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US Joins Ranks of World's Banana Republics
By Tom Kagy | 23 Jun, 2025
Donald Trump overcomes hurdles imposed by the Constitution and the federal system to turn himself into an all-powerful dictator.
To win admission into the exclusive club of the world's banana republics a nation must meet some stiff requirements.
First, it must grow bananas. Fortunately the US cultivates bananas on about 16,000 acres in the states of Hawaii, Florida, California, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Arizona and the Carolinas. Admittedly it's only enough to supply a tiny fraction of the 26 pounds of bananas eaten per year by the average American, but it's enough to qualify.
Secondly, an aspiring banana republic must have a leader who can override artifacts of democracy like a constitution, legislative control over taxation and spending, and impartial courts. The leader of a true banana republic must be able to bully law enforcement, the media, universities, state governments and the business sector into blindly complying, no matter how irrational or self-serving may be his agenda.
These tough standards have been met by leaders of prominent banana republics like Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Chile, Haiti, Zambia, and a few others. But until recently US leaders have been entangled in the rules of a constitutional democracy. Presidents have struggled and compromised to win support from co-equal legislative and judicial branches, as well as from state leaders who have the primary responsibility for the health and welfare of their citizens under our federal system.
In only five months Donald Trump has blown past every constitutional impediment to unlimited power. On day one he began issuing executive orders that directly overrode the Constitution, starting with mass deportations of migrants, regardless of their legal status or lack of criminality, without the need for notices, hearings and other time-consuming due processes.
His orders threatened universities with loss of government contracts and research grants, and even the right to enroll foreign students, unless they knuckled under to his demands regarding foreign students, campus curricula and an absolute block on campus political demonstrations — all in direct violation of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech and association.
Like any good banana republican boss Trump didn't hesitate to punish major law firms that had dared represent parties and interests antithetical to his own by bullying them to commit to provid billions of dollars worth of free legal services. Those who refused were excluded from clearances to enter government premises or secure government work.
Trump displayed an abundance of a tyrant's petty paranoia by ordering Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to detain anyone whose social media posts, media output or even mobile phone messages expressed opposition to his executive orders. This resulted in numerous Americans, both immigrants and natural-born citizens, being held for hours or even overnight for questioning and investigation as they returned from overseas. This made travel a risky activity for anyone but MAGA supporters, chilling the constitutionally guaranteed right of travel and free movement.
And of course one of Trump's most consequential violations of the separation of powers was usurping Congress's power over taxation by ordering high blanket tariffs on imports from every other nation, in effect making himself the toll booth for all economic activity with and within the US.
This made the value of buttering up Trump worth billions of dollars to many nations and major businesses. Fortunately he was considerate enough to set up various crypto assets like World Liberty Financial and meme $TRUMP and $MELANIA coins into which those desiring his favor were able to pour in millions of dollars in tribute during the first few months since his election. Those who donated sufficient amounts are rumored to have enjoyed an audiences with the tollkeeper in the form of invites to dine at the White House or at Mar-a-Lago.
This spectacularly lucrative violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause, which prohibits elected officials from profiting from their offices, has reaped several hundreds of millions of dollars for Trump, more than enough to let Trump pay off a $160 million loan on his 40 Wall Street skyscraper that had been struggling with loss of tenants prior to his election.
Earlier this month a peaceful Los Angeles protest against disruptive ICE deportation tactics gave Trump all the excuse he needed to usurp the state governor's power under our federal system to order in the National Guard — a power Governor Newsom had no intention of exercising as the Guard's presence was deemed provocative. To provoke an angry mob may well have been Trump's intention in preempting the governor's authority.
And of course this week Trump saw no impediment to ordering a strike against Iran, a nation with which the US isn't at war, using a war-scale deployment of 125 aircraft and several nuclear submarines. The mission had been planned for months with not only the US military but as well with Israeli leader Netanyahu. Yet Trump saw no reason to consult Congress, only tipping off two GOP lawmakers at the time he gave the go order.
The fact that Iran is proving, for the moment, to be unable or unwilling to retaliate will no doubt encourage Trump to believe that he now has our war powers firmly in the palm of his hand. Anyone with a real memory will understand that the declaration of peace Trump posted on his Truth Social (another medium through which he's been using his office to enrich himself) between Israel and Iran will likely prove premature.
The credit for making the US a full-fledged member of the Banana Republic Club doesn't belong entirely to Donald Trump. Much of it must go to the GOP lawmakers lacking the integrity to insist that the President stay in his constitionally designated lane. Many of those lawmakers have hitched their careers to the Trump coattail and fear being blackballed which, of course, Trump is quick to do, having little restraint as a bully and no sense of his rightful place in our constitutional system.
So we now find ourselves living in a banana republic that's drifting away from the world's democracies and toward totalitarian and authoritarian governments. This lets us look forward to an engrossing, perhaps grim reality show that will reveal the level of anger and backlash it will take to exorcise Trump and his banana republican constituency.
The credit for making the US a full-fledged member of the Banana Republic Club doesn't belong entirely to Donald Trump. Much of it must go to the GOP lawmakers lacking the integrity to insist that the President stay in his constitionally designated lane.
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