You Want Military Dictatorship, Trump? Read Your History!

 

In 1989 a religious leader László Tőkés criticised Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and was threatened and beaten up. Romanians protesting were gunned down by Ceausescu’s soldiers. Protests broke out everywhere. 

Ceausescu, a megalomaniacal egotist who had destroyed opponents and surrounded himself with yes-men and sycophants, was now so enabled that he thought he was invincible and fatuously believed that a single televised mass rally playing pre-recorded cheering over loudspeakers would ‘restore his image’. On the day of the rally, he stood with his wife Elena on the balcony facing onto Bucharest’s Palace Square (now called Revolution Square), packed with people, many of whom had been bussed in. The sounds of cheering were deafening. From the speakers. 

But not from the people. Shortly into the speech, sounds of screaming and shouting came from the crowd. Ceausescu realised they weren’t part of the sound track. Elena heard gun shots, then guards shouted that protestors had broken into the building down below, beneath the balcony. 

Ceausescu and Elena yelled at the crowd, and guards managed to keep them back. But after the rally, protesters spilled out onto the streets of Bucharest, filled with frustration and rage at too many years of suppression and savage dictatorship. Ceausescu unleashed tanks, soldiers, police and his own secret army – much like Trump’s ICE – on the crowds with brutal violence. By morning there was so much blood on the streets that fire engines had to hose them down. 

Blind to the country-wide hatred for him, Ceausescu thought the danger was over. He was wrong. The next day, protesters moved en masse towards the centre of Bucharest, joined by the soldiers and police,  who now refused to follow orders given to shoot them. 

A panicked Ceausescu and his wife Elena escaped in a helicopter from the roof, with two officials and two bodyguards, minutes before protesters reached it. The pilot took them to their residence in Snagov, where Ceausescu ordered two more helicopters with soldiers as an escort. The response? "You’re on your own." The pilot took off immediately, without the officials. 

Then a message played on the radio that all flights were grounded and unidentified aircraft in the air would be shot. They had to land. The pilot put the pair down on a road with just two security guards. They managed to flag down a car, whose driver took them to an agricultural institute on the outskirts of  Târgoviște and persuaded them to hide in it. It was a trap. They were locked in then arrested and handed over to a military barracks where they were tried. 

Even during this sham trial, Ceausescu laughed scornfully, still believing he was invincible. He wasn’t, though. Found guilty, he and Elena were executed by firing squad.

The circumstances leading to their execution has some chilling similarities to the US at the moment. It’s hard to know who is directing everything but Trump is the public face and he’s the one with the power. An over-entitled megalomaniac, felon, adjudicated rapist and serial liar, he too has surrounded himself with sycophants who shield him from the reality of how unpopular he is. He’s choosing to let ICE tactics become increasingly savage and lawless, watching Americans’ outrage grow exponentially, possibly believing he can turn that into a justification to declare a state of emergency and martial law. And cancel the mid-terms to avoid impeachment, trial and jail. The cynicism is jaw-dropping. 

There are a couple of things he hasn’t thought about though. He’s popularity is plummeting as Ceausescu's did, and his base could be diminishing. At all events, he's losing Independents. His own party writhes under his stranglehold, longing to be rid of him because being loyal means betraying angry constituents. Also, lot of people in the military and police do not want to visit misery on regular Americans, or see their democracy destroyed. They certainly don’t want to be the tools. The momentum to get rid of Trump is growing visibly by the day – from politicians to people in the streets – and though Trump is trying hard to destroy the free press and present a false narrative, he isn’t succeeding with the majority.

Ceausescu’s Achilles heel was his entitlement and oblivion to how much his own people wanted to get rid of him. They had clearly plotted behind his back for some time. It’s the consequence of surrounding yourself with yes-men and women. It also never occurred to him that the good men and women in the military and police would refuse orders. Trump, hell bent on using the military in the same way, would probably face the same kind of rebellion, then where would he be?

He would do well to read up on history. Obviously he wouldn’t be put on a sham trial or face a literal firing squad, but a real trial ending in a jail cell would be better, anyway.

Trump WH Dislikes Freedom of Info, Blocks NYT, CNN, BBC, Politico, Buzzfeed from Gaggle

Reporters from Time magazine and The Associated Press chose not to attend in protest of the White House’s actions https://t.co/0kixlsnzVu

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 25, 2017

"We have great respect for the press when it comes to government. That is something you can't ban an entity from – Conservative, Liberal or otherwise. I think that's what makes a Democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship." Sean Spicer December 16 2016

On Feb 24 2017 the White House held a press gaggle  instead of its daily press briefing and barred NYT, Politico, CNN, LA Times, Buzzfeed, BBC, the Guardian and Daily Mail from attending. Allowed to attend were Breitbart News, Hearst, McClatchy, Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, One American News Network, AP, Time, and TV networks CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC. 

