Revealed plans for Trump 2025 show a move toward authoritarian rule

A second Trump administration would be deeply staffed with loyalists committed to unchecked presidential power

American democracy was badly wounded by, but survived, the presidency of Donald Trump.

There are a number of reasons why.

Trump did not understand how to exercise power. He did not have personnel committed to his anti-democratic vision in key positions throughout the federal government. And institutional forces in the government like the permanent bureaucracy, ethical lawyers, and policy experts pushed back against and hindered Trump’s politically radical, and often illegal, agenda.

We won’t be so lucky if Trump wins a second term in 2024.

It is enough of a nightmare thinking about Trump having access to nuclear weapons and serving as Commander in Chief for another four years. But it is even more chilling to realize that we cannot count on the incompetence and inexperience endemic to the first administration to keep him from ravishing the foundations of American government in a second administration.

This has been made clear in a set of frightening articles by Jonathan Swann published in Axios here and here on the well-established, well-funded planning for a second Trump Administration.

Think back to 2016. Trump did not believe he would win. There was a threadbare transition team in place during the campaign being run by Chris Christie - but he was fired a week after the election. Trump had no policy agenda other than vague notions about restricting immigration, cutting the trade deficit, and getting tough on China. As a total political outsider, without any allegiance to a party apparatus, Trump had no cadre of personnel to fill the thousands of political policymaking positions. He didn’t even have a close affiliate with the skills to be White House Chief of Staff.

As the Axios pieces show, all this would be different if Trump wins on November 5, 2024.

First, Trump figured out during the first administration who he trusted and who he wanted in positions of power. No more GOP establishment Rex Tillersons. No more generals seeped in military culture like Mattis and Kelly. No more “rule of law” lawyers like Pat Cippolone or even the loyalist Bill Barr. The people who would stock a second administration would be 100% sycophants like Steven Miller and Kash Patel, who share his policy vision and are willing to bulldoze whatever impediments stand in the way. Trump is funding a organization - the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) - run by Mark Meadows and formed Senator Jim DeMint - that is creating a database of fully vetted, committed America First ideologues ready to be pumped into and presidential transition team and then into the administration. CPI is training them and if Republicans win control of Congress in November, they will take staff positions on the Hill with the Trump endorsed candidates that win seats or take control of congressional committees.

Trump will also attempt to dislodge what he views as the “deep state” in the federal bureaucracy that he believes slow-walked, undercut, or directly blocked his policy initiatives. The cornerstone of this effort is something called Schedule F, a new category of civil service that would be for personnel with any role in the policymaking process. Unlike most civil service jobs, Schedule F would come with no protections from being fired and no right to appeal employment decisions. Trump would designate as many as 50,000 federal civil servants into Schedule F - and then fire them if they are seen as disloyal and unwilling to do his bidding. Schedule F was actually put into place two weeks before the 2020 election by executive order, but rescinded on the third day of the Biden Administration.

Understanding, as Shakespeare did, that if you want to move towards authoritarian rule “the first thing” to do is “kill all the lawyers”, another Trump organization, America First Legal, is compiling lists of lawyers to staff the Justice Department, agency general counsel’s offices and the White House Counsel’s office. These lawyers will be versed in ways to use the law to advance unrestrained executive power, rather than seeing the law as a check on such power. America First Legal is run by Stephen Miller.

I happen to believe that a president should have power to implement his or her agenda and should not be unduly stymied by unelected bureaucrats or agency lawyers. But the MAGA/America First ideology is no normal agenda. It is about using the power of government to silence dissent and harm political opponents. It is about shattering the boundaries between politics and the enforcement of the law. It is about putting loyalty to Trump over the national interest - no matter what the cost.

We saw all of this happen in the creation of the Stop the Steal movement and the events of January 6. Now imagine this mindset being applied to every issue in American life.

That is what a second Trump administration would look like.