Donald Trump is about to inherit a turnkey tyranny. Thanks, Obama.

It may seem far-fetched, but all the ingredients are there: the machinery, the impunity, and the expressed desire to do it

I spy with my little eye.
(Image credit: Maksim Kabakou / Alamy Stock Photo)

During the war on terror, Presidents Bush and Obama built the outlines of a potential police state — a turnkey tyranny. Now Donald Trump, who has that dictator's combination of needy egotism, extreme sensitivity to criticism, and utter contempt for democratic norms, is going to be president.

Will President Obama simply hand over this thing to President Trump, ready for use against potential regime enemies? So far, all signs point to yes. So if Trump turns the United States into something like Vladimir Putin's Russia, an authoritarian pseudo-democracy where liberal freedoms are all but abolished, Obama and the Democratic Party will bear a huge share of the blame.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.