Ray Dalio, founder of hedge fund investment firm Bridgewater Associates, said President Donald Trump carries every characteristic of a 1930s-era Mussolini or German fascist leader, particularly regarding his methods for expanding presidential power.
“When I say that the policies President Trump is using to ‘make America great again’ are remarkably like the policies that those of the hard-right countries in the 1930s used, that should not be controversial,” writes Dalio, who predicted the 2008 financial crash and subsequent recession.
“It would be fair to argue that his attempts to maximize the power of the presidency by bypassing the other branches of government are analogous to the ways that Andrew Jackson (of the right) and Franklin D Roosevelt (of the left) did, though he is even more aggressive than they were.”
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Dalio writes that in times of conflict, aggressive leaders like the ones who devastated the lives of millions in the last world war always begin by eliminating opposition in their own government. This usually involves changing their nation’s laws to assume special powers and seizing control of the media to produce pro-government propaganda. This could describe Trump signing more than 150 executive orders, concentrating federal power in the White House and virtually turning the Republican Congress into a mouthpiece.
“Are there effective regulators in place? If so, it is not clear to me who they are,” said Dalio.
Trump also defies court orders pertaining to habeas corpus and detains legal residents without due process, and he has personally sued CBS News while also siccing the formerly independent FCC upon the company, which completes the comparison.
Additionally, the businessman also condemns the Trump administration’s cost-cutting measures as likely to have negative consequences because “valuable support systems will be weakened or eliminated”.
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Read the full Guardian report here.