Back in early 2017, I was already arguing that Trump was going to be exactly that, the writing was on the wall that early, and his 2016 election was the first sign of the level at which both the GOP and his base were ready to ignore, and even worse, outright support his excesses were clear.
This alone should have been enough to remove any candidate from becoming President...
..that he didn't lose support after it happened and the party was happy to excuse it and still support him was the warning sign. An act that should have been political suicide, it was ignored by the party and even worse embraced by the base, and his nature already told us that he knew this. A point highlighted by his 2016 claim that he could shot someone and not lose a single vote.
Add in his refusal to show his tax record and his utter indifference to the Emoluments Clause and it was clear in the early stage of his Presidency that he had no intention of bothering with the actual rule of law or the US Consitution.
The signs that he was a rabid nationalist and happy to use that to keep his base happy and do whatever he wanted? His 2016 campaign was full of it, from 'build the Wall' and 'Mexico will pay, right through to the 'Muslim ban', these were all, to me, quite clear and blindingly obvious signs. Add in the reveration of military might, faux religious following and faux patriotism from the word go and you have (not in the words of Sinclair Lewis) “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross”.
While Sinclair didn't actually use those words, he was disturbingly accurate in a Trump figure managing to break some of the US's check and balances, in his 1935 novel 'It Can't Happen Here'.
"The main character, Buzz Windrip, appeals to voters with a mix of crass language and nativist ideology. Once elected, he solidifies his power by energizing his base against immigrants, people on welfare, and the liberal press."
I honestly don't think that the founding fathers of the US ever had in mind a character like Trump, nor that politics would become as rabidly partisan as it did, and as such the checks and balances had not had a stress test under such circumstances.
I would argue that Europe has, unfortunately, seen to many times these things occur, both in terms of the rise to power of nationalists and fascists, but also just how quickly things are capable of falling to the dangers and turmoil of such people. That we had a bloody civil war in Europe, complete with genocide, that I grew up in a country rife with a sectarian war may give me a different focus.
Well either that or I'm just a really clinical and pessimistic old bugger, as while some of Trump's outbursts and policies shocked me (they should do to any rational person), unfortunately, I can't say that any of it surprised me. Hell, as I've argued before, I think the only reason they didn't go further down the authoritarian route is down more to incompetence than desire.
