President Donald Trump has named April 2nd as “Liberation Day” to mark his initiation of comprehensive tariffs against America’s partners in international trade. Thereby he claims to have liberated America. But, contrary to his intent, these tariffs will undermine America’s central role in a world economy where free trade and the American dollar have long reigned. America, instead, will no longer be a free trade advocate, but a trade pariah preying on tariffs paid by its own citizens who will indeed be “liberated” from their hard-earned money.  As a result, he will have changed the course of America’s role in history. Instead of a beacon for democratic values, America will be a pariah amongst its trading partners and at the expense of its own citizens and our tripartite government. He has consistently fought the other co-equal branches of government in his attempt to assume or suppress their legislative and judicial authorities while expanding his executive functions beyond their Constitutionally defined parameters. Is President Trump simply opposed to our American democracy? Whose liberation is Donald Trump declaring? Is it the “Donald” against the world, including the country that elected him President?  He advances his self-serving initiatives with incessant lies and predictions of dire outcomes. Truly, Trump’s liberation day is his day of triumph, not ours. How then can we revere this man as our President and “leader of the free world?” He is a twice impeached President found guilty of 36 felonies and sexual assault by a jury of his peers, that is, average American citizens. “We the people” have already liberated him from prison by electing him to the Presidency. Is that not enough liberation for this deviant? 

Let’s briefly review his well-documented background. As a young man, he inherited his father’s real estate empire and ran it into multiple bankruptcies. He even bankrupted a Las Vegas Casino, defying the principle that “the house never loses.” Nevertheless, he did manage to build a real estate empire with investments from Russian oligarchs—for American banks were loath to deal with a client of such poor financial acumen. But he did attract Russian oligarchs anxious to launder what was stolen from the Russian people. Buying multiple condos and estates and then reselling them was a lucrative business for both the oligarchs and the Trump real estate business. He regained his lost wealth and became well known as a “playboy” or “man about town” in New York. By the late 1980’s he was even touted as a future Presidential candidate. At the same time, he was also labelled as a “Russian asset”—which did not then connote something sinister. Perhaps, it was Trump himself who inspired that label since he profited from Russian investments (as confirmed by his son) and claimed he felt more welcome in Russia than in New York. He said so in an address before a Russian audience during the Miss Universe Pageant he had brought to Moscow. At that time, he dearly wanted to meet President Putin. Years later, while a candidate for the Presidency, he again stated his desire to meet Putin and pitch his plan to build a Trump hotel in Moscow. To sweeten the offer, he even promised a top floor executive suite just for Vladimir. 

As President, Trump has often touted how he felt more at ease with dictators, like Vladimir Putin or Kim Jung Un. He even consulted with Putin privately, in contrast to previous Presidents whose contacts with world leaders were monitored and recorded. And he received private letters from Kim Jung Un that he called “love letters.” His recent threats to Canada, Mexico, Panama, and Greenland do mirror the threats Kim Jung Un made against South Korea and Putin’s threats to the NATO countries of Europe. While Kim Jung Un rattles South Korea with military exercises and rocket launches, Putin invades Ukraine and threatens the NATO countries of Europe with nuclear war. Does not Trump’s recent threats to nearly defenseless allies align more closely with Putin’s and Kim Jung Un’s behavior? ¹ Further, his affinity for dictators has been well evidenced. Consequently, it cannot be said that Donald Trump is hiding who he is. 

The men he admires are dictators who have absolute power and an unmitigated desire to extend their power and influence over neighboring countries. Also, it should be noted, that neither North Korea nor Russia offers a standard of living comparable to either the United States, South Korea, or the free European states. Dictators care less about the people they govern, than the wealth and power they amass in the office. Given this thoughtlessness, is it any surprise that Trump would saddle the American people with tariff taxes that raise the cost of living while decreasing the taxes of his American oligarchs? Trump’s persona is consistent with this characterization of 20th century dictators and explains why the questions raised in the opening paragraph are so painful, however relevant. 

The more imperative question, however, remains unanswered. That question is simply how we will recover from Trump’s “liberation” and rebuild a democracy and an economy that works for everyone, not just Donald Trump and his so-called oligarchs. Remember Jefferson’s declaration that we are all born equal with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We Americans are not subjects, but free citizens with equal rights. As such, we must liberate ourselves from Donald Trump and his dreamscape of absolute power over us and the institutions Congress legislated to serve our health and well-being and insure our future as the free citizens of a democracy. Eliminating DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) programs, abortions, Medicaid, the Department of Education, and reducing the services of the EPA, CDC, FEMA, Social Security, weather forecasting capabilities and so many other government agencies is not the function of a democratic government, but of a dictator who serves his own interests rather than those whom he should serve. So how do we liberate ourselves and our nation from a wannabe dictator?  

This question reminded me of Hannah Arendt’s preface to her book, “Between Past and Future.” Like the French resistance to the German occupation in World War II, we Americans find ourselves at a decision point in our history—a moment in time when we must define who we are and thereby determine our future. That moment for French resistance fighters Arendt defined as a “treasure” wherein an epaisseur triste, ‘the sad opaqueness of a private life centered about nothing but itself” was transformed by “an aspiration of freedom . . . because they had become ‘challengers,’ had taken the initiatives upon themselves and therefore, without knowing, or even noticing it, had begun to create  that public space between themselves where freedom could appear.” We Americans created that public space many times in our history beginning with John Adams who organized a revolution and won the appointment of George Washington as the general who recruited, trained, and led American freedom fighters to victory. Then, representatives of the newly freed colonies came together at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to define the structure of a democratic government. They were inspired by “an aspiration of freedom” and had become the victorious “challengers” over a dictatorial regime. That moment in history created our Constitutional Democracy we call America.

This now is our moment in history to join forces, challenge a wannabe dictator, vote his dupped Party out of office, and preserve American democracy for our heirs. We dearly need to preserve our treasure–that is the values expressed in the Preamble of our Constitution and the tripartite government defined in its Articles.  That treasure, if lost, may not ever be reclaimed.

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¹ The similarities between the world views of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are addressed in some detail by a previous blog, i.e., “The Import of a Trump/Putin Alliance.”  That blog was published on July 4th, 2024, and is too accurately predictive of the future we now are so regrettably experiencing.