although most likely, it will probably happen some time after November or December if the Republicans keep their majorities after the mid-term elections.
Its only a matter of time before Trump (or someone on his payroll) can pick up the phone and send a Federal Marshal to arrest a journalist or editor who has said something he considers “fake news”;
or when the White house simply refuses to honor a court decision,
or using an executive order, shuts down a late-night TV show talk host for “Anti-American” slander, or his boss loses his broadcast license.
The situation in this country has already reached the point where the President or key Republican politicians or their tame press, can simply lie, and everybody knows it but nobody can do anything about it. In fact, nobody in his party even seems to notice. Pretty soon it will reach the point where nobody will be allowed to even mention it.
After a GOP win in November, it won’t just be speech that will be unrestrained and unchallenged, it will be actions. If an administration man is indicted, he will be arbitrarily released, if he is convicted, he will be arbitrarily pardoned, if he is sentenced he will be immediately paroled. News stories will be spiked and inquisitive press muzzled, court orders will be ignored, and uncooperative jurists will be replaced. Government agencies will be directed to change their mandates, be arbitrarily dissolved, or created overnight to solve specific “problems”. The word will be out: don’t make waves and don’t cause trouble or you will lose your livelihood, or wind up in court fighting battles that will bankrupt you even if you win. I don’t think it will ever get to the point where actual lives will be threatened, where troublesome people just start disappearing, but you never know. One party has plenty of enthusiastic and heavily armed and organized supporters, if need be, they can be mobilized, no doubt to fight street crime or combat “terrorism”.
Only two things prevent this from happening now. The Senate GOP majority is too small, and their majority in the House is too divided. Although in some parts of the country it has already happened, for those who are not white or wealthy. Yes, there are some honest Republicans still left. They see what is happening and don’t like it, but they have been bought off with tax cuts and business de-regulation. A decisive Republican victory in November will mean they have two full years to consolidate their position, purge their own ranks of dissenters (the Dems have already been neutralized) and do anything else they damn well please. And by 2020, they will be too firmly in place for anyone else to stop them.
This is how the fascists did it in Germany, I read the book. And its how the Communists did it in Cuba, my relatives told me. And they all say the same thing—you simply can’t believe it can happen in your country and then suddenly, abruptly, you realize it’s here. It just happened and I missed it! It doesn’t start with fighting in the streets, it just sneaks up on you and one day you wake up and find out your passport has been revoked.