Introduction to a good reminder of who, why and whatever Trump professes to be (or not) from this fine AP article - (Note: edited and formatted to fit the blog):
The article headline:
“How Donald Trump is weaponizing the government in his second term to settle personal scores”
Original article written by JONATHAN J. COOPER, a national politics reporter based in Phoenix. He previously covered news and politics in Arizona, California, and Oregon.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump, once a casino owner and always a man in search of his next deal, is fond of the poker analogy when sizing up partners and adversaries.
For example, last month he said about China: “We have much bigger and better cards than they do.”
He then compared us to Canada in June saying: “We have all the cards. We have every single one.”
He told Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in their heated Oval Office confrontation earlier this year: “You don’t have the cards.”
Seven months into his second term, Trump has accumulated presidential power that he’s used (1) against universities, (2) media companies, (3) law firms and Federal Judges, and (4) individuals he dislikes including former administration officials.
Trump first ran for president as an angry victim of a the weaponized “Deep State” - now in many ways he has supercharged his version of government power and is training his sights on his opponents in the revenge and retribution pledge he made during the start of of his second term saying: “It's for my own personal one-man weaponized state.”
Supporters who responded to his complaints about overzealous Democrats aren’t recoiling - they’re egging him on.
David N. Smith, a University of Kansas sociologist who has extensively researched the motivations of Trump voters says: “Weaponizing the state to win the culture war has been essential to their agenda. They didn’t like it when the state was mobilized to restrain Trump, but they’re happy to see the state acting to fight the culture war on their behalf.”
How Trump has weaponized the government:
Trump began putting the federal government to work for him within hours of taking office in January, and he’s been collecting and using power in novel ways ever since. It’s a high-velocity push to carry out his political agendas and grudges.
This past month for example, hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops fanned out across Washington, DC after Trump drew on a never-used law that allows him to take and have control over law enforcement in the nation’s capital. He’s threatened similar deployments in other cities run only by Democrats thus far including Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and New Orleans. He also fired a Federal Reserve governor, pointing to unproven claims of her mortgage fraud.
Trump and his allies and aides have trained the government, or threatened to, on a dizzying array of targets:
— He threatened to block a stadium plan for the Washington Commanders football team unless it readopted the racial slur it used as a moniker until 2020.
— He revoked security clearances and tried to block access to government facilities for attorneys at law firms he disfavors.
— He revoked billions of dollars in federal research funds and sought to block international students from elite universities.
Note: Under pressure, Columbia University agreed to a $220 million settlement, the University of PA revoked records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, and presidents resigned from the University of VA and Northwestern University.
— He fired or reassigned federal employees targeted for their work, including prosecutors who worked on cases involving and against him.
— He dropped corruption charges against NYC Eric Adams to gain cooperation in his crackdown on illegal immigrants.
— He secured multimillion-dollar settlements against media organizations in lawsuits that were widely regarded as weak cases.
— AG Pam Bondi is pursuing a grand jury review of the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and appointed a special prosecutor to scrutinize AG Letitia James (D-NY), and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said: “That’s not weaponizing government, it’s wielding power. What the nation is witnessing today is the execution of the most consequential administration in American history, one that is embracing common sense, putting America first, and fulfilling the mandate of the American people.”
Trump ran against government weaponization:
Central to Trump’s 2024 campaign was his contention that he was the victim of a “Vicious persecution perpetrated by Biden's administration weaponized DOJ.”
Faced with criminal cases in NY, D.C., and FL, he said August 4, 2023 on his TRUTH SOCIAL page he yearned not to end government weaponization, but to harness it saying: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME I'M COMING AFTER YOU! If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say go down and indict them.”
He said that in a Univision interview on November 9, 2023. Given a chance by a friendly FOX News interviewer to assure Americans that he would use power responsibly, he said in December of that he would not be a Dictator “Except on day one.”
He backed off those threats as the election got closer, even as he continued to campaign against government weaponization. When he won, he declared an end to it saying in his address: “Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents — something I know something about.”
A month later on February 22, he said: “I ended Joe Biden’s weaponization soon as I got in.”
Ten 10 days after that he said: “We’ve ended weaponized government, where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent, like me.”
Two days later, on March 6, Trump signed a sweeping order targeting a prominent law firm that represents Democrats.
And on April 9, he issued presidential memoranda directing the DOJ to investigate two officials from his first administration, Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor who both said the 2020 election was the safest and most secure election ever.
With that act alone, the weaponization has come full circle. Trump is no longer surrounded by tradition-bound lawyers and government officials, and his instinct to play his hand aggressively faces few restraints.
FYI: Related article from me is here. _________________________________________
My 2 Cents: Again, the AP article lays out part of the super history of the awful and in some cases unlawful moves and acts from Donald J. Trump documented above. It is well researched and such a well written and as clear as a bell article in context.
I hope you enjoyed and appreciate the article as much as I did (even with my editing and formatting).
Thanks for stopping by.
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