A coup in real time? Comey firing is Trumps open admission of collusion with Russia
A coup in real time? Historian Timothy Snyder says the Comey firing is Trump’s “open admission of collusion with Russia”
Yale historian says Trump has now admitted guilt; former intelligence officer says Flynn was a Russian agent
Chauncey DeVega Thursday, May 11, 2017 08:00 AM CST
Has the other shoe finally dropped? Is this the beginning of Donald Trump’s attempted coup?
Trump is a plutocratic authoritarian. As I have previously argued, it is fair to call him a fascist. He has repeatedly demonstrated this fact through his words and deeds both during the 2016 presidential election and now as president.
Like the leader of a banana republic or a Mafia boss, Trump has surrounded himself with a small group of advisers and confidantes comprised mainly of his family members. He has contempt for journalists and the concept of a free press. He leads a cult of personality, marketing himself as an autocratic who will protect and defend his “forgotten Americans” against all threats foreign and domestic. Trump has no respect for standing norms of American democracy. He and his supporters evidently believe that the rule of law does not apply to him.
Authoritarians are paranoid by definition. To that end, they ruthlessly consolidate power and eliminate any threats to their power. In keeping with this script, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, in a hastily written letter of dismissal delivered to FBI headquarters by Keith Schiller, the leader of the president’s personal Praetorian Guard. Comey’s firing was also endorsed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a man who has no credibility after having been caught repeatedly lying about his own contacts with representatives of the Russian government.
While the supposedly “liberal” news media wrestles with its own confusion about telling the ugly truth about Trump and the fascist movement he represents, the conservative media serves as Trump’s personal echo chamber, much as Pravda and other state-sponsored publications served the Communist Party during the Soviet era.
Unfortunately, this state of emergency is the new normal in America. In the future, people now living will tell their children and grandchildren how they watched American democracy surrender to plutocratic authoritarianism and fascism in real time. These same children and grandchildren will ask, “Why didn’t you do anything to stop it?” What will we tell them?
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/11/a-coup-in-real-time-historian-timothy-snyder-says-the-comey-firing-is-trumps-open-admission-of-collusion-with-russia/