Week 40 - The Return
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you'll remember.
What strikes me most this week is not the number of broken norms, but the nature of what Trump is getting away with. This week he assumed control of the nation’s capital; ordered a mid-decade census amid mid-decade gerrymandering; shook up the way the federal government collects job data; and unilaterally imposed an export tax on two U.S. chip companies that amounted to extortion. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal Editorial Board noted that Trump was “expanding the long arm of the state into more of the private economy,” and mused, “Will any Republican object? Alas, probably not.”
Exactly. That is what stands out this week: that in the first and now second regimes, Trump kept and keeps pushing boundaries, again and again, until he met or meets pushback or resistance. Problem is, he is now not facing either.
Instead we are increasingly confronted with two sets of truths. Not only in Trump’s efforts to rewrite history, like the altered Smithsonian exhibit on impeachment in Week 39 (this week it was switched back…kinda), but also two sets of data. This is a hallmark of authoritarians throughout history as well: when the numbers don’t go your way, change the numbers to make them match your version of the truth.
Trump completely invented data in his power grab of the nation’s capital, taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department and mobilizing 800 National Guard troops, over a supposed emergency. Data from both the FBI and Metropolitan Police showed the exact opposite of what Trump claimed: that crime is actually falling and at a 30-year low. Why now? This shiny coin feeds the base and allows Trump to drive the narrative of what the media covers.
And that’s the point to much of what he does. You will notice what we are discussing a lot less this week: the Epstein files. This is an issue that united Americans across party line, release the files! In Trump’s manufactured chaos we’re also not talking about his low approval ratings on handling key issues like the economy, immigration, and foreign policy. Instead, he has once again regained control of the narrative with his manufactured chaos, and is increasingly acting more like a king than an elected official.
On Wednesday, Trump further escalated his threats to take over control of Washington D.C., telling reporters from the Oval Office that “the crime is ridiculous,” threatening to deploy the National Guard to the city, and federalize the D.C. police department.
Late Thursday, Trump ordered federal law enforcement officers to be deployed in D.C., starting at midnight. The deployment was to include immigration police, the FBI, U.S. marshals, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and 12 other federal agencies.
While Trump claimed crime in the nation’s capital was “totally out of control” on Truth Social, Washington’s crime rates, including violent crime, thefts, and burglaries, had been falling significantly.
The Smithsonian restored Trump to their impeachment exhibit, after reporting by WAPO in Week 39 caused a backlash, although the language in the placard for both impeachments had been altered. For the first, the word “alleged” was added to the description of his conduct.
For the second impeachment, the new text erased references to Trump’s Jan 6. incitement charge being based on “repeated ‘false statements’ challenging the 2020 election results” and a speech that “encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — imminent lawless action at the Capitol.”
WSJ reported that the Trump regime intends to conduct a far-reaching review of the Smithsonian museums ahead of the country’s 250 year anniversary, to make sure that the exhibitions, materials, and operations align with Trump’s interpretation of American history.