When Resentment Becomes Law

Introduction

Trump’s presidency has evolved from a shocking disruption of democracy to a form of governance rooted in grievance. After his 2020 loss, he emerged as a martyr figure. He reclaimed the White House in 2024 with newfound experience. He also gained new supporters, including Elon Musk. His administration transforms grievance into policy, with Executive Orders reflecting a narrative of a betrayed America. Institutional distrust has become systemic. Trump fires civil servants and undermines agencies. These actions parallel authoritarian tactics in history and erode America’s democratic foundations. The article prompts readers to consider the sustainability of grievance politics.

Trump’s first presidency (that I documented in my book The Trump Files) shocked America’s democratic system. His loss in 2020 was thought to be the end — but instead it became the beginning of something larger. Over four years out of office, through impeachments, indictments, and endless rallies, Trump transformed himself into a martyr figure. By 2024, he had reclaimed the White House. This time he was armed with experience and loyalists. A billionaire tech mogul, Elon Musk, helped bankroll his comeback.

Over the next three months, I will trace Trump’s evolution from disruptor to ruler. I will document how his second presidency has turned old warnings into daily reality. What was once dismissed as impossible has become the framework of governance. What was once rhetoric is now policy.

Grievance as Governing

In Trump’s second term, grievance is no longer campaign rhetoric. It is governance. What began as rally applause lines has hardened into the blueprint of state power.

Trump is filled with a feeling that he has been wronged or oppressed. He believes he is the victim of injustices. His being is a complex of anger and hatred. He has surrounded himself with people who feed him daily doses of documents (Executive Orders), and rhetoric. We witness a weak man, who has now established himself as dictator, leading the country into disaster.

From Rhetoric to Rule

Trump thrives on division. His official addresses now read like rally speeches elevated to law via a continuous flow of Executive orders. Since he entered the Oval Office, he has signed 192 Executive orders. They describe America betrayed by globalists. They accuse scientists of rigging the climate. Immigrants are said to be invading neighborhoods. Elites are depicted as conspiring in back rooms. Some orders claim to end crime and disorder on American street’s (LA, Washington D.C. & more).

What is striking is not the rhetoric, but its translation into policy.

• A tirade against “radical climate hoaxes” precedes the gutting of National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate programs. Professor Toby Ault reports that reducing research programs within NOAA will be devastating. He is a professor of climate science at Cornell University. Firing meteorologists and climate researchers will result in the death of thousands of American citizens. We depend on reliable forecasts of impending hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. Without continuing the research on forecasting and climate change, the Trump administration puts millions of Americans at risk.
• Accusations of “deep state corruption” are followed by Department of Justice “probes” into political rivals. The recent FBI raid on former Trump Intelligence Chief, John Bolton is a case in point. Trump denies any knowledge on the investigation, which is a big lie. Bolton has criticized Trump, and made it clear in his book, “The Room Where It Happened.”
• Grotesque slogans like “immigrants eating pets” morph into mass deportation sweeps. The mass deportation of migrants is grotesque.

Where once grievance was catharsis, now it is administrative posture.

Institutional Distrust as System

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) became the hammer. Thousands of career civil servants are being fired. Vital agencies — the Census, CDC, EPA — are hollowed. Neutral data once trusted worldwide now vanishes.

On August 27, 2025, Trump underlings fired the newly installed director of the CDC, Susan Monarez. However she has refused to resign. Dr. Monarez refused to bow to RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine quackery. Kennedy demanded she rubber-stamp reckless directives gutting access to COVID vaccines. She refused. So the regime declared her out. Quick reminder: she was Trump’s appointee and was confirmed to the role about one month ago. Nearly 24% of CDC staff have been fired, resigned, or retired. The Human Health Services Department, of which the CDC is a part, has lost 20,000 employees since January 20, 2025. This madness is occurring in every department of the government from to Department of Energy to the Department of Education.

The mass firings has led to the loss of expertise and capacity. Susan Monarez was a scientist held in high esteem by colleagues inside the CDC and at large. Her integrity got her fired. Her replacement has none of her qualifications.

Trump cultivates this distrust deliberately. If no institution is credible, only Trump remains.

“Grievance isn’t just politics anymore — it’s policy.”

