This should concern every single American.
In January 2016, Trump was in the middle of trying to secure the Republican nomination when he praised North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un’s deadly strategy of maintaining his power.
“If you look at North Korea, this guy, he’s like a maniac. OK? And you’ve got to give him credit. How many young guys — he was like 26 or 25 when his father died — take over these tough generals, and all of a sudden — you know, it’s pretty amazing when you think of it. How does he do that? Even though it is a culture, and it’s a cultural thing, he goes in, he takes over, he’s the boss. It’s incredible. He wiped out the uncle, he wiped out this one, that one. This guy doesn’t play games, and we can’t play games with him.”
And Trump still admires that strategy more than a year later. Only this time, Trump is in the White House.
During his interview with John Dickerson on Sunday, Trump once again expressed his admiration of the North Korean dictator’s use of execution to remain in power.
“People are saying ‘Is he sane?’ I have no idea…but he was a young man of 26 or 27 when he took over from his father, when his father died. He’s dealing with obviously very tough people. A lot of people, I’m sure, tried to take that power away, whether it was his uncle or anybody else. And he was able to do it, so obviously, he’s a pretty smart cookie.”
Here’s the video via CBS.
This should scare Americans, especially since it appears Trump is employing other strategies that tyrants use to consolidate power.
So far, Trump has used threats, intimidation, hate, and fear as tools to expand and consolidate his own power. He has attacked the media and the First Amendment. He is so paranoid that he even conducts witch hunts throughout his administration to find and fire people who leak information to the media. Anyone who criticizes him also gets fired, as one of Ben Carson’s aides found out in February.
And Kim Jong-Un isn’t the first dictator Trump has praised. He praised Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte last year and has invited him to visit the White House. Trump has openly praised Vladimir Putin. And he shook hands with Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
A president taking the step of executing people may sound like an impossibility. But Trump exhibits most of the traits of being a fascist. He has already flouted the laws of our country and ignored the Constitution. Republicans in Congress have demonstrated that they really don’t care how Trump uses his power, which means he can abuse it. And he has already done so repeatedly. Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election and he has openly accused a former sitting president of a felony. And that’s on top of a mountain of lies that Trump has been telling since his inauguration. Trump has also urged his followers to beat up protesters and has made it clear that he considers Americans who oppose him as the enemy.
Trump’s praise of Kim Jong-Un’s use of executions should make Americans scream even louder for his impeachment or resignation. There’s a pattern here and Americans need to recognize it because we are only 100 days into a four-year term, and it could only be a matter of time before Trump takes his desire to be a dictator to the next level.
Featured image via Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images
