Brian Klaas - The Despot’s Apprentice: Donald Trump’s Attack on Democracy

Copyright 2017 by Brian Klaas

Foreword Copyright 2017 by David Talbot

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

Cover design by David Gee

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-3585-9

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-3593-4

Printed in Canada

To Ellie,
Always there,
Always right .

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

The world is burning, and yet the firelight illuminates the way out. The times are dire, even catastrophic. Nonetheless we can sense a grand awakening, a growing realization all around the globe that people have the power, to dream, to rule, to wrestle the world from fools in the prophetic words of Patti Smith.

But in order to rouse ourselves from the nightmares that hold us in their grip, we need to know more about the forces that bedevil us, the structures of power that profit from humanitys exploitation and from that of the earth. Thats the impetus behind Hot Books, a series that seeks to expose the dark operations of power and to light the way forward.

Skyhorse publisher Tony Lyons and I started Hot Books in 2015 because we believe that books can make a difference. Since then the Hot Books series has shined a light on the cruel reign of racism and police violence in Baltimore (D. Watkins The Beast Side); the poisoning of U.S. soldiers by their own environmentally reckless commanding officers (Joseph Hickmans The Burn Pits); the urgent need to hold U.S. officials accountable for their criminal actions during the war on terror (Rachel Gordons American Nuremberg); the covert manipulation of the media by intelligence agencies (Nicholas Schous Spooked); the rise of a rape culture on campus (Kirby Dick and Amy Zierings The Hunting Ground); the insidious demonizing of Muslims in the media and Washington (Arsalan Iftikhars Scapegoats); the crackdown on whistleblowers who know the governments dirty secrets (Mark Hertsgaards Bravehearts); the disastrous policies of the liberal elite that led to the triumph of Trump (Chris Hedges Unspeakable); the American wastelands that gave rise to this dark reign (Alexander Zaitchiks The Gilded Rage); the energy titans and their political servants who are threatening human survival (Dick Russells Horsemen of the Apocalypse.) And the series continues, going where few publishers dare.

Hot Books are more condensed than standard-length books. Theyre packed with provocative information and points of view that mainstream publishers usually shy from. Hot Books are meant not just to stir readers thinking, but to stir trouble.

Hot Books authors follow the blazing path of such legendary muckrakers and troublemakers as Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jessica Mitford, I.F. Stone and Seymour Hersh. The magazines and newspapers that once provided a forum for this deep and dangerous journalism have shrunk in number and available resources. Hot Books aims to fill this crucial gap.

American journalism has become increasingly digitized and commodified. If the news isnt fake, its usually shallow. But theres a growing hunger for information that is both credible and undiluted by corporate filters.

A publishing series with this intensity cannot keep burning in a vacuum. Hot Books needs a culture of equally passionate readers. Please spread the word about these titles encourage your bookstores to carry them, post comments about them in online stores and forums, persuade your book clubs, schools, political groups and community organizations to read them and invite the authors to speak.

Were engaged in a war of ideas, a war for the hearts and minds of the American people. For too long, this war has been dominated by Fox News, right-wing talk radio and the bestsellers that they manufacture. And by the corporate-sponsored discourse of the liberal media -- including the New York Times and NPR-blessed authors and pundits who keep their social commentary within acceptable boundaries.

Its time to go beyond this packaged news and propaganda. Its time for Hot Booksjournalism without borders.

David Talbot, 2017

INTRODUCTION

AMERICAN AUTHORITARIANISM?

It could never happen in America. Right?

Two years ago, in Minsk, I met with Mikalai Statkevich, a presidential candidate in Belarusa country often called the last dictatorship in Europe. During his campaign, Statkevich had spoken out in favor of democracy and had organized a peaceful protest against the dictator, Alexander Lukashenko. For those crimes, Statkevich was beaten, then abducted. Thugs from the ruling regime grabbed him, put a bag over his head, and forced him into a van. For an hour, they drove around without telling Statkevich where they were heading. His mind was racing. Was he being taken to a secluded forest to be shot? A dirt road to be beaten to death? Would he ever see his family again? As it turned out, Statkevich was tossed into a cold, dark, bare jail cell and left to rot. The regime allowed him to speak to his family for only one hour per year. Other dissidents from the opposition were tortured, handcuffed onto a medieval-style rack, and stretched until their bones cracked and they confessed. In that horrifying environment, Statkevich watched five years of his life slip by, day after bleak day.

When Statkevich finished his story, both of us were shaken by what he had just told me. Then, Statkevich looked me straight in the eye and said: You dont know how lucky you are. Never take your democracy for granted. You wont realize what its worth until its too late.

I study despots. The president of Belarus is one; Donald Trump, the current US president, is not. But Trump is acting like a despots apprenticean understudy in authoritarian tacticswho threatens to corrupt democracy beyond repair. A year since his election in November 2016, he has already done serious damageand it could get much worse.

Trump is no Mussolini or Hitler, no Stalin or Castro. Anyone who makes those comparisons is an alarmist, belittling the suffering of millions at the hands of those tyrants. Trump is hardly an evil mastermind. Instead, he is a democratically elected leader, operating within the confines of one of the worlds most stable and robust democracies. His behavior is constrained by democratic institutions, and his decisions are scrutinized by a robust and free press. Even if he wishes it were otherwise, Trump cannot rule by decree. In fact, during his campaign, Trump promised to enact ten major pieces of legislation within his first 100 days. He has, so far, enacted none of them. How can a man who has struggled even to change the health care laws or build a wall be authoritarian?

Over the years, I have learned that most despots are not only twisted, but also incompetent. They are often bumbling, tragicomically unready characters who are defined not by their disciplined efficiency or effectiveness but by their reckless authoritarian instincts and impulses. Sometimes, those instincts are married to a destructive ideology, such as Nazism or Communism. But much of the time, despots are driven by narcissism, an unquenchable ego that yearns for fame, public adoration, and stardom. For many authoritarian leaders throughout history, their greatest fear was that they would be nobodiesonce gone, soon forgotten. Despots dread being, as Trump often says in his most stinging insults, someone that youve never heard of.