Trump's anti-democratic 2022 playbook takes shape as Biden faces off with Putin
CNN
Former President Donald Trump's grip on the Republican Party is tightening as the 2022 midterm elections approach and GOP candidates launch campaigns at every level of governance -- from school boards to the US Senate -- with hopes of attracting his endorsement and strengthening the anti-democratic movement fueled by his lies about last year's presidential contest.
Trump has for years sought to rid his party of any high-profile names who opposed his ascent, questioned his fitness or, in 2020, did the bare minimum of acknowledging his loss to President Joe Biden -- who will face off with Russian President Vladimir Putin, no stranger to systemic undermining of democracies, in a high-stakes Tuesday summit centered on concerns over Russian aggression in Ukraine.
As Biden seeks to head off a potentially deadly and destabilizing military incursion in Eastern Europe, Trump and his allies are ramping up their efforts to infiltrate the roots and branches of American democracy. With a new election season on the horizon, the former President and MAGA-friendly organizations are on the offensive, imposing a domestic Trumpification process concerned as much with ridding the GOP of his opponents as elevating his allies.
The Trump administration has moved with lightning speed to roll out the president’s immigration agenda, effectively closing off the US southern border to asylum seekers, severely limiting who’s eligible to enter the United States and laying the groundwork to swiftly deport migrants already in the country.