These days, I find myself wondering what it would take for congressional Republicans to recognize and resist Trump’s dictatorial ambitions to be an unaccountable king.

Would he have to wear an actual crown in the White House rose garden he is paving over? Install a throne in the flying palace he procured from the Qataris?

I wonder what it would take to stop hearing from pundits that we’re overreacting to Trump and his happy-birthday-to-me military parade — the same week he deployed the National Guard and U.S. Marines against Americans on American soil — in a confrontation manufactured by his administration’s assault on peaceful, law-abiding immigrants.

This week, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was shoved to the floor and handcuffed when he tried to ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question at a press conference where she declared that she and her federal agents would “liberate” Los Angeles from its elected leadership. That’s not democracy. It’s fascism.

I wonder whether the president’s defenders are lying to themselves, or just to us.

Probably some of both.

For the brutally cynical power players, the administration’s cruelty and criminality are part of the plan.

Project 2025........

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