Trump

Fear triumphs over hope as Trump wins the presidency – how did it happen? (11/6/2024)

With Trump returning to the presidency, this is what's at stake (11/6/2024)

13 Ex-Trump Aides Back Kelly’s ‘Dictator’ Warning, Saying Trump Seeks ‘Absolute, Unchecked Power’ (10/25/2024) NYT

Trump is an authoritarian who must not win. Saying that is not inciting violence (7/16/2024)

Trump Has Been Convicted. Can He Still Run for President? (6/5/2024)

Donald Trump’s conviction: a criminal unfit to stand or serve (5/31/2024)

Praising the ‘Late, Great’ Hannibal Lecter Is Peak Trump Lunacy (5/13/2024)

Donald Trump Refuses to Sign Pledge Against Overthrowing Government (1/6/2024)

This sounds strong, but it’s true: Trump is the worst criminal in history, undeniably. There has never been a figure in political history who was so passionately dedicated to destroying the projects for organized human life on earth in the near future. Noam Chomsky
“Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 158 million followers, it will no longer be America.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Trump is a plutocratic authoritarian. As I have previously argued, it is fair to call him a fascist. He has repeatedly demonstrated this fact through his words and deeds both during the 2016 presidential election and now while serving as president. Timothy Snyder (Yale)
A younger Trump, according to his first wife’s divorce filings, kept and studied a book translating and annotating Adolf Hitler’s pre-World War II speeches in a locked bedside cabinet, Neuborne noted. The English edition of My New Order, published in 1941, also had analyses of the speeches’ impact on his era’s press and politics. “Ugly and appalling as they are, those speeches are masterpieces of demagogic manipulation,” When at Times the Mob Is Swayed: A Citizen’s Guide to Defending Our Republic, Burt Neuborne
Trump Record
Trump explained to the poorer whites, the losers in globalization, that their enemy is the poor black, the immigrant, the Mexican, or the Muslim and that things will get better if the big white millionaire gets rid of all of them."
Thomas Piketty (2016)
No one has mastered racially coded language better than Donald Trump, who harvested the overwhelming majority of white evangelical votes in 2016 and 2020.Trump, also the master of publicity, clawed his way to public attention by perpetrating the so-called birther conspiracy, the malevolent falsehood that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, not the United States, and was therefore constitutionally ineligible to be president. Bad Faith, Race and the Rise of the Religious Right by Randall Balmer
The KGB began cultivating him in the early 1980s. He was an easy mark: vain, stupid, amoral, sex-crazed, and desperate for cash. By the middle of that decade he was using condos in the tower that bore his family’s name to launder money for Russian organized crime figures. He liked doing business with crooks. They paid in cash, and if things went sideways, they would never sue. Portrait of an American Strongman (2/1/2022) Greg Olear
The Trump administration is a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government. The foundation of this edifice was formed not when Trump took office, but decades before, through prolonged engagement with criminal or criminal-adjacent actors linked to hostile regimes, in particular, the Kremlin and its oligarch network.
Hiding in plain sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America, Sarah Kendzior
“Donald J. Trump is not only unqualified for the job, but he may well pose a threat to our national security.” Michel J. Morell, professional lifer in the CIA, a onetime deputy director, and occasional acting director until his retirement in late 2013.

Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump (5/2/2024)

How Far Trump Would Go (4/30/2024) Time Magazine

Trump’s bizarre, vindictive incoherence has to be heard in full to be believed (4/6/2024)

What I Learned When I Read 887 Pages of Plans for Trump’s Second Term (2/29/2024)

Why Trump Won’t Win, His threats to democracy make him dangerous. They also make him a weak candidate. (12/2023)

Trump's White House Was ‘Awash in Speed' - and Xanax (3/4/2024)

Trump explains
“Donald’s checkered personal history and his unique personality flaws make him extremely vulnerable to manipulation by smarter, more powerful men. His pathologies have rendered him so simple minded that it takes nothing more than repeating to him the things he says to and about himself dozens of times a day – he’s the smartest, the greatest the best – to get him to do whatever they want, whether it’s imprisoning children in concentration camps, betraying allies, implementing economy-crushing tax cuts, or degrading every institution that’s contributed to the United States’ rise and the flourishing of liberal democracy.” Mary Trump, PH.D in her book Too Much and Never Enough, How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man
Immigration demagogy is at the “heart” of the Trump show — and the Trump show is at the heart of our tragic decline as a civil and humane society. From a review of BORDER WARS, Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration By Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D. Shear

Oath and Honor review: Liz Cheney spells out the threat from Trump (12/10/2023)

Why Trump's authoritarian language about 'vermin' matters (11/17/2023)

‘A revenge term’: what would another four years of Trump look like? - (11/11/2023)

The public doesn’t understand the risks of a Trump victory. That’s the media’s fault (11/9/2023)

Trump Isn’t too Big to Jail — if we are a Nation of Laws (8/27/2023)

What is Trump charged with in Georgia and what is the case about? (8/15/2023)

Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025 (7/17/2023)

The indictment against Trump in 2020 election interference inquiry – full text (8/1/2023)

Trump Indictment (6/8/2023)

Trump is now a legally defined sexual predator - will it affect his 2024 bid? (5/10/2023)

Trump and the Republican party exemplify these five elements of fascism (6/17/2023) the Guardian, Robert Reich

Stupid Republicans ?

