There were lots of reasons back in 2016 to fear a Trump presidency, but the biggest one for me has always been his thirst for unlimited power and desire for absolute rule. A Trump presidency was always a threat to democracy.
While he’s done plenty of damage in 4 years, it has so far not been enough to complete his dictatorial dream. And he’s well-aware of that. That’s why he has plans to “fix" this immediately if he’s re-elected.
A key part of the authoritarian playbook is to purge and install loyalists to head up law enforcement, spy agencies, and the military. 4 years hasn’t been enough time for Trump to accomplish all that, but it’s at the top of the agenda if he gets a 5th. According to Axios, Trump plans to fire the heads of the FBI, CIA, and the Pentagon after the election.
This is predictable yet terrifying. And the reason for the purge is exactly what we’d expect.
Unsurprisingly, a core factor in the president’s desire to replace these officials is their failure to blindly follow Trump in some of the conspiracy theory-fueled investigations he has sought to launch against political opponents.
He wants people to help him investigate, and presumably jail, his political opponents. And it almost goes without saying that he would also be free from oversight. If that’s not bad enough, the report goes on to state:
Anyone who does survive the pending November purge should expected even more “loyalty tests” moving forward
To this end, Trump recently signed an executive order to make it easy for him to fire civil servants that he deems disloyal.
The President has vilified some career officials as the "deep state" during his term and sought to rid the federal government of people he views as anti-Trump. Critics warn that the order would allow the President to fill the federal workforce with his cronies and reverts the country back to a spoils systems.
Chilling.
If any doubt remains that the future of democracy is at stake in this election, this should erase all of it. Trump must be booted out of office so hard on Nov. 3 that he doesn’t know what hit him. Joe Biden is right in saying that the soul of America is at stake. And it’s more than just the soul. It’s the Constitution. It’s the rule of law. It’s all that makes America great.
This is a 6-alarm fire. Nothing is more important right now than voting and GOTV. Losing is not an option.