Today is Tuesday, January 28, 2025. The nation that thought it had conquered fascism during the long years of World War II has now sadly succumbed to it in the form of a “dictator for a day” president who has delivered what he threatened he would do if American voters reinstated him in the White House. Dump’s first week in office – that seems more like a year, not only one week – has been assessed by the experts for a Salon article by Chauncey DeVega entitled “Just as bad as we feared”: Experts on the chaos and carnage of Trump’s first week.”

The article mentions his first 100 executive orders and policy changes that he carried out during this first chaotic week. I mentioned some of these decisions in earlier blogs, but some new ones I didn’t mention since there were so many it’s just taken this long to process them are the ones escalating attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, closing down government programs and offices focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and other injurious changes to the overall health of the American citizenry. Just now he froze all federal aid on federal grants and loans, where the American people will suffer.

Most of these changes were spelled out in advance by Project 2025 (the program that Dump distanced himself from in the latter stages of his horrible campaign) and Agenda 47. None of it should have come as a surprise.

Another thing he did that angered many was firing more than a dozen inspectors general across a wide range of federal agencies. “The role of such inspectors is to provide nonpartisan legal supervision and oversight, something Trump manifestly sees as an obstacle to autocratic rule.” Firing them all was likely illegal, but we know that Dump definitely doesn’t care. According to him, his so-narrow electoral victory – which he falsely declared a “mandate” – now renders him above the law as a de facto dictator.

My earlier reference to fascism coming now to our shores is echoed by an essay in the Philadelphia Inquirer written by Will Bunch who writes: “[B]oomers like us grew up in the afterglow of victory of World War II that led us to believe America was the nation that conquered fascism, not a land that would succumb to it.”

One of the most ominous and dangerous of Drumpf’s executive orders targeted the supposed “weaponization of the federal government.” Under this directive, the Department of Justice will begin systematically investigating those deemed to have “persecuted” Donald Dump by attempting to hold him and his MAGA allies accountable under the law like any person in this country. This is not the reason why voters voted for him, but Dump doesn’t care anymore so he’ll do what he damn pleases now that the Supreme Court has given him carte blanche and he also has both chambers of Congress in his pocket.

What is so dispiriting about this whole situation is that public opinion polls show that a large percentage of Americans, close to a majority, either support Drumpf’s early actions or are indifferent to the existential threat he represents to American democracy and a healthy and free society. So they may not even be cognizant of what these early executive orders attempt to accomplish: the eradication of Constitutional norms.

One of those experts speaking about the first week of Dump’s term is Norman Ornstein, emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and coauthor of the bestseller One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported, who says he does not trust the “Extreme” Court “to constrain the dictator.” He also says, “The actions to stop legitimate and important government programs in their tracks, including foreign aid and information about diseases and viruses, are destructive and deadly. This is only the beginning.”

Ornstein believes Dump’s “strategy of flooding the zone with scandals and outrages means that we lose track of them, lose our capacity for outrage.” He bemoans the inadequacy of press coverage to push back against Dump’s agenda. “He will get away with a lot of this until it is too late,” he warns.

Ornstein says strongly, “We have lost our guardrails against autocracy. The press is pathetic. The Republicans running Congress are pathetic. The Supreme Court is in Trump’s pocket. Civil society, starting with the business community, is worthless. Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

Another expert, Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric at Texas A&M University and the author of several books, including Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump, says she is not surprised by anything Dump has done during his first week because she expected them.

Mercieca believes “Trump’s campaign of intimidation is working. People in all parts of government, industry and education are going with a strategy of appeasement, trying to get by. Trump’s supporters are thrilled to see so much action – even if his policies and proclamations are illegal or against the Constitution.”

The historian is happy to see that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is showing the country that it’s still possible to resist Trumpism.

One more expert, D. Earl Stephens, the author of Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters, writes “he feels angry as hell.” He writes about “a feeling of helplessness that he is seeing among many, which is understandable, and is being exacerbated by the opposition’s muted approach and pushback on this authoritarian attack on our democracy.”

Stephens praises Dump’s singular talent of “shock and awe,” calling him a chaos agent. He condemned Dump’s releasing of 1,500 or so dangerous people on his first day in office in which he previously said he “loved” them.

By the same token, Stephens rails against the media for not slamming the dictator in the White House for this morally wrong executive action. Stephens said if he ran a newsroom, the headline he would endorse is “America in Middle of National Emergency!” Instead, it’s just another day for the legacy press.

Stpehens hopes the Democrats can find their footing in all of this. He says “the country is craving bold leadership on the left, who will not only oppose this anti-American attack, but will speak to it in ways that inspire a call to action.”

Here then are just a few analyses of the first week of Dump’s second term as it relates to the diminishment of central norms in American life. Hell, we just have close to 4 years left. Can we survive it, even?

As I indicated yesterday, Elliot and I will be on the road starting tomorrow driving down to Silver Spring, Maryland, to say goodbye to our 14-year-old Nissan Altima. We hope to effect the transfer of the car on Thursday, January 30, while we return to New York by train on Friday. I’ll see you, hopefully, either on Friday or Saturday.

Have a good end of week, everyone.

And so it went!