Trump’s 'dangerous' threats must be taken seriously: analysis

24 November 2023

Some of 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump's critics dismiss his inflammatory rhetoric as the ranting of a buffoon. At the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin in September, for example, two-term New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a conservative Republican, told attendees that Trump is "too dumb to be a threat to democracy."

But other Trump critics, including scholars and historians, have a very different viewpoint and are warning that his rants on the campaign trail show how dangerously authoritarian he could be if he wins a second term.

One of those critics is Julian Zelizer, a political analyst for CNN, author and history professor at Princeton University in New Jersey.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

"If the nation learned one thing during Donald Trump's presidency," Zelizer warns in an op-ed published by CNN on November 22, "it's that he does what he says he will do. Which is why recent comments by Trump, the leading nominee in the Republican primary for the 2024 presidential election, once again shattering the norms of political speech, have justifiably raised alarm."

Zelizer continues, "On Veteran's Day, Trump called his enemies 'vermin' and spoke of his intention to go after opponents should he regain power. 'The threat from outside forces,' he said, 'is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within'…. So, it's essential to understand that, besides deploying an autocratic vocabulary to whip up support among those who love him and intimidate those who do not, Trump's words rest on a broader vision for a vast expansion of presidential power."

The "vast expansion" that Zelizer is referring to is Project 2025, Trump and his allies' plan to fill the United States' federal government with unquestioning loyalists and fire anyone who isn't.

Zelizer explains, "Part of the goal is to screen tens of thousands of individuals to make sure that they would follow his orders as president….. He wants the authority to remove labor protections for the civil service so that he can hire and fire federal workers at will, while dramatically extending his power into the realm of education in particular. Federal prosecutors would be brought in to curb local crime, and the White House would tighten its grip over the Department of Justice, continuing to shatter the separation that emerged after Watergate."

Ominously, the Washington Post reported, on November 6, that Trump loyalists have been "drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations."

"Voters should be paying close attention right now," Zelizer warns. "When presidents use presidential power in dangerous ways, not only does this present a dangerous stress test at the moment, but it also means that over time, the expansions of power are rarely cut back. When Trump breaks governing norms, he also establishes dangerous new ones."

Julian Zelizer's full CNN column is available at this link.

From Your Site Articles