Nine different federal judges have blamed Trump for January 6th (5/18/2023)

Trump Promises

Trump’s Arraignment was Unprecedented, but so is the Enormity of his Crimes against America (4/7/2023)

The Observer view: Donald Trump deserves to face the full force of justice (4/2/2023)

This Is What Happened When the Authorities Put Trump Under a Microscope (2/9/2023) NYT

* ‘That’s Hitler, Bannon thought’: 2022 in books about Trump and US politics (12/11/2022) Guardian

What if Trump's Conspiracy was Way Bigger than We Know? (8/29/2022)

Federal Judge Finds Trump Most Likely Committed Crimes Over 2020 Election (3/28/2022) NYT

The evidence is clear: it’s time to prosecute Donald Trump Laurence H Tribe and Dennis Aftergut (3/16/2022) Guardian

Trump praises ‘genius’ Putin for moving troops to eastern Ukraine (2/23/2022)

Portrait of an American Strongman (2/1/2022) Greg Olear

Appeals court denies Trump effort to block White House records from Jan. 6 investigators (12/9/2021)

Think tank: Trump faces ‘substantial’ legal risk in Georgia case (9/24/2021)

The Trump Coup Is Still Raging (9/10/2021) NYT

“The thing that keeps me up most at night is the president of the United States is an asset to a foreign power. We have no idea the level of damage it’s done until he’s out of office. And what we’re going to find out is all of his sycophants were all out to enrich themselves and probably did decades of damage to the country. Especially to the State Department, it’s non-existent. It can barely issue visas.” Malcolm Nance
On Mr. Xi’s bid to remain president for life, Mr. Trump said: “I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot someday.” He also tried every trick to overturn a democratic election. In the end, Mr. Trump was impeached twice and voted out of office. But the willingness of many of his supporters to embrace authoritarianism should be a warning for our democracy and others. Repression Without Borders (8/28/2021) NYT
Watching the reality-television star deliver remarks from the Trump Tower food court to a crowd that allegedly included actors who had been paid $50 to hold signs and cheer, Bannon couldn't contain himself. "That's Hitler!" Bannon said. And, as Jeremy W. Peters writes in this spirited new history, "he meant it as a compliment."
from a review of Insurgency, How Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted By Jeremy W. Peters
Fran
Leslie Stahl pressed Trump to explain his barrage of insults aimed at journalists, and he gave her a clear explanation: 'You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.' Lesley Stahl: Trump admitted mission to "discredit" press
Republicans on Trump
Trump’s only true skill is the con; his only fundamental belief is that the United States is the birthright of straight, white, Christian men, and his only real, authentic pleasure is in cruelty. It is that cruelty, and the delight it brings them, that binds his most ardent supporters to him, in shared scorn for those they hate and fear: immigrants, black voters, feminists, and treasonous white men who empathize with any of those who would steal their birthright. The president’s ability to execute that cruelty through word and deed makes them euphoric. It makes them feel good, it makes them feel proud, it makes them feel happy, it makes them feel united. And as long as he makes them feel that way, they will let him get away with anything, no matter what it costs them. The Cruelty is the Point, Adam Serwer

Mary Trump "Donald Is a Fascist and the Republicans Are Trying To Destroy Our Democracy" (8/25/2021)

I Alone Can Fix It review: Donald Trump as wannabe Führer – in another riveting read (7/16/2021)

Trump's presidency has amended the Constitution. Not formally, of course, but informally...which matters just as much. (2/22/2021)

Masha Gessen: 'I never thought I'd say it, but Trump is worse than Putin' (6/27/2020)

Links

Paying the President

Timeline

Trump Graph

Trump Connections

Chronicling Trump's 10 worst abuses of power (1/24/2021)

Lest We Forget the Horrors: A Catalog of Trump’s Worst Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes (1/20/2021)

“The Horror, the Horror.” An epitaph for Trump’s Nazi Presidency (1/19/2021) Juan Cole

'This is a very dangerous period': Author says Trump is the most 'traitorous' official since the Civil War (1/1/2021)

Trump delivered the goods for the Republican Party like no other president. What those goods are is plain to see - upward transfer of wealth, looting of the commonwealth and public lands, immiseration and political disenfranchisement of working families, minorities and the poor, and the embrace of fascist and racist elements in society. Follow the money. Ask yourself, "who suffers and who benefits?" The Republican Party was just waiting for someone like Trump, and now they have him they will never let him go. jon_norstog (letter to the New York Times)
Trump For Prison
The U.S. president is trying to steal the election, and, crucially, his party either tacitly approves or is pretending not to see it. This is a particularly dangerous combination, and makes it much more than just typical Trumpian bluster or norm shattering. Zeynep Tufeckci: The Atlantic:
Without accountability, the insurrection is a rehearsal
Republican ...chest pounding about how great the economy has been under Donald Trump’s leadership and how fast it is coming back from the virus-induced shutdown. Alas, both assertions are untrue. Steven Rattner (8/23/2020)
..."many" of Trump's statements in interviews or on Twitter "may now be classed as bullshit," with their utter disregard for the truth, and their focus on telling "a version of reality that suits Trump's aims". These statements are "often" written in a way which criticizes or mocks others, while offering a misleading version of Trump's accomplishments to improve his image. Subverting the Art of Diplomacy: Bullshit, Lies and Trump

The Weekly List: Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.

Trump Wars II: The Loser Strikes Back (11/23/2020)

What’s behind Trump’s refusal to concede? For Republicans, the end game is Georgia and control of the Senate (11/12/2020)

The Swamp That Trump Built (10/10/2020)

Judges Tell Trump His Officials Are Serving Illegally. He Does Nothing. (10/5/2020)

At His Core, Trump Is an Immoralist (10/1/2020)

Trump’s Debt, His Future and Ours (9/28/2020)

Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance (9/27/2020)

Where Law Ends review: why Mueller failed to hold Trump to account (9/27/2020)

Expert: New books make it clear — Trump is a threat to every human being on Earth (9/12/2020)

President’s Sister Describes Trump as Liar With ‘No Principles’ in Recordings (8/23/2020)

The Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue (7/30/2020)

Trump consults Bush torture lawyer on how to skirt law and rule by decree (7/20/2020)

‘Moral bankruptcy’: Trump seizes on Bush-era torture memo author John Yoo’s call for extralegal executive authority (7/20/2020)

