Democrats and the mainstream media are panicking Donald Trump may win in 2024, as well they should given President Biden’s dismal polling. In reaction they’ve turned to a favorite trick of accusing their opponent of doing what the swamp is already doing. While plumping for her new book, now card-carrying member of the MSM Liz Cheney claims the US would be “sleepwalking into dictatorship” if Trump wins. America is already sleepwalking into a dictatorship – of the swamp, by the swamp, and led by the elitist left.
The Democrats’ trick was perfected by former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel. Old Rahm identified the most devastating formulation of how the opposition would attack his policy. Then he’d use that formulation to accuse his opposition of doing exactly what he himself intended. For example, if Obama was about to permit more southern border crossings, Rahm would accuse Republicans of proposing to open the border.
Cheney’s dictatorship warning demonstrates the media’s latest Rahm head-fake. The warning itself is curious as American conservatism even as practiced by Trump is fundamentally an anti-dictatorship ideology. Its strong bias is to restrict an activist federal government. In contrast, look around the world and every variation on dictatorship is a form of leftist government, from China’s Xi to Venezuela’s Maduro. (RELATED: JD FOSTER: The Numbers Just Aren’t Adding Up On Biden’s Economy)
The Trump mantra of “drain the swamp” is hardly a call for centralized power. The swamp to which he refers includes the vast left-wing conspiracy, the MSM, and the vast federal apparatus which thrives on dictating to the rest of us how to live our lives. For example, while Kamala Harris is allowed a gas stove, if the swamp had its way you wouldn’t have one, reflecting a fundamental leftist tenet that what applies to thee shalt not apply to me.
The swamp dictates to you on everything from lightbulbs to the water your toilet uses to the kind of car you drive. The left is convinced they know best and are unabashed in using bureaucratic powers to compel your compliance. Via the swamp we are becoming regulation nation.
There’s more to their dictatorship than freedom-robbing regulations. A central feature of dictatorship is the censoring speech. Remember when Biden created a White House office of censorship? He didn’t call it that, but everyone got the joke, so he disbanded it, though the work continues.
The left is all for tolerance, as long as you agree with them. Express disagreement and they shout you down, get you fired, whatever it takes to silence you. Here’s a thought that may shock the Left: Just because the government is doing what you want doesn’t mean it’s not a dictatorship.
Dictatorships use police powers to crush political or cultural opposition. The politicization and weaponization of the DoJ are classic features of a dictatorship. For example, consider how the FBI misused its authorities regarding domestic terrorists by going after Catholic and pro-life groups. How do you confuse nuns in habits for Hamas in keffiyeh? (RELATED: EJ ANTONI: Lyin’ Joe Biden Has Become The Pinocchio-In-Chief)
Or recall how the FBI worked with intelligence community leadership to propagate and defend the Russian collusion hoax or stories the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian ruse. FBI Director Wray still refuses to admit the laptop is Hunter’s.
Remember when the Obama IRS waged war against conservative groups by revoking or denying their non-profit 501(c)(3) status? Notice, no one ever went to jail for any of this. One thing about the left, the ends always justify the means and, in a crunch, a legal shield.
One might claim that each of these instances were one-offs. Separate incidents. Nothing to see here. How many one-offs does it take to acknowledge a pattern?
Love or hate Donald Trump, don’t be deceived by the latest Rahm head-fake. The battle is against the budding dictatorship of the swamp.
JD Foster is the former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget and former chief economist and senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now resides in relative freedom in the hills of Idaho.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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