President Trump didn’t say anything in his Congressional address last night that he hasn’t said a thousand times. He repeated the same pathological lies and gaslighting tropes, bragging that America is stronger and more respected than ever.
In fact, America hasn’t been this divided at home since the Civil War. And it hasn’t been this hated abroad, ever.
Slouching towards autocracy
Trump spent much of his address lying about doing more in his first month than his predecessors did in two terms. The reality is that he spent that month golfing or sitting on his ass in the Oval Office, signing Executive Orders – like a Pharoah intoning: So let it be written. So let it be done.
Still, there’s no denying that Trump has triggered transformative changes with the stroke of his pen. iPINIONS highlights his unprecedented spree of executive orders as follows:
- Expanding executive authority, turning the autocratic “unitary executive” theory into reality. The Founding Framers must be rolling in their graves as the judiciary and Congress surrender the checks and balances fundamental to democracy.
- Defying judicial decisions, emboldening Vice President JD Vance to dare the Supreme Court to enforce any ruling that checks Trump’s power. Of course, the Court invited this when it ruled that presidents enjoy “absolute immunity.”
- Politicizing the civil service, firing thousands for suspected MAGA disloyalty. His de facto co-president, Elon Musk, and his DOGE apparatchiks botched the purge so badly, they soon begged fired nuclear scientists, air traffic controllers, and USAID workers to return. They’re even trying to undo the firing of nearly 6,000 veterans. Meanwhile, Trump is turning the FBI into a Russian-style FSB, inciting concerns that American democracy is already a Russian-style autocracy.
- Intimidating opponents, fostering fear, and silencing dissent — just like autocrats do. Administration officials are doxing critics. And Republicans fear for their lives if Trump so much as posts about their disloyalty.
- Extorting corporations, forcing them to funnel millions into his accounts and scrap DEI policies. Trump isn’t governing; he’s running a grifting syndicate like nobody has ever seen.
These executive orders, part of his Project 2025 agenda, are triggering unprecedented backlash. Republican leaders have told their members to stop holding town halls because they end up looking like January 6 rioters storming the Capitol. This is how toxic Trumpism has become, even for the MAGA faithful.
Forfeiting global leadership
US allies are gripped by fear and loathing. Trump’s abandonment of Ukraine, leaving it to fend off Russia’s genocidal onslaught alone, has shattered faith in American leadership. His Orwellian attacks on Zelensky — branding him a dictator while painting Ukraine as the aggressor — have utterly shaken their faith in US leadership.
America now votes with Russia at the UN and parrots its maximalist demands in Ukraine peace talks. Franky, this second Trump administration acts as if America is a Russian satellite state, not the beacon of democracy and leader of the free world.
In truth, Trump’s stunts have been so open and notorious, I see no need to elaborate. But he has given the world just cause to see America as a superpower flailing between retreat and a Romanesque decline.
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