Despite being a felon, Donald Trump prevailed over detractors to become the 47th, née the 45th, U.S. President. He broke a few laws along the way, thirty-four felony convictions, to be exact, for the hush money scheme to secure porn star Stormy Daniels’s silence rather than chance a public disclosure of their sexual affair imperiling his 2016 electability. Since Trump’s reelection, Justice Judge Juan Merchan has adjourned the sentencing phase, putting the case in limbo.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a motion to dismiss the January 6, 2020, election interference case. Additionally, he filed a motion to dismiss the appeal of the government documents case against Trump. We may never see Trump sentenced for his convictions or tried for his alleged illegal actions.
Another certainty is that Trump will fire Smith, as he glibly stated he would do when interviewed by conservative talk show host Hugh Hewett.
“I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump stated.
The Georgia Court of Appeals has canceled a hearing that was set to weigh Trump’s and his codefendants’ appeal of the Fani Willis disqualification issue, which stemmed from his criminal prosecution in Georgia. Oral arguments were scheduled to take place on Dec. 5 — a month after the election — but have now “been canceled until further notice.”
On top of all this, there is the potential impact of the Supreme Court ruling last July that the President has some immunity from legal accountability.
It all renders President Reelect Trump above the law, plain and simple, even before he takes office.
Imperator Gaius Donald Trump Augustus
Julius Caesar violated Roman law when he and his legion army “crossed the Rubicon (river)” from Gaul into Italy. I’m reminded of the U.S. Insurrection Act of 1807, which empowers the President to deploy the U.S. military and federalizes National Guard troops “to suppress civil disorder, insurrection, or rebellion” within the United States.
However, Caesar’s actions triggered a civil war in the Roman Empire as far afield as Spain, Greece, and North Africa, pitting Caesar against Pompey. As we know, Caesar was victorious, named Emperor, and granted all the power and privilege of a dictator, but only for ten years – initially. The Roman Senate wanted Caesar to quell the very chaos created by his act of insurrection. Mi capisci?
The problem with a temporary dictatorship is curtailing that unlimited power once an issue (of his making, I might add) is under control. So, the Roman Senators had no choice but to curry favor with the all-powerful Caesar starting day one. And they did to the point of eventually anointing Caesar as dictator for life. Capito.
There are striking similarities and a major difference between what transpired in 49 B.C. and 2,072 years later with Trump’s election in 2024 A.D. Caesar had to incite and fight a civil war throughout the Roman Empire to become Emperor, while Trump threatened a bloodbath if he wasn’t elected, perhaps creating his dictatorship. Why am I so certain of this today, you may ask? Caesar had to conquer all Roman institutions beginning with his act of insurrection, while Trump, thus far, only had to intimidate institutions, such as the Justice Department on both federal and state levels, to get his court cases placed in suspended animation or dropped altogether, even before his inauguration. Dio mio!
Placing yourself above the law is the very bedrock of a dictatorship. Once the hard part of becoming all-powerful in executive authority and unaccountable for any illegality has been accomplished, all else is easily achievable. Next, you put only loyalists in all the key positions throughout the mechanisms of government, from appointed Justices of the Supreme Court down. And, with some attention to certain critical details, you wake up one day a true dictator.
Lo Stato sono io. I am the State.
In addition to the Supreme Court, another accomplice to this ultimate dictatorial power grab by an individual is, like the Roman Senate, our United States Congress.
The Policy Circle states that “Today, this trend of ceding more power to the executive to allow the government to take quick action on behalf of the nation, and the trend of presidents holding on to expanded powers as time goes on to help them fulfill campaign promises, continues.” It is more than evident, for instance, in the complete abdication of oversight responsibilities by Congress to function as a check on Executive power.
This has come to be known, according to Policy Circle, as “The Unitary Executive Theory, which says that “any decision that the President makes regarding the Executive Branch would not be subject to any sort of review or oversight.”
The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!
What could push us over the edge? On the international stage, the puppet master (burattinaio) himself and Trump’s chief supporter, Vladimir Putin, said in 2021, “As a citizen of the former Soviet Union, I’ll tell you about the problem with empires: They believe they are so powerful that they can afford minor mistakes. But problems accumulate, and a moment comes when they are no longer manageable. The United States is confidently, firmly marching down the same path as the Soviet Union.”
Nikolai Patrushev, a former director of Russia’s Federal Security Service and one of Mr. Putin’s key advisers, said of the United States in a 2023 interview, “Projects like Black Lives Matter and the rampant promotion of transgender theories are aimed at the spiritual degradation of a population already in a state of apathy.” He further said, “Ordinary citizens won’t lift a finger to preserve America’s unity, knowing they mean nothing to their own government. Without understanding the consequences, the U.S. authorities are destroying themselves step-by-step.”
In a recent New York Times editorial by Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar, who defected to the U.S., wrote: “To the Kremlin, the Democratic Party has become excessively dogmatic, resembling the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in its final decade: an arrogant steward of a bankrupt belief system, stumbling toward a fall.”
And this is not just talk. The Kremlin is doing everything within its power to propagate this propaganda on social media. We’ll see if a dictatorship knows how to make one out of its enemy in order to destroy the enemy.
All the pieces are in place today in one of the oldest democracies and greatest republics of modern times to be transformed into an absolute dictatorship – maybe. It could be that we react to a Trump dictatorship like those local Tokyo Chick restaurant patrons who demanded the Trump flag in the window be removed, sending the eatery into online chaos and YELP oblivion.
For us, will it be “Hail Trump” or “Et tu, Brute?”
Intanto all’improvviso mi viene voglia di una pizza alta. Ciao.
