Day 224: Donny's Dark Side: Kids, Courts, and Cults

Donny the Dictator

Incredibly, there are still people who deny that Donny and his clown-car regime have veered fully into authoritarian territory. The suggestion that calling it "fascism" is mere hyperbole is not just wrong—it’s dangerously naïve.

From the moment he took office, Donny has operated straight out of the dictator’s playbook. Let’s take a look at just some of the actions that illustrate his authoritarian tilt:

Undermining Democratic Institutions

• Ignored multiple court rulings, showing open contempt for the judiciary. The Independent
• Threatens judges who dare rule against him—an open attack on judicial independence. The Guardian
• Defunded and vilified institutions like Harvard for opposing his policies. NY Times
• Overhauled the federal bureaucracy, replacing thousands of career civil servants with political loyalists to consolidate power and eliminate dissent. Reuters
• Governs via executive order, bypassing Congress entirely. The Conversation
• Rigging elections through gerrymandering, voter suppression, and attacks on mail-in voting. MSNBC
• Fired the top labor statistician for publishing jobs data that contradicted his administration’s narrative. BBC
• Weaponized federal agencies: The FBI raided the home of John Bolton—a vocal Trump critic—on dubious grounds. The Guardian

Crushing Dissent and Promoting Loyalty

• Banned critical news outlets from press conferences. Associated Press
• Launched bogus investigations into political opponents, including Obama. The Guardian
• Created 'score' lists of corporations based on political loyalty. The Independent
• Expanding paramilitary presence, deploying forces without state consent. Brookings
• Held a militarized birthday parade—a hallmark of autocratic vanity. Sky News

Foreign Policy by Authoritarian Playbook

• Praised and admired autocrats from North Korea, Russia, and beyond. MSNBC
• Shattered decades of foreign policy alliances, treating allies as enemies and enemies as friends, often based solely on personal flattery. CNN

Disinformation and Cult Dynamics

• Attacked the press as "The Enemy of the People!"—language historically used by fascists to discredit truth. The Guardian
• Promoted “alternative facts”, a sustained assault on independent sources of knowledge. NYTimes
• Fostered a cult of personality, demanding total loyalty while dehumanizing critics—calling them “scum” and “vermin,” with chilling historical resonance. Scientific American

The Authoritarian Blueprint in Action

• Encouraged the construction of detention camps, decried by critics as the first steps toward American concentration camps. The Atlantic
• Deployed the National Guard to cities like L.A. and D.C. without cooperation from state governors. NPR
• Threatened to “take control” of Democrat-led cities like Chicago—framing them as lawless and un-American. NPR

Project 2025: The Master Plan

None of this is spontaneous. Donny is executing Project 2025—a blueprint to remake American government into a loyalist, top-down regime. This includes purging bureaucrats, installing ideological enforcers, and reshaping federal agencies to serve his personal agenda—not the Constitution.

According to the Project 2025 tracker we are now 47% of the way through that plan in just 8 months.

Historical Echoes Are Not Hyperbole

Critics on the right dismiss comparisons to fascism or even Nazism as exaggeration. But when you strip away the aesthetics, the tactics are alarmingly familiar: propaganda, dehumanization, suppression of dissent, co-opted institutions, and the centralization of power under a single, glorified leader.

These are not isolated incidents. They are coordinated steps in a pattern. And history shows what happens when people wait too long to recognize the warning signs.

Everything MAGA does, Hitler and the Nazis did first. Let's take a look down memory lane:

1. Failed Insurrections as Testing Grounds

Hitler: In 1923, Hitler led the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup attempt in Munich. He was arrested, used the trial to spread propaganda, and later wrote Mein Kampf in prison. Medium

Donny: In 2021, after losing the election, Trump incited a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. It failed, but he used the aftermath to further radicalize his base and spread the "Big Lie." Medium

2. Co-opting Higher Education for Ideological Control

Nazis: Rewrote university curricula to reflect Aryan ideology, fired “undesirable” professors, and enforced racial and political conformity. Facing History

MAGA: Calls to defund or penalize universities for “wokeness” (e.g., DeSantis targeting New College of Florida), inserting right-wing appointees into education boards, and pushing anti-DEI and anti-critical race theory legislation. The Economist

3. Narratives of “Voluntary” Self-Deportation

Nazis: In the early 1930s, encouraged Jews to leave Germany “voluntarily” before escalating to forced deportation and the Holocaust. Army History

