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.
I am the owner of your European version of Strongman and found it very helpful as a group of us in Democrats Abroad read Project 2025 in a book club. We are continuing our conversations but will be reading articles about Democracy going forward. We want to understand how to preserve it better. Your book is helpful in that it talks about the end of fascists as well.
Prof. Timothy Snyder has made analogies where he has first used humor to compare the incoming White House Office to a 60s Sitcom which he calls Oligarchs' Island. In the second one, he is reinforcing the idea of the hierarchies that Trump is in which include Putin and Xi. It is called The Submission Chain. https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-submission-chain?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
So, the appointments Trump makes have to be ones to cater to Putin, for all we know Putin has told Musk, who has told Trump who to select. These people are all already assets for Russia, and according to Snyder for China too. Then, he points out that assets can be conscious or unconscious.
If I were a NATO country leader or Ukraine's president, I would be recruiting from the US Intelligences Community and DOD anyone who gets fired is welcome to come and consult. I am hoping that both those branches of our government stand up to Trump who is humiliating them with his appointments and plans. I am not advocating a military coup, just that they say no to things that violate the constitution which they have all taken an oath to uphold.