See the Giuliani interview linked below, the fact that the Muslim ban is still on Trump's website, the background of Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller etc etc etc.

At first we were told "Don't take Trump seriously OR literally." Then we were told "Take him seriously, but not literally." And now?

"Uh, I guess we better take him seriously AND literally."

My brain is on and functioning quite well thank you.

they don't. And they hold you accountable for knowing the which one applies. Contradicting their assertions with facts are a waste of time. They're just going to make another assertion.

Here's what's fascinating to me. Within the span of a week, literally the same people who called Trump a fascist and made reference to North Korea, Nazi Germany, Communist Russian, and bloodless coups are now saying they're organizing and will defeat Trump in the next election. They literally don't see the inherent contradiction. That is, in this country they're free to speak their minds and organize. (They're even free to assert--incorrectly--that Trump is somehow minimizing this right by having a combative relationship with the press.) In any of those other regimes, even the hint of a suggestion of deriding the leadership could mean a hit squad coming to your home. Meanwhile, in the U.S., a famous entertainer can go on TV and proclaim with a smile on her face that she's thought a lot about blowing up the White House yet face zero punishment.

Trump is unfortunately following a similar path as Obama, though with regard to different subjects. Obama was very divisive. He regularly derided Republicans, and he typically blamed them rather than work with them. (He didn't even work well with Democrats, and Democrats across the land took a severe beating under his leadership.) He spoke eloquently about Trayvon Martin, then was silent when rioters were destroying Charlotte. In both cases, the shooting was deemed justified. This is divisive leadership, albeit in a quiet way. He was divisive in the things the didn't do.

Trump is reaching out to business and Congressional leaders. But then he says and does things without having thought them through. He antagonizes the press, and now he's pi$$ed off a lot of citizens. Those citizens are now reacting with action, i.e. resistance. The beautiful thing about this country is that such behavior will necessarily bring about its own demise (whereas in actual dictatorships it cements its own power). That's precisely why all of the discussion about how "eerily similar" Trump's actions were to any of these other regimes was so silly. In those other regimes, the people are or were powerless. It's the opposite here, as Trump said so himself in his acceptance speech.