Historian reveals 'most clear example of authoritarianism' in Trump 2.0

26 August

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (not pictured) at Trump Turnberry golf club on July 28, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland, Britain. Christopher Furlong/Pool via REUTERS

After militarized federal occupations of Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump is threatening to do the same thing to other U.S. cities with Democratic mayors, including Chicago and Baltimore. But Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are making it clear that they don't want to see U.S. troops marching up Michigan Avenue, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is stressing that law enforcement in Baltimore should be left up the Baltimore Police Department — not the U.S. military or federalized National Guard troops.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told CNN that Trump has no legal grounds for federalizing the city's police department, adding, "He better not try it in Philly."

Historian/author Garrett Graff discussed Trump's militarized occupations of U.S. cities during an appearance on The New Republic's podcast "The Daily Blast" posted on August 26. And Graff, seven months into Trump's second presidency, argued that these occupations are part of a much broader pattern. Trump, according to Graff, is disregarding experts in a variety of areas — from law enforcement to museums to education to libraries.

Trump, Graff warned, is showing his authoritarianism by casting aside what experts have to say on a variety of matters and views himself as the sole authority.

"Well, it's not even just political opponents," Graff told host Greg Sargent, a former Washington Post columnist. "And this is, I think, an important part of this. It is part and parcel again of this worldview that Trump has brought into office this time where 'the state is me" — the old French king line — where it's not just that Donald Trump doesn’t like being criticized by domestic political opponents."

Trump, Graff observed, is even trying to micromanage sports.

"His craziest tweet of the weekend to me was him trying to dictate that Major League Baseball immediately induct Roger Clemens into the Hall of Fame because he played golf with Roger Clemens and, boy, Roger Clemens is just a great guy," Graff told Sargent. "This idea that there’s one true vision for America — and it is Donald Trump’s personal vision for what our life and our culture and our society should be — is to me the most clear example of authoritarianism that we could see."

Graff told Sargent that Trump is "ratcheting up… the hostility and aggression and posture of the D.C. federal takeover."

"What I think we saw over the course of last week was this rising level of aggression of the federal interference in D.C. — up to and including ICE officers and agents of this weird amalgamated federal task force of various agencies coming together to fight nondescript crime of some kind in D.C. literally shouting, 'Papers, please' to people getting off the metro in D.C. on their way home from work and forcing people to show ID to walk out of a transit station," Graff explained. "We saw a 14-ton up-armored MRAP patrolling the streets of D.C. slam into and t-bone a civilian car. And now, as of this weekend — as of Sunday night — the National Guard are now authorized to be carrying weapons."

Graff continued, "We can see now that this is an occupation by the U.S. military on domestic soil that is being done to a population and not in support of them. They've tried to have this fig leaf of: We're out there protecting D.C. But what you actually see in DC is deserted streets, deserted monuments, restaurant reservations cratering — because people don't want to go out on the street and risk these interactions with the armed agents of the state that are there."

Trump, Graff argued, is embracing the mentality of French King Louis XIV, which was embodied in the expression "l'état, c'est moi" — which, in French, means, "I am the state."

"It's that Donald Trump thinks that he personally and his taste should dictate what is in our museums with his attacks on the Smithsonian," Graff told Sargent. "He believes that his taste should dictate what is performed in our theaters with his takeover of the Kennedy Center. He believes that his taste and his personal preferences should dictate what books people should read as we have seen him go after things like the Naval Academy library…. This idea that there's one true vision for America — and it is Donald Trump's personal vision for what our life and our culture and our society should be — is, to me, the most clear example of authoritarianism that we could see."

Listen to Greg Sargent's interview with Garrett Graff on The New Republic's website or read a Q&A transcript here.

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