The Fascist Playbook Has Been Announced!
The Fascist Playbook Has Been Announced!
They are not hiding it - they are touting it!
This is a Mein Kampf level Master Plan for an American dictator.
Washington DC 17 July 2023
Almost exactly a year ago, CWII, published a story about Trumps plans to destroy the civil service. Recently, he reiterated his plan to “find and remove the radicals” from the civil service. A “radical” is anyone who does not comply with his whims. See:
Today the New York Times follows up on this theme, and explores Trump’s plans for full dictatorial control of all aspects of government and the media.1 An electoral coup. Instead of his J6 paramilitaries seizing the TV news studios and broadcasting pro-regime messages (Fox and Newsmax et al, do this already anyway - so lets just focus on Earth 1 media), Trump will use the laws to seize the entire media and internet landscape. The NYT is limited in how they can characterize this astonishing plan - but CWII is not.
This is a Mein Kampf level Master Plan for an American dictator. In line with the historically hideous shamelessness of the Maga project, this blueprint is their proud election manifesto. Having killed the GOP platform in 2016, so that The Leader’s dictates could not be measured against principles that were once important to the partei, they have spent a lot of time and effort learning from past mistakes in attempting to seize control. They have cooked up an efficient and effective way to take down the “Administrative state” from the inside and replace it with dictatorship.
The “Administrative state” is Steve Bannon’s pejorative term to describe the US Constitution, separation of powers, checks and balances, and an apolitical civil service acting within the proscriptions of the rule of law.
All of these things obstruct the rule of one man over the law. This is why they must be extinguished.
Trump intends to bring the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission — under direct presidential control.
To be sure, the Federal Election Commission plan will follow once he is in office.
This will give him the authority to put news sources he does not like out of business using quasi-legal cover. Simultaneously, he will boost those that spread conspiracy theories and maga magical thinking.
Cue the massive “I love Trump” campaign on Fox News. Dictators have enemies lists and Fox has crossed him too many times. Unless they completely fawn on his like the old days - 24/7 from now past the election - at the risk of even heavier fines for lying propaganda (if the rule of law prevails in 2024) - Trump will eat Murdoch for lunch.2
Trump has repeatedly called the media “the enemy of the people”, by which he means the enemy of Himself. In Trump’s mind, Trump is the State. He is the People. He is the Nation. Anyone who does not agree, is the enemy.
He has a long history of attacking the FCC. He has been stopped before now because he did not have full control. He threatened pre-Elon twitter for fact checking him! This was no empty threat. It had the entire polity exploring whether it could be done.3 He is so fragile and pathetic that he even tried to get the FCC to go after SNL. He has learned from those experienced and will not be rebuffed when he retakes power. Then, it will be retribution time! That will be the work of government for the foreseeable future. That and creating the appearance of elections while using all the tricks learned during the dry run of 2021.
This plan is classic Trump brain washing of his followers. He accuses Biden of communist dictatorship and media control, while proudly announcing his plan to actually enact a top-down Stalin-style take over of the media. The stunning part is he can do both things simultaneously and is rarely called out for the contradiction! The mass-psychology phenomena behind this insanity is covered in depth by CWII here:
Except Biden has not seized total control of the media, civil service, judiciary, and legislatures around the country willing to do his bidding. Biden has been too busy winning a global hybrid war against Putin and Xi; reducing Trump’s covid supply chain inflation from 9% to 3%; adding 13 million jobs - a national record; and cutting the deficit $1.7 trillion during his first two years in office—the largest decline in American history.4 Biden does not have red cadres goose-stepping down Pennsylvania Ave, or forcing people to prey on children, or knocking-down peoples doors and seeing their cash and valuables for the IRS. Nor has he engaged in a grab for media power and control.
Trump on the other hand is announcing to the world this is his plan.
Biden didn’t say “I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” Trump said that.
So who is the real communist here?
Trumps plans do not stop at total control of the civil service and media. He wants everything to go through the Oval Office - even independent government bodies like the DOJ, the various “commissions” and now he has added the Fed.
Trump intends to directly control the Federal Reserve and make it “subject to White House review.” This would empower him
“to order interest rates lowered before elections, even if that would hurt the long-term health of the economy”.
It is quaint that the Times are concerned that is the full extent of Trump’s planned electoral manipulation. The reality is going to be somewhat different.
This is one of his classic rhetorical gambits. One might be forgiven for thinking people are onto this shtick by now. He will make what’s seems like an earnest statement that can be left out in the ether if it’s not challenged, but if it is, he can just bat it away saying it was a “joke”.5 It works both ways, every time. He uses word salads, says contradictory things side by side, and constantly launches trial balloons of outrageous ideas to ‘see what flies’.
As usual, the artists, in this case, satirists, perfectly capture Trump’s rhetorical technique:
Some are saying I am going to use this indictment to rile up my base so that they give me more money. Not true. Not true. I don’t want anything from my base except their love, their votes, perhaps their money. And I need their money more than ever.
Trump had a good teacher: Vladimir Ilich Lenin said — 'You probe with bayonets: if you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw'. This methodology for incrementally pushing toward autocracy is working. He floods the zone with plans for totalitarianism right next to grievances about trivial matters - treating them equally. At the same time the zone is also finally starting to fill with court cases and national security threats emanating therefrom. Few people can keep up with either flow. It’s a genius strategy and the delay of the judicial system might just be its undoing. Thanks in large part to the irresponsible delay of Garland’s DOJ.
