA Republicans did to smear former Republican Members of Congress Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger when they challenged his lies and his insurrection. Trump has announced he is planning to investigate the investigators of the January 6 insurrection. This list is endless.
Dictators erode the rule of law by centralizing power, enforcing only those laws they find that work to their advantage, and undermine the fairness of the legal system. Trump has asked for political interference in legal proceedings, and lied about the results of the 2020 election, continuing to undermine the rule of law.
Dictators take control of the economy and enrich their inner circle. Trump’s grifts during his first term were endless, with son-in-law Jared Kushner receiving two billion from the Saudis as just one example. For his second term, Elon Musk spent $277 million to help elect him and other Republicans. Musk bought Trump. Trump’s cabinet is full of billionaires, and after the “tech bros” Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jeff Bezos of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post have come at bended knee to Trump, they now enjoy being in his inner circle, expecting to further build their wealth in exchange for their loyalty.
Dictators normalize corruption. In addition to the examples given above, consider that one of Trump’s first executive orders made it legal to bribe politicians. Trump’s launch of his own meme coin prior to the election earned him millions, if not billions, making it easy for anyone, anywhere, to bribe him.
Dictators use violence and intimidation. Consider the January 6 insurrection and his pardon of the insurrectionists, and his order to the violent right-wing terrorist group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Many of the pardoned insurrectionists are members of right-wing militia groups ready to fight anyone, any place, and any time at Trump or Musk’s command.
Dictators often rise as real or fake populists, where they say they are the voice of the “common” people who fight against corrupt elites. Trump is a fake populist. His framing of government as a corrupt “deep state” not only undermines institutions, and creates an enemy, also fueling his “populist” credentials. That Trump and his billionaire attack dogs have managed to convince much of the electorate that they are on “our side,” is the biggest con of all time.
Dictators create a permanent state of emergency and encourage cynicism and the examples above provide proof, and there are countless more.
Trump has his hand in the pocketbook of the American people, and most don’t even know it yet. Elon Musk now has control of the U.S. Treasury’s payment system, which includes payments from the Treasury to federal employees and contains millions of American’s personal information that’s protected by law. The specific agency that controls these payments is the Bureau of Fiscal Services. About 90 cents of every dollar in federal payments are sent from this division, and in 2023 the agency dispersed 1.3 billion payments totaling $5.4 trillion.
Elon Musk now has the kill switch for trillions of dollars in payments, including Social Security checks and veteran payments, Medicaid, and more.
President Trump says that Musk “can’t do and won’t do” anything without the administration's approval, which isn’t reassuring. We know that permission also comes from Congress, namely Republican Senators and House Members. In a matter of days, we’ll be finding out if that permission also comes from the courts.
If Trump or Musk don’t like any program they can now shut it down, illegally, because Congress allocated these funds.
The U.S. is now a rogue nation on the international stage. Republicans, on behalf of Trump, are working against our own best interests. Threats of tariffs against allies, and imperialistic ambitions to take over Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal disrupt our international alliances. Illegally shutting down USAID programs abroad and not funding foreign aid creates an opening for China and Russia to fill the void and build alliances that we need.
Trump’s suggestion to remove 1.8 million or more Palestinians from Gaza is seen as ethnic cleansing and supported by none of our allies.
In a chilling announcement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on February 4 that the brutal dictatorship in El Salvador has agreed to house “violent” U.S. prisoners and deportees from any country for payment. It’s illegal to deport U.S. citizens. Human Rights advocates report inmates are abused and tortured in prisons in El Salvador. While Rubio says only “violent” U.S. prisoners will be deported, there is only one reason to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s prisons--to make them disappear. Given Trump’s rhetoric on prosecuting his political enemies, this may be among his plans for them.
This is not an unfortunate cascading of events. This is directly from Trump World’s playbook. We are in a real-time race for control of the country. And Republicans are all in. While they claim they are doing the will of the people, they are instead racing to control our nation by force using any means they can to justify their ends, which is total control.
Things are moving fast, but it’s not too late to stop Trump and his co-President Musk. As individuals, we should resist in any way we can without placing ourselves or others at risk. Offer financial support to organizations that are in the fight. Support your local free press. Write letters and inundate congressional offices with phone calls.
And to our friends and neighbors who voted for Trump--this isn’t what you voted for, and all of us need to come together to stop it.
Tell our Republican leaders to get a spine and resist. Bring all the pressure that we Iowans can on Senators Grassley and Ernst, Representatives Nunn, Miller-Meeks, Feenstra, and Hinson.
Here is how you contact them:
If Iowa Congressional Republicans stood up and told Trump he has gone too far, other Republicans in Congress would follow their lead.
Convince our Republican leadership to join us and resist. Otherwise, history will judge them, along with Trump and Musk, as traitors.
I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. Subscribe! Become a paid subscriber if you can afford it. Please and thank you. We need you. Thanks for being part of the team! Want to buy me lunch or a cup of coffee? Venmo @Robert-Leonard-238. My friend Spencer Dirks and I have a podcast titled the Iowa Revolution. Check it out! We can get ornery. And have fun! I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.
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Thanks for posting this. I further explains what is happening in DC to our country. Unfortunately, our governor and legislature are in lock-step with the current administration. I wrote to Grassley, Ernst, and Miller-Meeks and received rote replies that did not address my concerns at all. Keep up what you are doing to educate Iowans. Thanks again.
I consider the lawsuit against the DMR to be paving the way for more propaganda, coving up any dishonesty at the county auditor level. We see that elected Republicans cave in to pressure. Will we be able to trust the county auditors in the future?