{"id":31893,"date":"2026-07-09T15:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=31893"},"modified":"2026-07-09T15:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:00:09","slug":"a-government-of-trump-by-trump-and-for-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=31893","title":{"rendered":"A Government of Trump, by Trump, and for Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-intercept-editors-note\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-intercept-editors-note__content\">\n<p><span class=\"has-underline\">Twenty-three years ago,<\/span> I sat down in Metro Diner on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side to pick the brain of an illustrious book editor about an ambitious project. It launched me on a life-changing odyssey.<\/p>\n<p>Not so long after that meeting, I sent Tom Engelhardt a draft of an <a href=\"https:\/\/tomdispatch.com\/guestdispatch-zap-zap-you-re-dead\/\">article for his new website<\/a>, a listserv-turned-publication bearing his name, TomDispatch. One article turned into two, turned into 20, and on and on. Tom and I would work together for the two decades-plus that followed. On some days, we talked by phone as many as 10 times, discussing authors and article ideas and TD\u2019s trademark introductions. But mostly, the calls were about edits. Tom doesn\u2019t use the \u201ctrack changes\u201d feature when editing documents, so I would print, read, and mark up a hard copy of an article by Jonathan Schell, Mike Davis, Barbara Ehrenreich, or some other fantastic writer whose work I could scarcely believe I could have a hand in crafting. And then we would polish the piece to a high gleam.<\/p>\n<p>Occasionally, when I would meet Tom for dinner near his home, I would edit a piece on the 1 or 9 train, and we would go about the process in person. It\u2019s been many years since we did so, but I can still see Tom, silhouetted against the warm glow of his computer\u2019s screen in his pleasantly cluttered writer\u2019s garret, overstuffed with books and vintage children\u2019s toys and various tchotchkes from a lifetime in publishing. I can see myself, standing over his right shoulder, directing him to my next edit: \u201cTwo \u2019graphs down, last sentence \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For years, we worked as fellows of The Nation Institute and its current iteration, Type Media Center, where TomDispatch operated under its good auspices. We reported alongside each other at protest marches in New York City and Washington, D.C., and wrote articles together. Tom edited my books, and I worked on his. We even founded a book imprint together. It was a rather incredible run of collaboration and, by the humble standards of progressive media, dare I say a modest success. <\/p>\n<p>At some point in the midst of all this, Tom told me that I was the only one to whom he could imagine handing over the keys to TomDispatch. I was humbled that he would offer me the chance to take the helm of a publication that not only bore his name but also was, in a very real sense, an extension of himself. I was polite about it but turned him down flat. It wasn\u2019t for me, I said. And, frankly, I couldn\u2019t envision anyone else running the site (which, I might add, he encouraged me to rename NickDispatch). Somewhere along the line, though, I reconsidered and was grateful that Tom said the offer still stood.<\/p>\n<p>Today, our long journey from the corner of Broadway and West 100th Street in 2003 comes full circle as I publish the first piece by Tom Engelhardt at my new iteration of TomDispatch, now a part of The Intercept. If you had told me and Tom then that the bloviating real estate developer \u2014 who had just signed on to a 13-episode reality TV series called \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d and was dating Slovenian model Melania Knauss \u2014 living roughly three miles south of our breakfast spot would today be America\u2019s despotic president, we wouldn\u2019t have believed it. So imagine explaining it to America\u2019s founders, as Tom does in his askance look at the country\u2019s recent semiquincentennial. Hopefully it\u2019s the first of a series of offerings from Tom, whenever he takes a break from his <a href=\"https:\/\/tomengelhardt.substack.com\/\">excellent new Substack<\/a>.<br \/>\u2013 <em>Nick Turse, editor of TomDispatch<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- BLOCK(tipline)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22TIPLINE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%7D) --><!-- CONTENT(tipline)[0] --><\/p>\n<p class=\"tipline-shortcode\">If you haven\u2019t yet, <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/signup\/tom_dispatch_signup\/\">sign up to receive TomDispatch in your inbox here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- END-CONTENT(tipline)[0] --><!-- END-BLOCK(tipline)[0] -->\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"-mt-2.5 mb-[30px] md:mb-[34px] border border-[#eee] pt-[9px] pb-2 px-3 text-[16px] font-sans leading-[24px] text-body flex gap-[15px]\">\n      <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-[46px] mt-1.5 object-cover rounded-full overflow-hidden shrink-0 md:hidden\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/signal-2026-07-07-16-44-29-369_002.jpg\" width=\"46\" height=\"46\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Tom Engelhardt created and ran TomDispatch for nearly 25 years. He was also a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of a highly praised history of American triumphalism in the Cold War, \u201cThe End of Victory Culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"h-i-would-have-thought-you-mad\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">I Would Have Thought You Mad<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ve only recently passed the semiquincentennial of the United States of America. Two hundred and fifty years ago, at the moment of its founding, the U.S. was, of course, a slaveocracy. Of its founders, John Adams was essentially an oddball because he owned no slaves. But Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe did own people. So, give our current president Donald J. Trump some credit: At least he isn\u2019t a slaveowner. But that\u2019s about the best that can be said for him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once upon a time, if you had described our world to me, I would have thought you mad. Who could