Dictator Trump… Charles Salzberg Speaks Out!

Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen

In this series I talk to various people and ask them their opinions about Trump’s first year in office, ICE, Tariffs, Corruption, Education, Greenland and more…

Charles is a writer/novelist and a writing instructor. He lives in New York.

KB: How do you view Trump’s presidency after 1 year in office?

A not unexpected disaster.

KB: ICE on American streets: What is your opinion about this?

Horrible. Frightening. Un-American. My heart goes out to anyone of color, or if they have an accent.

KB: Trump’s corruption in broad daylight: Your opinion?

Again, not unexpected. It’s always been pay as you go, with him. And yet it’s still shocking in terms of the extent of it and how openly brazen it is. Plus, all his enablers who look the other way. Chickens will eventually come home to roost, though unfortunately it might take a while.

KB: Are Trump’s tariffs a sort of blackmail in your eyes?

Of course it is. Every time he wants something from another country, or people, he pulls the tariff card out of his pocket. Fortunately, people and countries are getting wise to it and in most cases, ignoring the threat and so far, he always seems to back down.

KB: What is your opinion about invading a foreign country like Venezuela?

Very much the same reaction as I have to earlier questions, like ICE on American streets. Horrible. Frightening. Un-American. It’s a throwback to the days of colonization. But what’s disturbing is that it’s the very thing he ran against in all three presidential races: stay out of foreign entanglements. Not that everything that comes out of his mouth is usually untrue.

KB: Greenland belongs to Denmark and yet Trump wants to own it and doesn’t shy away from blackmail to get what he wants: Your view about it?

Hate to sound like a broken record, but it’s appalling and yet not unexpected.

KB: Why, in your opinion, did Trump dismantle the education department?

Way back in his first run for the presidency, he said something like, “I love the uneducated.” Of course he does. The first thing fascists do (and I hate using that word, because immediately it seems like you’re over-reacting) when they want to take over is go after the intelligentsia. You ban books or burn them—sound familiar. You call them the “elites,” and blame them for all the problems this country faces, which only he can fix. Bu this act is getting old, which is why, I think, he’s losing support and his poll numbers are underwater.

KB: Trump seems to be doing everything to distract the attention from the Epstein Files. Is he in those files?

Well, they’ve been released now, though evidently heavily redacted, and he is mentioned in the files. Many, many times.

KB: Whose side is Trump on in the Russia/Ukraine War?

As with everything, he’s on his own side. Wherever he thinks it’s in his best interests to be or do, that’s where he is and what he does. So, it’s impossible to tell what side he’s on, because it can switch on a dime, depending on what’s in it for him at that particular moment.

KB: Do you think Trump is a dictator, a fascist, an authoritarian or all three and what else?

I’d put wannabe in from of those three things, but yes, all of them.

KB: Why is Trump getting away with everything?

Well, I’m not so sure he is, although it certainly seems that way now. I guess I’m a bit of an optimist and I believe that eventually, his chickens will come home to roost. To the extent he “gets away with it now,” is because his true believers will defend him forever. But I think that’s beginning to change—at least the latest polls seem to indicate that.

KB: How do you see the upcoming mid-terms?

I think and hope there will be a blue wave.

KB: How do you see the 2028 elections?

I’m just hoping we actually have free elections in 2028. But I think that’s getting ahead of ourselves. I’m concerned about the 2026 mid-term elections. Especially with this latest assault on the Georgia 2020 election results, which he insists he won.

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