There are many ways in which Trump is grotesque – bigot, ignoramus, grifter, liar, admirer of America’s adversaries — but it’s his authoritarian desires that makes these immoralities or errors dangerous to others. As all people are flawed, so in proportion a thirst for control carries risk to others; from those who are not flawed…
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism, Trump
Trump Claims He Has the Right to ‘Do Whatever [He Wants] as President’
by JOHN ADAMS •
A normal leader in a free society wouldn’t even joke this way; Trump’s neither smiling nor laughing in any event.
America, Authoritarianism, City, Culture, Federal Government, Libertarians, Liberty, Local Government, Politics, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Trump-Russia
The Biggest Story of Our Time
by JOHN ADAMS •
In life – at least life in a well-ordered, free society – the highest matters are not political. They are familial, cultural, social – involving greater pursuits than contending over the role of the state. Under this view, one contends over politics (as libertarians do) not because it is too important but because it must…
Authoritarianism, Elections, Fellow Traveler, Fifth Columnist, Foreign Affairs, Herrenvolk, Never Trump, Politics, Russia, Trump, Unfit
The Fifth Columnist at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
by JOHN ADAMS •
While a fellow traveler – however detestable – is merely someone who sympathizes with an adversarial foreign power, a fifth columnist is someone who actively cooperates – colludes, one might say – with a hostile foreign state. For all the talk of no collusion (styled as NO COLLUSION in a bigoted authoritarian’s tweets), Trump at…
Accidents, Authoritarianism, Congress, Trump
Virginia Heffernan on Congressional Action (by reference to the Chernobyl Distaster)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Virginia Heffernan on Congressional action to hold Trump accountable, with reference to the earliest, but insufficient, steps to control the Chernobyl Disaster: Congress hasn’t even poured on the sand and boron yet
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Mendacity, Misconduct, Never Trump, Trump, Trump-Russia, Unfit
‘A cancer on the presidency’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Attorney George Conway III writes Trump is a cancer on the presidency. Congress should remove him. Although I would describe Trump more broadly as a blight on the country, Conway’s assessment is spot on: So it turns out that, indeed, President Trump was not exonerated at all, and certainly not “totally” or “completely,” as he…
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Herrenvolk, Never Trump, Trump
What Never Trump Means
by JOHN ADAMS •
Those libertarians (as I am) and conservatives who declared themselves Never Trump (written on Twitter as #NeverTrump) are those who took that position when considering Trump’s career and his presidential campaign. On the ample record of Trump’s business career and political campaign, we found him unfit: a bigot, a would-be authoritarian, and an avowed friend…
Authoritarianism, Federal Government, Law, Race, Trump
Undermining His Own Case for a National Emergency
by JOHN ADAMS •
Elizabeth Goitein observes Trump Is Destroying His Own Case for a National Emergency (“By waiting for Congress to act, the president is undermining the legal basis for any declaration”): Here’s how the legal process for emergency powers works: Under the National Emergencies Act, passed by Congress in 1976, the president has broad discretion to declare a…
43rd Assembly District, Authoritarianism, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Immigration, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Never Trump, Politics, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The ‘Republican’ Candidate’s Meet and Greet
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that the self-described Republican candidate for the 43rd Assembly District will hold a meet and greet next week at a private establishment in town. Good for him – free speech is a core political right. (He’s also scheduled to appear at a local candidate’s forum this week. See The First & Last Questions.) He’s a…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Bad Ideas, Bigotry, Demographics, Ethnicity, Immigration, Race, Radical Populism
Her Loss is America’s Gain
by JOHN ADAMS •
Laura Ingraham: "The America we know and love doesn't exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted on the American people, and they are changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don't like … this is related to both illegal and legal immigration" pic.twitter.com/s5G2qIY4W0 — Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) August 9,…
America, Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Politics, Trump
A Roadmap for Renewal
by JOHN ADAMS •
No map provides all the detail one encounters when traveling a terrain; it is enough that it makes one’s chosen direction discernible. Our present national conflict will one day end, and when it does millions who will have swept Trumpism into the dustbin will then have to renew American politics, restoring to this society once…
America, Authoritarianism, Trump, Trump-Russia, Tyranny
‘America Used to Stand Up to Dictators’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Immigration, Race, Trump
Reimagining Trump’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ as a 1940s Propaganda Film
by JOHN ADAMS •
Videographers Taige Jensen, Leah Varjacques, and Japhet Weeks observe that “a U.S. government film from 1943 justifying the detention of Japanese-Americans in internment camps has new relevance in light of the president’s immigration policies.”
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Immigration, Resistance, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
Sounds of Trumpism’s Malevolence
by JOHN ADAMS •
Robert Kagan, writing of Trump’s foreign policy, describes the uncaring malevolence of Trump’s perspective: Trump’s America does not care. It is unencumbered by historical memory. It recognizes no moral, political or strategic commitments. It feels free to pursue objectives without regard to the effect on allies or, for that matter, the world. It has no…
