Authoritarian tendencies come back to bite him
Opinion by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Updated 3:05 PM ET, Fri September 27, 2019
... Authoritarians view public office in an entirely proprietary manner: It is their vehicle for power and enrichment for them and their family. National security, economic policy, and foreign relations must be subordinated to their personal agendas. In Trump's case, his agenda is a combination of making profits for the Trump Organization — for example by allegedly pressuring the US Air Force crews to stay at his Turnberry resort in Scotland during refueling stops (something Trump has said he knows nothing about) — and fending off anything and anyone that might threaten the consolidation of his power. This includes Biden, a man he evidently feels might take him out of office in 2020.
Leaders like Trump behave in predictable ways and follow foreseeable patterns as they use public office to further their private goals. First, they need co-conspirators: an inner sanctum of loyalists who will do their bidding and keep their secrets. This is why they often hire their own family members and why they fire so many other people — it can take a while to find the right individuals to infringe democratic norms for them. Trump now has the man he calls "my attorney general," William Barr, who gave misleading information about the Mueller report to protect his boss and is cited repeatedly in the whistleblower's report as being involved (along with Trump's lawyer Rudolph Giuliani) in the request for a favor from the Ukrainian leader, although the Justice Department released a statement denying that Barr had any contact with the Ukrainians.
... if they rule in a nominal democracy that has expectations of transparency and accountability, authoritarians must take special steps to keep their side-dealings from becoming part of the official record. According to the whistleblower complaint, the transcript of the phone call with Zelensky was put onto an electronic records system used normally for highly sensitive materials.
The White House says lawyers directed the move. Trump has a history of such actions, from making log books of who visits him privately at the White House to confiscating the notes of his meetings with Vladimir Putin and concealing details of those encounters even from very senior officials in his administration ...
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/27/opinions/trump-authoritarian-tendencies-come-back-at-him-ben-ghiat/index.html
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