What would a new term for Donald Trump look like? To find out, just ask him, and his answers are not encouraging.
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For the ex-president’s apologists or for certain commentators who cloak themselves in the cloak of neutrality, there is no need to worry about a second Trump term.
However, in a recent interview with the magazine Timemany of the intentions he sets out are alarming.
An authoritarian turn
Trump famously declared that he would be a dictator, “just on day one.” He claims it was a joke, but nevertheless points out that he thinks a lot of people like that kind of language.
In fact, anyone who openly admires and envies leaders like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un or Viktor Orban constantly provides us with evidence of his intention to imitate them if he returns to power.
For example, Trump intends to eviscerate the independence of the civil service. Those who refuse to comply with his directives, even if they are illegal, could be arbitrarily fired.
As head of state, Trump promises to call on the armed forces, the national guard or local police forces (which do not answer to the authority of the president) to repress his critics or to pursue migrants.
Unable to understand that the accusations against him are the result of independent investigations ratified by citizen juries, Trump promises to bury the norm of judicial independence and to order indictments against his opponents himself by as retribution.
Radical policies
Trump’s proposed policies are as radical as his authoritarian bent. His call to deport ten million migrants would likely be one of the most costly and catastrophic policies in his country’s history.
Speaking of costly policies, he also promises to impose a minimum tariff of 10% on all imports, but he refuses to understand that such unbridled protectionism would be inflationary and penalize American consumers.
His foreign policy would sound the death knell for US international leadership, opening the door to Europe wide for Vladimir Putin, among other potentially disastrous consequences.
On abortion, Trump is passing the buck to the states, but it is clear that his return would accelerate the erasure of this right and would lead to dramatic, even tragic, consequences.
At the foot of the letter
Trump apologists say it shouldn’t be taken literally. It is a mistake. When someone tells us who they are, we have to listen to them. Trump keeps repeating that if he becomes president again, he will make a mockery of the constitutional limits on the powers of this office.
During his first term, several people in his entourage cooled his authoritarian ardor and defused his most calamitous or preposterous ideas, but the “adults in the room” will no longer be there in 2025. Trump is determined to surround himself with blessed -yes-yes whose loyalty to him will constitute the only guarantee of competence in his eyes.
What would a second Trump term look like? Listen to what he says. It will look like this.
