Dictators rise by weaponizing fear and dividing the people. Trump is following the playbook step by step; now, it’s just a matter of who he’ll target first…
Specific White "liberal" "deep state" "elites". After all, this is the apex "adversary" in the forever angry maga congregation. In their eyes, the "deep state" is the mother ship from which all invaders emerge to destroy America the Great.
Targeting top level icons essentially neuters everyone below - leaving the field wide open for whatever horrors our pretend emperor finds necessary to inflict to achieve fulfillment.
There are too many deep state white liberals Jon. Trumpwill start small, After he cleans house and exacts vengeance on those who ridiculed, prosecuted and opposed him.
There are not enough people in the DOJ, to prosecute all of his enemies, he would need a stable of clerks, secretaries, typists bigger than the entire civil service, and a stable of Trumpified lawyers and law clerks, larger than can be housed in DC. He won't be capable, at first, of arresting people by diktat, that will come later as his chosen cabinet follows his executive orders and sets fire to the Constitution and the rule of law.
He is bound to pick off his most annoying critics, and in fact Jimmy Kimmel comes to mind . Where he will start is where he can control the easiest, The Department of Defense, he will go after trans and gays. congress will pass laws, Department of Health and Human services will go after trans and gay recipients of benefits.
In fact I will be surprised, given that JD Vance is gender dysphoric, and gay by inclination as is Peter Thiel, that they go after gay males, but trans women, that is a different story and in that they have female allies, the Trans Exclusive Radical Feminists like J K Rowling.
and gay men like Andrew Sullivan.
I can already sniff the Stalinism and Hilerism. both were embarassed by wounded vets, and considered the disabled to be useless eaters, and polluters of the genes.
Cutting SNAP, federal assistance for housing, education will result in death by starvation and exposure. The Republican party is hostile to Veteran care and benefits, not to use of people as tools and cannon fodder, but spending money on them after they have served their purpose, so was Hitler, so was Stalin and so is Putin.
Stalin was embarrassed by the many disabled vets that hung around Red Square and the streets of Moscow, men who gave their limbs and health for him in the "Great Patriotic War" and overnight in one fell swoop, they disappeared from the streets, they certainly did not wind up in a gulag, being disabled they were useless workers.
He will start with the Transsexuals, and the immigrants with police records.
The first people Hitler killed were disabled. Many of them were survivors of but had never recoverd from the flu epidemic of 1918. Expect people suffering from Long Covid to fall into this same category. Useless and just costing the system money.
People talk about the election of 2026 as a chance to recover. IF there is an election it will be a Putin, Orban, or Iranian style. Either fixed with stuffed ballot boxes, millions struck off the votors list, or only select people allowed to run. Or a combination of all three.
Thanks for the education Allen, analogizing the Spanish flu to long COVID.
The public has no idea of how many disabled, all causes, there are in our society,they are hidden in homes,institutions, but exist in the rolls of social security, the VA and insurance company records.,and when we encounter them living in cardboard boxes and tents under freeway overpasses and bridges, we don't see them. The sight makes us uncomfortable,for there but for the grace of the fates, so goes I.
That's why Joe Biden needs to step down and hand the presidency over to vice president Harris or somebody that has what it takes to do what is necessary to stop this lunacy. The Republicans for over 40 years have chipped away at the Constitution until there is almost nothing left that can save our democracy. The founders that wrote the Constitution did so to prevent any would be tyrant from taking over the government. President Harris only has a few days to stop this train wreck the only provision left by the Constitution would be the Presidential Power to declare the nation is in a state of emergency. With this power, Harris would stop the transmission of power until Trump has been tried for all charges including the ones the Supreme Court declared he was immune. The results of the 2024 election are there for Nolan void we will have to have a new election of eligible candidates in 2025 to determine the next legitimate president. This will take bold and decisive action but it's the only one that can save our country from a future Civil War. Dictators don't freely give up their power. It took World War II to to rid the world from Hitler. A second Civil War in our country would be devastating with Trump in charge of the military. Whatever it takes to stop this, we need to do it in the next few days, and only the new president that Biden selects will have that authority.
The press, or what it left of the independent press. X and Facebook have conditioned even rational people to distrust traditional media. When someone brave brings corruption and injustice to our attention, they will be attacked. How do we combat this? Support independent journalists, including this Substack. Question everything that sounds designed to drive hate and division. Ask our conservative friends who make outlandish claims to identify their sources.