AP and Time heard in advance and boycotted the gaggle. Alarmingly, when some journalists gathered outside in frustration, they were removed by Secret Service, on the order of the White House.

It's not unusual to hold in camera press gaggles, but it is unusual to cherry-pick who can attend. Gaggles with the press secretary usually limit the pool of reporters when they conflict with the president's travel arrangements, in which case they often happen on Air Force One.  

This gaggle, however, simply replaced the daily press briefing. The motive was ludicrously transparent. They wanted to avoid uncomfortable questions about the FBI's refusal to accommodate the White House demand that coverage of possible relationships between Trump staff and Russia be censored. They also wanted to minimize damage done by Donald Trump's manic, rambling, non-sequitur-packed, contradictory, nonsensical  tirade against the media at CPAC, where he revved up the crowd of adoring fans into virtual hysteria.

Much like Mitch McConnell's attempt to muzzle Elizabeth Warren in Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing, and as all the Trump Administration moves have done so far, this one backfired on the White House. Interest in the Russian connection has ballooned and liberal outlets have gotten good publicity already over this gaggle. Public outrage has flared up again, and legitimate media are expressing their disdain. 

Wall Street Journal issued a statement saying that it had attended not knowing about the exclusions and "had we known at the time, we would have participated, and we will not participate in such closed briefings in the future." Executive editor of  McClatchy Washington said the same.

Marty Baron, Executive Editor of The Post  called it appalling and added "This is an undemocratic path that the administration is travelling… We are currently evaluating what our response will be if this sort of thing happens again."

The Committee to Protect Journalists and the National Press Club condemned the move and  White House Correspondents Association president Jeff Mason said, "We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not. The board will be discussing this further with White House staff."  New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote to the WH press corps email list, "Congratulations to Time and AP for not attending today's gaggle in protest."

Ben Wizner, Director of the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union said that this is "Another disturbing example of the Trump administration’s contempt for the vital role a free press plays in our democracy."

Is there a sector of western democracy that the Trump Administration has not assaulted in some way in the  past month? Each one is worse than the last as Bannon gains power and Trump believes more and more that he can get away with anything.

It's clear that they and their close team are trying to replicate Vladimir Putin's assault on freedom of the press. But they're missing a couple of important factors, the first one of which explains why they're missing them. Putin is a nasty and dangerous man but he's really intelligent, insightful and strategic, which none of the Trump camp are. Secondly, Putin does love to boast, but not about his underhanded moves. Trump and Bannon can't stop themselves. Thirdly, Putin never exposes himself in writing—i.e. in tweets.

Again, Trump can't stop himself. Fourthly, most Americans aren't as brain-washable as Russians seem to be. Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote, in The Gulag Archipelago, “In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.” 

That appears to be happening again in Russia, as Putin's popularity increases for no reason that has any sense or moral good to it, but it will never happen in America.

Bannon, Trump, Priebus, Conway, Spicer can all rant and rave about the corrupt press as much as they want. But they're only reaching a negligible number of Americans in comparison to the huge number they are inspiring to take a stand. Most of America, and the whole world, can see the truth. An enormous amount of pro-democracy activity is happening at every level, people of all ages, including the youth, getting involved in politics beyond just voting, going to town hall meetings, voicing their protest, joining and/or volunteering for pro-democracy organizations. Democratic politicians are stepping up in response to demands from their electorate that they fight.

Hillary Clinton has resurfaced, as have the Obamas. And of course the FBI is continuing with its investigation into the Russian Connection.

The stupidity, the lies, the constant denials are intensely frustrating. Trump's attempt to disenfranchise the press as part of a larger strategy to disenfranchise every non-white and every poor and middle-class white in America is terrifying. But it's feeble in the face of the sleeping giant that his dictator-type tactics have awoken. To quote Representative John Lewis:

We must work together to make a way out of no way. #goodtrouble pic.twitter.com/LPk18qCoIS

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) January 30, 2017

The Enemy of the People – the Free Press or Donald Trump?

"If a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was & never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty & property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe." Thomas Jefferson to Colonel Yancy, Jan 6 1916

Not too long ago Donald Trump the candidate was boasting about how the press was giving him so much coverage that he didn't have to buy expensive campaign ads. He loved the press in those days. They loved him back. Then the liberal media developed a conscience, unequivocally condemning Trump as a dog's breakfast. Bigoted, sexist, racist, unworthy, unstable, unqualified.

Since his inauguration, they have been on him like an army of red ants. Reporting truthfully. Investigating. Doing their job with journalistic integrity and courage in a way that recalls Watergate. There is nowhere for the president to run, nowhere to hide. His attacks on the press have been constant and well-documented—mostly by himself, as they're executed in his tweets. Lately the current president's attacks on the media have intensified. His message has gone from labeling the press corrupt, fake news to calling it the enemy of the people. (To see his tweets in handwriting that matches his emotional maturity, download Trevor Noah's app.