The Most Dangerous Phase of Trump’s Rule (7/10/2020)

Ralph Nader: Here is Trump’s top betrayal (5/23/2020)

Is Donald Trump a fascist? (5/11/2020)

Will the Supreme Court permit Trump to be above the law? (5/10/2020)

Mr. Trump’s War on Accountability (5/4/2020)

Trump and His Infallible Advisers (5/4/2020)

Trump Is Losing His Mind Over Reports He’s Losing His Mind (4/30/2020)

British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read (4/22/2020)

The Trump Presidency Is Over (4/13/2020)

Tinker, Tailor, Mobster, Trump (3/31/2020)

President Trump was pretty much unchecked and unaccountable since he ignored Congress’ subpoenas, discharged Inspector Generals, decapitated the DOJ, and had Mitch appointing conservative judges, some rated by the Bar Association as unqualified, as fast as he can. Trump claims he knows best on about everything. But it is a fact that he lies a lot. His decisions ignore science and experts. In the case of the pandemic or climate, he is downright dangerous.

Trump was an anti-vaxer. But also suggested nuking a hurricane, raking the forest, ingesting disinfectant, birtherism, and other conspiracies. He doesn't believe the science, first hand evidence that democratic decisions are better than dictators.

A dictator generally does not make as good decisions as a democracy does.

He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus (4/14/2020)

What If Trump Wins?

A Deadly Cycle: The Authoritarian In Crisis (3/17/2020)

The sick joke of Donald Trump's presidency isn't funny any more (3/13/2020)

Guilt Pyramid

Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara Calls Trump ‘Greatest Hoax,’ Lists What’s Wrong With Him (3/9/2020)

Donald Trump’s Strange and Dangerous ‘Absolute Rights’ Idea (2/2020 the Atlantic)

Trump’s Evil Is Contagious (1/17/2020)

The Cruelty of a Trump Christmas, Republicans aren’t Scrooges — they’re much worse. (121/23/2019)

In the Trump administration, conflicts of interest were basically a job requirement:
  • A conflicted shipping heiress runs DOT
  • An oil lobbyist runs DOI
  • A coal lobbyist runs EPA
  • A Raytheon lobbyist runs DOD
  • A pharma exec runs HHS
  • A Boeing exec runs DOD
  • A Verizon lawyer runs FCC
  • A banking exec runs Treasury
  • And a failed mail-order meat salesman runs the country
Public Citizen (7/2019)
If Trump doesn’t succeed in destroying our democracy (a big if), his most damaging legacy will be the vast environmental destruction he leaves behind. And Trump’s pro-pollution stance isn’t an aberration. In this, he is very much a man of his party. Paul Krugman (11/14/2019)
“I am not qualified to diagnose the president’s mental acuity. All I can tell you is that normal people who spend any time with Donald Trump are uncomfortable by what they witness. He stumbles, slurs, gets confused, is easily irritated, and has trouble synthesizing information, not occasionally but with regularity. Those who would claim otherwise are lying to themselves or to the country.” A WARNING By Anonymous

Trump Has Been Impeached. Republicans Are Following Him Down. (12/18/2019)

Profiting off the Presidency: Trump’s Violations of the Emoluments Clauses (10/1/2019)

The Nightmare Stage of Trump’s Rule Is Here (1/6/2020)

Trump’s Bad. Sadly, He’s Not Alone. (12/14/2019)

Trump Is the Founders’ Worst Nightmare (12/2/2019)

Author Of Donald Trump Russia Dossier Speaks Out, Rips Republicans Who ‘Don’t Know What They’re Talking About’ (12/1/2019))

Trump’s Contempt for True Professionals (11/12/2019)

Counterterrorism expert worries that ‘Putin leads Donald Trump around on a leash’ (11/12/2019)

To Beat Trump, Focus on His Corruption (11/1/2019)

The Worst Trump Cabinet Member? You Picked a Real Winner (10/30/2019)

All the Trump Scandals Are the Same Scandal (12/11/2019)

Luckily, Trump Is an Unstable Non-Genius (10/10/2019)

Dozens of State Department employees come forward to sell Mike Pompeo out (10/5/2019)

President Trump, Just the Facts (9/22/2019)

“If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” Robert Mueller.

Roy Cohn Is How We Got Trump (9/20/2019)

When It Comes to Plutocrats Like Epstein and Trump, Always Assume the Worst (7/17/2019)

A Racist in the White House (7/15/2019)

¨Anti-democratic leaders are often identifiable before they come to power. They have 4 traits: weak commitment to the democratic rules of the game; denial of the legitimacy of opponents; toleration or encouragement of violence; readiness to curtail the civil liberties of rivals and critics. Donald Trump met all of these tests. The Republican Party failed to do its job of gatekeeper to vet its candidates. The price was not to lose an election, but to lose democracy.¨
from How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
Trump is a posturing performer, full of idiotic narcissism. He appears to be a disorganized fool, to be honest. Putin, on the other hand, is calculating, organized, and he plans everything. He also hides much of his personal life in a way that Trump does not. Then there's also the fact that Putin is so much more experienced than Trump. He has more than 15 years of global political experience. He knows how to do things, how to work the system. He makes plenty of mistakes, but he knows how to think and act. Trump is a total neophyte. He has no experience and doesn't understand how global politics operates. He displays his ignorance every single day. Mikhail Fishman is the editor-in-chief of the Moscow Times, an English-language weekly newspaper published in Moscow.
How did the most insecure person in our country, who has to pay porn stars to have sex with him, lost more money than anyone in our nation's history, who bankrupted a casino where people give you money, who can't form a sentence without lying, become the leader of the free world? AKKI tweet.
¨He is a racist. He is a con man. He is a cheat. ... My loyalty to Mr. Trump has cost me everything - my family´s happiness, friendships, my law license, my company, my livelihood, my honor, my reputation, and soon my freedom. I pray the country doesn´t make the same mistakes I have made.¨ Michael Cohen testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
The Mueller report lays out facts showing that a hostile foreign government attacked our 2016 election to help Donald Trump and Donald Trump welcomed that help. Once elected, Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into that attack. Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Representative Ken Buck, Republican of Colorado:
“Could you charge the president with a crime after he left office?”
Mueller: “Yes.”
Buck (sounding startled): “You believe you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?”
Mueller: “Yes.”

The Mueller Hearings and the Stench in Washington: Nicholas Kristof
Among the lessons of Iran-Contra is that a healthy democracy must have robust checks on executive authority in order to minimize abuses of power. A quarter century ago, the president’s attorney general, William Barr, staunchly opposed the independent counsel’s investigation of wrongdoing in the White House, and he also firmly supported Bush’s use of pardons as a means of self-protection. Are we to believe that Barr’s relationship with President Trump will be any different? What Does William Barr Have to Do With Iran Contra?
“You know, the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny. I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. Okay? I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.” Donald Trump
When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history, You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America ... America will triumph over you. John O. Brennan
You’ve heard me say President Trump is the worst president in modern history. I stand by that, and I’ll add this: His conduct in office threatens the fabric of our democracy. Somehow in his eleven months in office, he’s aligned himself with accused sexual predators, white nationalists, and brutal dictators. He’s made a mockery of our judicial system, attacked the free press, and urged the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponents. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it should disturb every American. Adam Schiff
Trump’s word-piles fill public space with static. This is like having the air we breathe replaced with carbon monoxide. It is deadly. This space that he is polluting is the space of our shared reality. The Autocrats Language. Masha Gessen .
"I wish I was one-billionth as lucky as (Trump). He's the luckiest man who ever lived. He's never done one thing right. He's incredibly stupid. He's totally immoral beyond contempt — and yet he runs the world!" Fran Lebowitz
‘Tell Trump you didn’t learn from Hitler. You can’t fight on two fronts. You can’t take on radical Islam and China. You will end up in the bunker, like Hitler.” Milos Zeman, president of the Czech Republic in discussion with Steve Bannon.
Wishing for supporters of Donald Trump to find their hearts, their brains or their patriotism is a fool’s errand. We are, as the president has said many times, “a stupid country,” and every day of this presidency proves his point. I haven’t always felt this way, and it pains me to say this. There’s still a golden opportunity in November for the non-stupid majority to be heard. But it’s time to abandon some of the stories we tell about ourselves as a people. Blame the 400-Pound Guy, Timothy Egan (7/20/2018)
I´m worried that Donald Trump is not an aberration, but the beginning of a trend. Dr. Henry Louis Gates. Jr in Vanity Fair April 2019
If Trump convinces people there was “no collusion & no obstruction” it will be his greatest con ever. The Mueller report found extensive coordination between the Trump campaign & Russia (i.e., “collusion”) and multiple instances where the evidence PROVES Trump obstructed justice. Glenn Kirschner (tweet)

Insiders are “floored” by what Donald Trump just did (8/31/2019)

Key Trump Policies Show a Person Mentally Disordered: Megalomaniacal, Paranoid, and Psychopathic (8/20/2019)

What We learned from Mueller (7/25/2019)

Trump 'dossier' author grilled by Justice Department watchdogs: sources (7/9/2019)

The week it became accurate to compare Trump to Hitler (6/29/2019)

Donald Trump doesn’t know what’s about to hit him (6/28/2019)

Why Isn’t Trump a Real Populist? (6/17/2019)

Lies, damned lies and Donald Trump: the pick of the president's untruths (4/29/2019)

Five Critical Takeaways From the Mueller Report (4/18/2019)

How not to think–and what the Mueller Report won’t tell us–about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the investigation (3/24/2019)

George Conway diagnoses Trump with narcissistic personality disorder (3/18/2019)

It Isn’t Complicated: Trump Encourages Violence (3/17/2019)

A Florida Massage Parlor Owner Has Been Selling Chinese Execs Access to Trump at Mar-a-Lago (3/9/2019)

Can America recover from Trump? A radicalized right wing suggests dangers ahead (4/9/2019)

How the neocons captured Donald Trump (2/5/2019)

Trump’s Popularity Slumps to Record Low in January

Putin must be smiling as he watches Trump carry out his agenda (1/17/2019)

The People vs. Donald J. Trump, He is demonstrably unfit for office. What are we waiting for? David Leonhardt (1/5/2019)

The Inevitability of Impeachment (12/27/2018)

The Year Justice Caught Up With Trumpworld (12/14/2018)

The Trump Organization Planned To Give Vladimir Putin The $50 Million Penthouse In Trump Tower Moscow (11/29/2018)

How Trump Fuels the Fascist Right: Bernard E. Harcourt (11/20/2018)

Donald Trump Fails, Again, The orange emperor has no clothes. (11/19/2018)

LA Times: Trump 'has retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and resentment' since midterms (11/13/2018)

Noam Chomsky Calls Trump and Republican Allies "Criminally Insane" (11/3/2018)

Bernie Sanders: 'Authoritarian Leaders Around the World' Inspired by Trump (10/18/2018)

How to undo the president: The Big Short writer Michael Lewis turns his attention to Trump (10/3/2018)

How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump (10/1/2018)

Trump and the Aristocracy of Fraud (10/4/2018)

What is to be Done? Melvin Goodman (9/17/2018)

Full-On Fascism: Trump Makes the Transition in his War on the Press (9/11/2018)

The Urgent Question of Trump and Money Laundering (9/9/2018)

Fear review: Bob Woodward's dragnet descends on Donald Trump (9/8/2018)

Trump Is Not a King (8/17/2018)

