THOMPSON: President or dictator? Time will tell as Trump picks his administration

  OPINION Americans live in a democratic republic, but that could change under Donald Trump. There’s mounting evidence - six weeks before his inauguration - of Trump wanting to rule more as a dictator. What evidence? Well, a look at the folks Trump picks for top jobs in his Administration is telling. All are based on loyalty…rather than competence or expertise…something even Trump makes clear. Trump picked his former campaign co-chair, Susie Wiles, as White House Chief of Staff…who will head the Executive Office of the President of the U.S., and become a member of Trump’s Cabinet. Until last month, hardly anyone recognized Susie Wiles. During the campaign she stayed behind the scenes…stealthily moving around doing Trump’s bidding…and avoiding the limelight. There’s just not enough room in the limelight for more than one…and that one will always be Trump. Remember, previously, Trump hired and fired four Chiefs of Staff in less than four years: Reince Priebus, John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney and Mark Meadows. That’s why you’ll see less of Wiles in the White House than Punxatawney Phil on Groundhog Day. Want to keep your job…fly beneath the radar. Still, Wiles appears one of the more sane of Trump’s picks. Trump’s choice for White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy - Stephen Miller - more than balances the scales. He’s no shrinking violet, but lacked the support of even his siblings and his extended family in Trump’s first term…which still holds. Honestly, Miller makes Sen. Ted Cruz look like a pleasant, likeable fellow. Marco Rubio is Trump’s choice for Secretary of State. Rubio’s transformation from “Never Trump” to “Forever Trump” is more mysterious than any magician’s trick in Las Vegas. As America’s top statesman, Rubio will never, ever say anything bad about Trump. I’m sure that whole size of hands thing in relation to genitalia in 2015 is forgotten by everyone…except Trump. So, Rubio will forever be under Trump’s tiny thumb. Trump also named Tom Homan as “Border Czar”…which is in quotes because there has never been an official position in the U.S. government called that…maybe in pre-1917 Russia. Homan was the acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director under Trump in 2017 and 2018. He was never confirmed by the Senate…and had to leave. Homan - like so many Trump minions - looks and sounds a little rough around the edges…like someone who played too much football sans helmet. Of course, the financial elephant in the room - that room is in Mar-a-Lago - is Elon Musk…known for having an opinion about anything…informed or otherwise. Musk bought his way into Trump’s camp…giving him hundreds of millions of dollars in the final days of the campaign. Trump loves getting the attention of the world’s richest man…and he knows he can work Musk easier than any bank for a loan. Both Musk and Trump are transactional twins and narcissists. They both understand Trump owes Musk, too. The egos of these two are too big to fit in the same zip code much less the Oval Office or Mar-a-Lago…so, bad acting aside, this battle of something-short-of-wits is “must-watch TV.” Remember when Steve Bannon landed on the cover of Time…the real cover…not those fake ones with Trump in the halls of Mar-a-Lago. After just one week at Mar-a-Lago, political insiders were referring to Musk as the “guest that wouldn’t leave.” Watch this space. Trump wants Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as head of Health and Human Services…an anti-vaxxer, conspiracy theorist who claims to suffer from having had a worm in his brain. He has no science or health qualifications…at all. That should be enough to disqualify him…but then, again, it’s hard to count on invertebrate Republicans to do the right thing. Trump actually thought he could name Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. Gaetz resigned from Congress a day before an Ethics Committee report on his sexual misconduct was released by the House. He is a known womanizer…and is more hated than Ted Cruz…even among Republicans. Still, Trump will reward him somehow for his undying sycophancy…here, too, watch this space. Meanwhile, Trump named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his latest pick for Attorney General. Better than Gaetz, but still corrupt. When she was examining complaints about Trump University as Florida Attorney General, she suddenly decided against a formal investigation unlike a dozen other state attorneys general. Bondi’s decision came a week after Trump - through his family foundation - sent a check for $25,000 to a Bondi political action committee as she campaigned for a second term in Florida. How about Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence? Again, conspiracy theorist, Putin enthusiast…and rarely someone whose name appears in the same sentence with intelligence. She parrots Russian propaganda more than any other member of Congress…and clips of her appear regularly on Russian TV. Gabbard on a trip to Syria - financed by unknown sources - asked Syrian children with burns from air attacks, “How do you know that Assad was responsible for these air strikes and not Isis?” The problem - that even this columnist in British Columbia understands - is Isis has no air strike capability…never has. Gabbard loves Putin enough to be a Russian agent. What better head of 2.8 million people under the Department of Defense than a Fox Weekend host…Pete Hegseth? He has run two veterans organizations into bankruptcy, has been spotted drunk in public dozens of times…kept a running list of women in the veterans organizations he ran as either “party girls” or “not party girls.” He settled out of court with a woman who claimed rape…and that he said was consensual sex. Who pays someone off if what she said isn’t true? His own mother castigated Hegseth as a womanizer in an email to him…but mommy showed up to bail him out on Fox last week. Hegseth is an extremist in every sense of the word…disliking women in combat, and, in general, women in the military. He has voiced concerns about Blacks in supervisory roles…and neither has nor admires diplomacy skills. Hegseth doesn’t qualify to join my local Rotary club…much less lead the world’s mightiest military. I have a better chance of being selected to umpire the next World Series than Hegseth has of heading the Department of Defense. Again, watch this space…even spineless Republicans will get stiff on this choice. What better choice for Secretary of the Interior than Gov. Doug Burgum, 68, who is tied inextricably to Big Oil…acting as liaison between Trump and the oil executives who donated heavily to Trump’s campaign? Trump’s choice to head the F.B.I. - Kash Patel - is a man who has more baggage than a Boeing 777. Patel said he will seek revenge…going after those who ever crossed Trump. No one in their right mind would choose this man to lead 37,000 employees in 55 field offices, 350 satellite offices and 63 offices in nearly 200 countries. He’s an ideologue…listen to him…he’s paranoid and dangerous. The problem with virtually all of Trump’s picks for Cabinet and staff…they have to take an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution. Their allegiance, however, is not to any hallowed document…or rule of law…or Bill of Rights…or democracy. They stand up and for a corrupt, greedy, vengeful man who’s fewer steps from dementia than anyone who ever occupied the Oval Office. Oh, and contrary to MAGA Republicans’ claims that the last election was a landslide…a mandate…it was not. In all the elections since 1888, only two - Kennedy in 1960 and Nixon in 1968 - were closer. Plus, of more than 6,000 elected officials across 50 states…Republicans gained just 54 officials…a record low of flips. The lesson Republicans are incapable of learning but will suffer nonetheless: go too far and act wild, and Americans hold the reigns tighter. — Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines. 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