Week 2

Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.

1. The First Family-elect will not be living in the White House.
2. Melania’s Wikipedia bio changed overnight to reflect she did not go to college.
3. Donald Jr. met with Russia representatives in Paris to discuss Syria during the election.
4. Aleppo has devolved into the worst humanitarian crisis in our lifetimes, and Putin is emboldened to tell the US to get out of the way.
5. Putin has moved missiles into Kaliningrad “in response to NATO aggression” — within striking distance of Germany.
6. Russian propaganda was the source of much of the “fake news” during the campaign.
7. Trump has selectively been meeting with the media and grooming them by yelling at them. They all showed up for this.
8. Next day he met with the NYT at their offices, and their coverage totally normalized his porous positions and outrageous actions so far.
9. Trump has been furthering his business affairs and using his presidency to get licenses and other favors.
10. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared have joined him in meetings and calls with heads of state, and other senior officials from other countries (here and here).
11. Trump openly stated that he doesn’t care about conflicts of interest, and he does not feel compelled in any way to separate his business dealings from his role as president.
12. Trump admitted to breaking the law! He signed off on the Trump Foundation’s tax statement and now has admitted the Foundation was in violation of tax laws.
13. In Wisconsin, 5k of Trump’s 27k vote lead have been proven to be fake votes.
14. In true dictatorial form, Trump demands Mitt Romney publicly apologize if he wants the position of Secretary of State.
15. Trump is selling Trump merchandise in Trump Tower and online, including Christmas tree ornaments.
16. CNN airs a segment with chyron, “Are Jews People?”
17. Hate crimes continue nationwide against Muslims, Jews, women, Black, LGBTQ and Hispanic Americans. On a Delta flight, one Trump supporter screamed at “Hillary bitches,” and didn’t get kicked off.
18. Steve Bannon received $376k from a small foundation in Tallahassee to pay a salary for his work at Breitbart.

I’m sure there are more. This list is overwhelming already.

Copyright Amy Siskind, November 26, 2016