MAGA: Pushes for "self-deportation" rhetoric (popularized by Romney, but echoed by Donny), while implementing policies designed to make life untenable for immigrants (e.g., family separation, ICE raids, sanctuary city crackdowns). MSNBC

4. Cult of Personality

Hitler: Built a propaganda machine that deified him as the savior of Germany. Mussolini did the same. Wikipedia

Donny: MAGA is built around absolute loyalty to Donny—flags, chants, merch, and pledges of allegiance. Disloyal Republicans are purged or humiliated. Wikipedia

5. Targeting the Free Press

Nazis: Branded the press “Lügenpresse” (“lying press”), shut down independent outlets, and replaced them with state propaganda. Holocaust Encyclopedia

MAGA: Donny calls the media “The Enemy of the People,” encourages lawsuits against journalists, and elevates fringe propagandists like OAN and Newsmax. Axios

6. Demonizing Minorities and “Outsiders”

Nazis: Blamed Jews, Roma, and other minorities for Germany’s problems; used dehumanizing language and scapegoating. BBC Bitesize

MAGA: Immigrants are “rapists,” Muslims “terrorists,” trans people “groomers,” protestors “thugs,” and political opponents “vermin.” BBC

7. Legal System Manipulation

Nazis: Dismantled the Weimar Republic’s judiciary, replacing independent judges with ideologically loyal ones. The Atlantic

MAGA: Donny appointed loyalist judges, demanded personal loyalty from Justice Department officials, and pressured courts to overturn elections. Politico

8. Militarized Spectacle and Paramilitary Violence

Nazis: The SA (Brownshirts) were used to intimidate, harass, and violently suppress political opposition. History Hit

MAGA: Embrace of militias (Proud Boys, Oath Keepers), armed protests at state capitols, and the January 6 mob that violently targeted Congress. NYTimes

9. Book Bans and Censorship

Nazis: Burned books that contradicted Nazi ideology—especially those written by Jews, socialists, or liberals. Wikipedia

MAGA: Book bans in red states (especially around race, gender, and sexuality), laws punishing librarians, and right-wing campaigns to remove school books en masse. MSNBC

10. Blaming National Decline on a “Golden Age” Lost

Nazis: Mythologized a pre-Weimar “pure” Germany and blamed democratic institutions for its collapse. Holocaust Encyclopedia

MAGA: “Make America Great Again” is explicitly nostalgic—pining for a past when minorities, women, and dissenters had fewer rights. The Conversation

So tell me again, am I exaggerating when I say that Donny is fascist dictator? None of this is to say MAGA is the Nazi regime—but it's walking down the same road, using eerily similar tactics, language, and scapegoats. The patterns are there. The warning signs are blinking. The idea that “it can’t happen here” has been proven false again and again throughout history.

To my knowledge, the only mainstream politician to directly compare Donny to HItler was the Vice President JD Vance:

If we ignore these parallels, we risk repeating history not out of ignorance, but out of willful denial.

Donny vs. the Eight-Year-Olds

Because nothing says tough on immigration like deporting unaccompanied kids, The Don decided it was time to pick a fight with children. ICE, ever the willing henchmen, reportedly began loading Guatemalan kids onto planes in Texas — because if you can’t traumatize them at the border, baggage claim is the next best option.

Enter Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, who thankfully stepped in with an emergency order blocking the deportations for at least two weeks. In other words, the Constitution briefly shined brighter than Donny’s authoritarian tantrum. But let’s be real: this administration treats the Constitution like Donny treats a golf rulebook — optional, unless it benefits him.

Guatemala’s foreign minister said the country was “willing” to take the children back. Diplomatic translation: we’ll do it, but we see what you’re doing, and it’s disgusting. Even they know this isn’t policy — it’s cruelty for cruelty’s sake.

This is The Don’s immigration philosophy in a nutshell:

• Due process? Optional.x
• Compassion? Forbidden.
• Optics? Everything.

Federal judges keep slapping down these half-baked schemes, but Donny and his sewer clowns just keep appealing, like toddlers sticking forks into every electrical outlet they can find, hoping one will finally spark.

It’s not border security. It’s not law enforcement. It’s state-sanctioned child abuse wrapped up as “policy.” And the fact that the administration keeps trying it again and again tells you everything you need to know about where their priorities really lie.