The following is part of a post by Robert Reich:
The most powerful levers of control in the United States government are found in the six positions where intelligence-gathering and brute force overlap — the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of Homeland Security, Attorney General, Director of the CIA, and Director of National Intelligence.
These six constitute the raw muscle of the federal government, where information about the nation’s security is gathered and force is wielded.
Trump could turn America into a police state by putting people into these positions who are more loyal to him than they are to America and the U.S. Constitution.
Trump has repeatedly warned of a so-called “enemy within.” If he is serious about this putative threat — and we must assume he is — he, and the people around him now planning all of this, must be ready to wield the power of the nation to spy on and use military force against such so-called internal enemies.
Consider Trump’s nominations this week, and he seems well on his way.
Trump has chosen Pete Hegseth, a Fox News TV host, for Defense Secretary; Matt Gaetz, a firebrand right-wing congressman, for Attorney General; Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, for Secretary of Homeland Security; Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress turned fierce Trumper, for Director of National Intelligence; and John Ratcliffe, a former Republican member of Congress, to be director of the CIA.
What do these people have in common?
For one thing, none of them has any experience or expertise that would make them a natural fit in any of these roles, if experience or expertise mattered to Trump.
Their most important “qualification” is that they have demonstrated fierce and unblinking loyalty to Trump. . . .
If — and I emphasize if — Trump is aiming to replace our system of self-government with an authoritarian or fascist one, he would begin by gaining control over these centers of intelligence-gathering and enforcement — staffing them with unquestioning loyalists — and aiming them at so-called “enemies within” the nation.
I don’t want to be unduly alarmist, but within just 10 days after the election, Trump appears to be well on his way.
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