President Trump has unleashed new weaponry in his war against Democrats, liberals and the left. Over the past four weeks, he has initiated what amounts to a unique form of partisan civil war designed to amass power in a nominal democracy and defang, decimate and defund the opposition.
Trump’s assault on the left combines the use of the available tools of violent conflict — the military, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE in particular — with the prosecution of critics (and people he just doesn’t like), cuts of essential funds for liberal institutions, the use of regulation to threaten businesses with bankruptcy, the criminalization of free speech and the blackmailing of corporate America into obedience.
At the memorial service for Charlie Kirk last month in Phoenix, Stephen Miller, Trump’s top domestic policy adviser, described in great detail how the administration plans to deal with its domestic opponents: “We will not live in fear, but you will live in exile, because the power of law enforcement under President Trump’s leadership will be used to find you, will be used to take away your money, take away your power, and if you have broken the law, to take away your freedom.”
For Trump and his allies, recent developments, including the government shutdown, the indictment of James Comey and the assassination of Kirk, are openings to escalate the attack on institutions and programs identified with liberalism and the Democratic Party. For the MAGA right, any crisis is an opportunity. In fact, every crisis is.
The assault has become increasingly brutal as Trump and his allies intensify their demonization of all things left of center, by which they often seem to mean anything to the left of the hard right.
Ryan Enos, a political scientist at Harvard, emailed me in response to my inquiries about the rapid series of developments after Kirk’s death:
There is no doubt about what Trump is doing in the wake of Kirk’s killing. His attacks on his political opponents are purely authoritarian, and he sees the killing of Kirk as an opportunity to accomplish what he has been talking about since he entered politics: using the power of the state to punish those who defy him.
The reason that the Reichstag fire is such a poignant example of a pretext for an authoritarian power grab is not because it is unique, but rather because the consequences are now seen as so severe.
There is a crystal-clear pattern of leaders throughout history using moments of threat to expand power, usually at the expense of legal processes or civil rights. In retrospect, we can see those moments for what they were, but at the time, they are hard to push back on.
For his part, Trump makes no secret of his intentions, writing on Truth Social on Thursday:
I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.
I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Asked if Trump’s comments were real or just a negotiating tactic, Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, told Fox News:
Oh, it’s very real, and the Democrats should know that they put the White House and the president in this position, and if they don’t want further harm on their constituents back home, then they need to reopen the government. It’s very simple: Pass the clean continuing resolution, and all of this goes away. We would not be having these discussions here at the White House today if not for the Democrats voting to shut the government down. This is an unfortunate consequence.
The brazenness of Trump and his MAGA loyalists has turned out to be one ingredient of their power.
Last Wednesday, the Energy Department announced the cancellation of 321 energy project awards totaling $7.5 billion, almost all of which are in states that share three telltale characteristics: They voted for Kamala Harris; they have Democratic governors; and they have two Democratic senators, a group that includes California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.
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