Thoughts on "Day One Dictator"
Trump is running again for president. This post is made in the hopes that some who would possibly vote for him in 2024 can see him for who he truly is. He only won the presidency in 2016 with an electoral victory and not a popular one. After losing the popular vote by around 3 million votes, Trump started claiming that around 3-5 million people voted illegally.[^i] Even before he had won, he wouldnât commit to accepting an electoral loss stating that he would âreserve [his] right to contest [the result] ⌠in the case of a questionable result.â[^ii] The American people were spared from finding out what exactly this would look like, but only for four years.
In the run-up to the 2020 election, President Trump claimed several times that there would be massive election fraud mostly due to early voting, electronic voting, or mail-in ballots.[^iii] All of these claims have been proven false in several courts, including the Supreme Court.[^iv] Nevertheless, Donald Trump got several days in court to prove that he won the 2020 election, but never could. Several of his lawyers were actually sanctioned (punished) for carrying these cases with such lackluster evidence and political motivations.[^v] Trump was still however, intent on proving the election was fraudulent by seemingly any means necessary.
Trump attempted to use high-level officials to do his bidding and help him solidify his hold on the presidency. He tried to get Attorney General Bill Barr on board with the many debunked election theories and bring them to trial.[^vi] He tried to get Georgiaâs Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to âfind 11,780 votesâ.[^vii] Trump even tried to get Vice-President Mike Pence to simply declare Trump the winner on January 6th.[^viii] Pence became the main target of Trumpâs ire on January 6th as this was his last ditch effort to stay in power. Trump posted tweets that âMike Pence didnât have the courage to do what should have been doneâ and even later defended those who called for Penceâs hanging.[^ix]
Trumpâs hopes for January 6th were dashed. He had whipped up a crowd at the Ellipse to âwalk down Pennsylvania Avenueâ to the Capitol.[^x] He had told them all to âfight like hellâ and that if they didnât, they wouldnât âhave a country anymore.â Even before this speech, several pro-Trump corners of the internet were already calling for violence.[^xi] Early January had seen several calls to action with Trump himself saying that the event would be âwildâ.[^xii] Researchers and Congress found that Trumpâs supporters took his word to mean violence was at hand. Calls for hanging Nancy Pelosi, John Roberts, Mike Pence, and others were shared by many, including a lawyer would eventually work for Trump.[^xiii] I would urge anyone and everyone to read the publicly available January 6th Committee report here for more about that day and the lead-up to it. .
Trump was unsuccessful in proving he won the 2020 election, but has not let it go. He is now facing several legal challenges related to his efforts in challenging the results while still running for president. In late September, Donald Trump sat for an interview at Mar-a-Lago with conservative outlet The National Pulse.[^xiv] In this interview, Trump was talking about immigration and made several remarks about how immigrants were coming from the worst places with the worst traits. He also said that immigrants are âpoisoning the blood of our country.â Make no mistake, this is dangerous and dehumanizing language. The Statue of Liberty stands as a beacon welcoming immigrants to the United States because they make this nation better. A democracy flourishes when it is diverse and accepting. Trump is using words from one of the vilest creatures to inhabit the Earth: Hitler. This language is directly from his book Mein Kampf.
Trump hasnât stopped there in channeling authoritarians. He has referred to his Democratic opponents as âverminâ and has decried all the investigations he is currently involved in as partisan witch hunts. In a town hall in Iowa, Sean Hannity tried to get the former President to soften his demeanor. When asked if Trump would promise to not use the power of the presidency to seek retribution, Trump replied âExcept for day oneâ.[^xv] This echoes what other Trump supporters have been wanting for a long time. Just a few days after Trump claimed he would be a âday one dictatorâ, a speaker preceding Trump at a right-wing New York event said that a second Trump term would mean holding Democrats to account for all the wrongs theyâve seemingly committed. Trump congratulated this speaker on his remarks.[^xvi]
These words and ideas have real potential for harm. Trump is gearing up to weaponize the federal government against those who he believes has wronged him. Trump wants to gut the federal workforce by removing employment protections from civil servants.[^xvii] He has already started screening candidates through an application heavily focused on political ideologies and what they like best about Trump.[^xviii] Trump can choose to work with people he agrees with, but the federal government works best when it represents the whole of the United States. Difference of opinion can help to ensure that the checks and balances of our government work. It is especially dangerous when you consider that a poll asking what people would want out of a second Trump term comes back with answers like ârevengeâ, âdictatorshipâ, and âpowerâ.[^xix]
Action is needed. I hope that by pulling this information together, people can see how dangerous Trumpâs words and ideas are. They are vicious, dehumanizing, and harmful in very real ways. The United States may not have been founded as the multi-cultural and diverse society it has become, but we are all the better for it. To accept Trumpâs rhetoric is to accept that there are Americans who are lesser than. Immigrants who are supposedly âpoisoning the bloodâ of our nation are actually making it better. The United States is on the cusp of deciding whether or not to accept that.
With Trump using Hitlerâs words, itâs only right to use words of those who opposed him, albeit too late.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak outâ
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak outâ
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak outâ
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for meâand there was no one left to speak for me.