I do not know if Ray Gun had his Roy Cohn. And Bimbo, as I named him at the time, was already a somnolent, readily falling asleep without warning, so his VP and others could often run the show while he dozed. But Ray Gun knew how to abuse the weak, having memorized many scripts (story lines) as a two-bit actor. So he made white-collar union members his first target, the air traffic controllers who kept planes from falling from the skies. Blue-collar workers would have been formidable seeing as how they kept the lights on and the sewage flowing away from the bathrooms. A small union, whose members were always stressed out, undermanned, isolated in their towers, with enormous responsibilities and yet little public support.
I do not know who TFG will go after first. They will not be specifically named, but I am guessing there will be some Red Herrings chosen for misdirection sake, not real threats but easy and odd targets, while behind the curtains some vital folks, or maybe even one or a handful of individuals who hold gate keys to some critical govt. function will find themselves overwhelmed with DNI queries of every sort, going after their personal and professional credibility, their so-called patriotism, their personal lifestyles, their families, etc.k
TGF crowd are all massive cowards. If they want to take down a big fish, they will go after the little fish on the periphery, with deception and cunning, while making big splashes with the distractions of those Red Herrings. And TFG will NOT be associated with doing any of this personally, except with the Red Herrings, and it will pick niggling little things to bark at, again and again, We are so tempted to see TFG as a blowhard moron, which it is, but that does not mean that its medulla-driven intelligence is lacking. If Gabbard and Patel are given a pass, they and some other assassins will do the dirty work, along with now-complicit weasels in the press.
Ronald Reagan. He quickly endorsed the building of a 'Star Wars' missile defence system to curb Soviet threats, and the system would use some form of laser ray energy, hence to monniker Ray Gun. It never happened, just chest-thumping BS.
Tom, as you know, you are not safe. There are lots of Proud Boys groups out there, and lots of individuals who would love to feel "deputized" for Trump. I'm not sure that any Democrat is safe from some level of harassment. The IRS will become weaponized, as well as the FBI. Most of us are small potatoes, but we are also low-hanging fruit. Trump's reign will be a reign of fear.
The Immigrants are the low hanging fruit....but so is the Media the Journalists that from where I sit no one will come to help or speak out.
I am very worried about the eye rolling every time I start talking about living under a dictatorship.....may be the acclaimed new movie "I am still here" may help (or not!)
The cultural war against Universities, Science Research the lies about the COVID epidemic being spewed during the Senate hearings.....are making me shake and my blood pressure go up!!!!!
The lack of knowledge regarding the billions of dollars in the colossal right wing media as you reported Mr. Hartman needs to be publicized more....and when are we going to start seeing all being so frightened that no fight back will be possible?
Always excellent pieces . After reading this I thought when did the United States, the country I call home turn into such a bunch of pussies? Between the caving of politicians, business people, and others looking to Curry favor with the 'powers that be' the rest of us, men and women are REQUIRED to stand up and be adults
Down here in Baghdad By the Sea, the Bastiano version of the Castro Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, including the Proud Boys, are going to turn in their own relatives for deportation. DeSantis and other local officials are advocating for increased state and local law enforcement participation in federal immigration enforcement by working in tandem to deport as many Floridians as possible. Yesterday, DeSantis called again for a special session of the Florida Legislature to enact new policies addressing illegal immigration.
"I think this is very straightforward," he said. "There's been no issue higher on the radar consistently so over these last four years than the immigration issue."
Joined by local and state law enforcement, DeSantis said he'll require city, county and state law enforcement to have "maximum participation" in any programs to assist the federal government with enforcing federal immigration laws.
Thanks for the addition of sources. I think, too, that immigration problems and the hoop n' hollar about enforcement of local and state laws initially was a diversion for Tumpets to disguise the plans for the horrendous takeover of our democracy. However, the frightening level of incarcerating and deporting immigrants appears to be ready to take effect ASAP. This will also detract citizens from other simultaneous despicable actions going forward.
I expect Trump will conduct a multi- front campaign, hitting leading Democrats with DOJ lawsuits for seditious activity, suing big media platforms that give voice to critical assessments like NYT and MSNBC for defamation, firing thousands of government bureaucrats and replacing them with obedient sycophants, using military or police violence to suppress protest demonstrations, and shutting down or revoking non profit status of progressive civic groups like Public Citizen and ACLU for advocating terrorism. This way, Trump will attempt to weaken his opposition to prevent a political backlash in the 2026 elections against his other draconian policies, like mass deportations and gutting health care policies and social security.
