Donald Trump's campaign has tried to distance itself from comments about the formation of an authoritarian cabinet in a theoretical second term for the ex-president, but an insider says there's reason to be very terrified.
Former Mike Pence Homeland Security staffer Olivia Troye appeared on MSNBC on Saturday, where she was asked about whether she thinks Trump will truly be a dictator, and whether it will be limited to "day one" as he has said in a recent interview.
"When you hear comments like this, do you get the sense that his allies are kind of freelancing? What do you think is happening?" the host asked.
ALSO READ: Nazis bullied a conservative Tennessee town. Locals punched back. Trump should be worried.
"I think this is a concerted effort. I think the allies are imminent. They have a plan. I think they are moving forward with that plan," Troye said. "You have seen it play out with members of Congress. I would say all of this is part of this machine that's behind Trump. You will see people that will take a stand and possibly stick their necks out a little bit, but you will soon see all of these people fall back in line. It's fear. It's fear of Trump turning on them, and it's also opportunistic. It's personal preservation, I would say, in some cases."
Regarding Trump's dictator remarks, she said that "all of these plans will be in place to execute that."
"We saw this actually at the beginning of the Trump administration. We saw how haphazardly they issued executive orders on the travel ban, things that really broke a system. This time, it will actually be very calculated. They know how to use the courts," she said. "They have placed judges in places, wives of people who are in these meetings with horrific, racist vitriol that I heard, in meetings like child separation meetings that I sat in as a national security person. These people are now sat in places of power. So, I look at all the different layers that have already been put in place, and Donald Trump knows that on day one, they are ready to flip the switch."
