OPINION: Trump establishes a new political party

President-elect Donald Trump has kidnapped the Grand Old Party (Republican) and now runs it. It should now be referred to as the Grand New Party (GNP) as it bears no resemblance to the historic GOP.

Even Trump’s most bitter opponents cannot imagine him rising (sinking) to Hitler’s level, nor do I. The only thing he wants to kill is democracy, as Hitler did in Germany.

Most ominous of all, he is in the process of nominating 15 cabinet members (heads of executive departments), many of whom are without significant qualifications, and at least one has been considered a security threat.

Their job is to advise the President and to inform him about issues on which presidents need to make decisions.

It is glaringly prominent that Trump doesn’t want advice or information from professionals, he is appointing cabinet members who will just do what he tells them to do — whether it is unwise or unconstitutional.

Listening to Trump speak to a crowd in the Trump Tower in 2015, I think it was Steve Bannon — a key player in the hijacking of the Republican Party — ejaculated “That’s Hitler.” And he viewed it favorably.

Trump’s feet are tramping the same path to fascist power that Hitler trotted.

So far, Trump is on Hitler’s path to fascism.

Trump has frequently revealed his yearning to become a dictator, and he openly admires dictators.

At this writing, it appears that the GNP is tiptoeing through the political tulips with Trump as he pursues his fascist goals.

Only rational and patriotic members of the GNP, if there are any, can stop him, and they need to start quickly by rejecting tawdry appointments of flunkies who will kowtow before his every command.

The news media is reporting that Trump won a trifecta with the Republicans taking control of the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate.

But he really has a quadrafecta because the GNP already has control of the U.S. Supreme Court, thanks to Trump’s appointments of justices during his first term. The current court is set, rubberstamp in hand, to approve Trump’s actions, effectively rewriting the Constitution.

That will come in handy if the Senate refuses to ratify some of Trump’s reckless appointments, or if he tries to appoint cabinet members without submitting them to the Senate for confirmation, as he threatens to do.

Cabinet nominations have been submitted for background checks since World War II, but Trump is rumored to privatize at least some of them.

Among Trump’s most dangerous nominations are:

• Attorney General: Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. Seated, he will be able to protect Trump from the many crimes that he, a convicted felon, allegedly committed. Gaetz has only two years of legal experience and wears tattoos associated with white supremist and neo-Nazi movements.
• Health & Human Affairs Secretary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the world’s most powerful anti-vaccinations proponents and spreader of conspiracy theories and bogus claims that vaccines cause autism.
• Defense Secretary: Pete Hegseth, an equity capital markets analyst and an infantry officer in the Minnesota National Guard. He fought in battles while on active duty and volunteered for duty in the Middle East. This is praiseworthy, but he has absolutely no experience relating to the high office for which he is being nominated.
• Department of Energy: Chris Wright, an executive of a fracking company, has said that there is no climate crisis and he opposes a transition to renewable energy sources.

Terence L. Day and wife, Ruth, have lived in Pullman since 1972. In 2004, he retired after 32 years as a science communicator on the Washington State University faculty. His interests and reading are catholic (small c) and peripatetic. He welcomes email (pro and con) at terence@moscow.com. Give him a piece of your mind.