Donald Trump really wants to be an authoritarian strongman. Trump wants the American people to think of him as a strongman. Authoritarians usually have some degree of competence. One of the reasons why they can successfully topple democracies is that they can manipulate or navigate systems. Authoritarians usually aren’t bumblers.
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The ruthlessly strong competence that it would take to overthrow the democratic tradition of the United States would require someone who understands government and governing.
As the American people know, Donald Trump has no interest in using the vast power of the federal government competently.
Trump is more interested in breaking the government and creating a vacuum that he can fill.
The current president thought that he could count on the Heritage Foundation to carry out the mission, but it turns out the ideologues at the Heritage Foundation aren’t good at competence either.
When this administration is viewed through the lens of lacking competence, its failures become more glaring.
The lack of competence by the guy at the top is also how this happened.
Some in the Justice Department were left scratching their heads because the Truth Social post directed at “Pam” read so much like a text message or direct message from the president.
“Yeah, he texts like that,” one Trump adviser says. “It’s a lot like what the president writes online.”
Some administration officials, the sources say, determined that even though it was likely this was another instance of the president accidentally posting a private message publicly, it was best to just carry on, and act like it was a written demand that was always meant for public consumption.
The people in the administration are so afraid to criticize Trump that their response to his ineptitude is to pretend that he meant to screw up.
Donald Trump’s biggest problem has always been that, because he was born rich, he has been surrounded by people who are afraid to correct him or tell him no. This is why Trump believes that he never makes a mistake.
It is also why Trump believes that he is the most intelligent person in any room.
Trump wants to be an authoritarian, but he lacks the ability to be good at it. Trump is causing significant damage to the country, but he is also failing.
As the failures mount, the rhetoric keeps getting more extreme, but the bluster can’t hide the administration’s incompetence.
What do you think of Trump’s latest screw up? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
