ET TU, BRUTE?:

More evidence argues that Trump is less Cincinnatus than Caesar: his pointed refusal to denounce death threats on his behalf; naked hostility to the free press; gleeful incitement of political violence; and baleful warning of riots if his supporters didn't get their way at the Republican convention. Just as alarming is Trump's repeatedly-stated intent to order the killing of innocent civilians who are family members of terrorists. When challenged that the U.S. military is trained to refuse unlawful orders, such as this war crime, Trump replied: "They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse me. ... When I say they'll do as I tell them, they'll do as I tell them."

This openly declared desire to suborn the military into committing unlawful acts does not mean that Trump will launch a coup and declare himself dictator. Those instincts would, however, do irreparable harm to the republic's political and moral order. With the vast power of the imperial presidency at his command, would Trump suddenly abandon his lifelong compulsion to intimidate, delegitimize, and ruin anyone who speaks out against him?

Another attribute of authoritarianism is contempt for an independent judiciary. Donald Trump is presently being investigated for running a fraudulent "university" that bilked ordinary Americans out of millions of dollars for real-estate seminars, which were sold on the basis of claims whose utter falsity he has already admitted. Trump has moved to get two resulting class-action lawsuits against him thrown out of court. When the judge denied the motions and allowed the cases to proceed, Trump attempted to disqualify him in the court of public opinion explicitly on grounds of race. Although this judge is an American citizen born in Indiana, Trump openly argued that his Mexican ancestry renders him too biased to fairly hear the cases. Can we expect that President Trump would dutifully submit to a court's judgment that his actions were illegal or unconstitutional? Or is his conduct more consistent with that of a man who would manufacture some excuse to ignore any judge he disagrees with?

Tweet   @brothersjudd