Authoritarian America Is happening

Since Republicans took control of both the presidency and Congress on Inauguration Day, Americans have been waking up every morning to a radically changing nation. For those not paying attention, it seems like just more of the same political posturing. The reality is that in less than a month, Republicans have taken a wrecking ball to the rule of law. Billionaires are flooding the zone with actions and edicts that were telegraphed but few took seriously before President Trump was sworn in.

Yale historian Timothy Snyder, in his book “The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe. America” outlines some of the strategies and tactics dictators have used to gain control throughout history. Using Snyder’s framework, the patterns of history he describes make it clear that the United States is on the cusp of becoming a dictatorship under President Donald Trump, with the assistance of the billionaire class, including Elon Musk.

It’s not a matter of whether this is happening or not. It is. The question is how far along are we to authoritarian rule? Each day Americans must decide if we will keep advancing toward a dictatorship or if we will self-correct and defend our Constitution. At best Republicans appear to believe this is a temporary disruption that will not get out of control and are complicit in all the Trump White House is doing. At worst, they are in on the game and willing to disregard the Constitution to assume permanent minority rule.

It's a race against time. Democrats, media, business community, farm groups, higher ed, labor unions, and the list goes on, are all making plans and spending resources as if there is plenty of time. Republicans know they have to act fast and be unified to compromise the courts, where all of this is heading. Republicans are playing by the minute. Democrats are playing by the election cycle.

Trump exhibits nearly every behavior that dictators have used for generations. According to Snyder:

Dictators create a sense of crisis either external, internal, or both. Trump has done both by demonizing immigrants (an invasion at the border), the LGBTQ+ community, minority communities, and DEI efforts. Trump, with plenty of help, has created the “culture wars.” This polarizes society, the bread and butter of dictatorships. To us, the “culture wars” is a misnomer. Persecuting marginalized groups is fascism.

Dictators undermine democratic norms and institutions. Trump has cowed nearly every Republican member of Congress into complying with his will. He’s now working on the judicial branch. Trump is continuing to undermine the checks and balances inherent in our Constitution. Purging civil servants who have taken an oath to the Constitution and replacing them loyalists is a direct attack.

Trump’s cabinet is the most unqualified in history on so many fronts. Sen. Joni Ernst’s vote for the disgraced Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense may be the most egregious betrayal of Iowans and the values she has told us she believes in. No, wait, even worse, it has to be punching down with Rep. Randy Feenstra at SNAP payments for the poorest among us, while letting the billionaire Musk capture the Treasury payment system.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the self-described “watchdog” of the public interest, shows his cowardice as he weakly objects and then capitulates to Trump’s firing of over a dozen inspector generals who are the true watchdogs of public spending.

Trump has attacked the free press for years. Much of the legacy media is either complying with his threats of lawsuits or is under threat. The Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post are cutting critical stories about Trump and softening headlines out of fear. Some of their best reporters are resigning in protest. NPR and PBS are being investigated by Trump’s FCC chief. Trump has sued CBS, ABC, CNN, Simon & Schuster Publishing, and more. Expect more lawsuits. In our own state, Trump is suing The Des Moines Register for an inaccurate poll. Kissing Trump’s ring, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and sore loser ex-Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun have joined the ridiculous lawsuit, which is really about intimidation.

Dictators cultivate a “Leader Myth,” portraying themselves as saviors and protectors of a nation, something Trump has done with the support of the “Christian” right who seek a White Nationalist “Christian” nation, which builds their loyalty and creates enemies. Much of the U.S. Catholic Church’s leadership joined the evangelicals in rallying around the idea that God uses flawed individuals as an instrument of his will in their full-throated support for a second Trump presidency.

Dictators use propaganda to create disinformation and misinformation. Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, Sinclair, the Epoch Times, and more are MAGA media. All create propaganda that portrays Trump and MAGA Republicans in only the most positive light, and sharing little of what he is doing that even the most ardent supporter would find objectionable. Contrastingly, everything Democrats do is portrayed as evil, or stupid. All of these MAGA media organizations are lying to the public.

Here in Iowa, while the news departments of WHO-Radio and WMT-Radio do a good job, their opinion programs are pure MAGA radio. Unfortunately, their legitimate news coverage tends to provide legitimacy to the hate, lies, disinformation, and divisiveness that WHO and WMT deliver to our homes, places of work, and vehicle radios every day.

Dictators also discredit political rivals through smear campaigns, imprisonment, or elimination. Look at what Trump and MAGA Republicans did to smear former Republican Members of Congress Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger when they challenged his lies and his insurrection. Trump has announced he is planning to investigate the investigators of the Jan. 6 insurrection. This list is endless.

