Donald Trump is our elected tyrant. His handlers walk back some of his ugliest words and actions, maintaining a thin facade of formal legality, but the man demands absolute power unchecked by legal restraint. The Supreme Court will likely find a way to maintain the fiction that we live under the rule of law, while actually removing all restraints from the tyrant. That facade of legality will disappear when the tyrant faces real resistance.
The First American Republic is bleeding out. A Tyrannical Republic has replaced it. This Tyrannical Republic retains some structure from the old Republic, a thin shell of legality surrounding the snarling tyrant within, he who smiles but never laughs.
Americans have been citizens with rights (few were full citizens at first, most were until recently). A citizen had rights even when her party was out of power, and most citizens felt morally obliged to follow the law, more or less, even when they disagreed with it.
Citizens become subjects under a tyranny. Some subjects are privileged, perhaps capriciously, but everyone else is directly exposed to arbitrary action. An unprivileged subject has no rights that matter; he will be coerced into obeying the authority of the tyrant. Conversely, he need feel no moral compunction in breaking laws
Will we vote in 2026? 2028? There may be formal elections, but their essence, any real choice, will be gone.
How will American Tyranny end? Trump could walk away in 2028: well no, he attempted a putsch in 2020, and has told us he won't go. It is highly likely that Trump will die a tyrant. He will likely be succeeded by the tyrant who kills him (JD could accelerate his timetable, for example). Tyrannies are unstable, historically. We don't know how this one will end, but they always do. Dystopia is a popular prediction, with the survivors huddled in the ruins eating gruel.
How can the First Republic be restored? It can't. It is gone for good. A Democratic tyrant would be no better than a Republican. The institutions of the First Republic that survive the descent into Tyranny will be creatures of the Tyranny. A Second American Republic must be built on new foundations, foundations that make tyranny impossible. Capital must be weaker than we are.
What will happen to US State goverments? Tyranny can have only one tyrant at a time. Tyrannical governors who irritate or challenge the Tyrant risk destruction (see Florida). The other "red" states will try to follow the erratic course of the Tyrant. I worry that "blue" states will fold. The tyrant has not yet turned his attention to them.
islandnetworks feb2025
Six months in, the tyrannical republic has starved babies in Gaza, set up concentration camps around the world, sent squads of secret police to terrorize American cities, disemboweled the Federal workforce, effectively made white supremacy official policy of the USA, and generally acted out its brutal, hate-filled, reactionary nature.
So far they have retained republican forms, but put them under constant assault. The image here is, for me, Bruce Banner's pants. Every past president, and Trump in his first term, were constained and contained by the presidential pants, but Trump has gone full Hulk and his pants have stretched and deformed beyond recognition. We can still call the USA a republic, but that republic is nothing but a fig-leaf covering the orange hulk and his tiny penis. Imagine Andrew Cuomo in those pants.
islandnetworks jul2025