The best evidence that Trump is a dictator in the making

As you may have noticed, I am no fan of the next American president. I think he is a dangerous, ignorant, quasi-fascistic demagogues, who in his pursuit of the most powerful job on Earth has provoked violence, called into question freedom of expression, and threatened minorities and the most vulnerable in society.

There has been a lot of lazy analysis since his election the week before last, about how Trump is a dictator in the making. Much of this is false, or over-hyped, or a false/easy comparison with Hitler.

Unfortunately, we must await Trump's assumption of power before we know for certain whether his strongman rhetoric will exhibit itself as strongman leadership.

But, there is one worrying sign, that should be sending a chill through any observer.

It is his taste in interior design.

This week Trump met Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister. Much of the media commentary centred on the fact that Trump shouldn't really be meeting foreign leaders before he takes office, or on the (very real and grave) questions raised by the presence of his daughter and son in law.

Me? I was gazing in horrified fascination at the inside of Trump Tower:

Similar scenes were in evidence when Trump met (/was accosted by) Nigel Farage. Look past the horrifying sight of two of the most repulsive men in Western politics sharing a moment to bask in their destruction of the Western liberal world order, what the hell are they standing in front of?!

Not only is it bloody awful, but I realised I'd seen designs like this before...

This is inside one of the palaces of Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq toppled in 2003

While this is inside a palace of Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator who was ousted in 1989

Colonel Gaddafi of Libya doesn't come out of this well either...

The photos from inside North Korea are impossible to verify, so I won't post them. But needless to say, the trend isn't looking positive one little bit.

If Donald Trump tries to get the builders in at the White House, that will be the best sign that is he trying to override democracy. That'll be when we all have to get scared.