Take another look at this: "While the hero of the story is important, Parker told us, it’s the antihero — the bad guy or antagonist — who makes real for the reader the goodness of the hero."
He's right, and this is exactly what some of us are doing by making Trump a stand-alone antihero. It's not just dictators who need archenemies: many political activists and pundits do too. Reliance on "Trump" as a handy shorthand is understandable, but it obscures that fact that our "democracy" was seriously flawed before Trump came along and the flaws will still be there after he's out of the way. The problem? With no Trump to focus on, too many people (esp. white middle-class-and-up people) will go home thinking that the job is done. Which to some extent is what happened after the 2020 election, and why (astonishingly enough) so many USians seem to have forgotten that 1/6 was a huge deal.
The Pied Piper. “A.D. 1284 – on the 26th of June – the day of St John and St Paul – 130 children – born in Hamelin – were led out of the town by a piper wearing multicoloured clothes. After passing the Calvary near the Koppenberg they disappeared forever.”
We'll get our first intimation in his inaugural address on Monday, more of it in a State of the Union address, but it already appears that Scapegoat One will be immigrants, illegal or otherwise. It's the tyranny of the majority as the soup course.
The Flake News: The release of the latest edition of Trump’s “Holey Bible,” was announced today. It’s title derives from its omission of certain portions of the traditional Bible. Specifically, omissions were made that took out the entire Gospel of Mark which would require the welcome of strangers and the feeding and care of the poor. Also omitted were commandments to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” “Thou shalt not lie,” the instruction to turn the other cheek, and that money changers have no place in God’s temples. “The true message of the Bible,” says Trump, “is that our God is bigger and stronger than all other Gods. Those socialist, Athenian Greeks added all that soft stuff and corrupted the true message when they mis-translated the Bible. (For more "Flake News," see Shea hansen's substack. Please submit your own flake news tip in the comments section.
Who will he go after first? That's a loaded question isn't it?
As the biggest bully with the biggest "bully pulpit" you'd think he would go after the least able to defend themselves. But then again he needs to make a "yuuuuge" show of his toughness & power. So my guess is that his first victims will be immigrants. I'd say as he is flaunting his inaugural duties his pre-positioned thugs will be ready for his pre-approved Executive Orders to immediately go out. My guess, look for round ups at prisons, schools, hospitals, & most especially meatpacking facilities. (As an aside, America, you're bitching about how high your beef prices are now, just wait til all the immigrants that do that work magically disappear!) And since the cruelty is the point I'd say you'll see children get home from school to find no Mom or Dad there to greet them, but maybe they'll have some kindly ICE agent waiting to take them to be reunited with their parents only to be whisked away to some holding facility, given their mylar blanket & then locked away.
But that's just my guess. He may decide to have a full frontal assault against all the "favorite" bogeymen to show just how tough he can be.
And as I've stated before, don't think he's going to worry about deporting them, he just wants to get them into camps, their fate to be determined later on.
I agree he starts with immigrants who have the fewest defenders. But he soon moves on to the prosecutors (Smith, Garland, James) who really make him angry, then the pols (Cheney, Kinzinger), and then the truth press - I could see Rachel Maddow being arrested on air for treason to make a point.
I suspect it will be media and Democrats because there are corporations and big ag that really do not want to lose their workers. Get rid of anyone who will speak the truth.
Since the actual super-villains are the super-wealthy, Democrats might want to take note and proceed accordingly.
Specific White "liberal" "deep state" "elites". After all, this is the apex "adversary" in the forever angry maga congregation. In their eyes, the "deep state" is the mother ship from which all invaders emerge to destroy America the Great.
Targeting top level icons essentially neuters everyone below - leaving the field wide open for whatever horrors our pretend emperor finds necessary to inflict to achieve fulfillment.
That's my comment. Have a happy day, everyone!
There are too many deep state white liberals Jon. Trumpwill start small, After he cleans house and exacts vengeance on those who ridiculed, prosecuted and opposed him.
There are not enough people in the DOJ, to prosecute all of his enemies, he would need a stable of clerks, secretaries, typists bigger than the entire civil service, and a stable of Trumpified lawyers and law clerks, larger than can be housed in DC. He won't be capable, at first, of arresting people by diktat, that will come later as his chosen cabinet follows his executive orders and sets fire to the Constitution and the rule of law.
