The president abuses power

Bob Sheak, Oct 28, 2025

On Oct. 18, an unprecedented 7 million or more Americans joined in a reported
2,600 rallies across the country to express opposition to Trump’s self-serving
ambitions and abuse of power. The millions who rallied said loud and clearly that
they don’t want a King as president. Over his second presidency, Trump has often
acted something like a king, or as a president who is above the law. Worrisome, he
dominates the Republican Party, has support from 30% of so of the population in
MAGA, has numerous allies among the rich and powerful corporations, and can
often count on the Supreme Court.
In this post, I identify some of the evidence that supports Trump’s anti-democratic

thirst for power.

Behaves like a “king”
Chris Walker offers some evidence (https://truthout.org/articles/trump-says-hes-
not-a-king-a-majority-of-americans-believe-he-wants-to-be). He is a news writer
at Truthout, and is based out of Madison, Wisconsin.
In his article, Walker cites statements by Taegan Goddard, who manages the
site Political Wire. Goddard says it only took a minute to come up with examples
of how Trump has acted like a king. Goddard wrote:
“He’s raised taxes without approval from Congress; He’s canceled programs that
were duly enacted into law; He’s directed prosecutors to charge his political
opponents despite little or no evidence; He’s deployed National Guard troops over
the objections of state governors.
“Each of these actions reflects the kind of unchecked, unilateral power that
America’s founders rebelled against,” Goddard opined. “In fact, the list reads like
an updated version of the Declaration of Independence’s grievances against King
Walker also points to new polling that shows that most Americans are worried
about the functioning of U.S. democratic norms, and that they do not want Trump
to act as a king. He cites a poll, “52 percent of Americans believe Trump wants to

be a king, with only 36 percent saying they don’t believe he wants to be a king. In
a separate question, 85 percent of respondents said they don’t think Trump should

be a king, either.”

Deployment of troops just to “Democratic” cities
He has found various dubious justifications for deploying National Guard troops in
only Democratic cities and threatening the constitutional rights of Americans.
George Cassidy Payne writes on how the White House is waging war at home
((https://commondreams.org/opinion/trump-wages-war-on-us). The article was
published on Sept. 26, 2025. Here’s some of what he writes.
“President Donald Trump has treated the US military less as an instrument of
national defense than as a personal tool for enforcing political will. National Guard
units have been deployed to Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and other cities under
circumstances that critics argue constitute intimidation rather than legitimate
security operations. Citizens and green card holders have reportedly been detained
without clear legal authority, raising urgent questions about the erosion of civil
liberties. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense has been rhetorically rebranded
as the Department of War, signaling a broader offensive posture not just abroad,
but potentially at home.”
Payne notes that the deployment of National Guard forces to US cities reflects
“the militarization of domestic governance.” Trump has framed these deployments
as necessary for “security,” yet the timing, targets, and accompanying
rhetoric—such as memes depicting him as a cavalry commander in Apocalypse
Now—signal political theater intended to intimidate and assert personal authority
over the citizenry.”
He is exercising anti-democratic orders and advancing “executive orders,
emergency declarations, or selective enforcement” and enabling the National
Guard and other government agents to engage in “illegal detention of residents,
militarized policing in domestic spaces, emergency declarations used to bypass
Congress, all examples of authoritarian rule.
“The consequences for democracy are tangible, Payne writes. “Norms are eroded
incrementally: The legitimacy of elections is challenged, opposition figures are
threatened, and civil liberties are subordinated to political calculation. Militarized

Democracy does not collapse in a single moment; it atrophies when citizens fail to
defend institutions designed to protect them.”
The central question for Payne is this: “Will Americans exercise the tools the
Constitution provides to resist authoritarian drift? The blueprint exists, but it
requires active defense. Democratic institutions are not self-sustaining; they
depend on the vigilance, courage, and collective action of citizens. Failure to act
risks normalizing domestic militarization and the gradual erosion of civil liberties.
In this sense, Trump’s presidency is both a warning and a test. It challenges us to
confront the vulnerabilities of our political system, to insist upon accountability,
and to recognize that democracy is not merely procedural, it is relational,
contingent on a society willing to defend it against those who would wield power

as an instrument of personal dominion.

