Donald Trump Will Need a Police State to Implement His Agenda by David Corn

[justaprogressive]

snip Donald Trump has many plans for his return engagement at the White House. Several will require police-state tactics.

During his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly and enthusiastically declared he would order the mass deportation of 11 million or so undocumented immigrants. At his rallies, diehard fans excitedly waved signs proclaiming the slogan they chanted: “MASS DEPORTATION NOW!” Such a program would require deploying a paramilitary force—or even the National Guard or the military—to locate migrants, apprehend them, and guard them in a network of prisons and detention camps. (Executives at private prison, security, and surveillance software companies are already salivating.) This system would depend on Trump ramping up monitoring of workplaces and neighborhoods, and on anonymous tip lines susceptible to abuse and false leads. (Have a problem with a neighbor? Report ’em.) Perhaps the forces rounding up migrants will be afforded special powers to evade civil liberties protections. As in East Germany during the Cold War, an atmosphere of terror and intimidation will pervade.

Expect something similar within the federal workforce. Months before he left office at the end of his first term, Trump issued an executive order that would have removed employment protections from civil servants deemed disloyal to the president and that could have required expressions of allegiance before being hired—in other words, loyalty oaths for Trump. The order created a new employment category called Schedule F, to be applied to perhaps tens of thousands of federal workers (maybe more), permitting them to be fired without cause. President Joe Biden rescinded the order upon entering the White House and, in October, his administration issued final rules aimed at preventing a future president from reinstating it. But Trump has vowed to bring the plan back on “day one” and turn a large section of the federal workforce into a Trump corps—a stated goal of Steve Bannon and other MAGA schemers.

Reviving Schedule F, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) has warned, would be a “direct threat to our national security and our government’s ability to function.” Under such a regime, a broad range of federal employees—say, lawyers at the EPA who work on climate change, scientists at the CDC who prepare for pandemics, or analysts at the CIA who watch the Kremlin—could be dumped at will if they raise questions about a Trump position or don’t pay him obeisance. And the threat of a pink slip would not only silence dissent; it could be used to press government employees to take inappropriate actions—maybe jigger statistics to make Trump’s economic policies look good, or slow-walk disaster aid destined for blue states. /snip

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/biden-trump-federal-power-police-state/

[sboatcar]

1. I see him walking that back as soon as the legalities and logistics of it come to light

Not only that, but all the industries that depends on immigrant labor are going to be lobbying hard for it to stop, and we all know what speaks the loudest to Trump, money.

[dchill]

2. Trump will be handsomely paid...

...to NOT implement his plans.

[Irish_Dem]

3. A bidding war will ensue.

Those on each side of any issue with up the ante.

I guess we shall see who wins each bidding war.

Of course Trump could take the money from all sides and then say Eff It and go snort some adderall and play golf.

[Diamond_Dog]

4. I can't wait until he croaks. Sorry, not sorry.

He is the most destructive force on the planet and is hell bent on ruining this country.

[rich7862]

7. absolutely right!

[Irish_Dem]

13. They have his replacement lined up as we speak.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

[bluestarone]

20. Would have been nice if he would have croaked 8 years ago.

Now he's got lots of his monsters that we are gonna have to deal with the next 4 decades.

[dchill]

11. No law against any of that...

...when you're Donald Trump, that is.

[Irish_Dem]

12. Trump will make all decisions based on how much revenue he can generate for himself.

Kushner will be the bag man/middle man, and advise him how to demand top dollar.

[dchill]

18. It's the only way they think.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Trump believes people who don't think this way are stupid fools.

So he surrounds himself with like minded people.

[Initech]

15. I am wondering how they're going to use the military to carry out their stupid mass deportations...

If Eloon and Vivek dismantle the Department Of Defense? Explain that one.

[rich7862]

5. Thats is why trump needs to be incontrol of the military on day one. People will not want his policies .

[angrychair]

6. The deportations are BS

While I'm sure he means it but the reality is that isn't possible. It would face an avalanche of lawsuits from civil rights organizations and business organizations.
The concern is that even if he feints his intentions to do it could cause immigrants to go to ground and leave everyone from meat processors to fruit farms with a fraction of the people power they need to function which will absolutely decimate our food supply chain and put hundreds of thousands of people at risk for starvation as our food becomes impossible to find outside of personal gardens and small family farms

[rich7862]

8. It its an excuse to control the military

[angrychair]

9. For sure

Mass starvation is as good excuse as any to declare martial law

[magicarpet]

10. Military Police State right here,... Senate confirmation almost complete.

Hat tip to DU's mahatmakanejeeves,

Djt's Department Of Defense - Gestapo Battalion.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143357578

[AntiFascist]

14. Ka$h Patel's Enemies List and Hegseth's views of the Left as the Enemy Within...

are both bad news with the "post-Constitutional" government they want to create. Even in the most blue areas of California, there are those who are calling to prepare for the coming 'kingdom of god'. Mass psychosis will reign.

[Initech]

16. There's a lot of megachurches in OC and up in the northern most part of CA.

Also, I hope Satan's got a special place in hell reserved for drunken rapist neo Nazi Pete Hegseth.

[enid602]

17. Control of National Guard

I don’t think mass deportation will ever take place. Donald issues a state of emergency, and summonses the National Guard to respond to it. Blue State governors tell him to fuck off. Donald sues the governors. Local courts decide against him. Donald takes it to the Supreme Court, where his buddies do him a solid.

But instead of using this new power to call on the National Guard to round up immigrants, let’s pretend he goes after US citizens who are upset with the Government’s threatened cutting of SS and Medicare and the rest of the safety net.

Why would the GOP really consider going after immigrants? They need the cheap labor!!

I’d say wait until this Spring. We’ll see what happens.

[progressoid]

21. Frankly I'm at the stage where I hope he does it.

Those idiots who voted for him will bitch when their meat packing plants can't produce their quarter pounders. The farmers who loved him will need to be bailed out (again) when their crops are rotting in the fields. And the corporate media will have to come up with new ways to kiss his ass while he fucks everything up.

Go Donny go.

Time for the US to fade into history.

Yeah, I've had a few drinks.

[pfitz59]

22. MAGA thinks it won't affect them

only 'the other'. I need not post the famous poem.

[JoseBalow]

23. I fully expect an attempt at a fascist police state

It's what they do