On Nov. 5, 2024, America made its fateful decision. The Associated Press called the election to favor Republican nominee Donald Trump early Wednesday morning, having him rise to power as the President of the United States of America for the second time.
I woke up in the morning to what felt like raucous applause, but what were really Instagram stories of my peers saying “God Bless America” and “Take America Back.”
The only thing I can think of in the wake of the election is to ask myself whether these people actually know what a Trump presidency is. The worst part about it is that I don’t even blame them for not knowing.
Trump has been startlingly vague about his intentions on the campaign trail. This was most prominent during the presidential debate where he said that he has “concepts of a plan” in response to a question about healthcare.
What are these concepts? What is this plan? Why is he being so obscure about it?
Trump spoke to Fox News in a 2023 interview.
“No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator,” he said.
On day one, Trump said he would cause mass deportations, start drilling for oil and firing special counsel Jack Smith who indicted him for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
This might seem fine, or even appealing, to Trump’s supporters. I can see why MAGA conservatives want a closed border. They do not believe in climate change and if Trump has to be a dictator for a day to achieve that, so be it.
Here’s the issue.
Dictatorships begin with someone being a “day one dictator.” They create a narrative that they will “fix” the emergency crises that are happening socially and economically in that country, they first need the power to do it.
Then they retain that power because it is simply too good to give up.
When Trump says that he will “fix it” for Americans, he really means fixing things for himself. Trump now has the ability to stack the Supreme Court with conservative justices who owe it to him to carry out his agenda long after he is done running for office. He can reinstate Schedule F, which will terminate the positions of federal workers and replace them with loyalists.
The Senate is now Republican-dominated as well, with no one to stop him from carrying out these outrageous demands on our Constitution. When the scales tip in Trump’s favor every time, checks and balances become more obsolete.
But at least he didn’t denounce God at a rally, right?
I have hesitated to call Trump a dictator. It is a serious word with a heavy meaning that seems inherently un-American and inconceivable in a country with so many obstacles in place to get there. But he said it himself, so it is only fair that the rest of us acknowledge this to be who he is. He has not hid it. He has not said it in an enclosed room with only his most trusted advisors. He said this in an interview with Fox News. He has told Americans who he is and relies on his privilege and the manipulation of conservative sentiments to carry this out.
A Trump presidency is a testing of our democracy. It is allowing conservative traditions to stick for the majority of our lifetimes. It is the sentiment that blue-collar criminals can rot in prison without having the right to vote but a white-collar criminal can win an election. It affects journalists, union workers, federal workers, members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, minorities and middle-class workers.
Trump does not love you. He does not love God. He doesn’t care if you live or die, only if he can die with a legacy that shows history that we let a man have unchecked power in a country founded on checks and balances.
