I listened to/watched an conversation between Tim Miller and Anne Applebaum yesterday on Bullwark, which as usual gave me some new perspectives to think about.

Here is one. What is the parallel between the Russo-Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas wars? The parallel is that Hamas denies Israel’s existence as an independent state, and Russia denies Ukraine’s existence as an independent state. I had never equated these two antagonists in this way before, but now it seems obvious. Russia’s attack on Ukraine and Hamas’ on Israel come from the same basic position, and this is one of the reasons that both of the wars are so difficult to end and, at least as important, as difficult (or impossible) to keep from reprising themselves in the near future. Of course, there are differences. In the case of Russia, Russia was attacking a force it deemed much inferior to its own, and in attacking Israel, Hamas was attacking a force deemed much superior to itself. And the results to date have been different. Israel is destroying Hamas’ home of Gaza, while Russia and Ukraine have to date fought to a standoff (albeit that the fighting has virtually all been on Ukrainian territory).

Nevertheless, the wars continue and the magic hand of Donald Trump has so far done nothing to bring them to an end, or even to workable ceasefires.

The second point is that totalitarian governments may succeed in bolstering the power or finances of the totalitarian leaders for a time, but they virtually always succeed in destroying the country under their control. Applebaum talked about Hungary and Viktor Orban. She cited the current position of Hungary in Europe as being the poorest (or, by some standards, second poorest) country in Europe, whose population is much less financially secure than before he took power. And she then looked at various other indexes, which also show Hungary at or near the bottom. She made it clear that this was all as a result of Orban’s leadership, as before he came to power, Hungary looked to be one of the more successful of the ex-Communist countries.

She also talked about Venezuela, now the poorest country in South America, formerly the wealthiest. She did not mention Cuba, but presumably could have done so. Her one exception was China, which she attributed to China’s careful opening of itself to the world’s free market.

On this basis, she does not seem to feel it unlikely that the United States will suffer financially as a result of Trump if he is allowed to continue doing what he has been doing. And she made it clear (she didn’t need to do this; it’s obvious) that it is very hard to stop him.

She also compared Orban and Trump in two more ways. First, she said that Trump, now only three months into his four year term (that means 94% of his presidency is in front of us), has been consolidating his power much more quickly than Orban did. She feels this a very concerning comparison. Secondly, she looked at the steps that Orban took and believes that much of what Trump is doing is copy-catting him. Trump’s attacks on universities, the press, and various businesses, including law firms, apparently parallel steps taken by Orban in Hungary.

This reminds me of Hitler, and his using American race laws as a basis for some of his antisemitic legislation – or at least as a basis for knowing that he could get away with his antisemitic legislation without expecting a major outcry from the populace.

And this shows that people can get used to a lot. I always hearken back to my first days in U.S. Army basic training at Ft. Ord in California. I was a young, free American, with all the rights given me by the constitution and the laws. Suddenly, I was in the most totalitarian of existences. People with a higher rank (that was almost everyone) could yell and curse at me, force me to do things that no one would even think to ask me to do outside of basic training, and keep me from doing anything I might have wanted to do outside of what they insisted I do. The American constitution no longer seemed to apply at all.

Of course, I was not alone. In my platoon alone, there were probably about 40 of us, all in the same position of shock. Did we yell and scream? Did we rebel? Did we fall into massive depression? Did we try to escape? We did none of these things. We accommodated. Within approximately 2 seconds, we accommodated. And I think that, by and large, that is what happens when people are suddenly faced with massive totalitarian inspired societal changes.

Today, there are massive protests scheduled around the country, as there have been now daily, as well as weekly. The Supreme Court seems to be holding its own against the administration, with only Alito and Thomas sticking to the party line. There are rumblings of discontent among Republican legislators, but rumblings get you nowhere. So we still don’t now where all this is going.

It looks like there will be more than one showdown between the administration and the courts. The administration is now warned that it cannot deport individuals without giving them a modicum of due process. The administration has been told that it cannot fire certain groups of people en masse, or use en masse firing to effectively shut down agencies established by Congress. The administration has been told that the First Amendment prohibits them from shutting out the Associated Press just because they keep calling the Gulf of Mexico by its name. There have been decisions that stop the administration from putting restrictions on law firms for objecting to governmental actions. Cases involving universities are pending.

There is little question at this point, it appears, as to where the courts are going on all these cases. There is also little question but that the administration will try to weave its way around what will be a series of anti-administration decisions. But when will the administration cross a judicial “red-line”? And what will happen when it does?

Enough for now. Going to a museum.