Trump's authoritarian regime

Trump has been putting gag orders on government scientists, ordering them not to use social media, talk to reporters, or talk to members of Congress.

Lamar Alexander has just opined that it's better to get your news directly from Donald Trump than from the (haha) "liberal media."

They are locking the country down as fast as they can.

Once upon a time, Republican "intellectuals" wrote op-eds explaining the difference between totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. Yeah, that was a thing back when communism was a threat. What it boiled down to was that, regardless of the brutality of a given country's regime, as long as it wasn't a communist government, it was merely authoritarian, and we could work with that government as allies.

I used to think that this stance was adopted reluctantly, as a reality of getting things accomplished in an imperfect world. I realize that I seriously overestimated the Republican Party. They do not hold their noses while dealing with authoritarians. Authoritarianism is what Republicans have aspired to for a long, long time. Now they are achieving it.