Be Ready when Trump “Overplays His Hand”
Here’s an excellent article that explains, from the perspective of a foreign journalist who’s covered the slide into autocracy of nations like Turkey and Hungary, why the U.S. and its people need to remain hopeful that Trump can be prevented from becoming a dictator.
I found the piece on protests particularly important.
My perspective: If Trump hasn’t “overplayed his hand” by this point, it’s hard to know when he will, and exactly what this means. Using the military to intimidate democrats in our country’s major cities, using the Justice Department to punish his enemies, quashing the criminal indictments against him, pardoning hundreds of the convicted insurrections who happen to support him, using his position as president to enrich himself, eviscerating the federal government to provide tax breaks for his mega-wealthy donors, kicking tens of millions of people off of healthcare–it’s impossible to know where this will stop.
The thanks for sharing this, Craig.
I think Robert Reich is a deeply good man, and he lots of experience we can learn from and use.
The article he shared is helpful, though I will be cautious concerning the need for a charismatic leader, and about the limited utility of protest. Leaders who defend and speak out for the people too often get eliminated – JFK MLK Bobby Kennedy, Malcolm X – and often the presence of protests (if sufficiently massive) have proven influential and even decisive with national politics and direction – recall civil rights and Vietnam, the EPA that Nixon established, and the impact of protests and general strikes in France and elsewhere.
Protests show the popular opposition to the despots and their policies, and embolden good leaders to speak and act.
While it is highly useful for charismatic leaders to help drive change – such as Bernie Sanders was, and now like Jon Ossoff, James Talarico, Jasmine Crockett, Isaiah Martin, Pete Buttigieg – it is hazardous to depend over much on them. They must be a part of the movement but not it’s focus.
Yes, I was surprised to see a lot of that too. I might have dismissed this entirely if it weren’t for the author’s work in observing what happened in Turkey and Hungary.