Rachel Maddow warns US witnessing an attempted ‘authoritarian’ takeover

Lesbian political commentator Rachel Maddow was not holding back when asked for her take on Donald Trump’s first few months back in office.

Having hosted some 70 weeknight broadcasts of her own show during the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, Maddow appeared on Late Night with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday (6 May).

“We are in the midst of an attempted authoritarian overthrow of the US government,” she proclaimed, adding it was “not by an insurgent movement”, but, as she discusses in her book Prequel, “the party in power”.

Since returning to office, Trump has faced criticism for signing a raft of executive orders specifically targeting the trans community, including making it the official policy of the US that there are “only two sexes”, restricting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youngsters under the age 19, eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programmes across government and the military, and banning trans people from serving in the armed forces.

He has also been criticised for bringing SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk into the heart the government and putting him in charge of cutting government spending and jobs under the banner of the Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk’s involvement – his new position didn’t require senate approval – sparked protests and boycotts of Tesla cars across the world, with critics holding rallies, damaging vehicles, hanging unflattering signs at factories and describing the power he has been afforded by Trump as a “coup”.

When asked about the difference between Trump’s first and second terms, Maddow said she had covered protests which were happening “every day”, adding that she had to “watch local news clips to figure out how to pronounce the name of the town where there’s the demonstration”.

She went on to say: “There isn’t a Republican member of congress anywhere in the country who can show his or her face without getting yelled at by his or her constituents about what Trump is doing, and that is different.

“That’s what happens when you cut Meals on Wheels, you cut Head Start, you mess with social security. You do all this stuff, you are never gonna survive politically, and that’s the message the American people are sending already.”

Maddow, who has described herself as a liberal who would have been in almost total agreement with the Republican Party’s platform under president Dwight D Eisenhower in the 50s, said Trump had learnt nothing from his first term, and the idea that he would have “worked out all the kinks” on his return, had not turned out to be correct.

“The common wisdom was [he’d] be better at it this time around. Not true. Turns out there was no learning about how to do the stuff.”

Host Colbert said that is the “common problem with authoritarianism, isn’t it?”

Despite the negative feeling, Maddow added: “We know how to fight fascists. We’ve done it before, and we will beat this one too.”

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