have imagined that Americans would reelect the man who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/1\/20\/remembering-11-of-trumps-forgotten-moments\">shoved aside<\/a> Montenegro\u2019s Prime Minister Du\u0161ko Markovi? in 2017 in what appeared to be an attempt to get to the front of a photo line (because who, in any circumstance, should be photographed more than him)? This is also the same tantrum-prone president who once <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/january-6-committee-hearing-cassidy-hutchinson-testifies-president-trump-threw-his-lunch-angry-at-attorney-general-william-barr\/\">threw his lunch<\/a>, ketchup and all, at a White House wall after his attorney general made comments he didn\u2019t like about the 2020 election. The president who, less than two years into his second term, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/01\/04\/trump-maduro-venezuela-war-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">kidnapped<\/a>\u00a0Venezuela\u2019s head of state, tried to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/01\/14\/trump-greenland-denmark-nato\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claim<\/a>\u00a0Greenland as the property of the US of A,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/world\/2026\/04\/15\/pentagon-ramps-up-secret-cuba-planning-trump\/89623722007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prepared<\/a> for\u00a0a possible future war with Cuba, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/11\/17\/trump-boat-strikes-death-toll-caribbean-pacific\/\">blown ships out\u00a0of the water<\/a> in a <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/license-to-kill\/\">never-ending fashion<\/a> in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, has conducted staggering numbers of airstrikes in <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/05\/27\/trump-war-isis-somalia-sebastian-gorka\/\">Somalia<\/a>, launched a would-be forever war with Iran (brilliantly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/27\/business\/economy\/iran-war-global-growth.html\">crippling\u00a0the global economy<\/a> while he was at it), and \u2026 well, count on it, in the next two-plus years of Donald Trump\u2019s America, there will surely be all too many more examples of unhinged behavior to cite. Honestly, a decade ago, I would have thought you were kidding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, what would those slave-owning Founding Fathers, memorialized on the Fourth of July just past, have thought about Trump? What would they have said about his boorish behavior, his toddler-esque tantrums, and his <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/30\/trump-secret-wars\/\">endless<\/a> attacks and wars?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps those founders, were they alive today, would visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago and share a meal with the odd millionaire, billionaire, or trillionaire (although Elon Musk\u2019s trillionaire status only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2026\/jun\/24\/elon-musk-trillionaire-spacex\">lasted a couple of weeks<\/a>!) lurking around the club. Or perhaps they would have been spotted on the White House lawn recently with Trump, first lady <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/02\/01\/melania-trump-movie-review\/\">Melania<\/a>, and the Trump kids, not to speak of a legion of blood-sport-loving billionaires watching a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/14\/us\/ufc-trump-white-house.html\">mixed martial arts spectacle<\/a> in honor of Trump\u2019s 250th birthday. (Oops, my mistake, Trump is just a youthful 80, which, when \u2014 or is it, if? \u2014 he finally leaves office, will make him our oldest president ever but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/short-reads\/2026\/06\/09\/as-trump-turns-80-who-are-the-oldest-and-youngest-current-world-leaders\/\">hardly the oldest<\/a> among the almost 200 world leaders of the present moment.)<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default alignright\">\n<div class=\"photo__container\">\n    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9781608469017.jpg?fit=650%2C1000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9781608469017.jpg?w=650 650w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9781608469017.jpg?w=195 195w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9781608469017.jpg?w=540 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"1000\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><figcaption class=\"photo__figcaption\">\n      <span class=\"photo__caption\">\u201cA Nation Unmade by War,\u201d by Tom Engelhardt<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"photo__credit\">Available at Bookshop.org<\/span>    <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s a question that those Founding Fathers might ask about Donald Trump\u2019s America: \u201cWhat kind of -ocracy is the United States today?\u201d And the answer, of course, would not be a democracy, or even a theocracy (though The Donald does love to be worshipped), but a Trumpocracy: a government of Trump, by Trump, and for Trump; a government dedicated to the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/09\/trump-crypto-billionaire-accountable\/\">enrichment<\/a> of the president and his cronies. And it\u2019s a vengeful one at that. After all, on Truth Social last year, he reposted an AI-generated video of former President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office (as Trump looks on in glee) before he\u2019s thrown into prison. A Black man seized (in a house built by slave labor, no less) and held in bondage is something of a nod to America\u2019s past \u2014 and wouldn\u2019t be unfamiliar to America\u2019s founders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But honestly, if you were to offer an account of Trump\u2019s America to George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, what would either of them have thought? Can you even imagine their reaction? Their dismay? You found a country and just over 250 years later, you have Donald J. Trump running it into the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-embed flex-col items-center print:hidden\" id=\"third-party--article-mid\" data-module=\"InlineNewsletter\" data-module-source=\"web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\">\n<div class=\"-mx-5 sm:-mx-10 p-5 sm:px-10 xl:-ml-5 lg:mr-0 xl:px-5 bg-accentLight hidden\" data-name=\"subscribed\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-light uppercase text-[30px] leading-8 text-white tracking-[0.01em] mb-0\">\n      We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us.    <\/h2>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/?referrer_post_id=519590&amp;referrer_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2026%2F07%2F09%2Ftomdispatch-trump-america-250%2F&amp;source=web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\" class=\"border border-white !text-white font-mono uppercase p-5 inline-flex items-center gap-3 hover:bg-white hover:!text-accentLight focus:bg-white focus:!text-accentLight\" data-name=\"donateCTA\" data-action=\"handleDonate\"><br \/>\n      Become a member      <span class=\"font-icons icon-TI_Arrow_02_Right\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/div>\n<div class=\"group default w-full px-5 hidden\" data-name=\"unsubscribed\">\n<div class=\"px-5 border-[10px] border-accentLight\">\n<div class=\"bg-white -my-2.5 relative block px-4 md:px-5\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-body text-[30px] font-bold tracking-[0.01em] leading-8 mb-0 xl:text-[37px] xl:leading-[39px]\">\n          <span class=\"group-[.subscribed]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Join Our Newsletter          <\/span><br \/>\n          <span class=\"group-[.default]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Thank You For Joining!          <\/span><br \/>\n        <\/h2>\n<p class=\"text-[27px] mb-3.5 font-bold text-accentLight tracking-[0.01em] leading-[29px] font-sans xl:text-[37px] xl:leading-[39px]\">\n          <span class=\"group-[.subscribed]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you.          <\/span><br \/>\n          <span class=\"group-[.default]:hidden\"><br \/>\n            Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?          <\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/donate\/now\/?referrer_post_id=519590&amp;referrer_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2026%2F07%2F09%2Ftomdispatch-trump-america-250%2F&amp;source=web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\" class=\"group-[.default]:hidden border border-accentLight text-accentLight font-sans px-5 py-3.5 inline-flex items-center gap-3 text-[20px] font-bold\" data-action=\"handleDonate\"><br \/>\n          Become a member          <span class=\"font-icons icon-TI_Arrow_02_Right\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"font-sans text-accentLight text-[10px] leading-[13px] text-balance [&amp;_a]:text-accentLight [&amp;_a]:font-bold [&amp;_a:hover]:underline group-[.subscribed]:hidden\">\n<p>By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/privacy-policy\/\">Privacy Policy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/terms-use\/\">Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(newsletter)[0] --><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps if the Founding Fathers could do it all again, they might have chosen to remain a colony of the British king, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/08\/12\/trump-washington-dc-national-guard-deploy-federalize\/\">George III<\/a> (whom Donald Trump makes look remarkably good).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coming from a largely rural land, the founders would undoubtedly find it interesting that Trump\u2019s long solid support in the heartland finally seems to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alternet.org\/trump-rural-voters-2677038369\/\">on the verge of collapse<\/a>. But then, so much of his world (and sadly, ours, too) seems to be on the edge of ruin these days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The founders might wonder if the United States could survive another two and a half years. Or if the world can? If, that is, he doesn\u2019t try to remain in power. After claiming to have won the last three presidential elections, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/-got-win-trump-calls-maga-turn-midterm-elections-rcna256105\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asked<\/a>\u00a0an Iowan audience ominously: \u201cShould we do it a fourth time?\u201d (George Washington would no doubt be disturbed, having been committed to a two-term maximum.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In two and a half years, much less six and a half, Trump is potentially all too capable of taking not just this country but <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2020\/10\/22\/intercepted-american-mythology-trump-climate\/\">also<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/10\/08\/trump-ai-alaska-national-park-ambler-road\/\">planet<\/a> down <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2025\/05\/13\/trump-epa-staff-cuts-environmental-justice\/\">with him<\/a>.\u00a0And I\u2019m not just thinking about his ability (if that\u2019s faintly the word for it) with\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/apr\/12\/how-israeli-offensive-destroyed-entire-villages-in-lebanon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">allies like Israel<\/a>\u00a0to turn parts of this world into hell zones of war.\u00a0I\u2019m thinking instead about the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2021\/07\/23\/stuck-in-the-smoke-as-billionaires-blast-off\/\">climate disaster to come<\/a> (as my city recently hit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/02\/weather\/new-york-heat-record-100-degrees-central-park.html\">100-degree mark<\/a> on an early July day) and the president who has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/time.com\/7319744\/trump-un-speech-climate-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a> climate change\u00a0\u201cthe greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world\u201d and a \u201cgreen scam,\u201d and is prepared in his own fashion to heat this planet to the boiling point. Now, I\u2019m sweating and, of course, with Donald Trump at the helm of state, it\u2019s only going to get hotter, and hotter, and hotter.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#Government #Trump #Trump #Trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Twenty-three years ago, I sat &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[246],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31893"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}