Former GOP insider: Trump has "reprogrammed a generation" to fight against democracy

[marmar]

Former GOP insider: Trump has "reprogrammed a generation" to fight against democracy
Former Trump aide Miles Taylor: "The risk of political violence is high" — no matter who wins this election

By CHAUNCEY DEVEGA
Senior Writer
PUBLISHED APRIL 16, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) The first of Donald Trump’s four criminal trials is finally underway in Manhattan. This trial, on campaign-finance charges related to Trump's alleged "hush money" payments to Stormy Daniels, is truly historic, marking the first time in American history that a current or former president has been tried for criminal offenses.

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Miles Taylor served as chief of staff in the Department of Homeland Security during Trump's first term. He spoke out early about Trump's unfitness for office, as author of the 2018 New York Times “Anonymous” editorial. Since then, Taylor has written two books, “A Warning” and “Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from Trump’s Revenge.” His new paperback edition of “Blowback” has just been published, incorporating an argument that Trump's second administration will be far more competent and formidable in its assault on American democracy and the rule of law than the first one was.

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How do you assess Donald Trump and his MAGA movement’s danger to the safety and future of the country and our pluralistic democracy?

Look, I’m still a conservative. This isn’t about a Republican coming to the White House. I don’t even think Trump is a real Republican. It’s about a man who’s said he wants to use government as a tool of revenge — and to advance his own self-interest. That sort of intent — sitting atop the spy agencies and military apparatus of the government — writes its own horror story.

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Why do you think the news media and political elites haven't made the global dimension of this threat to our democracy much clearer?

Attacks on Western democracy from within were not on my bingo card post-9/11. I fear the wayward ex-president will get his way eventually in trying to chip away at the community of democracies. He needn’t win back the White House to execute his vision. Trump has done something more insidious. By co-opting the Republican Party, he has reprogrammed a generation of devotees with his anti-constitutional and anti-democratic views. Copycats will try to fulfill his unfinished plans well beyond his lifespan, an undertaking made possible because GOP leaders have anesthetized their consciences and normalized Trump-like conduct for a decade. ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/04/16/former-insider-has-reprogrammed-a-generation-to-fight-against-democracy/

[Lovie777]

1. A small loud obnoxious portion.....................

not the majority.

[pwb]

2. Trump is mostly a sensationalized freak.

In every regard. His base is tiny and shrinking daily. IMO.

[DENVERPOPS]

3. He is a Frankenstein's monster

created by this "New" FASCIST Republican Party.......The top 50 Corporate/Fascist party members are sitting in the U.S. Sentence. If it hadn't been for them, Trump would have been thrown out on day one, and found guilty of impeachable offenses and Treason...... Not once, but twice......