Friday, January 11, 2019

Martial Law

In America, the president has enormous power. Trump will use those powers not only for personal financial gain at home and abroad, but to stifle opposition to his regime. The chief opposition to Trump is law enforcement because Trump, his family and their associates have committed serious felonies before the election of 2016, during the transition, and following his inauguration.

The mainstream press has focused on the Mueller investigation as the single potential solution to the problem of Trump. Under this interpretation, no matter what else goes wrong in the U.S., so long as the Mueller investigation continues and his investigation's magical report may be issued - the U.S. is not in an existential crisis.

But it is. The Wall Street Journal report on continuing Russian cyberattacks reminds us that the U.S. is made extremely vulnerable because we have a president who can not be trusted to act in America's interests, but can be trusted by Putin to act in Putin's interests. Our mainstream press has no journalistic standard that allows them to consider the president as anything other than the chief player on one side of a binary functioning democratic system with two equal and opposite sides, both of which act in the interests of the U.S. , but who have different political philosophies that are equally valid in all circumstances. Under that lens, a president who acts solely in his personal financial interests, and who is happy to commit crimes can not exist in nature. It just can not be.

Trump's incrementalism is plain for all to see. He began his term in office by appointing a mix of family members, campaign loyalists, people with Russian ties, and a smattering of generals and traditional Republican party operatives. The generals were there for a combination of optics and as a test of loyalty - could the generals be counted on to maintain loyalty throughout the military when push comes to shove? Meanwhile, the Republican party operatives were mostly there for window dressing - no way would Sean Spicer and Reince Preibus last long. But they, too, were window dressing - see, this is only a little different from a normal Republican administration. Meanwhile, there was no question that the long arm of the law would head towards team Trump. That meant the greatest threats - the Justice Department and FBI needed to be wrestled to the ground. In short order, Trump was able to eliminate or sideline some of the FBI's most effective leaders in Comey, McCabe, Strzok, and Bruce Ohr. (And no coincidence that this plays into Russia's goal of eliminating the U.S. ability to withstand their cyberattacks.)

As now Trump has succeeded in consolidating power within his administration. Only lackeys and sycophants remain. Predictably, a leader who can only remain in power by authoritarian means in a democracy will need to impose marshall law at some point to avoid removal by the normal operationo of the legislature and the courts. But the imposition of marshall law requires a reason, or at least an excuse...like the claim that there is an emergency, such as a flood of enemies massed at the southern border trying to enter illegally to cause harm.

Today it is a false claim of a national emergency. But tomorrow the national emergency will be any attempt by the legislature - or the people -to remove the president by legal means. If a false emergency can be declared, nothing would stop this president from signing a declaration that suspends the 2020 elections. One way or another, Trump's incremental approach to consolidating power will lead to a state of martial law in the U.S., whether or not that is the term he uses.

This is not to argue that Trump's incrementalism is a carefully calculated and orchestrated approach - that he thinks to himself - "I see where this is going and will have to declare martial law someday, but what do I need to do today to get there?" Or, "I see where this is going and I will have to suspend elections in 2020. What do I need to do today to get there?" Rather, it is a matter of Trump doing whatever works for him today, personally, and without regard to any future consequences whatsoever,  based on the assumption that his next step will be regarded as only incremental and not as part of a developing scenario - by Republicans in Congress and the mainstream press alike.  And those two players - Republicans in Congress and the mainstream press are both setting up America for a complete breakdown of our basic governmental systems and processes, just as Trump is doing. Trump is actually the only player among those three who is behaving strategically, in the sense that he knows that his short term thinking approach has always worked to his personal advantage in the long run, no matter what else happens. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress and the mainstream press have willingly locked themselves into a system that is designed to protect Trump in all circumstances. That is, unless the magical "Mueller report" transforms America and saves us all.


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