Stop Calling Trump a Populist: Paul Krugman

Trump competition

Trump’s Russia Cover-Up By the Numbers – 92+ contacts with Russia-linked operatives (8/7/2018)

President Trump is a domestic threat to our democracy (7/30/2018)

A Guide to Treason 2.0 (7/16/2018)

Forget Impeachment — Here Are 7 Other Ways Donald Trump’s Presidency Might Go Down in Flames (7/15/2018)

A Russian newspaper editor explains how Putin made Trump his puppet (7/16/2018)

Putin’s Payout: 10 Ways Trump has Supported Putin’s Foreign Policy Agenda (7/10/2018)

Trump’s Rage Junkies (7/1/2018)

A Quisling and His Enablers, Paul Krugman (6/12/2018)

Trump Is Making the Case That He’s Putin’s Puppet (6/8/2018)

How Trump Helps Putin (6/8/2018)

As Europe’s Liberal Order Splinters, Trump Wields an Ax (6/18/2018)

Pulitzer-winning reporter David Cay Johnston: “The evidence suggests Trump is a traitor” (4/23/2018)

The myth of an ending: why even removing Trump from office won’t save American democracy (4/23/2018)

9 Ways Authoritarianism Is Taking Hold Under Trump (5/29/2018)

Rachel Maddow Explains Why Trump Colluding with the Russians Looks Even More Likely Now (5/17/2018)

Trump vs. the “Deep State” (5/21/2018)

'The Evidence Suggests Trump Is a Traitor': Pulitzer-winning Reporter David Cay Johnston (4/23/2018)

The Republican Party is organized around one man, That is dangerous (4/19/2018)

How Trump Is Preparing for War (Robert Reich) (3/27/2018)

Trump says maybe U.S. will have a president for life someday (3/4/2018)

John (“Bomb Iran”) Bolton, the New Warmonger in the White House (3/23/2018)

Trump’s High-Tech Dirty Tricksters (3/19/2018)

Donald Trump and the Stress Test of Liberal Democracy (3/19/2018)

Dictators Love Trump, and He Loves Them (3/14/2018)

A Wolff at the Door (2/14/2018)

The Worst of the Worst (2/2018)

How the Republicans Helped Trump Steal the Election (1/25/2018)

An Exit From Trumpocracy (1/18/2018)

How Money Won Trump the White House (1/9/2018)

The Psychiatrist Telling Congress Trump Could Be Involuntarily Committed (1/12/2018)

Will We Stop Trump Before It’s Too Late? Madeleine Albright (4/6/2018)

Is Trump mentally ill? Or is America? Psychiatrists weigh in (9/22/2017).

The Steele Dossier in 2018: Everyone’s Favorite Weapon (1/9/2018)

An Idiot Surrounded by Clowns”: Why Trump (Still) Sits in the White House (1/6/2018)

A Conservative’s Case Against Donald Trump

Odds Are, Russia Owns Trump (11/27/2017)

Trump's Most Damning Legacy (11/5/2017)

Donald Trump's sexual harassment accusers hope president goes way of Weinstein (10/23/2017)

What You Need to Know About the Emoluments Lawsuit (10/16/2017)

Trump’s mental health poses danger, psychiatrists warn (10/11/2017)

Diagnosing Donald Trump, and His Voters (10/6/2017)

Mental Health Professionals March through New York to Demand Trump’s Removal from Office (10/15/2017)

Trump’s Worst: An Update (9/28/2017)

Special Counsel Robert Mueller Is Closing In On The White House (9/26/2017)

A Duty To Warn: The Most Dangerous Man In the World (9/27/2017)

The Case for Impeachment (7/27/2017))

‘Trump Is What Happens When a Political Party Abandons Ideas’ (6/24/2017)

Lining Trump's Pockets(3/21/2017)

Emoluments: Trump's Coming Ethics Trouble (Richard W. Painter, Laurence H. Tribe, Norman L. Eisen, and Joshua Matz) Jan 18, 2017

Trump Contradicts Aides on Comey Firing (5/11/2017))

Is Trump Guilty Of Obstruction Of Justice? Comey Laid Out The Case (6/10/2017)) June 10, 20177

Trump Terrible 10: Harvey Edition (9/2/2017))

"The real reason Trump is not a Republican" John Danforth (8/23/2017)

Walter Shaub: How to Restore Government Ethics in the Trump Era (7/18/2017)

A Catalog of Trump Lies (6/23/2017))

Paul Krugman: Trump Is a Monster Straight Out of 'The Twilight Zone' (4/28/2017)

How to Build an Autocracy (Atlantic 4/2017 issue.)

White House Death Match: Plutocrats vs. Racists (4/27/2017)

Trump, Putin, and the New Cold War: What lay behind Russia’s interference in the 2016 election—and what lies ahead? (3/6/2017)

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember: Amy Siskind

Donald Trump is not the problem – he’s the symptom (1/20/2017)

These Reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties To Russia (1/10/2017)

"Congress must govern with a President who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct, We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities. We must, where we can, cooperate with him. But we are not his subordinates. We don't answer to him." Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) 8/31/2017
"The main pillars of Trump’s political and economic project are: the deconstruction of the regulatory state; a full‑bore attack on the welfare state and social services (rationalised, in part, through bellicose racial fearmongering and attacks on women for exercising their rights); the unleashing of a domestic fossil-fuel frenzy (which requires the sweeping aside of climate science and the gagging of large parts of the government bureaucracy); and a civilisational war against immigrants and “radical Islamic terrorism” (with ever expanding domestic and foreign theatres)." Naomi Klein
I’ll guarantee you that’s what it is…The Russians hacked the DNC and got the opp [opposition] research that they had on Trump,” McCarthy said with a laugh. Ryan asked who the Russians “delivered” the opposition research to. “There’s… there’s two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy said, drawing some laughter. “Swear to God,” McCarthy added. “This is an off the record,” Ryan said. (transcript of conversation between Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy from the Washington Post)

A Farce to Be Reckoned With

What to Call Trump

Trump’s Weird Cabinet (6/12/2017)

50 Terrible Ideas That Could Become Law If Trump Is Impeached and Pence Becomes President (5/21/2017)

Trump must be impeached. Here’s why.(5/13/2017)

Lessons From Hitler's Rise (4/20/2017)

No Trump taxes, no tax reform (4/18/2017)

Our Dishonest President (4/2/2017)

President Trump's Terrible One Month Report Card

Why Impeach Donald Trump ?

