Post #4924

🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣ The White House has repeatedly rejected claims that the president’s actions amount to authoritarianism, dismissing such criticism as “deeply unserious” and rooted in what the president calls “Trump derangement syndrome”. When pressed, the president has said he was handed a broad mandate to restore “law and order,” secure elections and dismantle what he has described as a corrupt federal bureaucracy. “Here’s the reality: President Trump was resoundingly reelected by the American people based on his America First agenda,” White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, said in a statement. “Now, he’s delivering on all his campaign promises – that’s democracy in action.” While at the White House, Musk took a chainsaw to the federal government, firing thousands of workers in sweeping, indiscriminate cuts that were quickly challenged in court. Estimates suggest more than 300,000 federal workers left in the Trump-era exodus, draining the government of top scientists, researchers and analysts. Traditionally autocratic regimes expand social services for supporters as a way to buy loyalty, while stripping away their political rights, Ben-Ghiat said: “that’s how they get so many people to go along and look the other way”. But Trump, she said, has diverged from that model: rather than shoring up the social safety net, his administration, abetted by Congressional Republicans, has moved to “kneecap” public health and social programs, including child care benefits – cuts Democrats plan to foreground in this year’s midterm elections. Last year, millions joined No Kings rallies to denounce a president they say has wielded power like a monarch. At the ballot box, Democrats won successive victories in the 2025 off-year elections, and are well positioned to retake the House – and possibly the Senate – in the 2026 midterms. Trump, meanwhile, remains unpopular nationally – a vulnerability for his party heading into this year’s elections. A CNN poll found that a majority of Americans believe Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the country, and 58% call his first year a failure. Trump’s fragile political standing is one indication that the administration’s narrative is increasingly at “odds with what people see – their lived experience,” Ben-Ghiat said. The more that gap widens, she said, “the more people will wake up”. She pointed to Minneapolis, where Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act as a response to protests against the killing of a 37-year-old US citizen by a federal immigration officer. Instead of retreating, hundreds of Minnesotans registered for training to become “observers” of enforcement activity. #trump#first#year#threat#bureaucracy#immigration#nato 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