MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: If you think Trump was kidding about being a dictator, the joke is on you.

If you think Trump was kidding about being a dictator, the joke is on you. While some want Trump to be a dictator, there are others who just think he is kidding or that some checks and balances will keep him from doing what he is threatening to do. Oh, they say in the interviews of rally attendees below 1) they want a strong leader, and being a dictator is just fine. 2) there are checks and balances to keep him from doing all he tells you will do in his second term, 3)He is joking. For those who think the checks and balances will keep him from doing what he promises in his second term,. the joke is on you. You are fools being fooled. Trump knows now how to get done what he tried to do during his first term and plans to do if he gets back to the White House again. He already promised to replace every position he can with yes men and then use fear of retribution and the FBI to put fear in their future if they tell him no or have a background of being more loyal to the rule of law and the Constitution instead of what he wants doing. He tried it in his first term and failed. He is ready to do it in a second term.. (The fight to stop Schedule F, a cornerstone of Trump's 'retribution' agenda, is underway (nbcnews.com) He is ready to do it on day one of 2025; the plans are already funded and ready to go... on day one. Trump plan to gut civil service triggers pushback | Reuters

Biden can make the contrast that he is about hope and Trump is about with some simple words like Hope v Hate and Help vs. Harm,.Healthy democracy v Havoc and fear. Hope is a word that has worked well for candidates like Obama and Carter (the man from Hope). Chaos, revenge, and oppression are not positive promises for any one trying to cope with the daily demands of life. The challenge question put to those considering still voting for Trump is what good is he going to do for you and your lives? Trump touts word cloud showing ‘revenge,’ ‘dictatorship’ as what voters think his victory would bring (aol.com). Now he is even marketing revenge, a dictatorship of what he offers to daily lives in this word salad posting.

.Biden's word salad he should market is by contrast with Trump offers something positive. Biden succeeded in policies that helped the middle class. His problem: until now the middle class does not feel it. That is beginning to change as consumer confidence is improving, as gas at the pump prices decline. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Why Biden feels frustrated that Biden'economics are not felt at the polls

Biden still has to make the case he will deal with unfinished business that helps ordinary people with their future, not only addressing student loans, border chaos, and leading the free world but also protecting their freedoms that Trump et al, would take away from them. Those include women's choice over their healthcare, the sanctity and ability to vote and have their votes counted, their ability to gather to address grievances, and laws that apply to everyone, not just a few Trump favors.. (That is called "democracy", but we forget what that means to be able to have a voice in our governance. ) He should also say he cannot do it alone. He needs a willing Congress, not one dominated by MAGA. It is not just drawing a contrast of past actions with what Trump promises for the future, but that Biden's past and future plans give hope and promise for the future instead of hate, conflict, and an aristocracy/dictatorship that would destroy hope for a better future or a future that represents MAGA's oppressive and hate-motivated attempt to take away the freedoms and rights you have taken for granted.. until now. "Now" means these freedoms are not forever and would be lost if Trump had his way., using the power he would give himself.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: What Trump plans for his second term and how he will do it

Trump had failed in his first term to do all that he wanted to give himself more power to get his way, but he was stopped by staff and others who looked to obeying the law and the intent of the Constitution and now knows how to fix it: get rid of those who tell him "no" and make it a virtue to be a "strong man" and get around and tear up the Constitution and make the case he is not bound by law. If Trump had not tried and failed to tear down checks and balances before and failed, and you forgot that, you need to get a shot or realism., He was stopped from using the insurrection act to put down civil demonstrations by Gen. Milley and the military brass who said that violated the constitution. He was stopped from changing civil service status so he could replace thousands of them with loyalists instead of those who tried to follow the law. He was stopped by banning Muslims because the still independent judiciary would have ruled he had violated civil rights. He was criticized openly in the press by calling neo-Nazis in Charlottesville fine people: He engineered the appointment of anti-abortion ideologues to the Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v Wade. His loyal attorney general parted ways when he lied through his teeth that he won the 2020 election due to widespread fraud when even his staff told him he lost. When he disagreed with his Department of Justice policies, he failed to get a loyalist to replace his departed attorney general because he backed down when the acting attorneys in the DOJ staff all threatened to resign.

