With the new term of elected President Trump, many have started questioning his policies and their legitimacy. While the right side continues to praise Donald Trump, the left side takes an educated perspective on diving into his executive orders and statements.
During my research for this article, I was appalled at the number of actions made by Trump and his cabinet that have been unconstitutional or outright inhumane. Many of the decisions made by President Trump are reflective of those made by dictators and kings in the past. Let’s take a look at some of these and compare them:
- One of the biggest concerns is power distribution within the executive branch. Trump has challenged the normalities of the nation’s democracy by extracting as much power as possible through executive orders and the power of the people. This was seen in 2020 when he tried to overturn the election, claiming it was “stolen” and “rigged.” Similar to many other monarchs of the past, failure was unacceptable to Trump. He sparked riots and invasions of government buildings to tear down the standing president because he could not accept his defeat.
- Now, let’s look at how he has given an unelected person more power than any citizen should have. If conflict of interest had two legs and a beating heart, you could find it in the Oval Office with a black MAGA hat: Elon Musk, a billionaire with an influence on our government that should not exist. Musk is heading a “new government organization,” DOGE, or Department of Government Efficiency, focused purely on cutting costs and redistributing them. Where are the funds going exactly? Unknown. What is being cut? Aid to veterans. Educational opportunities. Government aid to families and individuals. And so much more, which affects the people of America daily.
- With Trump’s conflicts of interest benefiting from these cuts, it’s obvious why he’s allowing an entirely new agency to be formed. The more money that Trump has, the more billionaires he’s friends with, and the more capitalist he becomes, the better outcome for himself and his wealth. Incredibly similar to how monarchs would control and monitor their nations’ currency, Donald Trump is getting closer to influencing the entire 1%.
- Citizens should be concerned about one more thing: Mr. Trump’s remarks about taking over pieces of land that the government already owns.
Jørgen Håland Gaza, Greenland, and the Panama Canal are all things that Trump has decided would be best under U.S. control—even posting an AI-generated video to his X account depicting a Trump-run Gaza. With resorts, a large statue of the sitting president, merchandise with his face and name on it, Elon Musk enjoying food, Trump lounging on the beach, and Trump face to face with an exotic dancer at what seems to be a club. It is important to note that while Donald Trump took the video seriously, the creators, Solo Avital and Ariel Vromen, meant it to be entirely satirical, almost mocking Trump. Even with this, however, Donald Trump took it as a great model of what he would do with Gaza, an incredibly frightening thought. In relation to Greenland, however, Mr. Nicolae Stefanuta, a member of the European Parliament, made his message quite clear to Trump with the quote, “Let me put this in words you may understand. Mr Trump, f***k off.” The quote went viral on social media platforms, with almost an even split of commenters agreeing with Stefanuta and commenters thinking he was outright disrespectful. However, one does have to consider the situation they are in. Donald Trump, serving in his second term, is trying to buy a country that was only recently established in 1979, which is fairly new for a country. This idea of expanding a nation’s land by purchasing or winning over war has existed since the first weapon was created and the first trade was made. While the world has just witnessed the destruction that came with the battle over the Gaza Strip, Donald Trump seems not to care particularly. He must not; if he did, he would realize that the fight over land started the war he claimed he would have stopped by now. The fight over land is a fight nobody will ever win, yet he continues to want to buy and have more.
Our nation has elected a President who represents the monarchy more than the standing monarch in England does. A president who is committed to his investments rather than his people. A president who has made it clear that nobody other than himself and his successes matter. Open your eyes and see the truth; see the ruins our nation is actively falling into. Take notes, read your history books, and hope things begin to change for the better quickly.
