In his Gettysburg Address in November of 1863, Abraham Lincoln famously articulated a core principle of democracy, the emphasis on citizen-led governance and representation, as a “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Through all the variations in the policies and ambitions of administrations from different political parties since then, and the impacts of various geopolitical crises including two world wars and a cold war era with the fear of a nuclear apocalypse looming over the entire world, this core principle of democracy has rarely been placed in serious jeopardy. This was mainly because while different administrations differed in policies and even in some ideologies, the well-being of the citizens of the United States was among the top few priorities of most if not all administrations. This main priority was even augmented by promotion of global well-being of human race around the world about the time of JFK’s presidency, through spending in humanitarian causes, although a higher priority there was most likely maintaining political and economic dominance, but nevertheless, it did benefit the entire humanity by, e.g., helping with elimination or prevention of the spread of deadly diseases.

What we are facing now, however, is an administration of narcissists, by the cronies of a cult leader who sees himself in the image of a king, and with its main priority being retribution. Yes, I know this assessment sounds pretty harsh, but spare a few minutes of your time to read the rest, and you are very likely to agree with me.

Narcissists

It’s no secret, even to his staunch supporters, that the current president of the United States exhibits clear signs of narcissism. I will just quote a few statements and encourage the reader to do their own research on this to convince themselves one way or the other:

• Trump knows more about everything than anybody else
• “Nobody knows more about taxes than I do”
• “Nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do”
• “I know more about drones than anybody”
• “Nobody knows much more about technology than me”
• “I know more about ISIS than the generals”
• “Long live the King”

I think you get the idea. Interestingly, this kind of personality is not limited to the President, but rather several, if not most, of his appointees exhibit similar, albeit somewhat milder, symptoms. Take for example Tom Homan’s statements about how he feels about the immigrants, and how he does not care about the courts or the left, in how he wants to handle admittedly serious problem of loosely controlled immigration. Or listen to Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing and his tone and attitude when he answers the senators’ questions. For someone whose lips have a hard time parting with the King’s behind, he does indeed exhibit somewhat surprising signs of narcissism himself. And finally, consider how the unelected co-president addresses world leaders on his social media platform, e.g., using phrases such as “small man!”

The King’s Cronies

I hate to reference someone like Kash Patel more than once in this post, but it is hard to resist mentioning the children’s book he wrote with the title “A Plot Against the King,” with the President depicted as the King (with an actual crown and all) and himself as the wizard, on its cover. Or the fact that he provided a list of the King’s enemies in an appendix of one of his books, even including some prominent Republicans who might have crossed or disobeyed the King.

But the FBI director is not the only crony appointed to a key position to advance the personal agenda of the President. Most, if not all, of the cabinet level nominees of the President were asked this one question during their confirmation hearing, that whether they believed the presidential election of 2020 was stolen or not. I don’t know of a single one of them providing a straight answer one way or the other; instead, they all tried to evade the question by using statements like “Joe Biden was confirmed” or “inaugurated as the president in 2021.” One wonders if the top level leaders of the executive branch do not have the courage or integrity to denounce a falsehood that even an attorney general like Bill Barr was not willing to go along with, and that has been proven untrue time and again, more than 60 times in courts, and by at least one thorough Republican led investigation in Georgia, out of fear of the President’s retribution, then how are they going to stand up to any real power endangering the interests of the country and its people if and when that becomes necessary.

Retribution

Even while campaigning, the President did not shy away from openly announcing that his government was going to be one of retribution. Such references can be easily found in his speeches during campaign rallies, through a simple web search. But the President’s recent speech at the Department of Justice sounded especially alarming, even with the very low expectations that were built up during the campaign and after the elections and swearing in.

After stating that

“As the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred,”

he starts listing the potential enemies that need to be dealt with or “taken care of.” If you expect the list to include people or groups involved in activities such as domestic and international terrorism, drug or human trafficking, child abuse, or gun violence at schools, you will be disappointed. The list included

“The same scum you have been dealing with for years. Guys like Andrew Weissmann, deranged Jack Smith. There’s a guy named Norm Eisen, I don’t even know what he looks like. His name is Norm Eisen of CREW; he’s been after me for nine years.”

At some point, the President claimed Norm Eisen (a lawyer) as being “violent,” of course unsurprisingly without evidence, but possibly with the intention of setting the stage for Mr. Patel to go after him for being a “violent” critic of the King.

During the previous administration, and in reference to each of the many indictments of the then former president, be it for unfair business practices, election interference, attempting to incite an insurrection, or illegal possession of classified documents and obstruction of justice, the President and the Republican party constantly cried of Biden administration weaponizing the DoJ to target his political rival. Quite interestingly, they rarely disputed the merits of the indictments and convictions, but rather that they were conducted at Biden’s direction. Representative Jim Jordan even started a House Judiciary Committee investigation against the weaponization of the DoJ. While those claims were mostly frivolous, as they would otherwise have no doubt resulted in at least one impeachment proceedings against Biden, they carried an implicit, but in my opinion, very loud message: that they knew that it was illegal for the President to instruct his attorney general or other DoJ or FBI officials to open investigations, especially against people with whom the President is not in good terms. The deafening silence from the Republican party after the President’s speech at DoJ, however, is a testament to the fact that one should not expect even a single shred of integrity from the party that once took pride in being the party of law and order.