Trump will also demand, in effect, a line item veto:
“Mr. Trump declared that presidents have a constitutional right to impound funds or refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress.”
These are just a sample of their plans to kill democracy.
Can you imagine the reaction if Obama announced just 10% of these actions. This is how Fox News reacted to Obama’s scandal-ridden presidency:
Trump has many ways to get out of his legal trouble, and either be elected in 2024 - even from prison - or seize power. For a discussion of just some of the options available to him See:
Everything maga does is done in the open and in plain sight. It is up to the public to critically assess what is happening. If all the following red flags have not been heeded what will break through?
Outright election lies based on zero evidence
Attempted coup - multi-staged and multi-pronged attempted coup including but not limited to the following overt illegal acts
Rolling the Attorney General (Barr) for failing to find electoral malfeasance - because there was none.
Proposing a replacement AG with whom he plotted parts of the coup. This included letters to be sent to state electoral authorities claiming the DOJ had found illegal schemes when they had not. In fact, the only illegal scheme was the plan to send the letters themselves, and all connected plans.
Attempting to roll the follow-on “acting” leadership of the DOJ - for not following orders to declare the election corrupt when they knew for a fact it was not.
Actual rolling of the leadership of other departments and agencies responsible for national security in advance of issuing orders to withdraw from all overseas treaties and commitments as a distraction for the on-going coup attempt.
Plans to order the military and or DOJ to seize ballot boxes.
Ordering state officials to ignore the actual vote and simply declare Trump the winner.
Pressure and intimidation campaigns of election officials in key states - both elected officials and volunteer workers who had been involved in election work for years, even decades, with completely clean records.
Mounting 60+ frivolous law suits in courts across the land - resulting in zero wins and all lawyers involved losing their law licenses and/or facing criminal charges
Ordering the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the coup in all cases before the court
Total and complete compromise of the Supreme Court. A member ruling in favor of covering up the coup is married to a key coup plotter who is in constant contact with White House Chief of Staff who passed on messages to the Putschist in Chief.
Fake elector scheme set up as premeditated plan to use Jan 6 to attempt the electoral coup
Violent storming of the legislature on the order of The Leader when his deputy failed to follow orders to overturn the election using the fake electors.
Death squads roaming the building looking to execute key leaders of the continuity of government, including one in position of the means to launch nuclear war.
Critically sensitive nuclear war plans and assessments of US vulnerability to attack are stolen and not returned. Endless lies and attempts to conceal and obstruct justice. Unknown if these files were sold, via “accidentally” leaving them where they could be accessed in a public building (deniability) that is a known spy hangout.
If none of this is enough to wake up the country, what will it take? Will the public be concerned about today’s disclosure of his plans to seize control of the media and government apparatus? Or it this just another stream in the flow that is flooding the zone? After years of this madness everyone has just zoned out?
The threat is real and continues.
Read the entire story here - CWII - is gifting the original story because it is so important to democracy.
Quotes from the NYT in this easy will be edited to their essence.
The risk would not be as high had Desantis had any success but he has tanked and is done. Chris Christie is the only hope for any sanity on the GOP side and he has at least adopted a full frontal attack - its the only way to break through and he has the skills to land the attack. Like Pence on J6, Christie might be the Republic’s unlikely only hope.
Trump constantly had America spinning off on such red herrings almost every day. It was a method of controlling the narrative. As Bannon said “the Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
CWII does not see domestic politics as a zero-sum comparison of perfect angels. That is childish thinking. The fact is Biden’s record is pretty impressive. He is getting substantive stuff done. Trump, by comparison, was all ‘executive time’ - playing golf, watching tv and calling into “the shows”. He was all propaganda no substance except that added 40% of the total debt since record began. Hundreds of thousands of people died due to his propaganda-drive inaction and negligence. Listen to the Bob Woodward tapes.
Disliking one politician does not equate to total adoration of the other and vice versa. Sentient critical thinkers can pick and choose the pros and cons and come up with a net assessment of what’s available (compared to who one might wish was running). There are things that President Biden has done that CWII has roundly railed against - the pathetic failure of the fall of Kabul being foremost among them. Trump set up the absurd deal that triggered the fall - but Biden failed to plan for a worst case scenario in fulfilling the Trump legacy. Additionally, it has since become clear that the Administration was dealing with advanced warnings of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and all of their attention was focused on that. CWII can cut them a lot of slack for that given that was a critical event of far greater immediate national security significance that Kabul. The latter matters longer term for the moral damage it did to all who served in the forever wars - it made everything post 9/11 seem futile and thus added to the misery that prompted Trump’s rise in the first place. Still, with the vast machinery of government we should have been able to do both. Once they came to office they should have started a low-key dribble of key people out of Afghanistan from the security of Bagram. The model of this is the evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsular. Having secured everyone we wanted out, and destroyed key equipment to big and heavy to move without being noticed, there should have been a final flight out of Bagram and everyone left on the ground wondering who was in charge. At a minimum Bagram should not have been given up before the final flight.
For one of the most uptight and humorless people in the world he sure does keep coming back to stand up.