Top 10 Risks and Remedies for Trump’s Conflicts of Interest (2/24/2017)

Beneath the deepening chaos of the Trump administration, the Trump business is doing just fine (2/14/2017)

Democracy in Exile and the Curse of Totalitarianism (1/31/2017)

Building a Wall of Ignorance (1/30/2017)

An Impulsive Authoritarian Populist in the White House (1/20/2017)

These Reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties To Russia (1/10/2017)

We better not wait to defend ourselves from Trump (11/9/2016)

Beyond Lying: Donald Trump’s Authoritarian Reality (11/2/2016)

Vladimir Putin has a plan for destroying the West—and that plan looks a lot like Donald Trump. (7/4/2016)

Why Trump Now? It’s the Empire, Stupid (6/9/2016)

"After a brief election-night promise to “bind the wounds of division,” Trump has spent his time rubbing salt in them instead. His appointments show not even a hint of inclusion. Instead, he has chosen advisers who have given vent to hate as his top White House counselor and his national security adviser, and now this remnant of the old South to guide the department in charge of citizens’ rights. There is no inclusion; there is no reconciliation; there is no compromise. Americans ignore this message at their peril. " Garrett Epps, the Atlantic, (11/21/2016)

"This whole administration is starting to look like a get rich quick scheme.” Senator Chris Murphy

"Donald Trump is a lousy businessman, but he’s a terrific conman. Many people chose Trump because they’ve been beaten down by a rigged economy and were desperate for change. They’re in for a rude awakening.

Trump is already moving towards massive deficit-exploding tax cuts for his ultra wealthy cronies. And the newly emboldened Republican majorities in Congress have our democracy and the middle class square in their sites.

We know the attacks on women’s rights and LGBT people are in the works, but they’re also talking about further gutting campaign finance laws, and Paul Ryan is already talking about dismantling Medicare!

And if some of the people being named for cabinet and staff positions in the new administration are any indication, we can expect an administration cozy to Wall Street and giant corporations, hostile to civil rights and civil liberties, and a truly radical Supreme Court nominee. " Senator Elizabeth Warren

Trump cabinet members and appointees:
In the Trump administration, conflicts of interest are basically a job requirement:
A conflicted shipping heiress runs DOT
An oil lobbyist runs DOI
A coal lobbyist runs EPA
A pharma exec runs HHS
A Boeing exec runs DOD
A Verizon lawyer runs FCC
A banking exec runs Treasury
DOT Secretary, Elaine Chao,has been caught trying to use her position to enrich her family’s shipping company. Her husband has lots of sway in US laws, too: Mitch McConnell. At this point it might be easier to ask where in this admin there *isn’t* corruption

Human Rights Watch Lists Trump as Threat to Human Rights (1/15/2017)

A Massive Election-Rigging Scandal Gave Trump the White House (1/12/2017)

Donald Trump’s New Nuclear Instability (12/31/2016)

8 Reasons Trump Could Be Impeached (12/28/2016)

Whistleblower John Kiriakou Critiques the CIA’s Behavior Following the 2016 U.S. Election (12/16/2016)

Bipartisan Group Raises Red Flags About Trump's Conflicts of Interest (12/9/2016)

Trump Taps Anti-Worker Fast-Food CEO for Labor Secretary (12/8/2016)

I didn't think Republicans could find a Presidential candidate worse than George W Bush, but they did. He represents the real ideology of the majority of Republican voters, but not the majority of the voters. Republicans represent the minority billionaire rulers. They need to keep people in fear to remain in control and they need to keep elections unfair..

At least since Reagan, Republicans have been dog-whistling to racists. Trump reflects their views, but he doesn't whistle, he shouts it right out. “Obama was not born in this country.” or “We should build a wall on the Mexican border.” or “ ban Muslims.” No wonder voter suppression works for Republicans.

“Paying no tax is smart.” Rolling back the inheritance tax will be a huge benefit for Trump and a few other billionaires and a huge loss for little people who actually do pay taxes. Regressive tax cuts do not lead to prosperity. The long-run costs of deregulation are high. Financial instability, consumer well-being, inequality, or pollution can send the system out of control.

“Roll back Obamacare.” While navigating open-enrollment complexities of private healthcare, have no doubt Republicans are preparing to privatize, voucherize, means-test, block-grant Medicare. Health Savings Accounts will be yet another boon to 'wealth managers' and a tax dodge. They will privatize or voucher Social Security or even public schools if they can. Republicans do not vote in their own self-interest.

“Torture should be more extreme.” Republicans cheered for a candidate who intends be a war criminal. Human rights are no longer part of US values.

“If we have nuclear weapons, why don't we use them ?” Republicans insisted on a trillion dollar renewal of nuclear weaponry. It's not about not the security of the people.

“Climate change is a hoax.” The science is clear now. Nature is on track for devastation, but it would not be cost effective to save the planet. Sorry kids. That's Republican 'values'.

What to Expect from the GOP

In what amounts to a coup, corporate supremacists on the Supreme Court rigged the system to respond to the funders, not the people. As Lawrence Lessig has written, we lost our Republic.

