A dictator is master of all he surveys. He controls nearly every aspect of his people's lives from where they can live to what they can learn, even what they can think. Some dictators have determined how many children a woman can have, how people can act - even in their own homes - where one can work and is allowed to live.
Our president, Donald Trump is taking notes. He is a dictator in training. He has many of the qualities of a dictator, (perhaps not a successful one), but nonetheless, he is in serious training.
Mr. Trump got some practice while he ran his own company and was a "boss" on reality TV. He could make a gesture or give a command and someone who didn't do his bidding was fired or in some other way punished. He could also distribute largess. This is at least as important as the punishment because the possibility of receiving acknowledgment from the boss, king, dictator promotes extreme loyalty in some, especially if the gifts are not given often and are considered of great value within the organization, effective conditioning.
Recently, Mr. Trump met alone with one of the world's current total dictators, Kim Jung Un of North Korea. Mr. Kim has been developing his dictatorship bonifides since birth. He watched his father and grandfather at work and learned well. The good little people are rewarded with nice digs in the capital while most of the rest scratch out a life on some of the poorest land in east Asia. The bad little people, (that is bad enough to be noticed), are sent with their families to concentration camps where the hell to which they are consigned is supposed to be a deterrent to the rest of the population. Mr. Trump would like such a system here, with a few minor modifications of course.
Russia's Mr. Putin, a former KGB agent, and Stalin wannabe, is a dictator who Mr. Trump admires. Mr. Putin uses a variety of techniques to keep anyone who opposes him from getting in his way and spreading the truth to the Russian population. Mr. Putin's fake news machine works overtime to make sure the people learn nothing he doesn't want them to know. His reach extends to influencing American politics too. Mr. Trump is well on the way to making this work in America. He has learned that a dictator can lie with impunity, so he is practicing to see just how many lies he can get away with. He already has a cult following that loves and believes everything he says, and a media that is afraid to challenge him, except around the edges.
The Philippines elected a president who does not care about the law. He is totally OK if the police shoot down or otherwise disappear people they "suspect" of dealing drugs. Thousands have been sacrificed to Mr. Duterte's edict. The courts turn their heads and pretend they don't see.
Mr. Trump and his sidekick, Attorney General Jeff Sessions want to be able to do the same thing. They believe that going after "drug dealers," (no matter how dangerous the drug) will clean up the cities and stop the opioid epidemic, or something. And, if the police had more power, they could shoot down the pesky people of color who mar "our cities." (Just the bad ones, you know.)
The Syrian dictator has committed atrocities on "his people" because he is desperate to stay in power. His family has been at it for a long time. Al Assad can make the people do what he wants. He has no trouble with gassing, bombing, shooting, and starving the people. Mr. Trump does not have to resort to that yet. He can just refuse aid to places like Puerto Rico after a hurricane and a thousand people at least die. He can encourage the Environmental Protection Agency to cut regulations for clean air and water, champion the increased use of coal, ignore global warming and people will die, especially the pathetic people who just can't afford to get out of the way. "Ah, isn't that too bad. They could do better if they worked harder." We must help business you know.
Separate children from their parents, Trump got that from Nazi Germany and from the U.S. treatment of Native Americans. Zero tolerance of immigrants, Trump saw that many countries did that to Jews seeking asylum at the start of World War II. Undermine the institutions of a nation, China is doing that as we speak. And, Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi are working on it together. Mr. Xi has someone from his country's recent history, Mao, to help him out. Mr. Trump depends on the slimy slugs he has surrounded himself with to guide him along the way.
There is no program that helps struggling Americans that Mr. Trump has not targeted for destruction. He gets lots of help from his sycophantic "advisors," the Supreme Court, Republicans in Congress, Republican governors and state legislatures, all of whom seem to have forgotten what it means to serve the common good. Perhaps Dictator Trump will give his followers even more power, or the illusion of it, a feeling of importance, or a hope that somehow, "those awful people who aren't like us real Americans, will be forced to go away," and, of course, "give us back our country, our white Protestant, male-controlled country."
Donald Trump is learning fast. He never learned much about history, math, economics, science, or anything else, but dictatorship 101, he is mastering with the help of his willing tutors. And, we are all paying for his tuition.
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