The First Day Under Trump/Bannon Authoritarian Rule

If January 27, 2017 was a day that will live in shame for America, January 28, 2017 may be remembered as the first day of fascism under the Trump/Bannon regime. That may sound a little extreme to some, but it does describe the situation we found ourselves in as a country yesterday evening and even into today. The dubious legal ground that the Trump regime was standing on when it refused admission to permanent legal residents of this country was just one step. But the refusal for the Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agents to abide by federal court rulings after multiple federal judges orders requiring people with a legal right to live in the United States to be allowed into the country was the next step in our budding Constitutional crisis. CPB officials refused to allow these individuals the right to see their lawyers in defiance of those court's orders and, as of this morning, had still not fully abided by the courts' ruling.

Just before midnight, Senator Booker from New Jersey arrived at Washington's Dulles Airport and asked to speak to CPB officials. Incredibly, CPB officials refused to meet with Booker and required him to use an intermediary in order to answer written questions.  My guess is these orders clearly came from Bannon and were designed to defy the power of the legislature to actually interact with federal agencies.

Meanwhile, in New York, the police were actively blocking US citizens from boarding a public train so that they could join a protest at Kennedy Airport. This was clearly an abridgement of the free right of assembly. It took the intervention of New York Governor Cuomo to allow those citizens to exercise that right.

Then, this morning, Trump sent out another classic tweet that essentially declared that the NY Times should be shut down if they don't provide the coverage he likes.

Federal agencies that enforce legally unvetted orders from the President, defy court orders, and refuse to meet with a sitting US Senator; police that prevent the right of free assembly; and a President in effect saying a media organization should be shut down. In any other country, we would be saying that there were clear signs of budding authoritarianism. Just because it is happening here, doesn't mean we should think any differently.