[^i]:Ken Thomas and Erica Werner, âAP Report: Trump Advances False Claim That 3-5 Million Voted Illegally,â PBS NewsHour, January 23, 2017, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-report-trump-advances-false-claim-3-5-million-voted-illegally. [^ii]:âTrump Wonât Accept Election Results If He Loses as Clinton Expands Campaign into Red States,â PBS, October 21, 2016, https://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/video/2016/10/trump-wont-accept-election-results-if-he-loses-as-clinton-expands-campaign-into-red-states. [^iii]:Steve Inskeep, âTimeline: What Trump Told Supporters For Months Before They Attacked,â NPR, February 8, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/02/08/965342252/timeline-what-trump-told-supporters-for-months-before-they-attacked. [^iv]:Amy Howe, âJustices Throw out Texas Lawsuit That Sought to Block Election Outcome,â SCOTUSblog, December 11, 2020, https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/12/justices-throw-out-texas-lawsuit-that-sought-to-block-election-outcome/; Helen Coster and Jack Queen, âFox Settles Dominion Lawsuit for $787.5 Million over US Election Lies,â Reuters, April 19, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/legal/dominions-defamation-case-against-fox-poised-trial-after-delay-2023-04-18/. [^v]:Andrew Goudsward, âGiuliani Ordered to Pay $148 Mln to Georgia Election Workers in Defamation Trial,â Reuters, December 16, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/legal/verdict-reached-damages-giulianis-trial-defaming-georgia-election-workers-2023-12-15/; Jacob Shamsian, âTrumpâs Lawyers Keep Getting in Trouble with Judges. Here Are the 17 Sanctioned so Far.,â Business Insider, March 14, 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyers-sanctioned-by-courts-election-lawsuits-2022-12. [^vi]:Ximena Bustillo, âBarr: Trump Was âdetached from Realityâ When He Claimed Election Fraud : NPR,â NPR, June 13, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/06/13/1104634760/barr-trump-detached-from-reality-jan-6. [^vii]:Michael D. Shear and Stephanie Saul, âTrump, in Taped Call, Pressured Georgia Official to âFindâ Votes to Overturn Election,â New York Times, January 3, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/03/us/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-georgia.html. [^viii]:Brett Samuels, âPence Breaks with Trump: âI Had No Right to Overturn the Election,ââ The Hill, February 4, 2022, https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/592878-pence-breaks-with-trump-i-had-no-right-to-overturn-the-election. [^ix]:Mike Allen, âExclusive Audio: Trump Defends Threats to âHangâ Pence,â Axios, November 12, 2021, https://www.axios.com/trump-hang-mike-pence-january-6-audio-4f147245-becf-4766-ac60-7acece6862be.html; âTweets of January 6, 2021,â The American Presidency Project, accessed December 27, 2023, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021. [^x]:Brian Naylor, âRead Trumpâs Jan. 6 Speech, A Key Part Of Impeachment Trial,â NPR, February 10, 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial. [^xi]:Kristen Doerer, âCapitol Breach Preceded by Widespread Calls for Violence on Pro-Trump Social Media,â Right Wing Watch, January 6, 2021, https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/capitol-breach-preceded-by-widespread-calls-for-violence-on-pro-trump-social-media/. [^xii]:Tom Dreisbach, âHow Trumpâs âwill Be Wild!â Tweet Drew Rioters to the Capitol on Jan. 6,â NPR, July 13, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/07/13/1111341161/how-trumps-will-be-wild-tweet-drew-rioters-to-the-capitol-on-jan-6. [^xiii]:Doerer, âCapitol Breach Preceded by Widespread Calls for Violence on Pro-Trump Social Media.â [^xiv]:Donald Trump, The National Pulse Interview with Donald Trump, interview by Raheem Kassam, September 27, 2023, https://nitter.net/RaheemKassam/status/1707128625223335990. [^xv]:Chris Michael, âTrump Says He Will Be a Dictator Only on âDay Oneâ If Elected President,â The Guardian, December 5, 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/06/donald-trump-sean-hannity-dictator-day-one-response-iowa-town-hall. [^xvi]:Philip Bump, âTrumpâs Day-One Dictatorship Becomes an Applause Line,â Washington Post, December 11, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/12/11/trump-dictator-second-term/. [^xvii]:Tim Reid and Nathan Layne, âTrump Plan to Gut Civil Service Triggers Pushback,â Reuters, December 22, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-plan-gut-civil-service-triggers-pushback-by-unions-democrats-2023-12-22/. [^xviii]:Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, âBehind the Curtain â Scoop: The Trump Job Applications Revealed,â Axios, December 1, 2023, https://www.axios.com/2023/12/01/trump-government-job-applications-2025. [^xix]:Ron Filipkowski, âTrump Touts Poll Showing His Main Goals Are âRevengeâ & âDictatorship,ââ MeidasTouch Network, December 26, 2023, https://www.meidastouch.com/news/trump-touts-poll-showing-his-main-goals-are-revenge-dictatorship.