*** “..Hitler’s originality lay in his realization that effective revolutions..are carried out with,
and not against, the power of the State: the correct order..was to first secure access to
that power and then begin the revolution. Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality;
he recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead
he turned the law inside out and made illegality legal.”
[ Alan Bullock: “Hitler, A Study In Tyranny” ]

1]. “Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he’s “trying to stop a dictatorship”…Ellison and fellow attorneys general are litigating against him on more than a dozen fronts…”He wants total and complete authority,” Ellison said, “with a thin, thin, thin, ineffectual veneer of democracy so that he can pretend legitimacy.”
[ Alison Kite: “If he keeps it up, I’ll keep it up”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 4/28/25 ]

*** “What Hitler aimed at was arbitrary power..from the first, he had no intention of having
his hands tied by any constitution.” { Bullock: “Hitler, A Study In Tyranny” ]

2] “..there is growing anxiety about the safety of our financial institutions..Trump fired Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka..”This is the latest in a string of actions by the Trump Administration to subvert the law and undermine financial regulators that keep Americans’ money safe..” [ Michelle Singletary: “Are banks and your money still safe under Trump 2.0?”; Washington Post; 4/28/25 }

*** “Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of the opposition,
it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures,
and it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone
lives in fear.” { President Harry Truman }

3] “President Trump on Saturday posted on social media a single sentence that appears to encapsulate his attitude as he tests the nation’s legal and constitutional boundaries.. “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” Mr. Trump..has repeatedly suggested..he has divine backing to enforce his will.” { M. Haberman, C. Savage, J. Swan: “Trump Suggests No Laws Are Being Broken If His Motive Is To Save His Country”; New York Times; 2/16/25 ]

*** “Devine right of kings is a belief..monarchs get their right to rule directly from God..it is
up to God to punish a wicked king. So far as the people are concerned, ‘the king can do
no wrong.'” [ the World Book Encyclopedia ]

4] “The list of measures purpose-built to cleave off a domain in which the law does not apply grows by the day: the pardons that bless and invite insurrectionary violence; the purges of career lawyers at the Justice Department..[and]..inspectors general across the government, and senior FBI officers; the attorney general’s command..lawyers obey the president over their own understanding of the Constitution; the appointment of people such as Kash Patel and Dan Bongino..; the president’s declaration that he and the attorney general are the sole authoritative interpreters of federal law.. the threat of criminal prosecution for speech deemed unfavorable by the president; and the verbal attacks on judges for enforcing the law.
“The singular aim of these tactics is to construct a prerogative state where cruel caprice, not law, rules…it is striking how Donald Trump’s executive orders reject some basic tenets of American constitutionalism..”
[ Aziz Huq: “A Warning Out Of Time”; The Atlantic; May, 2025 ]

*** “An authoritarian dictatorship like the Nazi regime stiffles real possibilities of control. the Nazis
abolished parliament and all chances of parliamentary investigation, they politicized the
judiciary, they scratched away the power of the rechningshof [the auditor’s office]..”
Adam LeBor, Roger Boyes: “Seduced By Hitler”}

5]. “After nightfall on Jan. 24, President Trump summarily dismissed as many as 17 of the most important guardians of integrity in the federal government – the inspectors general… Mr. Trump’s action was an overt defiance of a law..very much in keeping with the president’s imperious resistance to any form of accountability…Many of Mr. Trump’s first assertions of executive power blatantly exceed what is legally granted.”
[ “Trump’s Test Of the Constitution”; New York Times. editorial; 2/2/25 ]

*** “When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled ‘made in Germany’; it will not
be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course,

‘Americanism'” [ Halford Luccock ]

5] Some – of dozens – headlines on Trump violating laws and the Constitution:
– – “New White House memo is seen as a threat to lawyers”; [Shayna Jacobs; Washington Post; 3/25/25]
– “Judges Sound the Alarms”. [ Aaron Blake; Washington Post; 2/9/25 ]
– “Flouting With Vengeance”. [ Aaron Blake; Washington Post; 3/25/25 ]
– “AP barred from Oval Office despite court order” [ David Bauder; Assoc. Press; 4/15/25 ]
– “Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons betray the rule of law” [ Minnesota Star Tribune. editorial; 1/22/25 ]
– “Trump’s border czar doesn’t ‘care what judges think’. Do you?” [Mel Dickstein, retired judge; Mn Star Tribune; 3/28/25]
– “Trump ignores courts to rule alone”. [Cat Zakrzewski; Washington Post Weekly; 4/20/25]
– “Trump changes Rules To Let Federal Workers Wear Political Symbols” [Eileen Sullivan; New York Times; 4/27/25]