Historical Echoes

Authoritarians have long undermined institutions in favor of loyalty. Stalin suppressed famine data. Mussolini employed rubber-stamp courts. Hitler established concentration camps. Trump is no different.

Holodomor in Ukraine

Under Joseph Stalin, the Soviet regime suppressed data on the 1932–1933 famine, known as the Holodomor in Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians were killed. Some estimates range from 3.5 million to 7 million, with some estimates going high. They conducted a systematic campaign of censorship, propaganda, and destruction of records. This was done to hide the catastrophic results of forced agricultural collectivization. It was also intended to punish Ukrainians perceived as a nationalist threat to Soviet authority. Suppression and altering data is at the top of the playbook of authoritarians.

Rubber Stamp Camps

Mussolini established “rubber stamp courts” during his rule. These courts functioned as the Special Tribunals for the Defense of the State (Tribunale Speciale per la Difesa dello Stato). Established in 1926, these courts were a key tool in suppressing political dissent and eliminating opposition to the Fascist regime. 

Under Trump, enemies of the people (political opposition), journalists, and educators are viewed as threats to his regime. The courts, except for the Supreme Court, have pushed back. They have also observed mass firings of Federal employees across the Executive departments. They have resisted Trump’s illegal deportation of migrants.

Nazi Camps

Hitler established a series of camps. The first were concentration camps in Germany, set up as detention centers for so-called ‘enemies of the state’. Initially, these people were primarily political prisoners like communists. Over time, this expanded to include Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Roma, and so-called ‘ a-socials ’.

Approximately one million people died in concentration camps over the course of the Holocaust. This figure does not include those killed at extermination camps.

Extermination camps were used by the Nazis from 1941 to 1945 to murder Jews and, on a smaller scale,  Roma. To implement the ‘  Final Solution’, the Nazis established six purpose built extermination camps on Polish soil, including Auschwitz-Birkenau (in operation March 1942-January 1945.

The Nazis also had two other types of camps: Transit camps, and forced labor camps. More than 6 million Jews were murdered by the Nazi’s. Additionally, more than 5 million non-Jewish victims were murdered including Soviet prisoners of war, non-Jewish ethic Poles, Gypsies, people with disabilities, political opponents, some professional criminals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gay men, bisexual men, and other men accused of homosexuality, Black people in Germany.

Internment of Japanese Americans

During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated people of Japanese descent. They incarcerated about 120,000 individuals in ten concentration camps. These camps were operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), mostly in the western interior of the country. About two-thirds were U.S. citizens.

Internment of Indigenous Peoples of America

During the 1830s, civilians of the indigenous Cherokee nation were evicted from their homes. They were detained in “emigration depots” in Alabama and Tennessee. This occurred before their deportation to Oklahoma. This followed the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. Similar internment policies were carried out by U.S. territorial authorities against the Dakota and Navajo peoples during the American Indian Wars in the 1860s. These were not called “camps” like the Japanese American internment camps of World War II were. They were detention centers or depot-like facilities. These were used for the forced displacement and confinement of indigenous populations.

America, 2025

Trump Detainment and Deportation Camps

Trump has launched a migrant mass deportation plan. He is adhering to directives from Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff. This plan is described as the cruelest and most dehumanized. The plan has unfolded in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE has a budget now with Trump’s Big Budget of $28.7 billion for the current fiscal year, which includes an extra $18.7 billion allocated over the next four years.

Margy O’Herron, of the Brennan Center for Justice writes about the deportation plan. More than $170 billion is allocated over four years. This is for border and interior enforcement. The goal is to deport 1 million immigrants each year. She explains that this budget has created a “Deportation-Industrial Complex.” She writes:

The July 2025 funding package appropriates huge sums for deportations. Still, it neglects necessary processes for a fair and workable immigration system. For example, it overlooks the need for immigration judges to guarantee citizens or immigrants are not erroneously deported. The result will be a lopsided, enforcement-only machine. Most detention facilities will be operated by for-profit private prison corporations. Other private contractors will also manage them. This creates strong economic and political interests. These interests will make the new apparatus very difficult to dismantle. Margy O’Herron, Big Budget Act Creates a “Deportation-Industrial Complex,” Brennan Center for Justice, August 13, 2025

The result is equally devastating: institutional independence in America, 2025, has all but vanished.

Reader Prompt

Do you think grievance politics can sustain a government, or does it inevitably collapse under its own weight?