Trump's Cabinet Nominations: Welcome to the Upside-Down World of Authoritarianism
And Strongmen becomes a New York Times bestseller!
Many of us are feeling profoundly unsettled as the incoming Donald Trump administration announces its nominations for Cabinet appointments. Each one of these choices makes sense within a political worldview based on loyalty to the leader. Most of them testify to the fact that for authoritarian leaders, loyalty and ideological zeal matter far more than expertise or experience.
Several of Trump’s nominations, if confirmed, would also be examples of “the upside-down world of authoritarianism,” as I call it. This is a dystopian world where “law and order” initiatives are a cover for crime, anti-corruption initiatives enable thievery, Fascism is billed as freedom, Communism as true democracy, and so on.
As Attorney General, we would thus have a lawless individual: former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who scorns the idea of compliance with professional and ethical norms of conduct, in multiple areas of activity. An ethics panel has been investigating Gaetz off and on since 2021 for alleged sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, accepting improper gifts, obstruction, and other behavior.
As Secretary of Defense and leader of the U.S. military, a strictly nonpartisan institution, we would have an individual who evidently is so attached to far-right extremism that he has tattoos associated with these beliefs. That would be Fox News host Pete Hegseth.
As head of Health and Human Services, we would have RFK, Jr, who does not believe in vaccines or fact-based medical and scientific research. Instead of being a steward of wellbeing, he would facilitate the spread of disease, misery, and ignorance.
Finally, we have Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination for Director of National Intelligence. She is considered by many Russia and intelligence experts to be aligned with the Kremlin, and has a history of taking positions that enhance Russian goals and echo Russian views on geopolitical affairs.
This nomination is particularly significant because Russian President Vladimir Putin, who comes from the intelligence sector, knows that the most valuable currency today is information. Nominating Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence is the way to Putin’s heart, and it tells the world that America under Trump will be the Kremlin’s ally rather than an adversary. And so we would have a national security official who would potentially compromise our national security.
These appointments remind us that “Make America Great Again” is actually a crusade on an unprecedented scale to take down America, weakening the country both domestically and internationally.
In the "Back to the future" movie where the bad guy Biff was modeled after trump, the alternate realities were horrifyingly like the ones we are seeing here. The original writer of this script (of the movie) said that the reason he did not destroy Biff was that the point was that it takes individual responsibility to make good decisions, act on the best value systems, and things will not go awry. In the movie everyone does make good choices and the awful alternate realities are cancelled. Well, people have NOT made good choices, they have rubber stamped the choices their con men handlers have made them believe.. they have no idea of what they are following, MAGAS are still in a fairytale world. The rest of us who have tried to make responsible choices and be clear eyed about things are caught into a dystopian world that is real this time around and not just a story. We need to stay grounded, take the responsibilities that fall to us right where we are, make them into opportunities to respond to them and survive (dare I say thrive?) through this mess. If we can stay connected and help each other we can help get over the trauma too. There is a lot of trauma already. There is much to do, even if it is just staying centered.
The Republicans ran the table on Democrats. When they assume power they will have a robust economy to take credit for while blaming every minority group for everything that doesn’t work out for them. As a member of the LGBTQ group, I see very clearly we will be one of the first groups to bear the brunt of their tender mercies. The violence will spread, increasing in both frequency and severity. Of course we won’t be the only ones. The only recourse I can see is to take steps for self protection and group solidarity.
The upside down world of authoritarianism (Bizzaro world in my mind since I liked comics as a kid) will be all the more pernicious because right wing propagandists will lie shamelessly while the politicians and red hats do the dirty business of violence and scapegoating for the dear leader. MAGA world is positively giddy at all the violence (it’s already started).
Ruth, thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge with us. You have been a guiding light for me in these dark times of rising authoritarianism. Your words will become even more important in the coming days and years. I’m still trying to cope with the crushing reality that so many Americans welcome this destruction of democracy, though they don’t realize it. It feels like we are living in the movie, Don’t Look Up!