Thanks to Republicans, Billionaires won without the popular vote, even though their concerns are quite different than most peoples. Expect the alt-right to motivate the Trump administration and Republican branches of government: They will push an agenda that most people do not like. Even Republicans will find that they have not voted in their own self interest. Here's what they are about to get:

  • Republicans undermine democracy., and they do it by demonizing their opponents; propaganda from tabloids right wing broadcasters or even Russian trolls, but attacking real media as enemies of the people; removing supports for elections, packing courts, appointing foxes to oversee the government henhouse, propagandizing education, or weakening the safety net. This is accompanied by expansion of secret government and repressive 'homeland security' apparatus. Expanding military and gutting the State Department, expansion of the nuclear arsenal, removes prospects for a civilized US. Also, it keeps the people down,
  • Secrecy keeps people from knowing what government is doing. Whistle blowers will be even more harshly treated. Media will be punished severely for telling the truth.The Freedom of Information Act will be ignored whenever possible. Unfavorable data will be suppressed or removed.
  • Big tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy including an end to the inheritance tax. In return, there might be maintenance of decaying infrastructure, but much of it privatized...if profitable.
  • Large Federal deficits will result along with much more extreme income inequality, (the root of most of our problems) will game the system even more for the wealthy, corrode media, elections, education, and democracy.
  • Much needed election reform will not happen. The two party monopoly will continue to produce candidates with unfavorable ratings. The billionaires will cement their control.
  • A 'fix' to save Social Security will cut benefits. An attempt to voucher Medicare. Austerity for all social programs. There will be misery. Republicans always wanted to repeal the New Deal, and this is their chance.
  • Revoking Obamacare will further degrade U.S. healthcare and expand its bureaucracy. Woman's health services will shrink. The free-market, controlling principle: pay up or die. There will be wide-spread insecurity and unrest.
  • Redirection of public funding to private profit: schools, prisons, post office, even the military. It will in all cases be more expensive.
  • Education 'choice' will include more for-profit options that will favor religious schools at the expense of public schools. There will be no relief for debt-burdened college students.
  • Continued suppression of competition in all industries more corporate roll-ups and weakened anti-trust. Republicans like monopoly capitalism, especially in media where they can manipulate opinion.
  • Deregulation will weaken consumer protection. Trump cabinet appointments are hostile to the agencies that they oversee and are visibly dismantling them. Republican cronies will render regulatory agencies dysfunctional. There will be regular corruption and exposure of scandal as long as the press is healthy.
  • Net neutrality has all but ended.
  • Public lands privatized and exploited for resources and private profit. Public assets will be given to the politically connected for private exploitation. Fossil industries will be unrestrained.
  • Trump and his minions decline to divest themselves of outside interests so there will be conflicts of interest and frequent corruption scandals.
  • Continued anti-labor initiatives, busting of unions, and opposition to minimum wage increases will increase the flow of wealth extraction from the people and accelerate the decline of the working class.
  • The world's largest prison system will get even more privatized and crowded as 'law and order' and harsh immigration policy are enforced.
  • Universal surveillance will put a dagger into our political system as the FBI and CIA continue to interfere in elections. They'll have something on everyone, even our highest level politicians.
  • Dissidents, people of color, and other minorities will be subject to special harassment. Deportations will surge.
  • Police will continue to be militarized. Privacy will be a distant memory with the internet of things. Security everywhere will be ratcheted up at high cost to civil liberties.
  • Generals placed in high level positions will threaten civilian control of government as the State Department is hollowed out. The empire will require expansion and massive new funding of the military bubble.
  • Arms will be the leading U.S. export. The lobby will trump the people. The wilding of America will continue as media continues to strike fear into the hearts of the people. The better to increase funding for the world's largest military and weaponry and benefit war profiteers.
  • Corporations rule. That is the definition of Fascism. We've got that.
  • With a strong-man head of State, the world's largest military, world-wide empire, the US has come to have all the attributes of a fascist state.
  • The world's leading prison population, universal surveillance that would be the envy of the Stasi we have the attributes of a Fascist Police State.
  • Climate denial will allow business to continue as usual, maximum profit from fossil fuels, and accelerate the inevitable catastrophe.
  • As the U.S. continues to be the leading state sponsor of terrorism, imperialist exploiter of poor countries, and a leading polluter, world opinion will turn against us. We can be even more devastated than was Nazi Germany because our destruction will be nuclear, not conventional. If we somehow avoid that, climate change will do us in. Nature doesn't care what you think. The science is clear now.
  • The world's largest military can be justified only by demonizing someone or something: Muslims, North Koreans, Iran, China, Russians ? It is a necessity because much of the U.S. economy is dependent on an armaments bubble. Every Congressman has jobs in his district at risk should funding shrink. That's why war is necessary, and on the horizon. Trump seems willing that it should be nuclear. People will object, but they will be controlled by whatever means necessary up to and including prisons, torture, violence, or assassinations.
  • The Fascist State does not care about its people. As it increasingly relies on its military to solve problems not diplomacy, civil liberties will disappear along with social supports. Mostly the standard of living must fall.

The Company he Keeps

"Worst of the worst. Donald Trump has brought forth the worst group of cabinet nominees in the modern history of our country. People who want to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and give huge tax break to billionaires. Nominees who will ignore the needs of women, children, the sick and the poor, while bending over backwards for Wall Street and corporate America. But in many ways, Scott Pruitt, the nominee for EPA administrator, is the worst of the worst. At a time when the scientific community is virtually unanimous in telling us that climate change is real, is caused by human activity and is causing devastating problems in this country and around the world, Mr. Pruitt refuses to recognize that reality. At a time when we have to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and move to energy efficiency and sustainable energy, Mr. Pruitt wants to increase our reliance on fossil fuel. At a time when we have to strengthen environmental protection, Mr. Pruitt will be working overtime to dismember the EPA. For the sake of our children. grandchildren and the future of this planet are there not at least four Republicans who understand that Mr. Pruitt must not be confirmed as head of the EPA." Senator Bernie Sanders

Trump has populated the swamp with creatures so ugly that is a surprise that they are even native to this country.