*** “Whenever Law ends Tyranny begins.” [ John Locke ]

“What surprised me at first was that most Germans..did not seem to mind that their personal
freedom had been taken away, that so much of their splendid culture was being destroyed…
in the background there lurked the terror of the Gestapo..for those who got too far out of line
….What seemed to matter most was that the Fuhrer was setting out to liquidate the past..He
was assuring the people that he would make Germany strong again.”
[ William Shirer: “The Nightmare Years 1930-1940” ]

1] “America’s Police State Has Arrived….”It’s the unmarked cars, a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship…Those of us who have lived in countries terrorized by a secret police can’t shake a feeling of dreadful familiarity….It’s the catastrophic interruption of daily life….It’s the forced mass transports of immigrants….It’s the growing irrelevance of the law and the helplessness of judges and lawyers….It’s the chilling stories that come by word of mouth….It’s the invisible hand of the authorities….It’s the shifting goal posts….It’s the lists….It’s the denunciations by concerned citizens….The United States has become a secret police state. Trust me, i’ve seen it before.”
M. Gessen: “America’s Police State Has Arrived”; New York Times; 4/6/25 ]

*** “Beneath the surface..Germany had undergone a rapid and sweeping transformation that reached deep into the fabric of daily life…At its core was a government campaign called Gleichschaltung..bring citizens, government ministries, universities, and cultural and social institutions in line with National Socialist beliefs and attitudes.”
[ Erik Larson: “In The Garden Of Beasts” ]

2] “As Fraenkel explained it, a lawless dictatorship does not arise simply by snuffing out the ordinary legal system..the “normative state” remains in place while the dictatorial power spreads across society…the Nazi regime slowly created a parallel zone in which “unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees” reigned freely.. the “prerogative state”…
“The key here is that the prerogative state does not immediately and completely overrun the normative state. The two states cohabit uneasily and unsteadily….The trick was to find a way to keep the law going for Christian Germans who supported or at least tolerated the Nazis, while ruthlessly executing the fuhrer”s directives against the state’s enemies, real or perceived. Capitalism could jog nicely alongside the brutal suppression of democracy.”
[ Aziz Huq: ‘A Warning out Of Times”; The Atlantic; May, 2025 ]

*** “Throughout that first year in Germany, Dodd had been struck again and again by the strange
indifference to atrocity that settled over the nation, the willingness of the populace and of
the moderate elements in the government to accept each new oppressive decree, each new
act of violence, without protest. It was as if he had entered the dark forrest of a fairy tale
where all the rules or right or wrong were upended.”
Erik Larson: “In The Garden Of Beasts” ]

3]. “When a president declares an “invasion” to justify shredding of thr Constitution, he’s not defending the nation – he’s declaring war on democracy itself…they are sidestepping constitutional protections and rounding up people en masse..This is not just overreach of executive power – it is tyranny…
“Even more horrifying, Trump is ignoring court orders to halt these unconstitutional actions. Hw is deliberately undermining the judiciary, proving once again that he does not see himself as a president constrained by law but as a dictator accountable to no one…
“If left unchecked, this power grab sets a precedent that no American is safe from arbitrary detention. Today it’s asylum seekers and immigrants. Tomorrow, it could be political opponents, journalists, or anyone who dares criticize the orange menace..” [ Thom Hartmann: “Welcome to Trump’s America: Where Immigrants Vanish, Courts Are Ignored, and No One Is Safe”; The Progressive Populist; 4/15/25 ]

***. “We can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate, revulsion,
and scorn toward those who disagree with us.” [ Lenin ]

4]. “The National Intelligence Council, drawing on the acumen of the United States’ 18 intelligence agencies, determined..the Venezuelan government is not directing an invasion of the United States by the prison gang Tren de Aragua, a judgment that contradicts President Donald Trump’s public statements..” [ John Hudson, Warren Strobel: “Intelligence contradicts invasion claim”; Washington Post; 4/19/ 25 ]

*** “Our government has kept us is a perpetual state of fear – kept us in a continuous stampede
of patriotic fervor – with the cry of grave national emergency.”
[ General Douglas MacArthur, 1957 ]

SO – what do YOU think? We, obviously – not yet – don’t have what the Nazis and Stalin Soviets achieved. THE question for YOU: where are we on the continuum? Trump has politicized and weaponized parts of the U.S. federal government [ after claiming – without credible evidence it was done against him. How does this achieve what the Founders said in the Constitution’s Preamble: ‘..a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare..”????????? People HAVE been dragged off American streets – for what they said, for what they believe – without evidence or court procedures.
In the Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – are YOU safe, immune from this? Do YOU want to live in a climate of fear, uncertainty, manufactured hatred????????/

One of THE major components of the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY is LIES, Misinformation, twisted information, DELIBERATE DISINFORMATION – a literal. POISONING of American minds. They are capitalizing on 90 years of FAR RIGHT. efforts to divide Americans, to camouflage the EAL villains – the top 1% and corporations – to manufacture hatreds and discontent.

