Absolute loyalty to the Party, and to the Party leader, is compulsory. Dissent is not tolerated. Huge rallies are held to inflame the masses. Political opponents are vilified, investigated, and threatened with prison. Media that is not complicit is denounced and threatened with being shut down, while state endorsed media is promoted by the government. Dictates sent out by the Party leader, regardless of legality, are blindly backed by the Party. Lies and distortions of truth are the norm.
You might think I am referring to the Nazi Party in Germany or the Communist Party in Russia, but, alarmingly, it is the Republican Party in our very own United States of America, in the year 2025. Along with his enablers in Congress, President Trump is well on his way to implementing every one of those policies, and those who could stop it are too afraid of reprisals from him to even raise a red flag.
Democracy, and the system of government our founding fathers created, only works if our leaders believe in it. Donald Trump has been truly clear from the beginning: he does not believe in either Democracy or the founding fathers’ government of three separate, but equal, branches of government. He has stated very clearly the President has unlimited power, and as he put it during his first term, “I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”
The system of checks and balances that was ingeniously created has no meaning to Trump, and it was reinforced when the Supreme Court – with three members he appointed – decided that a president does indeed have immunity for anything that can be categorized as an “official act.”
In just his first day in office, by executive order, Trump is setting the stage for his authoritarian presidency. The parallels to how Germany descended into dictatorship, and what Donald Trump is currently implementing, are indeed scary.
All agency Inspector Generals, who are independent officials given responsibility of overseeing audits and actions of the agency they are assigned to, were immediately fired. Even though this was blatantly illegal (since the law states to be relieved of their duties a President must submit the reasons to Congress with 30 days’ notice), they were summarily removed from their offices by security officials,
Every appointment he makes is based not on qualifications, but on loyalty. Loyalty not to the Constitution, not to the United States, but to Donald Trump. Hence a vice-president picked because he “liked me, maybe more than anybody liked me,” and a secretary of defense whose main qualification was that as a Fox News host who raved about the genius of Donald Trump. Sure, he served in the National Guard, but he never served in leadership of any organization anywhere near the size of the U.S. military. He also admittedly paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault, but that probably endeared him to Trump even more, since he did the same.
He also nominated Matt Gaetz to be attorney general, even though he was under investigation for sex trafficking of minors, as well as supplying minors with drugs and alcohol. But sure, let us make him the leading law enforcement officer in the land. After all, he is one of the staunchest defenders of Donald Trump.
As unqualified as every major nominated person may be, the worst is his deal with Elon Musk. Musk spent hundreds of millions to help get Trump elected and now enjoys free rein in running the government. He has removed people from positions of power who are not loyal enough for him, accessed government computer systems, and seems to have unchecked power. He is also very upfront with using his wealth to control the government. He threatened any Republican who voted for the debt ceiling deal with financing their opponent in the next election. Who cares that they are supposed to vote in the best interests of their constituents? They are now required to take orders from Musk and Trump.
Musk also owns a major media outlet: “X,” formerly known as Twitter. It has become a major source of support for Trump. And that is just the beginning of the takeover of the media, another major component of an authoritarian government. Fox News, as we learned from the Dominion voting machine lawsuit, in which they had to pay almost a billion dollars for lying about the election being stolen, values pleasing Donald Trump as one of the main focuses of their reporting.
Furthermore, after a meeting with Trump, Mark Zuckerberg got rid of fact-checking on Facebook. ABC News, after being sued by Trump, agreed to pay him $15 million rather than fight a lawsuit every legal expert said they would win, in order to curry favor with the king. Republican legislators in two states introduced bills to require journalists to be registered and licensed by the state, which is a concept the President has also floated.
NBC News has had their offices removed from the Pentagon. NPR and PBS are being investigated by the Trump pick for FCC chairman. The pillar of American democracy, the Free Press, is under assault – and they all are falling in line.
We all know about the pardoning of the January 6 rioters, even those who are responsible for the killing and injuring of police officers. They were loyal to him, and Donald Trump cares about nothing else. Crime and violence are perfectly acceptable, if it is in the cause of helping him get power.
Even criticism is unacceptable. Every government official who in the past criticized Trump, and not recanted, is being targeted. Anthony Fauci, John Bolton, and General Mark Milley have all had their security details removed. Generals and former government officials have had security clearances revoked, while people like Musk and others loyal to the president are granted them, even though they have serious concerns, such as close contacts with foreign, hostile governments.
Regular citizens are not immune from being targeted for their criticisms of Donald Trump. Selena Gomez expressed sympathy for deported immigrants, and several prominent Republicans have called for her to be deported. A pastor who asked for him to consider showing “mercy” on immigrants and members of the LBGTQ+ community has been excoriated for it. Again, no dissent allowed.
It is ironic how during the Obama administration, Republicans – led by Trump loyalist Lindsey Graham – sued Obama for utilizing too many executive orders, stating that “The president is not a king.” Now, with Trump’s barrage of executive orders, they no longer believe that.
Also ironic is the fact that hours after taking an oath to defend the Constitution, Trump issued several orders that directly defy it, such as birthright citizenship. It is clear in the Constitution that anyone born here is a U.S. citizen. One may disagree with that, but the founding fathers included a method to change the Constitution, and it does not include a president making the decision.
Also in direct conflict with the Constitution, Trump ordered the immediate pause of all money being spent by the government for programs he does not like. The “Power of the purse,” as it is called, is directly given to the House of Representatives. He does not have the power to override laws they have passed allocating such funds.
He has long ignored the Emoluments clause, too, which forbids a president from having business relationships with foreign governments. We cannot forget that he has blatantly stated, twice, that at times the Constitution might have to be suspended.
Extremely scary is the conducting of the undocumented immigrant purge. In a New Jersey raid in Newark with no warrant presented, American citizens suspected of being undocumented were detained and forced to show identification papers to prove they were American. In New Mexico and Arizona, a group of Native Americans were detained for two hours while they waited for papers to prove they were not undocumented immigrants. That is what happened in Nazi Germany or in Russia, where one can be stopped on the street and forced to show papers, not the United States of America.
Donald Trump, when meeting with Kim Jong Un in North Korea, said, “He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.” That day is coming. Trump has “joked” at his rallies about serving a third, or even a fourth term. He also tweeted about it. A bill has already been proposed in the House Of Representatives to allow him to run for a third term, and in Tennessee, state legislators approved a bill that would make it illegal for lawmakers to vote for policies perceived as opposing President Trump’s agenda.
People look at Nazi Germany, where an elected official, Adolf Hitler, engineered a complete takeover of the country, and say it cannot happen here. There are safeguards in place. Everything that is happening mirrors what took place there. It can happen here, and it is. If you love our country, the system of government our founding fathers created and fought for, be very scared. The time is at hand.
[Editor’s Note: We are thrilled that The Freak Show column is back, still unambiguous and wonderfully on-the-nose, and returning to our ‘pages’ every month in 2025!]
