At similar gatherings, Saddam would order someone taken out and shot for disloyalty and then order someone else who was not formally a part of his terror apparatus to carry out the execution. The designated executioner would carry out the order out of justified fear of the consequences for disobeying it. This had the effect of giving the unfortunate executioner a vital interest in the preservation of the regime; its continued power was his only protection from retribution that was sure to follow Saddam’s fall from power.
Trump is certainly such a viper he knows this dynamic. Every functionary who carries out one of Trump's abuses of power becomes even more tightly bound to the administration’s continuation in power.
At similar gatherings, Saddam would order someone taken out and shot for disloyalty and then order someone else who was not formally a part of his terror apparatus to carry out the execution. The designated executioner would carry out the order out of justified fear of the consequences for disobeying it. This had the effect of giving the unfortunate executioner a vital interest in the preservation of the regime; its continued power was his only protection from retribution that was sure to follow Saddam’s fall from power.
Trump is certainly such a viper he knows this dynamic. Every functionary who carries out one of Trump's abuses of power becomes even more tightly bound to the administration’s continuation in power.