He is bound to pick off his most annoying critics, and in fact Jimmy Kimmel comes to mind . Where he will start is where he can control the easiest, The Department of Defense, he will go after trans and gays. congress will pass laws, Department of Health and Human services will go after trans and gay recipients of benefits.
In fact I will be surprised, given that JD Vance is gender dysphoric, and gay by inclination as is Peter Thiel, that they go after gay males, but trans women, that is a different story and in that they have female allies, the Trans Exclusive Radical Feminists like J K Rowling.
and gay men like Andrew Sullivan.
I can already sniff the Stalinism and Hilerism. both were embarassed by wounded vets, and considered the disabled to be useless eaters, and polluters of the genes.
Cutting SNAP, federal assistance for housing, education will result in death by starvation and exposure. The Republican party is hostile to Veteran care and benefits, not to use of people as tools and cannon fodder, but spending money on them after they have served their purpose, so was Hitler, so was Stalin and so is Putin.
Stalin was embarrassed by the many disabled vets that hung around Red Square and the streets of Moscow, men who gave their limbs and health for him in the "Great Patriotic War" and overnight in one fell swoop, they disappeared from the streets, they certainly did not wind up in a gulag, being disabled they were useless workers.
He will start with the Transsexuals, and the immigrants with police records.
The first people Hitler killed were disabled. Many of them were survivors of but had never recoverd from the flu epidemic of 1918. Expect people suffering from Long Covid to fall into this same category. Useless and just costing the system money.
People talk about the election of 2026 as a chance to recover. IF there is an election it will be a Putin, Orban, or Iranian style. Either fixed with stuffed ballot boxes, millions struck off the votors list, or only select people allowed to run. Or a combination of all three.
Thanks for the education Allen, analogizing the Spanish flu to long COVID.
The public has no idea of how many disabled, all causes, there are in our society,they are hidden in homes,institutions, but exist in the rolls of social security, the VA and insurance company records.,and when we encounter them living in cardboard boxes and tents under freeway overpasses and bridges, we don't see them. The sight makes us uncomfortable,for there but for the grace of the fates, so goes I.
That's why Joe Biden needs to step down and hand the presidency over to vice president Harris or somebody that has what it takes to do what is necessary to stop this lunacy. The Republicans for over 40 years have chipped away at the Constitution until there is almost nothing left that can save our democracy. The founders that wrote the Constitution did so to prevent any would be tyrant from taking over the government. President Harris only has a few days to stop this train wreck the only provision left by the Constitution would be the Presidential Power to declare the nation is in a state of emergency. With this power, Harris would stop the transmission of power until Trump has been tried for all charges including the ones the Supreme Court declared he was immune. The results of the 2024 election are there for Nolan void we will have to have a new election of eligible candidates in 2025 to determine the next legitimate president. This will take bold and decisive action but it's the only one that can save our country from a future Civil War. Dictators don't freely give up their power. It took World War II to to rid the world from Hitler. A second Civil War in our country would be devastating with Trump in charge of the military. Whatever it takes to stop this, we need to do it in the next few days, and only the new president that Biden selects will have that authority.
Dreamin'.
However, Biden signed ERA. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2025/01/17/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-equal-rights-amendment/
The press, or what it left of the independent press. X and Facebook have conditioned even rational people to distrust traditional media. When someone brave brings corruption and injustice to our attention, they will be attacked. How do we combat this? Support independent journalists, including this Substack. Question everything that sounds designed to drive hate and division. Ask our conservative friends who make outlandish claims to identify their sources.
I do not know if Ray Gun had his Roy Cohn. And Bimbo, as I named him at the time, was already a somnolent, readily falling asleep without warning, so his VP and others could often run the show while he dozed. But Ray Gun knew how to abuse the weak, having memorized many scripts (story lines) as a two-bit actor. So he made white-collar union members his first target, the air traffic controllers who kept planes from falling from the skies. Blue-collar workers would have been formidable seeing as how they kept the lights on and the sewage flowing away from the bathrooms. A small union, whose members were always stressed out, undermanned, isolated in their towers, with enormous responsibilities and yet little public support.
