Donald Trumpwas slamming his fist on the Resolute Desk and, once again, calling for blood.
It was the second year of his presidency, and Trump was seething about gang members and drug lords.
He wanted to see their bodies piled up in the streets.
INJUSTICE FOR ALL: In a second term, Trump’s darkest impulses won’t be checked by “adults in the room.”Shay Horse/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Trump, whod taken office inveighing against American carnage, wanted to create some of his own.
This violent fantasy became an obsession, according to former Trump administration officials.
Fucking kill them all, Trump would say.
An eye for an eye.
Other times hed snap at his staff: You just got to kill these people.
For Trump, the spectacle was crucial.
He had a particular affinity for the firing squad, says one of the former White House officials.
Hed say, They need to be eradicated, not jailed.
The only thing that stopped him from being a full-on dictator was other people, Stanley says.
We know that thats not going to happen anymore.
There are no guardrails, Stanley insists of Trump.
He already has control of any institutions that might stop him.
And the targets of his authoritarian ambition are not single-day, or even single-year, projects.
Hes called for ending the constitutional right of birthright citizenship with an executive order a notion backed by Vance.
Regaining the White House would put a naked abuse of power at Trumps fingertips.
In a more normal time, such a brazenly corrupt act might define a political era.
Trumps tightrope walk to keep out of prison is a hallmark of autocrats.
Regular politicians wouldnt even run for office if they had big legal problems.
But strongmen are not normal politicians, says Ben-Ghiat.
Theyhaveto run; they have to get back into power and make their legal troubles go away.
This is how these guys think.
And its why they all denigrate the press and the judiciary as corrupt, because thats their enemy.
The longer Trump cultivates political power while skirting criminal accountability, the more dangerous he becomes.
Retribution Agenda
TRUMP HAS POSITIONED HIMSELF as an avatar of a collective revenge fantasy for his followers.
I am your retribution.
The Waco setting was chilling and no accident.
(Davis also says he is not looking to serve in a Trump White House.)
The only thing that stopped him from being a full-on dictator was other people.
Theres no nemesis too small.
The tally even includes late-night comics whove pissed him off.
Mass Deportation Now!
Sanders, who lost family in the Holocaust, calls the rhetoric Hitlerian.
People died of sunstroke and disease in custody.
Some of the boat journeys were compared to slave ships.
Were going to put kids in cages, hes said.
Its going to be glorious.
(Davis also characterizes these statements as hyperbole.)
(He has pleaded not guilty.)
Crime data shows that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.
Ten million immigrants who will face daily, if not hourly, human rights violations.
Thats something history remembers.
People ask, How could that have happened?
Youre just going to grab them, and nobodys going to attempt to stop you?
he asks of targeted immigrants, who are woven into communities as spouses, employees, and neighbors.
I expect massive civil disobedience, and then violence if Trump decides to suppress it using the military.
Trump has already sought to use the military against protesters.
Trump asked, Cant you just shoot them … in the legs or something?
And Trump has been explicit in his desire to engage troops against demonstrators.
Vance may not know that hes repeating Mussolini proposals, but its the same stuff, Ben-Ghiat says.
You have women seen as an enemy if theyre not contributing to the state by having babies.
Its never just one target, she warns.
The number of targets always expands.
Trump seeks to replace them with MAGA loyalists a proposal thats also central to Project 2025.
Now let him enforce it.
The goal, Klarman insists, is to create docile agencies that will comply with corporate power.
Trump for Life?
Ben-Ghiat underscores that Trump has already distorted American ideas about voting and elections.
Barring his natural time on Earth coming to an end, he will never leave office, says Ben-Ghiat.
And thats very clear to everybody who studies autocrats.
There are autocrats in Latin America whove managed to circumvent clear term limits, he says.
I dont rule it out.
He will stay in office like Putin.
His friends dont step down.
He [already] had a coup to stay in office.
Everyone is in reality denial.
Americans, we think were special.
But lots of people live in countries like that.
The sheer cartoonishness of Trumps vision for America can make it hard to accept as real.
They admire Viktor Orban; Trump meets with him at Mar-a-Lago.
He admires Putins strength.
Theres no reason in the world to doubt this.
People dont want to believe whats right in front of their eyes.
Lets take Trump seriously this time.
Trump allies like Davis call fears of an autocratic Trump term silly.
Others who have seen Trump operate up close, however, are strident in their warnings.
But just eking out a victory against Trump at the ballot box is no guarantee his threat wont linger.
His supporters on election boards in states like Georgia are already threatening to monkey-wrench the reporting of results.
And Trump has talked about the possibility of a bloodbath if he loses.
I expect massive civil disobedience, and then violence if Trump decides to suppress it using the military.
The Vermont senator points to Trumps recent claim that huge crowds attending Harris-Walz rallies are AI-generated.
Sanders insists the election will be close.
That is what worries me right now, he says.
We have got to prepare the American people for what could be a very contentious and difficult period.
If the opposite happens, and Trump wins is democracy truly lost?
The United States has a much more deeply entrenched history of democracy, says Klarman.
Its not going to be as easy to steal democracy in the United States as it was in Hungary.
Its not like this is an off-on switch if Trump wins and the MAGA Republicans are in charge.
Its not like we ought to give up.
That decision extends to a president himself or herself, not to those surrounding the presidency, Perryman insists.
That is a major focus for potential pushback.
Ben-Ghiat points to hope for internal resistance to Trumps authoritarian schemes from the Armed Forces.
Trump would like to partly reorient military power to be used for domestic repression, says Ben-Ghiat.