He does have a head start with his plans to be a strong leader/autocrat/dictator on day one if he gets a second chance at the Oval Office. His Supreme Court is already in his hands. His GOP House members say yes, boss, for fear they would be primaried while behind his backs, they complain about him. There would be no general to say no to using active military to put down civil unrested. All he has to do is to invoke the insurrection act to threaten or use the active military to put down civil demonstrations to which he objects. (Bring in the water canons and the tanks...that is what they did in Russia and Hong Kong, and it worked)). His DOJ could take over the voting machines everywhere to make sure midterms would go his way. No one federal law would be used to stop him. There would be no attorney general to tell him he is lying about the 2020 election. He already has the Heritage Foundation plan 2025, ready to replace every appointee and civil servants with screened loyalists.

Here are all of the Republican elected officials backing Trump's 2024 campaign (msn.com)

The plan, 2025, is funded and getting ready for day one. Once he replaces his appointees with yes people, he can begin to execute his autocracy. (From a prior posting: The groundwork is already being laid by the misnamed Heritage Foundation, and money is being raised. Donations have surged to groups linked to conservative Project 2025 (nbcnews.com) The related groups have issue agendas that would roll back any legislation that hurt their special interest groups or ideology. Project 2025's issues agenda: Analysis Exposes Trumpian Project 2025 as 'Far-Right Playbook for American Authoritarianism' (commondreams.org) in which it finds their agenda is to elevate Christian nationalism, gut civil service, reverse progress on racial, eviscerate LGBTQ+ rights, restrict reproductive freedom, roll back climate action, end "woke" military, overhaul public education, and curb human rights? These are the money backers that would come into power as Trump, on his part, replaces those who are disloyal with his appointments, including replacing 50 thousand civil servants who do not pass the loyalty to Trump and MAGA and get purged and using the FBI and DOJ to go indict opponents, and continue to use fear of retribution to any in the federal government who would oppose him, while using the military to put down public demonstrations who object.) . He will govern by fear, and he has a history of condoning political violence. He used it on January 6. He has already promised he would use the FBI and the DOJ to threaten to indict and cook up unfounded charges to keep dissidents fearing to speak out. His appointees would delicense media, not loyal to the boss too. Those who don't take him seriously are fools being fooled.

This segment moved to 12/28/23 posting: For those who want their president to be a "strong man," I have a few words. I have had firsthand experience. Know you live in fear in a dictatorship that someone will hear a disloyal comment from you and report it, and there will be some repercussions. The least might be you lose a job or a promotion or get primaried, and the worst may be like Navalny, who disappeared in some gulag after revolting against Putin's corruption in amassing his personal fortune. It is a fearful life, and your tongue is always on guard because that is how "strong men" stay in power, with fear and force, and you are powerless to change it. The only votes counted are the 80% constant approval of the Boss, and the rest are to give the impression the autocracy is still a "democracy."

We throw around the word "freedom" a lot, but the freedom to express yourself to others, privately, or in media, or in voting, or in lifestyle, or in protesting, but in a dictatorship, this is not protected by the fine words of any amendment to the Constitution. All laws are interpreted to support the rule and power of the strong man and all potential institutions of checks and balances are under the control or are comprised of loyalists. That is what living under an autocracy, a dictatorship, means. You lose those freedoms. Both communist dictatorships and fascist ones are like that, though the ideology to which all are to conform may come from Marx or Mein Kampf or the fantasies of one mind, the mind of the "boss".

From my facebook posting We have never had a president or a candidate for that office like Trump with such extremely disturbed personality traits of narcissism and self-aggrandizement.. His platform is not to make life better for ordinary people, but it is one of retribution and stamping out the vermin, his opponents, all for one purpose, to amass more wealth and power for his own benefit. . He will say what will get others to join in his mission using lies, insulting those who tell him "no" or holding him accountable, with oratory and exhortation of violence and lawlessness. He gives voice to his core followers. He knows his base of support and what they want to hear. His loyal base shares his sentiments of anger, grievance, resentment, and of perceived loss of power, full of hate, revenge, and a singular loyalty to those who look like them.