I do not know who TFG will go after first. They will not be specifically named, but I am guessing there will be some Red Herrings chosen for misdirection sake, not real threats but easy and odd targets, while behind the curtains some vital folks, or maybe even one or a handful of individuals who hold gate keys to some critical govt. function will find themselves overwhelmed with DNI queries of every sort, going after their personal and professional credibility, their so-called patriotism, their personal lifestyles, their families, etc.k
TGF crowd are all massive cowards. If they want to take down a big fish, they will go after the little fish on the periphery, with deception and cunning, while making big splashes with the distractions of those Red Herrings. And TFG will NOT be associated with doing any of this personally, except with the Red Herrings, and it will pick niggling little things to bark at, again and again, We are so tempted to see TFG as a blowhard moron, which it is, but that does not mean that its medulla-driven intelligence is lacking. If Gabbard and Patel are given a pass, they and some other assassins will do the dirty work, along with now-complicit weasels in the press.
Who is Ray Gun? I could google it, I suppose.
Ronald Reagan. He quickly endorsed the building of a 'Star Wars' missile defence system to curb Soviet threats, and the system would use some form of laser ray energy, hence to monniker Ray Gun. It never happened, just chest-thumping BS.
Ronnie cut the disabled from the disability rolls without a right to a hearing and took the solar panels off the White House.
His Secretary of the Interior, later jailbait, announced that only Chistians should serve in the government. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/04/27/james-watt-in-the-right-with-the-lord/946026f4-3b79-4fcb-9a5f-082ca8150007/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Watt
We know the Christian Nationalists’ goal is Christians (according to their definition) controlling ALL the levers of power (the 7 mountains).
Tom, as you know, you are not safe. There are lots of Proud Boys groups out there, and lots of individuals who would love to feel "deputized" for Trump. I'm not sure that any Democrat is safe from some level of harassment. The IRS will become weaponized, as well as the FBI. Most of us are small potatoes, but we are also low-hanging fruit. Trump's reign will be a reign of fear.
There are indeed lots of MAGA militia out there. But their minds cannot handle truth, so they ignore it. Thom will be safe.
The Immigrants are the low hanging fruit....but so is the Media the Journalists that from where I sit no one will come to help or speak out.
I am very worried about the eye rolling every time I start talking about living under a dictatorship.....may be the acclaimed new movie "I am still here" may help (or not!)
The cultural war against Universities, Science Research the lies about the COVID epidemic being spewed during the Senate hearings.....are making me shake and my blood pressure go up!!!!!
The lack of knowledge regarding the billions of dollars in the colossal right wing media as you reported Mr. Hartman needs to be publicized more....and when are we going to start seeing all being so frightened that no fight back will be possible?
Federal employees are the low hanging fruit. Private prison owners will be the beneficiaries of his immigration policies. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/11/private-prison-stocks-jump-on-trump-appointment-of-immigration-hardliner-tom-homan.html
Thanks Thom. This essay is so important. It needs to go viral. It should go in every school room and editorial page
Always excellent pieces . After reading this I thought when did the United States, the country I call home turn into such a bunch of pussies? Between the caving of politicians, business people, and others looking to Curry favor with the 'powers that be' the rest of us, men and women are REQUIRED to stand up and be adults
Fearless,
Americans and
Stand up for all people
... fight if we have to...
Standing on a precipice. Feeling the impending doom.
He's baaaack, folks! Come Monday, the Colosseum will reopen. Only this time the bread and games will not be free. Nothing is with Trump or Putin.
Ukraine will be at the top of the list of orders coming from Moscow. All the secrets being held concerning the war will be revealed.
People are going to die. Spread all the love you can, we are going to need it.
He has approximately 100 executive orders rearin' to go. I expect there will be Rifs across virtually all agencies. https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/reductions-in-force/
Down here in Baghdad By the Sea, the Bastiano version of the Castro Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, including the Proud Boys, are going to turn in their own relatives for deportation. DeSantis and other local officials are advocating for increased state and local law enforcement participation in federal immigration enforcement by working in tandem to deport as many Floridians as possible. Yesterday, DeSantis called again for a special session of the Florida Legislature to enact new policies addressing illegal immigration.
"I think this is very straightforward," he said. "There's been no issue higher on the radar consistently so over these last four years than the immigration issue."
Joined by local and state law enforcement, DeSantis said he'll require city, county and state law enforcement to have "maximum participation" in any programs to assist the federal government with enforcing federal immigration laws.
DeSantis also laid out many immigration policies he plans to enforce, including making undocumented entry into the U.S. a state-level crime. https://www.audacy.com/wwjnewsradio/news/national/desantis-plans-for-mass-deportations-trumps-inauguration
Thanks for the addition of sources. I think, too, that immigration problems and the hoop n' hollar about enforcement of local and state laws initially was a diversion for Tumpets to disguise the plans for the horrendous takeover of our democracy. However, the frightening level of incarcerating and deporting immigrants appears to be ready to take effect ASAP. This will also detract citizens from other simultaneous despicable actions going forward.
