“It’s not going to be as bad as you think.” A close friend said this to me shortly after Donald J. Trump was elected for a second term as President of the United States in November 2024. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe that the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of the President’s devoted supporters on January 6, 2021, was in the final analysis a step too far even for someone as desperate for a second consecutive term as Trump apparently was. After all, he finally told them to stand down and go home, right?

I should have known better. Even though he had previously stated that he would look at presidential pardons on a case-by-case basis, on his first day back in office in 2025 he granted a full and unconditional pardon to 1500 individuals convicted of offenses related to events at or near the Capitol on that dark day. He also commuted the sentences of 14 criminals, including prominent members of radical groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy. In spite of my friend’s reassurance, it was going to be worse than I thought.

Before going further, I must admit that I am disappointed in the leadership of the Democratic Party, who are as much responsible as anyone for the return of Trump to the White House. Joe Biden’s cognitive decline during his term must have been obvious to plenty of people: his cabinet, his advisors, VP Harris, his good friends in Congress, and the party executives and strategists. He probably couldn’t admit it to himself, and his family would have had a difficult time convincing him to surrender the remainder of his term to Kamala Harris or even to announce early in his presidency that he would not seek a second term.

Everyone waited to change course until after Biden’s dismal and embarrassing performance in the debates with Trump. There was no choice but to seek another Democratic candidate for the White House. It was much too late in the game, and it was abundantly clear that the party rapidly pushed through the nomination of Kamala Harris to oppose Donald Trump in the 2024 election. And while she only lost by less than 2% of the popular vote, Trump swept the Electoral College, an outdated and unrepresentative system for electing the highest office in the country. States are political entities, not people. Our presidents don’t answer to our governors. States shouldn’t select our President – individual voters should. Alas, this is a topic for another post sometime, maybe.

From day one in office for his second term, Trump’s top priority was to surround himself with people who would be loyal first and foremost to him personally. A major test of that loyalty was an admission or declaration that the 2020 election was stolen and that he should have returned then for a second term. Furthermore, his appointees were all expected to support his decisions without question, even if those decisions and subsequent actions might violate existing laws, longstanding precedents, or even the U.S. Constitution. He has even extended his demands for allegiance to Republican members of Congress, threatening to replace them in future elections with candidates more in line with his administration.

From the rhetoric he spouts on social media and to the Press, Trump has repeatedly communicated his belief that any restriction on his authority as the President is illegitimate. He does not accept the concepts of Balance of Power or Checks and Balances that are firmly embedded in our representative style of government. Apparently, he is convinced that his authority is superior to both the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government. Sadly, some members of Congress and perhaps even some of our judges agree with him, along with plenty of American citizens.

Many of the people who voted for Trump believe our Republic form of government has failed them, and as a result, they are willing to grant Trump carte blanche, even at the risk of ushering in authoritarianism. They see the federal government as inefficient, ineffective, and oppressive. Trump has promised he can fix it, but only if the American people let him have complete control of the country. They truly believe that he will “Make America Great Again,” in whatever ways they define “great.”

Right-wing media have convinced a lot of people that undocumented immigrants from south of the border are a threat to national security. With his reptilian intelligence, Trump played on those fears and has placed purging the country of these “outsiders” at the top of his agenda. Illegal immigration has gone from being a problem to be addressed by the whole nation to a perceived crisis that only Trump is willing to face by defending our borders and saving our country from invasion. Trump and his sympathetic media outlets have essentially demonized millions of people living and working in the United States, turning them into enemies of the state. This is a move that comes right out of the fascist playbook, one that the Nazis used to great advantage against the Jews in their takeover of Germany.

I have grown so weary of the pseudo patriotism I see swelling across the country, with its flag waving nationalists (mostly white) whose entire proclamation of American idealism is encapsulated in a tired, worn-out country song by Lee Greenwood that includes the line, “Where at least I know I’m free,” as if the United States is the only free nation on the planet. Precious few of the proud folks who sing along have ever or will ever “stand up” and truly defend the country and the principles upon which it was founded. They either forgot them, never knew them, or have abandoned them altogether for ones they find more suitable for their vision of the future. Oh, they certainly understand the phrase “America First,” because they know what Trump really means is “America Only.” It reeks of selfishness, greed, arrogance, vanity, and narcissism – the very characteristics embodied by their chosen leader.

Call it a return to the “good old days.” Call it a revival of “Christian values.” Call it standing up for “the people.” Call it anything you want, but it looks and sounds a whole lot like fascism to me. Evil rarely manifests itself as ugly or frightening. It comes cloaked in righteousness. It wears the most attractive clothes. It says what you want to hear. It promises security and makes you feel comfortable. It delineates between Us and Them. It tricks you into believing you have been mistreated. It understands how you feel. It seeps in almost imperceptibly, as if it doesn’t really exist at all. Even now, it is slouching towards America to be born.