Trump Sets the Stage

Donald Trump has been banding around the idea that a lot of people would like see a dictator take over the US government.

Who are those people? My hunch is they are living in the president’s head.

Trump claims that he doesn’t even like dictators—though he loves hanging with his buddy Vladimir Putin who doesn’t preside over a free society. He’s also a fanboy of Hungary’s Viktor Orban.

Though he may deny it, the US president is setting the stage for a dictatorship.

His Aug. 25 assault on the independence of the Federal Reserve is his latest move to expand his power and control over the economic, monetary, udicial, political, academic and communications levers that guide the country.

Trump’s move to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is “one of the gravest challenges” to the Fed since it became independent 74 years ago, according to the Financial Times.

He dreams of replacing Cook with a crony to gain control over the world’s most important central bank, a move that would undermine America’s monetary system and destroy its credibility overseas.

The Fed power grab move comes in the aftermath of Trump nationalizing the private sector. Il Duce would have been proud.

Trump extorted 15 percent commissions from Nvidia and AMD on their China semiconductor sales in return for a license to export chips to America’s No. 1 geopolitical rival.

He demanded and got a “golden share” from Nippon Steel in order to pave the way for its takeover of US Steel. That shakedown gave the White House veto power over Japanese management decisions at USS.

The president okayed $400M to rare earth startup MP Materials, making the Pentagon its largest shareholder. That gives MP Materials an unfair advantage over its competitors.

Trump has waged all-out war on America’s judiciary. Judge Thomas Cullen on Aug. 26 threw out a lawsuit that Trump filed against all of Maryland’s 15 federal judges.

Cullen wrote that over the past several months, Trump officials and their spokespeople described federal district judges across the country as “left-wing,” “liberal,” “activists,” “radical,” “politically-minded,” “rogue,” “unhinged,” “outrageous, overzealous and unconstitutional” “crooked,” and “worse.” Is there a better way to undermine the public’s faith in the judicial system?

Trump has used his executive power to run roughshod over “blue” cities, media, universities and law firms.

But the final piece of the dictatorship fell into place on Aug. 25. That’s when Trump issued an executive order calling for the Secretary of Defense to ensure that the National Guard is “resourced, trained, organized and available” to quell civil disturbances whenever the circumstances necessitate it. Or whenever Donald declares a phony emergency.

The executive order sets the groundwork for the creation of Trump’s own Praetorian Guard, the elite unit of Rome’s Imperial army that served as a bodyguard unit for the emperor, handled counterintelligence, gathered military intelligence and conducted crowd control.

For a dictatorship to succeed, a dictator needs his own private army. It is in formation.

Serving another TACO. During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to spring Hong Kong media baron Jimmy Lai from prison.

“100% I’ll get him out. He’ll be easy to get out,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

The 77-year-old publisher of the now defunct Apple Daily has been on trial for 154 days for colluding with foreigners under China’s draconian national security law that it imposed on Hong Kong to crush dissent.

Lai has been jailed in Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison for more than 1,600 days.

Tough talking Trump has now gone 100% TACO on Lai.

“I didn’t say 100% I’ll save him,” the president said to Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade. “I didn’t say 100% I’d save him. I said 100% I’m going to be bringing it up.”

Trump is weaseling out, re-writing his own history.

Artwork by Lai of the crucified Christ is on display at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

The president should swing by St. Patrick’s the next time he visits Trump Tower in Manhattan.

It might inspire the dealmaker-in-chief to make Lai part of the grand tariff bargain that he is negotiating with China.

Cracker Barrel’s wishy washy stance. Cracker Barrel issued a weak statement in response to killing off Uncle Herschel, and removing the words “old country store” from its brand.

The company is gratified by the love that customers had for the “old timer” and noted that his image will remain on its menu, road signage and be featured in the general store.

C’mon, Cracker Barrel you goofed. Booting Uncle Herschel from the brand but letting him hang around is inconsistent. You are not paying attention to your customers and shareholders. Admit you were wrong and bring the old guy back.

Of course, Trump weighed in on the Cracker Barrel crisis.

“Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before," he wrote on Truth Social.

The president noted that Cracker Barrel could “get a billion dollars of free publicity if they play their cards right.”

The guy knows how the publicity game is played.