Think We Can Survive a Second Trump Term? Here's What His First 100 Days Could Look Like.

The former president's plan for the U.S. in 2025 is even more fascistic than the last time he was in office.

(U.S. President Donald Trump raises a fist after his inauguration on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.)

Usually, American summer is defined by family barbecues, beach vacations, and – if you’re like me – lots of ice cream. But this year, my summer won’t be defined by any of those things.

Because after an RNC filled with people wearing cult-like ear bandages and the Supreme Court bending the law to rescue Donald Trump from his criminal cases, there’s only one thing I can think about.

The looming prospect of a second Trump term and what it would mean for American democracy. 

Of course, the Democrats' chances of winning are looking a bit less dismal since Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. But even then, the polls still tell us that it will be a tight race, especially in the swing states. 

“It’ll be fine, Mehdi! We survived Trump the first time – we can do it again,” my fellow leftists and liberals often tell me, as if that’s reassuring.

The reality is that as bad as Trump’s first term was, his second term is guaranteed to be even more dangerous, extreme, and, yes, – fascistic. Don’t believe me? Take a look at what his first few months in office could look like, according to the plans that he and his allies have laid out.

What might his first 100 days look like?

Day 1: Donald J. Trump, with his hand on his own $59.99 “God Bless the USA Bible” is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

The quadruple-indicted president makes his way back to the Oval Office and begins to make America great again… again. How? Oh, how any great democratic leader would! By starting his own dictatorship. 

Not my words. His: 

“He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one.’ We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that I’m not a dictator.” - Donald Trump on Sean Hannity, Dec. 6

Of course, Trump doesn’t stop there, with the border closing and the drilling.

Our new self-proclaimed dictator ends birthright citizenship – a constitutional right – for some kids.

“As part of my plan to secure the border, on day one of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship.” - Donald Trump, May 30

Of course, there are protests against Trump like there were in 2017. But don’t worry, Trump has a plan for that too. In true dictator fashion, Trump invokes the Insurrection Act to put the military on the streets and violently crack down on anti-Trump protesters. 

“Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with…his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.” - New York Times, Nov. 6

Day 2: Trump moves to pardon and release the Jan. 6 insurrectionists serving time in prison for violently storming the U.S. Capitol four years ago. 

Day 5: Trump reintroduces his Schedule F executive order and, this time, fires 50,000 federal employees and replaces them with MAGA loyalists. 

“I will immediately reissue my 2020 executive order restoring the president’s authority to remove rogue bureaucrats, and I will wield that power very aggressively.”  - Donald Trump, March 19, 2023

Day 7: Trump nominates his fellow conspiracy theorist, Gen. Michael Flynn, to be defense secretary. Yes, the Gen. Michael Flynn, who called for martial law in 2020.

“We’re going to bring you back.” - Donald Trump to Michael Flynn, May 15, 2023

Day 15: Trump instructs his brand-new attorney general, Mike Davis, to launch spurious investigations into Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Hilary Clinton. 

“I will appoint a real special ‘prosecutor’ to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the USA, Joe Biden, the entire Biden crime family, and all others involved with the destruction of our elections, borders, and country itself!” - Donald Trump, June 12, 2023

Day 21: Trump calls for Gen. Mark Milley’s prosecution – and execution. 

Day 29: Trump’s newly confirmed CIA director, Kash Patel, publicly announces the list of evil journalists that he and new Attorney General Mike Davis plan to prosecute for “conspiring” against the United States. 

“We will go out and find the conspirators – not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig the presidential elections. We’re going to come after you.” - Kash Patel, Dec. 6, 2023

Oh, and guess what? They start with yours truly…

Day 33 – Mike Davis detains me, denaturalizes me, and tries to deport me.

• Twitter, Nov. 20, 2023

Day 39: Trump brings back the Muslim travel ban. And this time, it also includes the Palestinian refugees fleeing genocide in Gaza. 

“I banned refugees from Syria, I banned refugees from Somalia – very dangerous places – and from all of the most dangerous places all over the world, I banned them… In my second term, we’re going to expand each and every one of those bans…We aren’t bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security…” - Donald Trump, Oct. 16, 2023

Trump also bans the most “dangerous” group of them all – students! Yes, Trump revokes the visas of all international students supporting Palestine.

“We will revoke the student visas of radical anti-American and antisemitic foreigners at our colleges and universities.” - Donald Trump, Oct. 16, 2023

Day 45: Trump begins his mass deportation operation by ordering authorities to build massive detention camps and raid cities nationwide. 

