The Donald Trump administrative strategy is to remake the structure and nature of the U.S. federal government. His frenzied pace of edicts is an obvious effort to deregulate industry, shrink the Civil Service, banish references to diversity, equity, inclusion and climate change and assume authority for domestic military purposes. And, of course, his own personal emoluments and profits are corollary benefits.

He promises to move aggressively against the media, positioning himself to achieve this goal with the invaluable assistance of big tech CEOs who control social media, the powerful and growing online communication space. Forbes reported that the combined wealth of those CEOs (Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Cook, Pichai and Shou Zi Chew) who sat behind Trump at his inauguration is $1.5 trillion. Four of the five wealthiest people in the world were among them.

Trump is moving at high speed to consolidate his authority over Congress, to diminish its oversight, law- and policy-making and its approval of executive appointments. It doesn’t take much imagination to see the authoritarian and potentially fascist direction he is taking the nation. If he can tame his media critics, emasculate Congress and expand control of the justice system, from local prosecutors to Supreme Court justices, he will have retooled the government.

Under the new Trump regime, there will be greater privatization of government services. Elon Musk has already eclipsed NASA in private space exploration and satellite communication. Private health care insurers are contracting with Medicare to provide its statutory services. Social Security will definitely be diminished in important ways (e.g., raising the retirement age, cutting benefits), eventually leading to all retirement/pension funds being exclusively 501(k) investment plans.

The current political direction has a history that is important for Americans to understand. With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the rise of political conservatism dealt a death-blow to the programs of the welfare state introduced in the long tenure of FDR’s presidency in the 1930s.

Over the succeeding decades, the Republican Party promoted deregulation of industry and concentration of wealth. Predictably, corporate investors and CEOs received the preponderance of wealth generated in the decades following 1980.

The populist affectations of the Trump campaign and election were mere theater. The populist appeals were without actual programs except for immigration and extending tax breaks. But, in an age of digital wizardry, appeals to people are more convincing than actual programs. The daily deluge of commercial advertising — itself a result of lax regulation — cultivates consumer and materialist behavior over citizenship and civic responsibility.

The Democratic Party holds part of the responsibility for the present politics. With the election of Reagan, it too, moved in a more conservative direction. Instead of pursuing a populism that would revive the support of working class, rural and poor Americans, it engaged in identity politics as an electoral strategy.

As the party distanced itself from the majority of Americans, it became clear that Republicans were often outmaneuvering the Democrats in Washington, even if they lost the presidential elections. One representation of this manipulation of the Democrats was Sen. Mitch McConnell’s holding up Obama’s nominees to Supreme Court. The Democrats, thereafter, were bowled over by the three conservative justices Trump appointed to the Supreme Court.

Authoritarianism and fascism are not-so-distant cousins. They are both hyper-nationalist and feel that the historically dominant ethnic or genetic group should make sure its “blood” is not diluted or corrupted by those from other groups. They see all criticism as real or potential disloyalty to the state.

One of the tactics both authoritarians and fascists employ is supporting extralegal and extrajudicial methods of civic and social control. Militia and other vigilante groups may even be used to enforce policy or law at local levels. Trump’s pardons and commutations of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists give encouragement to vigilante forces and strengthens their relationship to his administration.

There is little doubt that virtually every American, including here in Maine, will know a neighbor or have heard of someone who was ripped from his or her home, taken to detention centers and deported. It is important to remember that fascist regimes have historically singled out groups to silence them and threaten them with violence.

The Trump administration must be challenged in the media and in the streets. Without resistance, this regime will ensure that Americans are more vulnerable to climate change, to political chaos, moral decay and social disintegration.