The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
A corpulent grandiose Trump has redecorated the White House (People’s House): “Trump has adorned his office with gold details and tchotchkes (cheap ornamental trinkets) since he took office in January” (NYT). He also paved over the Rose Garden and will add a $200 million ballroom. An imperial residence, channeling Nixon. Perhaps White House security will wear palace guard uniforms like those solicited by Nixon. Note: Amid widespread ridicule the uniforms were put up for sale. Rock star Alice Cooper unsuccessfully tried to buy them.
Memories of Nixon pervade. Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, nonpartisan commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Trump didn’t like the disappointing job numbers for July, with downward revisions for May and June, indicating economic trouble. Trump bloviated without evidence: “In my opinion, today’s Job Numbers were Rigged in order to make the Republicans, and Me look bad.” Note: McEntarfer was confirmed in 2024 by a bipartisan vote of 86–8, including even Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson.
In 1971, Nixon was also angry about job numbers that showed a weakening economy. Nixon, a bigot like Trump, exclaimed: “The Jewish cabal is out to get me”, commanding aide Fred Malek to find out how many Jews worked at the BLS. Malek complied (Several were reassigned), but also told Nixon that there was no fraud or manipulation of the job data. History repeats. William Beach, McEntarfer’s conservative predecessor, said: “He’s (Trump) making a claim that is just not possible.”
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Moreover, Trump’s attempt to halt congressionally approved funding violated Article I of the Constitution and the 1974 Impoundment Control Act (a Watergate reform passed after Nixon refused to spend funding Congress had approved). Trump, the imperial president, has also tried to stop approved funding for: “Meals on Wheels, Head Start, school lunches, childcare help, student loans, disaster relief, crimefighting assistance and Medicaid” (Washington Post). Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin and Attorney General Josh Kaul led the charge to block Trump.
Trump persists. The GOP-led Congress adjourned to avoid a vote forcing the release of the Epstein files, much to Trump’s relief. Now Trump’s FBI will be used to go after Texas Democratic state legislators, who left the state to prevent Texas Republicans from stealing-gerrymandering (per Trump’s command) 5 Democratic congressional seats. Dirty tricks emulating Nixon’s. There’s more.
Trump has fired 60 thousand federal workers. Another 154,000 were coerced into resigning or retiring and taking short-term buyouts. D.C. area neighborhoods have been decimated. The consequences for Americans will be catastrophic: FEMA, at the beginning of hurricane season, has lost thousands, including transfers to support deportations; NIH’s esteemed leading researchers and scientists were forced out; safety net programs and the Departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs also lost essential employees. The list is endless.
Remember that all Wisconsin GOP congressional members support this chaos, cruelty and incompetence. Don’t avert your eyes or lose hope. Trump and his henchpeople are counting us out. However, Americans will never accept tyranny for long. America is a great nation and “we shall overcome.”
– Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.
