Former US congressional staffer:

Trump trying to establish authoritarian presidency

US President Donald Trump has established a cult of personality and undermined the credibility of institutions in order to found an authoritarian presidency, according to American political analyst Rodney Martin, a former congressional staffer based in Arizona.

News ID: 449167

Date: 21 February 2020 - 07:57

RNA - Martin made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Thursday while commenting on a report which says US Attorney General William Barr is considering resigning over President Trump’s tweets about Justice Department investigations.

A source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday Barr has told people close to Trump about his concerns, but it was not immediately clear if Barr had told Trump directly.

“He has his limits,” the newspaper quoted one person familiar with Barr’s thinking as saying.

Barr may be sharing his position with people close to Trump in hopes the president gets the message and stops tweeting about the Justice Department’s criminal investigations, the Post said.

The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Martin said, “Well, if Attorney General Barr stepped down and, I think that's a big if, it would have some temporary implications within probably the administration.”

“For instance, they would have a hard time finding a competent replacement of Barr’s previous, prior stature to fill the position. Keep in mind that Barr took over from basically a slumpy by the name of Matthew Whitaker, who Trump installed when he fired former Attorney General Jeff Sessions,” he stated.

“So if Barr were to resign, and I'm not convinced that these rumors that he is considering or at considered resigned aren't genuine, I believe this is a political deflection maneuver and an attempt to kind of calm things down,” he added.

“But if he were the greatest implication with the news is I think the talent pool that Trump could pull from to put a marquee name and such as William Barr, who previously served under George HW Bush's Attorney General, that would dry up. Nobody of any competence of stature or integrity will be willing to serve Donald Trump, particularly in light of Donald Trump's recent assault on the legal system, the criminal justice system,” he said.

“This is basically the third strike and what authoritarian do; and Donald Trump is following that playbook. First, they established a cult of personality which Donald Trump has done; then they attack institutions and try to undermine the credibility of institutions, which Donald Trump has done. And then the last thing that authoritarians do is they attack and destroy independence and impartiality of the judicial system which we see Donald Trump doing now,” he noted.

“And they also tend to criminals which we see recently and Donald Trump pardoning outside of the normal pardon and review process of just abject criminal in which there was no gray area in terms of their guilt political corruption,” he said.

“Keep in mind, Donald Trump ran for president saying he was going to ‘drain the swamp’ and get the releases and commutes the settings of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, saying that Blagojevich didn't do anything other politicians do that seems to conflict with Trump's mission and objective to ‘drain the swamp.’ We all know that was fraudulent,” the analyst said.

“But overall, I see this entire situation with Attorney General Barr as the third strike of Donald Trump's mission to establish a more authoritarian presidency. We've heard of the imperial presidency. Now we see that transition into an authoritarian presidency where Donald Trump has established the cult of personality. He has attacked and undermined and sow seeds of distrust and institutions transferring it over to him, where people believe can lower their institutions,” he said.

“And for loyalty, they can lower their citizens and now he is attacking the impartial judicial system and undermining that where you used to be in the United States. People understood they could go into a court and be equal among the giants. That is no longer the case,” he said.

“And now the United States is on a spiral towards an authoritarian-based -- shall we say -- banana republic type of cult of personality system that will take years to recover because now people that are running to replace them will want to have some piece of the president that Donald Trump has established,” he pointed out.

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