Ken Burke, MD, lives in New Portland.

The plan is obvious. As this president accumulates more power, as the Supreme Court behaves as his personal sanction board and docket-decision star chamber, as the Congress refuses to exert authority to confront executive illegality and usurpation of congressional prerogatives, our democratic government, like the East Wing, is being destroyed. It forces the question: How many people in this country approve of dictatorial powers in the hands of this unstable individual?

As we slouch our way toward the abyss of a Franco-style totalitarian government, loss of democracy means the loss of everything you hold dear: family; freedom of speech; the rule of law; the freedom to attend church, mosque or synagogue.

The attributes of fascism are well documented: cult of personality; breach of the rule of law; suppression of a free press; scapegoating ethnic, racial or social groups; destruction of the independent judiciary; increasing use of military violence against citizens; extrajudicial killings.

The cult of personality feeds delusions of grandeur while the use of force inures the American public to the increased violence and militarism. The purpose? You don’t believe he intends to step down, do you?

Trump understands he is a fascist. That is why antifa is his bête noire obsession. During WWII our entire nation was antifa; we were antifascist to our bones, combating the dreadful forces of international fascism.

Over and again, Trumpian “emergency declarations” go unchallenged. The supposed rationales for presidential action are pretexts for illegal action. The pretexts are protean and imaginative: rampant crime; war in our cities; the enemy within; the radical left; antisemitism; fentanyl; terrorists and anarchists. No cogent reasoning or proof is offered, simply ad lib irrationalities to foster particular aspects of his plan.

Fascist takeover is rarely in one fell swoop; rather, it is an inexorable drift of ongoing incremental change. A perfect example of this creeping incrementalism: the National Guard in D.C.. Trump: they will not be carrying weapons. Days later, Hegseth: they will carry weaponry.

The fawning invertebrates of the congressional cult, like Mike Johnson, our bobble-headed Speaker of the House, will, like the sweepers in a curling event, brush aside doubts and opposition.

Recently, Johnson called the Americans at the “No Kings” protests Marxists, socialists, America-haters — for simply voicing their opposition. Relentless squelching of opposition with attacks against universities, the press, the right to protest, any oppositional viewpoint, even personal vindictive gagging of comedians is their forte. For dictators and their minions, the truth always hurts.

What is laughable about the groveling, quisling behavior of the congressional cult, so enthralled and fearful are they of their political puppet master, is their complete lack of vision regarding their own future. Ironically, by obsequiously insulating their positions and careers, they miss the patent fact that, post-takeover, their services will no longer be required.

The latest outrage was the enforced conclave of military leaders to prepare them for the unconstitutional use of active-duty American troops against American citizens, to train our most lethal forces within American cities. The administration’s misogynistic, arcane, medieval thinkers were on full display. Afterward, Trump immediately threatened these commanders with expulsion and loss of their careers if they opposed him.

The military commanders never issued a preemptive statement regarding noncompliance with illegal and unethical orders. That is worrisome. Unconstitutional orders sending active duty Marines to Los Angeles established precedent for similar actions in the future. Who will challenge his specious rationale when he declares for the Insurrection Act or martial law?

After the pardoning of hundreds of Jan. 6 criminal insurrectionists, he now has a private squad of anarchists ready to do his surreptitious bidding, for example, previously pardoned Christopher Moynihan threatening the life of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

And those immigrant detainee compounds, who is next? You are! Any voice of opposition, Republican or Democrat, will be disappeared. Behind the bars of Alligator Alcatraz, protest all you want. “They can’t do this to me.” Apparently, they can.

Hyperbole, you say? Then wait and do nothing. Similar to the dark days of Chile and Argentina’s “Dirty War” against subversives, we become los desaparecidos, flying over the Atlantic Ocean in a helicopter, holding hands as we are summarily ushered out the door.