The Manchurian Candidate Who Got Elected President
Watching Trump’s behavior over the first month of his administration, only the most naive observer should be surprised by his betrayal of Ukraine and his embrace of Russia.
His choice of misfits, incompetents, election deniers, and conspiracy nuts for cabinet and diplomatic positions not only demonstrated his contempt for the millions of citizens who voted against him. They flagged his plans to punish and prosecute those who exposed his criminality. They also signaled his intent to pay off the billionaires who bankrolled his campaign.
But, these appointees were chosen primarily to help Trump destroy our republic and make him a dictator. So, it should be no surprise that Trump wants to embrace the mass murderer Putin and throw Zelensky to the wolves.
Who can stop him?
Will some hitherto MIA clique of courageous Republican politicians surface in time to help Democrats thwart this imminent danger to our Republic? Or will they continue to behave like frightened children?
If Republican politicians continue to enable Trump’s plan to form an “Illiberal Democracy,” what are the chances that Democrats might generate obstructive counter measures? Will they muster effective leadership and exert sufficient power to hobble Trump, or will they be the hobbled ones, cheered on by the feckless Chuck Schumer?
As for “free” markets, do the swelling legions of corporate heads who contributed to Trump’s inauguration grift foreshadow a quickening slippage into oligarchy? Will more CEOs grovel for his blessings by promising to bankroll his vanity projects in exchange for favorable tax breaks and lax regulation?
Prior to taking office, Trump employed Putin-like tactics. He bullied and threatened our allies in Canada, Greenland, and the Panama. Now his Vice-President and Secretary of Defense have berated and insulted our NATO allies. Will NATO stand up to Trump’s bullying, perhaps form a new alliance separate from America? Or will they shrink from his bullying tactics?
[Update: As of 24 February 2025, Germany’s next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said: “I would never have thought that I would have to say something like this,” but “it is clear that [Trump’s] government does not care much about the fate of Europe.” He said that his “absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.”]
Trump’s chosen Pentagon, State department, CIA, and Homeland Security heads were consciously vetted for incompetence, arrogance, personal loyalty, and sympathies with Russia. Why would any of our current allies share intelligence with them, with America? Does their patent incompetence and blind loyalty to Trump pose a danger to current FBI and CIA field agents?
Given Trump’s access to our own state secrets and those of our allies, would it be a surprise if we learned he shared such secret information with Putin?
Realistically, why would any country trust Trump’s America?
Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to enlist the U.S. military as well as the National Guard to deport twelve million illegal aliens. Might this extreme measure also be employed as a loyalty test, a ploy to coerce U.S. generals to choose between Trump and the Constitution? A trap, in other words, giving Trump an excuse to fire generals loyal to the Constitution while promoting those loyal to him — his generals?
[Update: As of 23 February 2025, Trump is firing his upper echelon generals, seeking loyalists. Defense Secretary Hesgeth is purging the pentagon of its top military lawyers.]
A number of active-duty service men participated in the January 6th insurrection. What effect would a loyalty pledge to Trump have on rank-and-file troops? Would anti-Trump factions be discharged, leaving an army loyal to Trump alone, his own Schutzstaffel? How would Trump control of the armed forces affect already diminishing recruitment? Troop morale? National security? Military readiness?
Trump stated that when elected, Americans wouldn’t have to worry about any more elections. Was he signaling his desire to curtail elections and become a king/dictator?
Having already intimidated the media principals of Morning Joe, Amazon, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, ABC News as President elect, how many more news corporations will succumb to “anticipatory obedience” and surrender their independence now that he is president?
What are the prospects for Americans’ health care under a system manned by an unqualified, brain-eaten anti-vaxxer? What are the prospects for students, teachers, families, and communities subject to an education department refereed by a professional wrestling specialist?
Having interfered in state and local elections in his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, will Trump now more effectively threaten Republican office holders nationwide who do not vitiate the voting rights of his enemies?
How will American dissidents, increasingly vulnerable to the whims of this narcissistic sociopath, effectively protest Trump’s authoritarian actions while protecting their freedoms, jobs, retirement plans, and a teetering democratic future for their children and grandchildren?
Case in point: Trump has gutted essential and well-functioning government agencies, after making fraud and corruption claims in spite of documentary proof otherwise. He has consequently fired thousands of American government employees illegally — leaving them abandoned without salaries to pay their mortgages and care for their families.
Who’s next? Even MAGA folks, who thought they were bulletproof, are now in harm’s way.
Despite this needlessly manufactured carnage, ostensibly to erase fraud and corruption, and save taxpayer money, Trump plans another major budget busting tax cut for the 1% of Americans who paid for Trump’s election.
The cruelty and the arrogance of this administration are incomprehensible.
And now, Trump has abandoned Ukraine and embraced the lies and imperial designs of Russia’s murderous tyrant. Citizen Alert: Trump is rapidly undoing the work of our founding fathers and turning America into a Fascist nation like the ones America fought and defeated in WWII. But. . . at a terrible price: 291,557 American soldiers killed; 670,846 wounded.
We should know by now:
Trump IS the Manchurian Candidate who got elected President.
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P.S. Radoslaw Sikorski for President of the United States.