From the high turnover at high levels of the Trump administration and the reasons for their departure, it should be clear that vetting is not one of Trump talents. He allies with other authoritarians and spurns traditional democratic leaders.

Science deniers Trump has already put in power:

Science deniers Trump has already put in power:

"Personnel is policy" and Trump is drawing from the hard right.

The Donald Trump Cabinet Tracker (3/28/2018)

Trump's Dangerous Team

Mike Pence

Larry Kudlow is usually wrong

About Trump's Cabinet

Aside from the racist, religious, misogynist, homophobic, fascist, warmongering, empire-building, oligarch, Republicans , Trump has surrounded himself with an

All Star Cast of Climate Deniers

Mike Pence VP - Christian Supremecist

Jeff Sessions - for Attorney General

Stephen Miller

John Bolton

Gen. Michael T. Flynn The real reason to worry.

Gen John Kelly

Gen James Mattis

Betsy DeVos (Secretary of Education) Note.

Rex Tillerson

Mike Pompeo

Steve Mnuchin

Rick Perry (Energy Department) Remember ? He couldn't remember he wanted to eliminate it. It oversees the nuclear weapons program. )

Scott Pruitt, Climate Change Denialist, to Lead E.P.A. (12/7/2016) Thanks Oklahoma. Enjoy your earthquakes.

Carter Page

David Friedman, named by Donald Trump as his Ambassador to Israel, is ideologically to the right of Benjamin Netanyahu. (12/16/2016)

Videos

Enemy of the People by Christopher Totten

Presidential Conflicts of Interest (Center For American Progress) CSPAN

Bibliography

American Reckoning: Inside Trump's Trial - And My Own ​ by Jonathan Alter

Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump by Miles Taylor

Tired Of Winning by Jonathan Karl

Enough by Cassidy Hutchinson

American Resistance, The Inside Story of How the Deep State Saved the Nation by David Rothkopf

I’ll Take Your Questions Now, What I Saw at the Trump White House By Stephanie Grisham

Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump by Miles Taylor

Select January 6th Committee Final Report and Supporting Materials Collection

People vs Donald Trump, an inside account by Mark Pomerantz

Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department by Geoffrey Berman

Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, by Maggie Haberman

Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind, Robert Draper

The Divider, Trump in the White House 2017-2021 by Pete Baker and Susan Glasser

DARK TOWERS, Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction By David Enrich

The Big Lie, Election Chaos, Political Opportunism, and the State of American Politics After 2020 by Jonathan Lemire

Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa

The Cult of Trump, a Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control by Steven Hassan

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump Bandy X. Lee

Insurgency, How Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted By Jeremy W. Peters

Room Where It Happened by John Bolton

Too Much and Never Enough, How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man by Mary L. Trump, PH.D

I Alone Can Fix It by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig

The despot's apprentice: Donald Trump's attack on democracy, Brian Klaas

The despot's apprentice: Donald Trump's attack on democracy, Brian Klaas (powerpoint)

What were we thinking by Carlos Lozada

LEST WE FORGET THE HORRORS: A CATALOG OF TRUMP’S WORST CRUELTIES, COLLUSIONS, CORRUPTIONS, AND CRIMES 360 page pdf

WHAT WERE WE THINKING, A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era By Carlos Lozada

TRUMP ON TRIAL, The Investigation, Impeachment, Acquittal and Aftermath By Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan

STRONGMEN, Mussolini to the Present By Ruth Ben-Ghiat

White House, Inc., How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency Into a Business By Dan Alexander

Compromised, Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump: Peter Strzok

Hiding in plain sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America, Sarah Kendzior

AUDIENCE OF ONE, Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America By James Poniewozik

TRUE CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, The Investigation of Donald Trump By Jeffrey Toobin

Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos: Peter Bergen

House of Trump, house of Putin: the untold story of Donald Trump and the Russian mafia by Craig Unger

The Fixers, Bottom-Feeders, Crooked Lawyers, GossipMongers, and Porn Stars who Created the 45th President, Joe Palazzolo and MIchael Rothfeld

Rage, Bob Woodward

Too Much and Never Enough, How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man By Mary L. Trump

Disloyal, The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump: Michael Cohen

DARK TOWERS, Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Tale of Destruction By David Enrich

American Carnage: The Wars Of Donald Trump, Melvin A. Goodman

A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig

Everything Trump Touches Dies: Rick Wilson

Proof of Conspiracy: how Trump's international collusion is threatening American democracy: Seth Abramson

Proof of Collusion: How Trump Betrayed America: Seth Abramson

Cyberwar, How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President - What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know: Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Plaintiff in chief: A portrait of Trump in 3500 Lawsuits by James D Zirin.

The Fifth Risk, Michael Lewis)

Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House is a memoir by Omarosa Manigault Newman,

Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, Chris Whipple

Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win: Luke Harding

How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

House Intel releases transcript from interview with Fusion GPS founder (1/18/2018)

Fire And Fury, Inside the Trump White House: Michael Wolff

Trumpocracy, the Corruption of the American Republic: David Frum

The People are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore: Jared sexton:

The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.: Dr Bandy Lee

Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win: Luke Harding

ONE NATION AFTER TRUMP, A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported By E. J. Dionne Jr., Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann

Introduction: The Trump administration’s approach to existential threat (10/16/2017)

The Making of Donald Trump: David Cay Johnson

Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and the Storming of the Presidency, Joshua Green

The Case For Impeachment: Allan J. Lichtman

Insane clown president : dispatches from the 2016 circus: Matt Taibbi

After the Gold Rush (9/1990) Vanity Fair

Commander in Cheat, How Golf Explains Trump: Rik Reilly

See also books about Republicans

books about fascism.

books about Russia