Over the last 90 years, the FAR RIGHT has built up MANY propaganda outlets: foundations; phantom funding of “grassroots” groups; funded numerous “experts” churning out ‘studies,” books, articles, making media appearances; creating bogus “legal” theories like “originalism” and “textualism”; funding “legal” studies of “law and economics”; funding university level “studies”; supported FAR RIGHT media personalities and programs; building their own schools and universities; supporting entire media and internet organizations………..

A vital media outlet – local newspapers and media – have been devastated by the internet and being bought up by major media companies – who then DICTATE what is said. The loss os small, often “Mom & Pop” operations, has been a MAJOR loss in those communities, and, usually a blow to democracy.

Not content with all this. – the FAR RIGHT. has also engaged in a vast. CENSORSHIP. program to force local libraries and schools to remove materials ‘offensive” to THEM, often a single person’s views.
The Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY. is vigorously removing ANY material THEY say YOU shouldn’t see or read – virtually always the TRUTH on what happened, 1789-2025.

This is straight out of Orwell’s “1984,” when ‘big Brother” told YOU all you needed to know; and – what REAL dictatorships – Communist, Nazi, Fascist, Putin – do and did.

***YOUR defense – read mainline newspapers, books, magazines; listen to mainline news. Be very careful of ANY “news” on social media – how do you really know it isn’t a Russian or Chinese bot posing as your “influencer”??? Studies have shown that Republicans who DIDN’T listen to Fox News were more realistically informed than Republicans who did.

***A Beginning List – to help YOU ask questions:
– magazines: Mother Jones, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Church & State
– crucial books: “Democracy In chains” – Nancy macLean; “Dark Money” – Jane Mayer; “Evil Geniuses” – Kurt Andersen; – the money BEHIND the FAR RIGHT

– stealing prosperity: “The Betrayal of the American Dream – double Pulitzer winners Donald Barlett & James Steele; “Who Stole the American Dream” – Pulitzer winner Hedrick Smith
– economic inequality: “The Spirit Level” [international bestseller] – Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett; “The Price of Inequality” – Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz; “Economic Apartheid in America” – Chuck Collins & Felice Yeskel

– sabotaging democracy: “How Democracies Die” – Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt; “American Amnesia” – Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson; “The Big Myth” – Naomo Oreskes & Erik Conway; “Minority Rule” – Ari Berman; “Attack from Within” – Barbara McQuade
– fascism & authoritarianism: “How Fascism Works” – Jason stanley; “On Tyranny” – Timothy Snyder; “Twilight of Democracy” – Anne Applebaum; “On Fascism” – Matthew MacWilliams; “American Nightmare” – Henry Giroux

– Trumpism: “Authoritarian Nightmare” – John Dean & Bob Altemeyer; “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” – Pulitzer winner David C. Johnston; “The Cult of Trump” – Steven Hassan; “How The Right Lost Its Mind” – Charles Sykes; “It Was All A LIE” – Stuart Stevens, 25-year Republican lead campaign strategist
– corruption: “On corruption In America” – Sarah Chayes; “American Kleptocracy” – Casey Michel; “Corruption In America” – Zephyr Teachout; “Kleptopia” – Tom Burgis

– warnings: “Broken Government” – John W. Dean; “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks” – Thomas Mann & Norman Ornstein; “The Wrecking Crew” – Thomas Frank; “The Great Unraveling” – Nobel winner Paul Krugman
– corporate criminality: “Predator Nation” – Academy Award winner Charles Ferguson; “Selling Out” – Mark Green; “These Are the Plunderers” – Pulitzer winner Gretchen Morgenson & Joshua Rosner; “The One Percent Solution” – Gordon Lafer; “THe Devine Right of Capital” – Marjorie Kelly

– truth: “Murder The Truth” – David Enrich; “The Death of Truth” – Michiko Kakutani; “Erasing History” – Jason Stanley; “The Death of Expertise” – Tom Nichols; “The Digital Civil War” – Peter Daou; “Losing Reality” – Robert j. Lifton
– religious extremism: “Preparing For War” – Bradley Onishi; “American Fascists” – Chris Hedges; “The Power Worshippers” – Katherine Stewart; “The Theocons” – Damon Linker; “Thy Kingdom Come” – Randall Balmer; “Church & State” magazine – numerous articles on Christian Nationalism

***The TRUTH about the Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY is available – please read and find it!!! YOU can help save American democracy from the FAR RIGHT’S 9-year effort to create a THEOCRATIC OLIGARCHY in YOUR country