Update 1 30 2025 Ooops. https://www.nbcnews.com/.../trump-administration-rescinds... Another stupid is as stupid does by the Trump administration that does not have its act together and put Plan 2025 ideologues in charge at the OMB. https://www.nbcnews.com/.../trump-project-2025-russell...
Original post continues:Trump's cabinet picks are smarter for Trump's agenda than you think. Some of Pres. Elect Trump's cabinet picks are being savaged because they are not qualified as administrators of large organizations. He is programming a reality show instead of planning to govern in the traditional sense of providing a smooth-running agency that delivers services consumers want while reflecting the administration's positions. The critics are missing the point. Trump is creating a propaganda-based government to reach his goal, to gain and to keep power, whatever you call that, autocracy, king, dictator, or "strong leader". He is using loyal appointees as the public voice to support and shape the credibility of his message and by also controlling the data and outcome describing its accomplishments. What those Trump-appointed public faces say needs to be taken with a grain of salt and challenged if evidence of distortions and failures is found.
Those in subordinate agency positions will be doing the administrative work and making sure those below them are carrying out Trump's policies. Project 2025 is the "what" and "how to" manual ready to be activated on Day One. I would not bank on administrative incompetence to cause Trump's problems, but on the unpopular policies that hurt people they enacted with or without Congressional approval. https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/dem-rep-cabinet-picks-reveal-project-2025-is-donald-trump-s-2025-225279045661
That is the challenge facing the Democratic party, to support and preserve that democracy as best they can. There is a silver lining in the 2024 election as the dust settles. It is still approximately a 50-50 country, give or take a few percentage points tilting public opinion one way or the other. In the long run, if the Trump administration fails to deliver on its promises on the economy, that still may be democracy's best hope for its survival when half of the electorate does not care if democracy survives. Democrats do not need to lie or distort facts but can expose the connection between Trump's method of governance that results in the pain to daily lives of making ends meet or takes away their personal liberty to pursue happiness. Democrats also need to make the case of how they would do better or even did better. Attack is not enough. We need a comparable voice or voices to deliver that message. I hope someone emerges.
Politicians have always sought to get and keep personal power and spin their messages, but most have some ideology and ideals besides self-aggrandizement, some respect for the democratic system, some sense of abiding by the constraints of the Constitution, some moral or religious compass, some abidance to the rule of law and the boundaries laws set. Even fascists and communists hid their lust for power behind some kind of ideology, or rationale that had popular appeal. It was either " the dictatorship of the proletariat" or hyper-pure-blooded nationalism. Never, though, have we ever had a president like Trump, who has no personal guardrails like these and transacts policy policy decisions based on what benefits him. This means lies and distorting facts are tools to shape public support and are not off limits and he is a master in using them to his benefit. His perpetuation of the "2020 election was stolen" and "consumers do not pay for tariffs" are examples of this kind of public opinion shaping based on lies with no basis in facts repeated like a religious mantra that becomes his "truths" his followers are expected to swallow. Trump reflects his followers and shapes their perceptions with such tools. Threats of bodily harm and total political destruction are also approved if they support his goals, and he uses fear of revenge and "retribution" as his most powerful tools.
One of the most fascinating experiences in my political science education was spending my college junior year in pre-wall Berlin, watching how the Soviets used propaganda to consolidate control over the minds of post world war II East Germans they governed and later, I personally experienced how dictators used fear threats to keep thinking minds under control and silenced in communist Yugoslavia. In short: I have a pretty good idea of how propaganda works and how a dictator can use and control the media message to control minds.
Donald Trump is not yet there, but he aspires to have that kind of power and uses some of the same techniques to attain it, including propaganda. His ideology may be missing, and instead of some moral compass, he expects and demands loyalty to him instead of above everything, even to the rule of law. After four years of this, if democracy survives his attempts to become an "autocrat", it will be a miracle if the institutions promoting and respecting democracy survive.
Are my fears overblown? I wish they were. However, I have reasons to fear. Trump had no problem in his first term demanding the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on the "Biden crime family" after a year of investigations by Ukraine itself, finding no proof or to call officials in Georgia to find enough missing votes to make him the winner of electoral votes. The implications: fabricate them if necessary. Both were threatened with harmful consequences if they did not: withholding US weaponry or losing their law licenses, delivered in language and hints that even the Godfather would have used. Like a mob boss, Trump also threatens total political destruction by primary, or revenge and retribution is also not off limits to keep his supporters and opposition in line. The use of the active military to put down political opponents' demonstrations in the summer of George Floyd's civil unrest resulted in his threats against military brass to court martial Gen. Mlley for refusing to provide the active military and is core to his current campaign to force the military to swear loyalty to him instead of loyalty to the rule of law and the Constitution. Earlier, Trump had asked his defense secretary if he could use the military to shoot demonstrators in their legs. His history is that he expects his military appointees to break laws on his behalf. He also has acquired a Supreme Court decision that he, too, can break criminal laws if it is part of his administrative duties.
https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/if-its-economy-stupid-magas-rise-is-its.html
https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/trumps-achilles-heels-unintended.html
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/09/1097517470/trump-esper-book-defense-secretary
