Trump’s narcissistic wet dream is to have power like the men he admires most. His father was a Nazi. Trump kept speeches by Adolf Hitler by his bedside. He dreams of being able to throttle the rule of law and his enemies like his heroes Hitler, Mao, Kim Jong-un, and Orban.
Knowing how to game the system, he bypassed all of those qualified to be president and rose to a position of power. In his term as president, he decided that if he had absolute dictatorial dominance over America, he would rule the world. As he planned his ascension, he got rid of or defamed those who would not support him. When the majority of the American people did not support him and wanted him out of office, he claimed the election was stolen from him.
Knowing that he needed a plan to regain his path to power, he stole documents that contained classified information that he could sell or trade for power. He used the techniques of dictators by lying, fact-stretching, and misdirection. He built a cult following of politically naïve people he continually manipulates and uses to bolster his ego. If we were allowed to see the man without his laboriously applied image – without his hair piece, makeup, and orange tinted spray paint, we would not be fooled that he is anything but a thug hiding behind a false front.
Now, as he tries to re-climb the pedestal to a position he believes is his, he is willing to sabotage America by playing the game in the same way Russia’s Putin maintains power.
To understand how he would use the presidency we can ask, “What would Putin do?” The answer is clear. Putin destroys everyone in his way that might challenge his supremacy. He poisons or kills opposition leaders. He murdered a plane full of people to stop a general that lost faith in him. He maintains terrible gulags where people who do not agree with him are denied liberty and the pursuit of happiness and, in many cases, their lives. He has enlarged networks of secret police that do anything he orders them to do to the people of Russia, and to those in other societies that could be a danger to him. Worst of all, he threatens atomic war and Armageddon if he doesn’t win.
There is no mystery about what Putin does. And there is no mystery about what Trump will do if we let him.