Trump's Lafayette Park photo-op is a clear example of how democracies slide into dictatorship

A version of this post first appeared in "Insider Today," a daily email written by Henry Blodget and David Plotz. To receive it in your inbox, please sign up here.

The President wanted to look strong after he saw himself being mocked for hiding in the bunker.

Daughter Ivanka Trump concocted the idea of a church photo op. AG Bill Barr personally ordered protesters pushed back from the church.

A Park Police commander gave the actual command to deploy gas and other weapons. The top echelon of the military — Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Mike Milley — accompanied the entourage with a phalanx of Secret Service guards.

Then the President congratulated himself for being tough and brave and dominating the protesters.

This is how dictatorships emerge from democracies.

In this case, it begins with the petulant whim of a psychologically fragile leader. A family member with vast unofficial powers — but no official ones — devises a scheme to mollify him.

The entire government snaps to attention. An official who embodies a once impartial, now totally compromised, arm of government seizes the opportunity to suck up to the boss by carrying out his wishes most thuggishly. A ground commander — trained by centuries of effective, legitimate American government to obey orders — turns weapons on his own citizens to abet the leader's whim.

Finally the military's own leaders, who should surely know better, join the retinue, mincing across the park like the servile courtiers they've become.

In other words, President Trump is no longer just talking like a fascist. He's acting like one. This is how democracies slide into dictatorships.