Trump’s Plan Is Now Out In the Open

A strong critique arguing that former President Donald Trump has made clear his intentions for an unprecedented and potentially authoritarian second term, raising alarms about the future of American democracy.

Key Concerns Regarding Trump’s Plans

Military and Law Enforcement Politicization:

Building a paramilitary force and invoking wartime powers like the Insurrection Act to deploy the military domestically.

Suggestions of ordering the military to summarily kill suspected drug smugglers without legal justification.

Purging the military, including firing senior judge advocates general (JAGs), allegedly to remove officials who might obstruct unlawful orders.

Expansion of Presidential Power:

Trump views himself as the final arbiter of legality, asserting that the President’s and Attorney General’s opinions on law are controlling on all executive branch employees.

Concerns that Trump’s actions are acclimating people to the notion that the military is his private army, unconstrained by law.

Attacks on Institutions and Opponents:

Conducting a “punishing government crackdown” against major American media institutions, including suggesting the FCC revoke licenses.

Targeting law firms and universities for political/ideological reasons.

Firing the nonpartisan Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics over jobs numbers.

Granting blanket clemency to nearly 1,600 people charged in the January 6th Capitol attack.

Pressuring the Department of Justice to target, indict, and destroy political enemies.

Subversion of Elections:

Using government levers to target the financial and legal machinery of the Democratic Party (e.g., investigating ActBlue).

Planning to “lead a movement” to outlaw electronic-voting machines and mail-in balloting.

Concerns that he will attempt to rig the next election and may seek a third term in defiance of the Constitution.

Broader Implications and Call to Action

The author asserts that America has lost its moral bearings and standing in the world, with a “curtain of darkness… settling over our nation.”

Trump has placed loyal MAGA cultists in key positions of power, who will follow him, often with the expectation of a presidential pardon.

There’s little indication that central institutions, including the Supreme Court, are willing or able to effectively check Trump’s pursuit of “unprecedented and nearly unlimited power.”

The fate of the country depends on more than electoral politics; it requires a recovery of republican virtue, an “active passion for the public interest,” and civic courage to defend democracy against a sustained assault.