Trump wants American dictatorship

It's been some time since I've updated this blog, and a lot has happened in the three-ring circus that is the Trump administration. Two things stick out to me, and I think bear comment.
   Several weeks ago, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press "gaggle" instead of a formal press conference. This isn't, by itself, unusual. This is a fairly routine occurrence. What made this one unique, though, was the manner in which it was conducted. Instead of opening the event to the media at large, Trump's people handpicked the media outlets that were allowed to attend, with the idea that those lucky few would share the information with the rest of the unwashed masses in the mainstream media. Predictably, the lucky few that were allowed to attend were primarily made up of conservative news outlets and those who had been friendly to Trump and his ideas. This was wrong. In fact, it was downright unAmerican and should concern us all if we truly value our freedom.
   What Trump is trying to do, in his ham-handed, not-so-subtle way, is control the flow of information that gets out to the American people. I guess he figures if he can't control the torrent of negative information that's pouring out about his administration and its incompetence, he'll simply limit those who can have access to that information to those people and media outlets that agree with him.
   This whole thing smacks of Hitler and the Third Reich. What Trump is doing is engaging in straight up propaganda. It's no wonder that he's such an unabashed admirer of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Trump is doing his best to set up his own American dictatorship. Don't believe me? Well, consider the latest in what is already an impressive line of scandals in just his first six weeks.
   Last week, Trump accused his predecessor, Barack Obama, of having his offices in Trump Tower wiretapped. Predictably, like most of Trump's claims, he offered absolutely no proof to back up. To his credit, though, he has played it to the hilt, even calling for an investigation into the matter.
   It's not unusual that Trump would buy into some far-fetched, paranoid conspiracy theory. Remember, he spent years fanning the flames of the crackpot "birther" movement against Obama. Since taking the White House, he has claimed widespread voter fraud when it became apparent that he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton. He has also claimed that he achieved the largest Electoral College victory since Reagan, despite clear evidence to the contrary, and that he drew the biggest Inauguration Day crowd ever. Again, this is is easily debunked. Clearly, Trump lives in his own world, complete with his own facts that bear no resemblance to the reality occupied by the rest of us.
   This would almost be funny if it weren't so serious. You see, Trump's wild, unsubstantiated allegations might indicate that he's severely mentally unbalanced, in which case he has no business being president or having access to the nuclear codes. Or maybe he has a more sinister motive. Perhaps he's crazy like a fox and has been playing us this entire time. Perhaps his wild allegations are designed to distract us so we don't notice what's really going on. Or perhaps he's conditioning us by blurring the lines between truth and lies. If he can convince us that we're being lied to by the mainstream media, while at the same time lying openly and brazenly, we'd no longer be able to tell what was truth and what wasn't. This would allow Trump to do whatever he wanted and to do it openly, then to disavow knowledge of the whole thing. And by the time we caught on, it would be too late,.
   Maybe, like Trump, I'm being paranoid. I certainly hope so. One thing I can say with certainty, though, is that Trump is just as dangerous as I originally feared. I believe he's is attempting to pave the way for an American dictatorship. The evidence of that fact is right in front of us, if only we have eyes to see it.