ROBERT REICH

D onald Trump will do anything to be re-elected. His opponents are limited because they believe in democracy. Trump has no limits because he doesn’t.

Here’s Trump’s re-election playbook, in 25 simple steps: 1. Declare yourself above the law. 2. Use racist fearmongering. Demand “law and order” and describe protesters as “thugs,” “lowlifes” and “rioters and looters.” Describe COVID-19 as “Kung-Flu.” Retweet posts from white supremacists. In your campaign ads, use a symbol associated with Nazis.

3. Appoint an attorney general more loyal to you than to America and politicize the Department of Justice so it’s lenient on your loyalists and comes down hard on your enemies. Have it lighten the sentence of a crony convicted of lying under oath. Order investigations of industries you dislike.

4. Fire U.S. attorneys who are investigating you.

5. Fire independent inspectors general who are looking into what you’ve done. Crush any whistleblowers you find.

6. Demean and ignore the intelligence community. Appoint a director of national intelligence more loyal to you than to America. Demand that the head of the FBI pledge loyalty to you.

7. Pack the federal courts with judges and justices more loyal to you than to the Constitution.

8. Politicize the Department of Defense so generals will back whatever you order. Refer to them as “my generals.” Have them help clear out protesters. Order the military to surveil protesters. Tell governors you’ll bring in the military to stop protesters.

9. Purge your party of anyone disloyal to you and turn it into a mindless, brainless, spineless cult.

10. Get rid of accumulated experience and expertise in government. Demean career public servants. Hollow out the State Department, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

11. Reward donors and cronies with bailouts, tax breaks, subsidies, government contracts, regulatory rollbacks and plum jobs. Put their lobbyists in charge of your agencies. Distribute $500 billion in pandemic assistance to corporations in secret, without any oversight.

12. Coddle dictators. Don’t criticize their human rights abuses. Refuse to work with the leaders of other democracies. Withdraw from international treaties.

13. Create scapegoats. Demonize migrants and lock up asylum-seekers at the border even if they’re