signalmankenneth
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Former President Donald Trump appeared on a town hall hosted by Sean Hannity, his phone buddy at Fox News, on Tuesday night. It would be hard to imagine a friendlier environment for Trump. So it was remarkable when the likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee took a softball question and went the other direction.
“Do you in any way have any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power? To break the law? To use the government to go after people?” The host referred to a wave of recent reporting that highlighted Trump’s authoritarian goals if he retakes the White House next year, which would build on the authoritarian steps and impulses he took during his first term.
The easy, normal answer would have been to say, “Of course not, Sean” or “I love American democracy.” Trump tried to evade the question at first by complaining about President Biden, but Hannity was unusually determined to get a straight answer out of him. He circled back to the subject minutes later: “You are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”
Hannity was practically begging Trump to deny he would ever do such a thing. Alas, Trump refused to take his cue.
“Except on Day One,” he , to half-hearted cheers and laughs from the friendly audience. The former president seemed to find the whole thing amusing. “This guy, he says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’” Trump joked to the crowd, motioning at Hannity. “I said, ‘No, no, no, other than Day One.’ We’re closing the border. And we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”
You should not find that last line to be very reassuring. Trump, for all his lies, is being remarkably candid about what will happen if he wins in 2024. He will govern this country without any regard for the rule of law, and he will jail anyone who tries to stop him. His campaign platform is dictatorship.
This is not hyperbole. In fact, Trump and his allies have boasted about their extremist plans for a potential second term. To recap: Trumpworld is scheming to install ideological loyalists throughout the federal government, purge the civil service of any dissenters, centralize all power in the executive branch, and unleash the Justice Department on Trump’s perceived political enemies with sham prosecutions.
Kash Patel, a Trump aide during his first administration, hopes to be one of the foot soldiers in that campaign. Patel held minor roles in the Justice and Defense Departments and served on the White House’s National Security Council. He is also among the Trump aides who has spent the Biden administration in the far-right think-tank ecosphere plotting their return to power.
“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” he said Tuesday on a podcast hosted by Steve Bannon, another close Trump adviser. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections—we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”
The Trump campaign tried to distance itself from Patel’s comments on Wednesday, but there is little reason to believe it. Much of what Patel said is also what Trump has said. The former president promised last month to wipe out all the “vermin” who opposed him, apparently referring to his political opponents. Many of his posts on his Truth Social website are harangues against the various people who’ve wronged him.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-dictator-day-one-every-214947348.html
“Do you in any way have any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power? To break the law? To use the government to go after people?” The host referred to a wave of recent reporting that highlighted Trump’s authoritarian goals if he retakes the White House next year, which would build on the authoritarian steps and impulses he took during his first term.
The easy, normal answer would have been to say, “Of course not, Sean” or “I love American democracy.” Trump tried to evade the question at first by complaining about President Biden, but Hannity was unusually determined to get a straight answer out of him. He circled back to the subject minutes later: “You are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”
Hannity was practically begging Trump to deny he would ever do such a thing. Alas, Trump refused to take his cue.
“Except on Day One,” he , to half-hearted cheers and laughs from the friendly audience. The former president seemed to find the whole thing amusing. “This guy, he says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’” Trump joked to the crowd, motioning at Hannity. “I said, ‘No, no, no, other than Day One.’ We’re closing the border. And we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”
You should not find that last line to be very reassuring. Trump, for all his lies, is being remarkably candid about what will happen if he wins in 2024. He will govern this country without any regard for the rule of law, and he will jail anyone who tries to stop him. His campaign platform is dictatorship.
This is not hyperbole. In fact, Trump and his allies have boasted about their extremist plans for a potential second term. To recap: Trumpworld is scheming to install ideological loyalists throughout the federal government, purge the civil service of any dissenters, centralize all power in the executive branch, and unleash the Justice Department on Trump’s perceived political enemies with sham prosecutions.
Kash Patel, a Trump aide during his first administration, hopes to be one of the foot soldiers in that campaign. Patel held minor roles in the Justice and Defense Departments and served on the White House’s National Security Council. He is also among the Trump aides who has spent the Biden administration in the far-right think-tank ecosphere plotting their return to power.
“We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in government but in the media,” he said Tuesday on a podcast hosted by Steve Bannon, another close Trump adviser. “Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections—we’re going to come after you. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”
The Trump campaign tried to distance itself from Patel’s comments on Wednesday, but there is little reason to believe it. Much of what Patel said is also what Trump has said. The former president promised last month to wipe out all the “vermin” who opposed him, apparently referring to his political opponents. Many of his posts on his Truth Social website are harangues against the various people who’ve wronged him.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-dictator-day-one-every-214947348.html
