Ten months into Trump’s second presidency, his operational pattern is well established: create so many mini crises the news establishment, political opposition, and the American public moves from outrage to outrage with minimum impact. It’s worked because Trump captured the Republican Party, and packed the Supreme Court, so completely both are too feeble to stand up for the country’s democracy.

Trump’s actions have put the republic in grave danger. In many ways, Americans are currently living more under an authoritarian government than what we used to know as our democracy.

Most seriously, he is ordering national guard troops from willing states (like Texas) to invade other states and cities against the wishes of those governors and mayors.

For any Vermonter who believes the propaganda Trump and rightwing podcasters spread about uncontrolled chaos and violence in “blue” cities, please tune in to other sources of news. The facts are that crime is mostly down in the cities Trump alleges are “out of control.” Furthermore, local and state law enforcement have pleaded with the Trump administration not to make things worse by bringing in out-of-state National Guard units.

But that would be missing Trump’s objective, which is to provoke violence, not quell it.

This argument is well described in a piece by New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall this Tuesday headlined “Trump is not afraid of Civil War. Neither is Stephen Miller.” He asks political scientist Barbara Walter, who is also the author of “How Civil Wars Start,” if Trump, Miller and company are hoping to provoke violence by sending National Guard troops into cities led by Democrats.

Without a doubt, she responded, then explained. “The quickest way to piss people off is to send soldiers into their neighborhoods especially when there’s no reason for them to be there. It’s inherently provocative, and Trump and his team understand this… Once citizens begin to view their own government’s security forces as an occupying army, violence becomes inevitable. Trump’s team knows this. In fact, that’s the point. They are not trying to restore order; they’re trying to trigger the very unrest that would justify further crackdowns. In the end, violence serves their ultimate end: They want to create the illusion of disorder so they can tighten control and stay in power indefinitely.”

Edsall’s piece is fascinating, well-reported and, at times, frightening. Here’s Trump’s right-hand man, Stephen Miller, after Charlie Kirk’s memorial service describing his vision for America: “We stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble. And for those trying to incite violence against us, those trying to foment hatred against us: What do you have? You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness, you are jealousy! You are envy! You are hatred! You are nothing! You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing. We are the ones who build. We are the ones who create. We are the ones who lift up humanity.”

Of course, the reason Trump and company are pressing so fast on so many fronts is because they know they’re losing public support fast ahead of the 2026 elections.

As Walter explained: “In a functioning democracy, citizens can still vote their leaders out of office… That’s why autocrats-in-waiting often look for ways to get rid of these constraints. They can rig elections, suppress opposition or, as history shows, manufacture a crisis that justifies emergency powers. Provoking violence is a common way to do this.”

Welcome to Trump’s version of America.

Angelo Lynn