L'etat c'est moi

Trump says he is the law. Plus, ignoring the courts, consolidating military power, and stifling dissent.

Graffiti in Crete, Greece on a recent trip there.

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There was a telling moment the other day when Donald Trump was confronted by Maine Gov. Janet Mills. Trump was discussing an executive order that seeks to prohibit men from playing in women’s sports—an anti-trans initiative aimed at the right-wing culture war belief that transgendered women are wrongfully dominating their female peers in NCAA sports.

“You’re going to comply” with the order, Trump demanded as Mills shot back from the audience.

“I will comply with state and federal law,” Mills said, alluding to the fact that Trump’s executive order will be challenged in court.

"Well I’m… we are the federal law,” Trump said.

The stumble—almost saying “I’m the law”—flew under the radar, but it should come as no surprise. Trump wants to the be the leader of a post-democratic United States, one in which elections are maybe held but serve simply to maintain the power of the ruling class—in this case, Trump and his closest allies ruling with impunity. Democrats and others would be simply reduced to weak opposition parties with no effective power.

This is a concept known as “competitive authoritarianism,” which I recently discussed with Texas-based independent investigative journalist Steven Monacelli on the American Doom podcast, and it’s one of the places we’re headed if we’re not vocal in our opposition to Trump and his agenda.

At the top of that agenda is rendering all other branches of government ineffective. The checks and balances normally provided by Congress are gone, with Republicans ceding the branch’s long-held powers to Trump. Complete consolidation of power also means ignoring court orders, which Trump has already done, daring judges to hold him accountable. So far, they really haven’t.

But the final piece is perhaps the most disturbing, and that’s what the Trump administration has done in the last 48 hours. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has overseen a purge of the military’s top brass, replacing them with apparent Trump loyalists. This means there will be fewer people to stand in the way when—not if—Trump demands that the military carry out illegal and unconstitutional orders.

In real-world scenarios, this looks like deploying the military to round up immigrants and deport them—whether it’s legal or not—and using lethal force against protesters.

There are things that progressive Americans can do to prepare for the mobilization of military or law enforcement to do Trump’s bidding in illegal—and perhaps violent—ways. I’ll be exploring those action items in the weeks and months to come, as well as providing resources for other ways to support causes that push back on the Trump administration’s authoritarian agenda.

The public pressure at town halls held by members of Congress in recent days is a good start. As a friend told me yesterday, Americans who don’t support Trump’s authoritarian push must force those who do support him to pay a “courage tax.” For now, the best way to do this is to make it clear to members of Congress that, by blindly supporting Trump, they run the risk of losing their next election.

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