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017

It has a sinister and familiar ring to it. Initially it was used correctly, to describe Nero who, when Rome fell into ruin, took an expensive vacation and then ignored a revolt. The Senate declared him an enemy of the people. Nero committed suicide to avoid arrest and execution. In 1882 Ibsen wrote a play Enemy of the People, about a doctor who is persecuted for rightly and publicly criticizing the mayor. At first the townspeople are grateful, but they're manipulated and turned against him. Anybody thinking of Hillary Clinton at this point?

When focus of press was on Hillary's server--by same 'fake news' orgs/'enemies of the people' cited by @realDonaldTrump--he saw patriots.

— Carl Bernstein (@carlbernstein) February 18, 2017

The next public figure to use the phrase was Adolph Hitler, allegedly a fan of Ibsen. He twisted it, using it to describe the Jews. His propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels wrote on Nov 16 1941:

"Every Jew is our enemy in this historic struggle, regardless of whether he vegetates in a Polish ghetto or carries on his parasitic existence in Berlin or Hamburg or blows the trumpets of war in New York or Washington. All Jews by virtue of their birth and their race are part of an international conspiracy against National Socialist Germany… Each Jew is a sworn enemy of the people... If someone wears the Jewish star he is an enemy of the people… The Jews are the enemy's agents among us. He who stands by the Jews aids the enemy…"

Stalin and Mao both used the term to describe objectors, some of whom were slaughtered for their courage.

New York national affairs editor Gabriel Sherman had good reason to call the president's latest tweet "full-on dictator speak." Republican Senator John McCain echoed the sentiment, talking to Chuck Todd. 

WATCH: In an interview with @chucktodd - Senator John McCain reacts to Trump's tweet: "That's how dictators get started" pic.twitter.com/aZq6wnvxYe

— Yashar (@yashar) February 18, 2017

Reince Priebus' response to the president's tweet was "I think you should take it seriously. I think that the problem we've got is that we're talking about bogus stories like the one in the New York Times, that we've had constant contact with Russian officials. The next day, the Wall Street Journal had a story that the intel community was not giving the president a full intelligence briefing. Both stories grossly inaccurate, overstated, overblown, and it's total garbage."

Shades of Richard Nixon. On the December 1972 tape he's recorded as saying "the press is the enemy of the people." In July 1974 he said that Watergate, "the broadest but the thinnest scandal in American history… would have been a blip [but for the press] who hate my guts with a passion..." In August he resigned.

The current US president should take heed. Fun as it is for him to use the tactics of  Stalin, Mao, Hitler and his propaganda machine and to echo Nixon, those men all met their just deserts for being, like Nero, the true enemy of the people. The thing is, how many people will have to suffer before this US president meets his fate? Trump's attack on the press has been well mixed up with exploitation of fear of Muslims and Mexicans. He's upping that ante every day. His Muslim ban didn't succeed but his message got through to his supporters and now he's planning another executive action to replace it. Again, taking a page out of Hitler's playbook, using Joseph Goebbels as his mouthpiece.

"It is the job of the government to deal with [the Jews]. No one has the right to act on his own, but each has the duty to support the state's measures against the Jews, to defend them with others, and to avoid being misled by any Jewish tricks. The security of the state requires that of us all."

For "Jews" read "Muslims," "Mexicans" and "the press". The truth is that the Roman Senate's use of the phrase enemy of the people was the one we need to revert to. The security of the state requires that the president is held to account. Hopefully the Judiciary and Democratic politicians will continue to fight for all civil rights. But without a free press there is nothing to protect democracy from becoming a dictatorship. Again, to quote Carl Bernstein, 

The most dangerous 'enemy of the people' is presidential lying--always. Attacks on press by @realDonaldTrump more treacherous than Nixon's.

— Carl Bernstein (@carlbernstein) February 18, 2017

But the final words go to former President Barack Obama, speaking at his final press conference (the link takes you to the NYT page with the full transcript).

"...You’re not supposed to be fans [or] to be complimentary. You’re supposed to cast a critical eye on folks who hold enormous power and make sure we're accountable to the people who sent us here. 

It goes without saying that essential to [our democracy] is a free press... Our democracy needs you, to establish a baseline of facts and evidence that we can use as a starting point for the kind of reasoned and informed debates that ultimately lead to progress. And so my hope is that you will continue with the...hard work of getting to the bottom of stories and getting them right and to push those of us in power to be the best version of ourselves and to push this country to be the best version of itself.

I have no doubt that you will do so... I want to thank you all for your extraordinary service to our democracy."