I expect Trump will conduct a multi- front campaign, hitting leading Democrats with DOJ lawsuits for seditious activity, suing big media platforms that give voice to critical assessments like NYT and MSNBC for defamation, firing thousands of government bureaucrats and replacing them with obedient sycophants, using military or police violence to suppress protest demonstrations, and shutting down or revoking non profit status of progressive civic groups like Public Citizen and ACLU for advocating terrorism. This way, Trump will attempt to weaken his opposition to prevent a political backlash in the 2026 elections against his other draconian policies, like mass deportations and gutting health care policies and social security.
Take another look at this: "While the hero of the story is important, Parker told us, it’s the antihero — the bad guy or antagonist — who makes real for the reader the goodness of the hero."
He's right, and this is exactly what some of us are doing by making Trump a stand-alone antihero. It's not just dictators who need archenemies: many political activists and pundits do too. Reliance on "Trump" as a handy shorthand is understandable, but it obscures that fact that our "democracy" was seriously flawed before Trump came along and the flaws will still be there after he's out of the way. The problem? With no Trump to focus on, too many people (esp. white middle-class-and-up people) will go home thinking that the job is done. Which to some extent is what happened after the 2020 election, and why (astonishingly enough) so many USians seem to have forgotten that 1/6 was a huge deal.
Your comment lays it out perfectly. The Felon has exploited the flaws, flaws found in any democracy.
Hero with a thousand faces. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyZo0JFqYIE
The Pied Piper. “A.D. 1284 – on the 26th of June – the day of St John and St Paul – 130 children – born in Hamelin – were led out of the town by a piper wearing multicoloured clothes. After passing the Calvary near the Koppenberg they disappeared forever.”
Oooh, I really, really like this image, and the analogy that goes with it!
We'll get our first intimation in his inaugural address on Monday, more of it in a State of the Union address, but it already appears that Scapegoat One will be immigrants, illegal or otherwise. It's the tyranny of the majority as the soup course.
The Flake News: The release of the latest edition of Trump’s “Holey Bible,” was announced today. It’s title derives from its omission of certain portions of the traditional Bible. Specifically, omissions were made that took out the entire Gospel of Mark which would require the welcome of strangers and the feeding and care of the poor. Also omitted were commandments to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” “Thou shalt not lie,” the instruction to turn the other cheek, and that money changers have no place in God’s temples. “The true message of the Bible,” says Trump, “is that our God is bigger and stronger than all other Gods. Those socialist, Athenian Greeks added all that soft stuff and corrupted the true message when they mis-translated the Bible. (For more "Flake News," see Shea hansen's substack. Please submit your own flake news tip in the comments section.
Who will he go after first? That's a loaded question isn't it?
As the biggest bully with the biggest "bully pulpit" you'd think he would go after the least able to defend themselves. But then again he needs to make a "yuuuuge" show of his toughness & power. So my guess is that his first victims will be immigrants. I'd say as he is flaunting his inaugural duties his pre-positioned thugs will be ready for his pre-approved Executive Orders to immediately go out. My guess, look for round ups at prisons, schools, hospitals, & most especially meatpacking facilities. (As an aside, America, you're bitching about how high your beef prices are now, just wait til all the immigrants that do that work magically disappear!) And since the cruelty is the point I'd say you'll see children get home from school to find no Mom or Dad there to greet them, but maybe they'll have some kindly ICE agent waiting to take them to be reunited with their parents only to be whisked away to some holding facility, given their mylar blanket & then locked away.
But that's just my guess. He may decide to have a full frontal assault against all the "favorite" bogeymen to show just how tough he can be.
And as I've stated before, don't think he's going to worry about deporting them, he just wants to get them into camps, their fate to be determined later on.
I agree he starts with immigrants who have the fewest defenders. But he soon moves on to the prosecutors (Smith, Garland, James) who really make him angry, then the pols (Cheney, Kinzinger), and then the truth press - I could see Rachel Maddow being arrested on air for treason to make a point.
I suspect it will be media and Democrats because there are corporations and big ag that really do not want to lose their workers. Get rid of anyone who will speak the truth.
That is what liars do . They get rid of truth tellers.