It’s Over
The coup that began with the Brooks Brothers riot in 2000, and then just barely failed in 2021, was finally completed last night. Trump and his unelected oligarchs are gutting the capabilities of the federal government, erasing and stealing enormous datasets of information that belong to the American people, using the DOJ to absolve themselves and their criminal cronies and persecute their enemies, and now have total control of the government’s payment systems. They are shredding the Constitution. The coup is complete.
Yes, most of this is illegal, as the lawyers continually tell us. But the courts are incapable of actually halting the coup. Trump is already violating court orders by maintaining the freeze on congressionally authorized spending. He is already violating the terms of thousands of contracts that private entities have with the federal government. Elon is just as much a serial criminal offender and serial liar as Trump; he just as narcissistic and perhaps more megalomaniacal; and, although not the wunderkind he pretends to be, he is a tad smarter than the demented dolt. Trump has spent his entire life playing the courts for fools and he will continue to do so. In fact, it is likely that the courts will merely provide the roadmap for making everything he is already doing now “legal”, just like they did with the Muslim ban. Elon spent more than $40 billion to become Acting President. A few lawyers and judges won’t stop him. They haven’t before.
The Republican party is certainly not going to stop this fascist takeover. Most of the party is totally on board with the entire project. The leadership of the Democratic party is apparently incapable of mounting any kind of real opposition. What little that remains of independent media has already largely signaled their compliance and obeisance. Those workers inside the federal bureaucracy who still remain loyal to the Constitution may be able to slow things down but can’t stop it. There may remain pockets of resistance in blue states, but they will soon be targeted both legally and economically.
The inevitable backlash from the destruction of government capabilities and services and the economic carnage created by Trump’s tariffs will not lead to a 2026 restoration of actual democratic governance but instead give the new Politburo the excuse to exert even more dictatorial emergency powers. They are already ignoring the will of Congress when they theoretically have total control. Losing the House in 2026 will change nothing for them. The revenue streams from taxes and tariffs will still be there and they, and they alone, will decide how that money is spent.
No, this can only end the way all dictatorships end. Either with a military coup and/or with people in the streets. It’s hard to even write that, but that is where we are at. Today, most Americans are unaware that our democracy has died. Increasingly, they will become aware that they have slept-walked into dictatorship. It is up to those of us who see clearly where we are today to be prepared to motivate these newly awakened citizens to become active resisters tomorrow. The longer the dictatorship has to establish its increasing control, the harder it will be to dislodge them. And we must be prepared, like the dissidents in the Soviet Union, the democrats in Ukraine, the workers in Poland, and the mothers in Argentina, to fight for years, even decades. And even then, it will take luck and a long time to rebuild true democratic governance, perchance even a better one than what we had for the first 250 years.