Berliner Tageszeitung - 'Dictator' Trump warnings spook America

NYSE - LSE

CMSC	0.29%	22.085	$
BTI	-0.03%	60.02	$
NGG	0.33%	82.59	$
BCE	0.28%	21.38	$
CMSD	0.31%	22.38	$
GSK	0.59%	52.78	$
RIO	1.16%	90.54	$
RBGPF	0.52%	67.35	$
RYCEF	1.95%	19.46	$
AZN	-4.01%	171.61	$
BCC	5.02%	76.06	$
BP	1.66%	39.2	$
VOD	11.14%	14.72	$
JRI	-0.15%	13.01	$
RELX	1.14%	32.44	$

'Dictator' Trump warnings spook America

POLITICS 06.12.2023

'Dictator' Trump warnings spook America / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Could a second Donald Trump presidency slide into dictatorship? A sudden spate of dystopian warnings has got America talking about the possibility less than a year before the US elections.

Text size:

Dark scenarios about what could happen if the twice-impeached Republican former president wins in 2024 have appeared in the space of a few days in major US media outlets that include The Washington Post, The New York Times and the Atlantic.

Grim predictions also came from top Republican Trump critic Liz Cheney, who said that the country is "sleepwalking into dictatorship" and that she is weighing a third-party presidential run of her own to try to stop him.

Together, they paint a bleak picture of an angrier yet more disciplined Trump than during his first spell in the White House, one who would wreak vengeance on his perceived enemies and possibly try to stay in power beyond the two-term US limit.

President Joe Biden, who faces a rematch of his bitter 2020 contest with Trump, said the warnings backed his own claims to be defending US democracy.

"If Trump wasn't running, I'm not sure I'd be running. But we cannot let him win," the 81-year-old Democrat told a campaign event in Massachusetts.

Biden cited Trump's own increasingly violent language on the campaign trail, saying his rival's description of his opponents as "vermin" echoed the language used in Nazi Germany.

"Trump's not even hiding the ball anymore. He's telling us what he's going to do."

- 'President for life' -

Trump, 77, and his allies have responded as they usually do, by fighting fire with fire. He accused Biden of himself being a "destroyer of democracy" and even reposted one of the most critical articles on social media.

Conservative Fox News described it as "media panic", while pro-Trump Republican senator and author J.D. Vance said on X that "everyone needs to take a chill pill".

But the sudden uptick in warnings -- against a backdrop of Democratic angst over polls showing Trump now leading Biden despite facing multiple criminal trials -- has been striking.

The most eye-opening piece appeared in The Washington Post by conservative commentator Robert Kagan, with the headline: "A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending."

Comparing him to the power-grabbing Roman emperor Julius Caesar, the lengthy article says neither the US Constitution nor the Supreme Court could prevent Trump being "president for life" if he wanted.

Kagan wrote that if Trump survives the trials he faces over trying to upend the 2020 election and cling to power illegally, and wins the next election, he will in effect feel he is above the law and can get away with anything.

The New York Times analyzed the ways that a "second term could unleash a darker President Trump" than in his chaotic first presidency from 2017-2021.

Trump has "spoken admiringly of autocrats for decades" and would likely follow their example by packing the civil service with loyalists and using the Justice Department to crack down on opponents, it said.

In scenes reminiscent of a dystopian movie, it said Trump would also set up migrant detention camps and use the military against protesters under the US Insurrection Act.

The Atlantic magazine meanwhile is dedicating its entire January-February 2024 issue to what a Trump presidency would look like, with an editor's note titled simply: "A Warning."

- 'Dangerous moment' -

Some of the most dire forebodings have come from Cheney, the former Republican lawmaker and daughter of ex-vice president Dick Cheney, whose opposition to Trump made her a pariah in the party.

"It's a very dangerous moment," she told NBC on Sunday.

There was "no question" Trump would try to stay in office beyond 2028, she said, adding that the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol by supporters trying to overturn Biden's election win was merely a "practice run."

For his critics, Trump's autocratic side has long been in plain sight.

Trump already faces trial for conspiring to upend the 2020 election result, with prosecutors saying on Tuesday that evidence shows he was determined to "remain in power at any cost."

His language has turned more extreme in recent months, during which he described migrants as "poisoning the blood of our country" and suggested his former military chief should face death for treason.

But in the looking-glass world of Trump and his allies, he is always the victim.

"Joe Biden is the real dictator," Trump said in a picture posted on his conservative Truth Social network

N. Lebedew--BTZ

Featured

Iran declares Hormuz strait closed, US military insists traffic flowing

Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was closed on Sunday while the United States insisted it remained open, after the confrontation over the vital waterway again sparked US and Iranian strikes.

Ukraine's Zelensky orders government reshuffle, new PM

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a major reshuffle of the government on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and the heads of some law enforcement agencies.

Iran, US trade more strikes as fighting escalates

Iran said Sunday it was closing the Strait of Hormuz and launched missiles and drones at Gulf neighbours after the US carried out a new round of strikes as their conflict escalated.

Noosha Aubel and Potsdam: The trust placed in her has been squandered

Noosha Aubel: a €33.4 million budget deficit in the state capital Potsdam, around €500,000 spent on external consultancy, revised austerity plans at the expense of children – and a shameful case involving a severely disabled toddler as part of a nursery scandal: Noosha Aubel inherited some of these crises, but the leadership deficit is now entirely her own. A 72.9 per cent share of the vote is not a mark of leadership; it is merely a vote of confidence. Noosha Aubel (50) received an exceptionally high level of this confidence in October 2025 – and has squandered it in a surprisingly short space of time. The hope for a fresh start has given way to bitter disillusionment, which is by no means limited to political opponents. After just 100 days, observers were already finding no clear direction whatsoever; in June 2026, media circles openly reported on unsettled supporters, unilateral actions and a lack of majorities. The yardstick is simple: is Potsdam functioning better? Are the finances in order, decisions properly prepared and the most vulnerable protected? So far, the answer is: no. Potsdam wanted a fresh start. It got a mayor who all too often confuses management jargon with leadership and is unable to get a grip on problems in the state capital. Added to this is a shameful scandal involving a toddler with multiple severe disabilities, for whom Aubel is personally responsible, and which raises questions about morality and decency. It is particularly shameful that media enquiries are not being answered by the head of the press office at Potsdam Town Hall, Jan Brunzlow – even though Noosha Aubel has demonstrably been contacted personally. Instead of answering the questions posed in a transparent and comprehensible manner, Brunzlow, according to the available documents, is pushing for a ‘personal conversation’, thereby apparently attempting to shift the communication into a non-public, informal setting. Should this course of action indeed contravene the applicable obligations to provide information under press law, a fundamental question arises: Is Noosha Aubel fit to hold the office of Lord Mayor of the state capital, Potsdam?