There are a lot of warning signs when a leader starts drifting toward authoritarianism. These signs include but are not limited to:
Corruption!
- Like stealing taxpayer money to build a ballroom…or reward political allies.
- Like creating a $1.8B slush fund to use to compensate loyalists and/or pay for favors.
- And making sure that when your Department of Justice announces this slush fund as a result of a lawsuit you won against the IRS, making sure it includes language that basically says “we are not responsible for any crimes committed with this money.” Which is…comforting.
- Or leveraging the office of the president to the tune of nearly $4 billion. We’re talking about a $400 million jet from Qatar. About $243 million in profits are tied to crypto deals involving the United Arab Emirates. Tens of millions more from real estate deals in Saudi Arabia.
Another classic sign? An obsession with putting your name and face on everything.
- Gold coins.
- The Kennedy Center.
- Federal buildings.
- A giant gold-accented “Arc de Trump” monument literally no one wants.
Then there’s the authoritarian greatest hits album:
- Attacking courts when they rule against you.
- Calling elections “rigged” whenever you lose.
- Undermining universities, journalists, watchdogs, and civil servants.
- Demanding personal loyalty above competence, ethics, or the law. And then vowing to unseat any elected official who speaks out against you.
- I could go on, but you get the idea.
The good news is: we still have elections. And we still have the ability to fight back.
That’s exactly why Midwest Values PAC is working to elect Democrats and progressives up and down the ballot, flip the House and Senate, and hold Trump and his henchmen accountable before this gets even worse.
Al
P.S. One of the nice things about democracy is that you usually don’t need giant gold monuments to yourself. Just saying.