Talks about a third term
Trump continues to toy with the unconstitutional idea of being a third-term
president, which would mean ignoring the 22nd Amendment. Kristen Welker and
Megan Lebowitz are among those reporting on this story
(https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-third-term-white-house-
methods-rcna198752). Their story was published in March 30, 2025. Here’s some
of what they write.
“President Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of seeking a third term in
the White House, which is prohibited by the Constitution under the 22nd
Amendment, saying in an exclusive interview with NBC News that there were
methods for doing so and clarifying that he was ‘not joking.’”
“‘A lot of people want me to do it,’ Trump said in a Sunday-morning phone call
with NBC News, referring to his allies.”
“When asked whether he has been presented with plans to allow him to seek a third
term, Trump said, ‘There are methods which you could do it.’”
Welker and Megan continue.

“The White House has amplified Trump’s comments likening himself to royalty,
posting a picture of a fake magazine cover depicting the president with a crown
after the administration shot down congestion pricing in New York City.
“The White House’s post to X quoted Trump’s previous comments on Truth Social:

‘LONG LIVE THE KING!’”

Says the greatest threat is “the enemy within”
Trump has said that that the greatest threat to the United States is the “enemy
within,” by which he seems to refer to Democrats and anyone else who opposes
him or doesn’t like him.
He says he “hates” Democrats and would, at least, like to marginalize them
politically. He has a list of those he wants to punish by having his Justice
Department manipulate and distort the law. They are, in his words, “the enemy
within,” Michael Klare considers this anti-democraticTrump plan
(https://thenation.com/article/politics/trump-hegseth-military-war-diversity).
Klare is the Nation’s defense correspondent, is professor emeritus of peace and
world-security studies at Hampshire College and senior visiting fellow at the Arms
Control Association in Washington, DC. Most recently, he is the author of All Hell
Breaking Loose: The Pentagon’s Perspective on Climate Change.
“The generals and admirals who traveled from their posts around the world to
Quantico, Virginia, last month to hear from President Trump and Secretary of War
(as he now fashions himself) Pete Hegseth have been training for over a dozen
years to fight and overcome China and or Russia in an all-out, high-end conflict.
“… they were told to put all that aside, and to dismantle the diversity measures
they had long embraced, while also mobilizing for the ‘war within.’
“Without actually coming out and saying it, Trump indicated that the primary focus
of US strategy would now shift from a focus on war with other great powers to
combatting narco-cartels in Latin America and leftist ‘insurrectionists’ in US
cities.” And without evidence, he got specific.
“Many US cities are safe, he claimed, ‘but it seems that the ones that are run by the
radical-left Democrats—[look] what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New

York, Los Angeles—they’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them
out one by one.” Then, facing the assembled officers, he added, “This is going to
be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war
from within.”
“Trump then went on to describe major Democratic-governed US cities like those

four and Portland, Oregon, as ‘war zones,’ requiring military intervention.

Arbitrarily orders the demolition of the East Wing
He has arbitrarily ordered that the East Wing of the White House be demolished.
David E. Sanger has reported at length about this. Sanger covers the Trump
administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times
journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy
and national security challenges.
In this article, Sanger emphasizes two “lessons” that capture what Trump has done.
“First is the permanence of the act — once torn down, it is hard to imagine that the
East Wing will ever be re-created. For President Trump, of course, that was the
point. He learned that lesson in his New York real estate days, when he was known
to bring out the wrecking balls to turn a vision into a fait accompli. Once his $300
million ballroom rises in its place, he may be betting that how it got there will be
all but forgotten.
“But perhaps more important, and more telling, is how Mr. Trump went about it:
the initial claim that his new ballroom would not be ‘touching’ the White House,
and the absence of notice when that changed. Then, the elaborate descriptions by
White House officials of the legal loopholes that made it perfectly fine to destroy a
wing of the people’s house without consultation about whether Mr. Trump’s

90,000-square-foot ballroom was worth the historical or architectural trade-offs.”

Concluding thoughts
There are plenty of reasons to support the millions of Americans who rallied
against Trump on “No King” day. In this post, I have considered just a few of the

prominent reasons. It is not hopeless. Recent polls indicate that a majority of
Americans are critical of Trump and what he is doing as president. And millions of
Americans are suffering financially, in part because of the effects of the president’s
tariffs and the Republican Party’s efforts to cut government programs, with the
firing of tens of thousands of federal workers. Writing in The Atlantic Magazine,
David A. Graham offers some hope
(https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/12/2026-midterms-trump-
threat.684615).
“The most important defense against losing our democracy is the same thing that
makes it a democracy in the first place: the people. An engaged electorate,
demanding clean elections and turning out in force, has been the strongest and
most consistent bulwark against Trump. “It is going to require that every single
American do everything in their power to ensure that elections happen, to ensure
that they are free and fair, and to push back on this extremism,” Skye Perryman,
the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, told me.”