Trump's first week: "Designed to destroy the United States from within"

Trump's first week: "Designed to destroy the United States from within"
America is "trapped in the ugly nexus of an abusive leader" who can't be satisfied — but must be confronted

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published January 30, 2025 5:45AM (EST)


(Salon) Donald Trump's most dangerous quality may be his honesty.

During his 2024 campaign, he vowed to rule on "Day One" as a "dictator," and promised the "most extraordinary first 100 days of any presidency in American history." He would launch a “shock and awe” campaign to enforce his will and remake American society and government in the far-right MAGA movement's desired image.

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In a bold new essay, Thom Hartmann defines the goal of Trump and the MAGA movement’s revolutionary project: “Trump is hell-bent-for-leather to turn America into a tin pot dictatorship as fast as he can, establishing the same sort of single-party state his mentors, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán, run in Russia and Hungary.”

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Steven Beschloss is a journalist and author of several books, including "The Gunman and His Mother." His website is America, America.

..... The fact that tens of millions of Americans voted to reinstall this abusive narcissist tragically underscores how pervasive racism, bigotry and the need by white Americans to scapegoat immigrants and people of color remains. But this is also part of the larger failure of an information ecosystem and education system that have bred an uninformed citizenry that fails to comprehend the danger we are now facing. In 1796, George Washington warned us in his Farewell Address that the nation would suffer without an educated electorate and with the rise of a self-serving despot who rejects public liberty.

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Cheri Jacobus, a former Republican, is a political strategist, writer and host of the podcast "Politics With Cheri Jacobus."

..... While many are claiming that Trump is doing precisely what he said he would do during the campaign, that is not entirely true. He is causing more harm and destruction than he ever hinted at during the campaign. He knew that most of what he and his allies had in store for us cannot be squeezed into even the most naive and stupid definition of "Make America Great Again" for even the most naïve, gullible and unintelligent of his cult followers. ........................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/01/30/first-week-designed-to-destroy-the-united-states-from-within/