Americans 'sleepwalking' as Trump plots his 'agenda of revenge and retribution': conservative

04 December 2023

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Charlie Sykes, like other veteran journalists who write for The Bulwark, has spent much of his career promoting conservatism. From a policy standpoint, the Never Trumper has a lot in common with conservative Republicans of the past — including President Ronald Reagan, Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) and Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona).

But these days, Sykes — who supported President Joe Biden in 2020 — is sounding the alarm about 2024 presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, which he views as an authoritarian departure from traditional Reagan/Goldwater conservatism.

In his December 1 column, Sykes laments that way too many Americans are acting like politics are normal in the United States when Trump and his loyalists are laying the groundwork for an authoritarian dictatorship.

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On November 30, the Washington Post published a Robert Kagan op-ed with a troubling headline: "A Trump Dictatorship Is Increasingly Inevitable. We Should Stop Pretending." Sykes quotes Kagan's op-ed extensively in his column, arguing that many Americans — including Trump's critics — aren't nearly as worried as they should be.

Sykes writes, "Let's start with Robert Kagan's extraordinary warning: 'Would Trump be a dictator? And can he be stopped?' Spoiler: The answers are: (1) Yes, absolutely, and (2) Maybe not…. When he seals the nomination…. the GOP will fall into line behind a Trump 2.0 presidency. As Kagan notes, Trump is making no secret of his agenda of revenge and retribution."

The Never Trumper goes on to say that Trump will be "largely unconstrained" if he returns to the White House but laments that "we seem to be sleepwalking toward a worst-case scenario."

Sykes also quotes an article by The Atlantic's David Graham published on November 29. Graham warns that many Republicans who aren't Trump loyalists will go along with Trump's worst ideas in the months to come, fearing that they will end up in prison if they alienate him.

Graham wrote, "A candidate who is running to potentially stay out of prison is a dangerous candidate. He is not just running for his own ideology or pride; he's running for his very freedom. That warps his incentives, making him more likely to employ demagogic tactics, less concerned about the way history might judge him, and more inclined to use every avenue possible to win the election — even if it means bending or breaking the law."

Read Charlie Sykes' full column for The Bulwark at this link.

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