Note: This post is written in deep sadness and real horror about what is now fully underway. A few people seem to be waking up to the reality of what is now upon us. Most still don't grasp the seriousness of our situation.
The frenzied activity since the swearing-in in Jan. 21 is breathtaking in scope and intensity. Biden's legacy that can be attacked by EOs (Executive Orders) is being obliterated with ferocity. American democracy and the rule of law are under open, full blown attack on many fronts. DJT and his MAGA wealth and power movement are openly expressing anti-democratic sentiment both symbolically and in concrete anti-democratic actions backed by political power.
I start with this symbolic but blatant attack on the US Constitution by DJT. Various reports indicated that the text of the US Constitution on the White House web page had been taken down shortly after the swearing in. That didn't seem credible. But when I went to the link, https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/the-constitution/, the Constitution was in fact gone and replaced by a 404 error message. It was still gone as of the time I write this.
Copied 1/24/25, 6:17:13 AM,
Pacific Standard Time
Obviously, the non-alarmists will say something about like this: "Aw shucks and golly young feller. Hold your horses. Go milk the cows or slop the hogs or something. This is just a computer glitch. It doesn't mean diddly squat. You're overreacting to the point of insanity. Calm down."
Hm, maybe so. But I don't believe it. This is no computer glitch. In my firm opinion, this is a crystal clear AK (authoritarian kleptocrat) signal.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile over at the presidential actions web page, and in federal agency actions, we are seeing a slew of nastiness gushing out of this AK administration. One crystal clear example of an a move that is both authoritarian and kleptocratic, DJT reinstated schedule F for federal employees. Biden had got rid of it.
The EO reinstating Schedule F for federal employees, titled "Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce," was issued on January 20, 2025. It strips employment protections for federal workers in positions deemed to be of a "confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character." That sounds like it covers just about all federal employees. The order reclassifies these employees into the excepted service, making them at-will employees. They are now easy to fire or any reason or no reason. This action is necessary to get rid of federal employees who are not seen as sufficiently loyal to DJT. They will be replaced by AK people loyal to DJT. This comes as no surprise.
In other action, the Justice Department stopped all civil rights lawsuits. The memo doesn’t say how long the freeze will last, but it essentially shuts down the civil rights division for at least the first weeks of the AK administration. The DoJ cannot not pursue new indictments, cases or settlements related to civil rights. I have warned over and over and over that DJT and MAGA would target civil liberties and move to limit them as much as the authoritarians could get away with. This comes as no surprise. The WaPo commented:
“It’s beyond unusual — it’s unprecedented. We’ve never seen this before at this scale with any transfer of power, regardless of the ideology of any incoming president or administration,” said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This should make Americans both angry and deeply worried. This is more than just a changing course of philosophy — this is exactly what most people [in the civil rights community] feared: a Justice Department that was created to protect civil rights literally abdicating its duty and responsibility to protect Americans from all forms of discrimination.”
A January 21, 2025, EO entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” revokes EO 11246, a 1965 order that prohibited discrimination by federal contractors and required affirmative action to ensure equal employment opportunity. That earlier EO required federal contractors with at least 50 employees and a single contract of $50,000 or more to develop an Affirmative Action Program. This new EO also puts restrictions on the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, prohibiting it from “[p]romoting ‘diversity’ ” or “[a]llowing or encouraging Federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.” This is part of MAGA's goal of completely obliterating DEI and anti-discrimination laws that protected various minorities. This comes as no surprise.
Evidence of authoritarianism is in DJT's clemency grant for all ~1,500 rioters charged in connection with his 1/6 coup attempt.
Evidence of kleptocracy is in DJT's EO that declares a national energy emergency. There is no actual energy emergency in America, but there is a high incentive for DJT to favor fossil fuels in return for massive "gratuities" (bribes) from the fossil fuel sector. The EO covers “energy” or “energy resources”, meaning crude oil, natural gas, lease condensates, natural gas liquids, refined petroleum products, uranium, coal, biofuels, geothermal heat, the kinetic movement of flowing water, and critical minerals, as defined by 30 U.S.C. 1606 (a)(3). Notice that neither wind nor solar are included in DJT's faux emergency. The purpose of this EO is laid out in a pack of insulting lies and slanders:
Section 1. Purpose. The energy and critical minerals (“energy”) identification, leasing, development, production, transportation, refining, and generation capacity of the United States are all far too inadequate to meet our Nation’s needs. We need a reliable, diversified, and affordable supply of energy to drive our Nation’s manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and defense industries, and to sustain the basics of modern life and military preparedness. Caused by the harmful and shortsighted policies of the previous administration, our Nation’s inadequate energy supply and infrastructure causes and makes worse the high energy prices that devastate Americans, particularly those living on low- and fixed-incomes.
I could go on and on. People either see serious anti-democratic threat in all of this or they don't.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
THINKING INSIDE THE DJT BOX:
A MAYHEM THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
What could a lying, naughty, authoritarian US president with a short temper, absolutely no morals other than self-interest and a profoundly kleptocratic personality do? Specifically, DJT thinks to himself, what can I do and how much can I get away with? The thinking might go something like this:
DJT thinking to himself: US presidents now have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions that are within the president's "core constitutional powers." Ha! That was Trump vs US. I beat US in that one by God. My core constitutional powers include commanding the armed forces, granting pardons, dealing with foreign relations and executive power to appoint and remove executive officers, issue executive orders, and manage national affairs. For actions that are within the "outer perimeter of my official responsibility", an undefined concept but not part of the core constitutional powers, I get at least presumptive immunity. This means that the government must show that criminalizing such an act poses no "dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the Executive Branch" to overcome this immunity. A president has no immunity from prosecution for any unofficial actions, which are acts not taken in his official capacity as president, but those actions are also not defined.In civil lawsuits, a president is absolutely immune from actions for civil damages for all acts within the "outer perimeter of his official duties", as established in Nixon v. Fitzgerald.In terms of bribery, heck, the USSC legalized it in June 2024 in the case Snyder v. United States. The only wrinkle is that the payoff has to come after a president has done something that someone is willing to pay enough for. That's no big deal. A wink, wink, nudge, nudge before I act is a no-brainer. Everyone knows how the power and money game is played.Hm, the USSC is itself pretty much authoritarian kleptocrat. It is very much on my side. I put them there, so they owe me bigly. If there is doubt of criminal or civil liability, the USSC will resolve it in my favor. After all, they protected me from prosecution for my 1/6 coup attempt, they gave me a huge amount of new immunity and they legalized bribery. Geez, what more could I want? My back is covered on the legal front.Hm, I can also order my people to break laws and take money for their own benefit, provided they cut me in. I can pardon them if they get caught, so no big deal there.What about the billionaires? Me and Musk are tight. We're good for now. I scared Bezos into shutting WaPo up about Harris before the election. I scared Zukerberg into stopping that fact checking nonsense on Facebook. Ha! That one was really great! Zuckerbucks, what a wuss. Now the lies and slanders are gonna flow fast and furious. I love it!
The American people? Nah, they won't wake up in time to do diddly. Me, MAGA and our huge demagoguery machine can keep them distracted and at each other's throats for a long time. Maybe they'll never wake up.. . . . . . . Fuck, I'm golden! I can get away with just about anything and no one can touch me. This is gonna be fun. And, it's my last, best chance to just be me . . . . . .
Q: Is that a plausible approximation of DJT's thinking?