“Mr. Trump wants to build huge camps to detain people while their cases are processed and they await deportation flights. … [Stephen] Miller said a new Trump administration would shift from the ICE practice of arresting specific people to carrying out workplace raids and other sweeps in public places aimed at arresting scores of unauthorized immigrants at once.” - New York Times, Nov. 11, 2023

Foreseeing opposition from blue-state governors, Trump’s top immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, announces that all red state national guards have been deputized as immigration enforcement officers and will make arrests in the states that do not comply with Trump’s new policy. 

“You go to the red-state governors and you say, 'give us your national guard, we will deputize them as immigration enforcement officers'... And if you're going to go to an unfriendly state like Maryland, then it will just be Virginia doing the arrests in Maryland. Right? They’re very close, very nearby.” - Stephen Miller, Nov. 14, 2023

Day 53: Trump secretly deploys assassination squads to take out the cartels in Mexico. 

Donald Trump wants to covertly deploy American assassination squads into Mexico soon after he’s sworn into office again, according to three people who’ve discussed the matter with the former U.S. president. - Rolling Stones, May 7

Of course, that quickly fails. Which leads to… 

Day 65: Trump invades Mexico. 

“As he campaigns for a second White House term, Trump has been asking policy advisers for a range of military options aimed at taking on Mexican drug cartels, including strikes that are not sanctioned by Mexico’s government, according to two sources familiar with the situation.” - Rolling Stones, March 29, 2023

Day 72: Trump threatens to defund law enforcement agencies that don’t restore racist policies like stop and frisk. 

“To qualify for this new funding and all other Justice Department grants, I will insist that local jurisdictions return to proven common-sense policing measures, such as stop-and-frisk.” - Donald Trump, Feb. 20, 2023

Day 79: Trump moves to indemnify police forces across the country and give them the power to… kill shoplifters.

“Very simply, if you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store.” - Donald Trump, Sept. 29. 2023

Day 85: At the urging of Stephen Miller, Trump rewrites the Civil Rights Act of the 1960s – this time to focus only on ‘anti-white racism.’ White nationalists hold rallies in support of the move. 

If Donald Trump returns to the White House, close allies want to dramatically change  the government's interpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on "anti-white racism" rather than discrimination against people of color… A central vehicle for the effort has been America First Legal, founded by former Trump aide Stephen Miller. - Axios, April 1, 2024

Day 90: Trump uses executive action to end all gender-affirming programs on the federal level, blocking trans adults from using Medicaid for treatments deemed crucial by their doctors.

“I will sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age.” - Donald Trump, Feb. 1, 2023

Day 93: Reporters press Trump about Texas' new law banning pregnant women from leaving the state to get an abortion, violating the constitutional right to interstate travel. Trump shrugs, saying, “Leave it up to the states!”

TIME: “States will decide if they’re comfortable or not prosecuting women for getting abortions after the ban. But are you comfortable with it?”

TRUMP: “The states are going to say. It’s irrelevant whether I’m comfortable or not. It's totally irrelevant, because the states are going to make those decisions.” - TIME, April 12

Day 96: At the urging of the oil barons who backed his campaign, Trump opens up the 13 million acres of protected land in Alaska for oil drilling as the U.S. prepares for the hottest summer in history… again. 

“Donald J. Trump told a group of oil executives and lobbyists gathered at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort last month that they should donate $1 billion to his presidential campaign because, if elected, he would roll back environmental rules that he said hampered their industry, according to two people who were there.” - New York Times, May 9

Day 97: Trump pulls the U.S. out of the Paris climate change agreement – again. 

“Donald Trump would yank the United States out of the Paris climate accord for the second time if he wins the presidency again in November, a campaign spokesperson told POLITICO.” -  Politico, June 28

He then quickly moves to suppress criticism of his isolationist approach, leading us to…

Day 100: Trump lays out the red carpet at the White House for a whole host of foreign fascistic buddies – Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán. 

“There's nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán... he's a noncontroversial figure because he said, 'this is the way it's going to be and that's the end of it.’ Yeah? He's the boss. He’s a great leader.” - Donald Trump, March 9

“This is the way it’s going to be.”

Now, I know what the critics will say: “Mehdi, things can’t possibly get that bad! This is alarmist hyperbole!”

But those critics said the same thing at the start of Trump’s first term in 2017 – a term that ended in almost half a million COVID-19 deaths, many of them preventable; a 6-3 super-conservative court that would go on to gut abortion rights and affirmative action, and of course, an armed insurrection at the Capitol. And that was with all the ‘adults in the room,’ and the guardrails, and the checks and balances. 

There’ll be none of those next time round. Just a wannabe dictator, surrounded by authoritarian sycophants, on an anti-democratic mission of vengeance, cruelty, and persecution.

Don’t say you weren’t warned.