All Hail Chairman Trump!

“Not that I don’t have — I would — the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States.’

— Trump responding to a question about deploying the National Guard to Chicago during his three hour and fifteen minute Politburo Cabinet meeting on 22 August 2025.

For too long I have used this space to express my concerns that we are on the road to an authoritarian regime. Perhaps most of you are tired of hearing about it. Frankly, I am tired of thinking about it. Besides, I no longer think that we are on the road, we are there. Trump has succeeded in becoming a de facto dictator. He announces absurd and illegal actions and his henchmen go out and execute his plans without hesitation. Legally, papal announcements, royal decrees and presidential Executive Orders are not permanently binding dispatches in the United States. Laws passed by Congress take precedence, as do court decisions, as does the Constitution, but so far, no one has blunted Trump’s blatant disregard for the rule of law. He has created an authoritarian regime. We are living our worst fears. It’s just that the majority of our population has yet to realize it.

I think of my visit to Normandy, France and listening to the stories that were told about the occupation by the Germans. On many of the farms, day to day life went on as normal. No interaction with the Germans. Until there was, and then it was bad. I feel that most Americans are going about their busy days unaware of the changes to our democracy. I fear that they will not get involved or even know what is happening until it is too late. This is most definitely not “just politics.”

I do not want to get your hopes up, but I will be surprised — shocked even — if there are free and fair elections in 2026. Trump is already pushing national voter identification for voting along with doing away with mail-in ballots (sorry military folks, you won’t be able to vote) and voting machines — paper ballots counted by hand, only. All of which is blatantly against the Constitution but then, why let a dusty old document get in the way?

Is it not interesting that Trump deployed the National Guard — about 2,200 so far — to our nation’s capital where it would be possible to block the seating of a new Congress should he not like the results? I also find it interesting that all of the cities that he wants controlled by the National Guard are Democrat run cities with black mayors. Why, with the language that he uses, one might wonder if he is racist. Statistics do not make people feel safer, but they show that “red” cities and states have worse crime rates than most of the “blue” cities and states that he rants about, as I have written about before.

There is a saying that if you control the institutions you control reality and then you can create your own facts and rewrite history. Trump is far down the road on doing just that. Ask yourself how things are going with the following:

• The Center for Disease Control (CDC)
• National Institute of Health (NIH)
• The Smithsonian Museum Complex
• The Kennedy Center
• Ivy League Colleges
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
• The Federal Reserve
• U.S. Military Academies
• The National Archives
• The Library of Congress
• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
• The National Weather Service (NWS)
• The U.S. Department of Education
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
• The Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
• The Voice of America (VOA)
• The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Need I go on?

All are in disarray or being disbanded. It is hard to figure out whether it is incompetence or just cruelty that drives their actions. Probably both.

It isn’t just D.C. streets that he wants to take over. He is striving to dictate every facet of our lives and our culture from museums to plays to universities to health care. He is already well on his way. If you are loyal to him and his whims you will do just fine. If you do not play along, he will attack you with the full weight of the federal government. Here is an example of the shady dealings he undertakes. We are all aware of his tariffs against certain countries he likes or dislikes. I doubt most Americans know that he approved exceptions for companies to trade with China based on what looks like extortion. Last month Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. each got permission to trade with China — despite a ban on selling microchips to China — in exchange for 15% of their revenue. Recently he reached a similar deal for 10% of Intel, another chip maker. Already on the books was approval for Japan’s Nippon Steel to merge with U.S. Steel in exchange for a “golden share” for the president. A golden share essentially gives the president veto control over the company’s decisions. Seems like the president is moving towards nationalizing our means of production. In the old days they would call that socialism. But then, only Democrats are socialists so that couldn’t be it.

To fully grasp where we are I found it necessary to try and understand the foundation of his loyalists’ view of our great country. In their telling, the American Revolution was the only important event in our history. Wealthy white men — “Christians” in current mythology although many were not in the same way as they are portrayed — were the founding fathers. There vision was perfect in today’s revised story. Wealthy white men were in charge and they set up a nation to reward other wealthy white men. Only the Declaration of Independence is relevant to the Pete Hegseth’s of the movement. The words “to form a more perfect union” mean nothing to them. It was already perfect — at least it was until women and black folks got into positions of power. Therefore, for example, the Smithsonian museums need to conform to their vision of history. Anything that reflects the long history of trying to achieve a more perfect union is too negative and does not align with what they consider the “the real” elements of our national history. The good parts. When men were men and all women and minorities knew their place. Taxes are an abomination because hard working rich white men are having their money taken from them to provide for the poor in the form of education, health care, infrastructure, welfare and all other forms of social support. All men are not created equal. (I have always wondered why, if it is such a good deal because of all the “free” stuff that they get, why don’t more people strive to be poor?)

Do you think I am exaggerating?

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s pastor preaches white Christian nationalism. He reposted a CNN interview that clearly reveals that the church he belongs to espouses that women should not have the vote and that their place in society is to stay home and raise children. A view held by many in the Project 2025 movement. They also believe that our museums and history lessons should reflect the fact that there was a real mutual affection between enslaved people and their masters. After all, thanks to their master’s generous contributions many slaves learned a profession. They should be grateful. Recall that the Secretary has been firing black men, women and a few white men for being too “woke.” These were career military officers that rose to the top of their profession by doing the hard jobs. Our nation is in danger as a result.

I am not attacking the Secretary’s choice of places to worship. I am attacking his world view, that he has espoused in many forums, both before and after confirmation to the office, that denigrate the role of women in our modern world. He fits completely with the tenets of Project 2025 that our country should be a white, Christian nationalist world run by men.

It is affirmative action for white men. There is no room for the “others” or their stories. Only the white story is the American story.

The take over is real and we are living the reality. Is it too late? I do not know. I do know that sending the military into America’s cities on a false pretext of fighting crime is an extremely dangerous situation. I feel sorry for the men and women of the National Guard (and maybe regular Army soldiers and Marines if Trump has his way). They do not want to be there. They are not trained for the assignment, their mission is ambiguous and they are being used as props for photo ops so that Trump and his minions can project a sense of authority. It is actually a sign of weakness.

This is the same weak con man that said in Alaska that Vladimir Putin was ready to seek peace with Ukraine. Since then, the Russians have pummeled Ukraine and the capitol in Kyiv with the worst rocket and drone attacks of the war. The Russians even purposefully bombed a U.S. owned manufacturing plant in Ukraine. Trump’s response? Nothing. Only that he was “not happy” about the bombing but that in “two weeks” we will find out which way the war is going and that he “better be very happy.” Those two weeks are almost gone. I am sure that his good buddy Vlad is very worried.

I know I am.