Dictators erode the rule of law by centralizing power, enforcing only those laws that benefit them, and undermining the fairness of the legal system. Trump has asked for political interference in legal proceedings and lied about the 2020 election results, continuing to undermine the rule of law.

Dictators take control of the economy and enrich their inner circle. Trump’s grifts during his first term were endless, with son-in-law Jared Kushner receiving $2 billion from the Saudis as just one example. For his second term, Elon Musk spent $277 million to help elect him and other Republicans. Musk bought Trump. Trump’s cabinet is full of billionaires, and after the “tech bros” Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Jeff Bezos of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post have come at bended knee to Trump, they now enjoy being in his inner circle, expecting to further build their wealth in exchange for their loyalty.

Dictators normalize corruption. In addition to the examples given above, consider that one of Trump’s first executive orders made it legal to bribe politicians. Trump’s launch of his own meme coin prior to the election earned him millions, if not billions, making it easy for anyone, anywhere, to bribe him.

Dictators use violence and intimidation. Consider the Jan. 6 insurrection and his pardon of the insurrectionists, and his order to the violent right-wing terrorist group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Many of the pardoned insurrectionists are members of right-wing militia groups ready to fight anyone, any place, and any time at Trump or Musk’s command. There have been reports of senators and their families being threatened with violence.

Dictators often rise as real or fake populists, where they say they are the voice of the “common” people who fight against corrupt elites. Trump is a fake populist. His framing of government as a corrupt “deep state” not only undermines institutions, and creates an enemy, it also fuels his “populist” credentials. That Trump and his billionaire attack dogs have managed to convince much of the electorate that they are on “our side,” is the biggest con of all time.

Trump and his billionaire pals have their hands in the pocketbook of every American, and most don’t even know it yet. Elon Musk now has control of the U.S. Treasury’s payment system, which includes payments from the Treasury to federal employees and contains millions of American’s personal information that’s protected by law.

Elon Musk now has the kill switch for trillions of dollars in payments, including Social Security checks and veteran payments, Medicaid, and more. If Trump or Musk don’t like any program they can now shut it down, illegally, because Congress allocated these funds.

President Trump says Musk “can’t do and won’t do” anything without the administration's approval, which isn’t reassuring. We know permission also comes from Congress, namely Republican senators and House Members. We are now finding out if that permission also comes from the courts, and wonder if Trump will defy court orders. Why not? Who can stop him?

The U.S. is now a rogue nation on the international stage. Republicans, on behalf of Trump, are working against our own best interests. Threats of tariffs against allies, and imperialistic ambitions to take over Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal, disrupt our international alliances. Illegally shutting down USAID programs abroad and not funding foreign aid creates an opening for China and Russia to fill the void and build alliances that we need.

Trump’s suggestion to remove 1.8 million or more Palestinians from Gaza is ethnic cleansing and supported by none of our allies.

In a chilling announcement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Feb. 4 that the brutal dictatorship in El Salvador has agreed to house “violent” U.S. prisoners and deportees from any country for payment. It’s illegal to deport U.S. citizens. Human rights advocates report inmates are abused and tortured in prisons in El Salvador. While Rubio says only “violent” U.S. prisoners will be deported, there’s only one reason to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s prisons — to make them disappear. Given Trump’s rhetoric on prosecuting his political enemies, this may be among his plans for them.

This is not an unfortunate cascading of events. This is directly from Trump World’s playbook. We are in a real-time race for control of the country. And Republicans are all in. While they claim they are doing the will of the people. They are instead racing to control our nation by force using any means they can to justify their ends, which is total control.

Things are moving fast, but it’s not too late to stop Trump and his copresident Musk. As individuals, we should resist in any way we can without placing ourselves or others at risk. Offer financial support to organizations that are in the fight. Support your local free press. Write letters and inundate congressional offices with phone calls.

And to our friends and neighbors who voted for Trump — this isn’t what you voted for, and all of us need to come together to stop it.

Tell our Republican leaders to get a spine and resist. Bring all the pressure that we Iowans can on Sens. Grassley and Ernst, Reps. Zach Nunn, Miller-Meeks, Feenstra, and Ashley Hinson.

If Iowa congressional Republicans stood up and told Trump he has gone too far, other Republicans in Congress would follow their lead.

Convince our Republican leadership to join us and resist. Otherwise, history will judge them, along with Trump and Musk, as traitors.

Robert Leonard’s work can be found at his Substack: Deep Midwest; Politics and Culture. Matt Russell’s work can be found at Growing New Leaders; Perspectives from Coyote Run Farm. Both are of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative.