TRUMP

212 ANATOMY OF A MONSTROSITY
cially strong in traditional blue states. Even there, they are frequently
struggling. (Massachusetts has a Republican governor, after all.)
The dominance of Republicans means that the conservative agenda
is poised to advance significantly. We may see the privatization of a
number of traditional public functions, escalation of deportations, a
more militaristic foreign policy, and a total abandonment of the social
safety net. It is likely that inequality will worsen.
The worst case scenario for the Trump presidency is quite bad
indeed. Trump is not a fascist, but he could well turn out to be an
authoritarian strongman of the most sinister variety. Unfortunately,
he has inherited an extraordinarily powerful office. Both Democratic
and Republican presidents have, over the years, worked to expand the
power of the executive branch, making the 21 st -century Presidency an
unusually powerful position with a lot of destructive potential.
The particular possibilities are unnerving to think about. New York
Times journalist James Risen points out that the Obama administration
has vigorously used the executive branch’s capacities to prosecute
whistle-blowers and monitor reporters’ phone records. Risen
argues that “If Donald J. Trump decides as president to throw a whistle-blower
in jail for trying to talk to a reporter, or gets the FBI to spy
on a journalist, he will have one man to thank for bequeathing him
such expansive power: Barack Obama.” 653 Given Trump’s well-known
distaste for the press corps, it doesn’t seem implausible that press freedom
could suffer in the Trump years.
More alarming still is the president’s extraordinary ability to make
unilateral foreign policy decisions. Both Bush and Obama expanded
executive decision-making over war. During the election, the New
York Times investigated the question of what would stop the president
from dropping a nuclear bomb on whomever he pleased. The
short answer, they said, was nothing. 654 Or rather, as writer Rachel
Becker put it, the main barriers are “psychological, not legal.” 655 (If
one is relying on Donald Trump’s “psychology” to rein him in and