Trump, fanatic of himself
He has done it. He has pardoned himself "forever". In terms of taxes, he and his family will be able to do whatever they damn well please from now on. They will never be able to be investigated. The president of the USA has signed an out-of-court settlement with the tax agency that depends on his government, endorsed by the Department of Justice headed by one of his former lawyers. It's all in the family. In other words, Trump has agreed with himself to eternal tax absolution. The message is clear: I do whatever I want, got it? My power is absolute.
In case anyone still had any doubts, his idea of power is that of an autocrat, not a democrat. In a democracy, rulers, chosen by the people and serving the people, have a duty to make everyone equal before the law. An autocrat is "the ruler of himself." He makes and unmakes the law. Trump openly governs for his own interests and according to his whims and delusions. He creates rules tailored to himself and his fanatical followers. Yes: he has also created a fund of almost 1.8 billion dollars to "compensate" for alleged grievances that someone may have suffered from the administration in previous periods. Specifically, the fund is intended for the assailants of the Capitol in 2021, whom he has already pardoned and released, to claim compensation. Now he wants to enrich them. They are his shock troops and he may need them again.
But he has other fanatics in his service. Last weekend, he summoned thousands of ultra-conservative Christians to Washington – with fifteen spiritual leaders, all Christians (seven evangelists) except for one rabbi – to "consecrate our country as one nation before God." Which God? "We believe that God is using him [Trump] to bring Christ back to this country," said a 59-year-old woman, her eyes lighting up. And the American Pope, you might ask? Nothing, the envoy is Him: Trump. Pope Prevost, Leo XIV, he sees him as a poor devil, insignificant.
Trump is being forcibly turned into a religious autocrat. The US increasingly resembles the Iran of the ayatollahs, against whom it is at war. The owner of the White House has created an Office of Faith in the West Wing and signed an executive order to hunt down alleged "anti-Christian" bias. The difference between Trump and the ayatollahs or the Pope is that in reality, he believes in nothing beyond himself: in this sense, he is still a truly dangerous, limitless god. He only answers to his intimate and capricious will. He is the Nation, he is the Religion, he is the Power. Narcissism elevated to the highest power. He is a fanatic of himself. He is his own religion.
Around him, he only wants sycophantic servants. The "voluntary servitude" that Étienne de La Boétie, Montaigne's friend, warned about in the 16th century would seem like a marvel to him. He demands docile and convinced followers. Contrary to what Petronius said in The Satyricon, Trump believes that the value of human beings is measured by money (and by extension, by power). And, of course, not everyone can have money and power. Only a chosen few born to rule. Like him.
He admires strong men, from Xi to Putin, and despises dialoguing democrats, including practically all European leaders. Meloni has already fallen from her pedestal. With me or against me. He is above good and evil, and of course, above the laws that do not serve his ends. Laws are to obey his desires. With Trump, American democracy is in authentic danger, he is turning it into an instrumental caricature. He is impudently dismantling the checks and balances. Goodbye to checks and balances and separation of powers. Montesquieu was a bore. I rule, period. Trump governs the state as if it were his company. And his companies can now break the law. The Trumpist autocratic circle is closing. How far will he go in his appropriation of power?