(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Assessing the Trump Idiocracy * [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-07-23

Donald Trump declared his first six months back in office as the most successful first six months for any President in modern American history. According to Trump, the United States is now the “hottest” and “most respected country anywhere.” I have a very different opinion.

After the first six months of Trump 2.0’s idiocracy * the future is frightening to anyone who believes in good government, human decency, science, and democratic principles. I am very worried about the future of the United States and humanity. I wish I could say some positive things in this assessment – but I can’t.

Trump’s attacks on the free press and the media are threats to the First Amendment and the public’s right to know what the government is doing. Trump launched unsubstantiated lawsuits to intimidate news sources into acquiesces and blocked coverage of events by reporters he didn’t like.

Trump’s clearly illegal executive orders on deployment of the military to police American cities and to strip away citizenship from people born in this county are a threat to the Constitution.

Trump has unleashed ICE as a secret army that operates outside the law denying due process in violation of the 14th amendment to the Constitution that ensures legal due process to all person, not just citizens. It is reminiscent of Fugitive Slave Laws and slavecatchers from the 1850s who would seize Blacks in the North and hurriedly transport them South into slavery.

Fearing Trump’s retribution, Congress and the Supreme Court have yielded to his whims undermining the Constitutional principle of checks and balances between co-equal branches of government. The six-three rightwing majority on the Supreme Court including three Trump appointees continually find technicalities to permit Trump’s actions.

Trump’s tariff wars, tax cuts for the wealthy, and his self-enriching promotion of cryptocurrency threaten to bring down the global economic system and trigger another Great Depression

Trump has cozied up to authoritarian regimes and abandoned U.S. allies so that the rest of the democratic world does not believe it can rely on the United States anymore.

Trump’s budget cuts undermine public education, scientific research, public health and the environment, make the poor poorer, and make work more dangerous. Another pandemic and increasingly severe unanticipated climate events similar the floods in Texas will become more likely.

Trump’s war on higher education has threatened academic freedom in the country, led to a witch hunt to expose and fire people whose ideas he doesn’t like, and scared away highly qualified international students who could have contributed to scientific and technical advances in the United States.

Trump’s violation of international law and support for Israel’s destruction of Gaza with the slaughter of tens of thousands of noncombatants including children could make the United States a target for terrorist groups and life in this country will become dangerous.

Trump has made a travesty of the legal system, pardoning criminals convicted of serious crimes at the January 6, 2011 Capitol Building insurrection, firing Justice department officials for doing their jobs in investigations that touch on his actions and calling for criminal investigations of political opponents including Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton.

Trump has elevated the level of nastiness in political discourse to unheard of heights through mocking, berating, and lying, stirring up hatred, and giving at least tacit endorsement to racists and antisemites like Kanye West and Nick Fuentes by inviting them to dinner at Mar-a-Lago .

Trump’s appointees to important government positions either lack any qualifications for the job like Robert Kennedy and Kristi Noem, were appointed based on how they look on television like Pete Hegseth and Pamela Bondi, are syncopates like Tulsi Gabbard and Scott Bessent who constantly praise Trump’s brilliance or are people like Stephen Miller blinded to the impact of their actions by hatred.

* Idiocracy is a portmanteau combining idiocy with the Greek word for rule. It means government by incompetents who wear their ignorance as a badge of honor. Ancient Rome under the reigns of Nero and Caligula and pre-Revolutionary France under Louis XVI are classic examples of idiocracy that led to collapse. In the 1880s, Mark Twain sarcastically wrote “all you need in this life is ignorance and confidence and then success is sure.” Donald Trump checks both boxes and the United States and the world are more dangerous places because of that.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/7/23/2334782/-Assessing-the-Trump-Idiocracy?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/