If He Walks Like a Dictator, and Talks Like a Dictator, Ergo…

The Good Book teaches that you can know people’s real character by examining their actions. “By their fruits you will know them.”

A more modern version of this truth is the following expression: “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

I suggest this test should be applied as a question for our nation’s president, his cabinet, and our people. “If he walks like a dictator, and talks like a dictator, are we descending into a dictatorship?”

If he walks like a dictator…

• President Trump sent troops into Venezuela to “extract” President Maduro and his wife and bring them to the United States. This was definitely a military attack because it involved more than 150 military aircraft and Venezuelan military bases were bombed. Trump ordered this attack without seeking nor obtaining the required congressional authorization.
• He did not even inform the bipartisan, congressional “Gang of 8” which previous presidents had done.
• Trump did not seek nor obtain the authorization of the United Nations Security Council. Unless authorization is granted, (and it wasn’t) this means Trump violated the UN Charter in Article 2(4), which affirms that member states must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of political independence of any state.
• Stephen Miller is Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff and is a regular spokesperson for the president. He was recently asked a question by Jake Tapper regarding Trump’s use of force in Venezuela and possible use of military power to take over Greenland. He answered, “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.” This is a rejection of all universal ethics and international rule of law.
• The Supreme Court has ruled that a sitting president cannot be charged for any crime committed while fulfilling the duties of the presidency. For all practical purposes, this means that the president is “above the law”.
• Given that the US President also has the power to pardon or to commute the sentence of any person guilty of federal crimes, Trump can extend this “lawlessness forgiveness” to anyone who commits a crime in carrying out his wishes. On his first day in office, Trump pardoned nearly 1600 people who were found guilty of rioting at the nation’s capitol on January 6, 2021.  A mockery of the rule of law takes place when this pardon extends to unrepentant criminals such as George Santos, Rudy Giuliani, and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was serving a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking.
• This past Wednesday, an ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old women in Minneapolis. Before a thorough investigation had occurred, Vice President Vance declared that the ICE agent had “total immunity”.

And talks like a dictator…

• This past week Mr. Trump sat down for an interview with senior reporters from the New York Times. They asked him a variety of questions.  When asked if there were any limits on his global powers, Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
• At another moment in the interview, Trump affirmed, “I don’t need international law.” When asked if the U.S. government should comply with international law, he answered “yes” but clarified that in situations where it restricts the U.S., the decision-maker is himself, adding, “It depends on how you define international law.” This reflects Trump’s characteristic dismissive attitude toward international law, such as sovereignty and borders. National power as implemented by the president—not law or treaties—should be the decisive factor when great powers clash. In his own mind, he is above international law.

The Descent into a Dictatorship

               To avoid a complete fall into a dictatorship, the Judiciary and Legislative branches of the US government should fulfill their congressional duties of being a guardrail against all excesses of the Executive branch. The checks and balances of the three branches are necessary in a democracy with fallen leaders. Thus wrote our wise ancestors in the Constitution.

PS Dear readers, per our healthy custom, if you find any factual inaccuracy in this writing, please let me know.