Smells like autocracy

Here's Trump's latest email to me.  See if you can spot the creeping autocracy.
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From: Donald J. Trump <contact@action.gop.com>
Date: Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 2:14 PM
Subject: No doubt in my mind
To: "paul.gillespie@gmail.com" <paul.gillespie@gmail.com>

Friend,

No matter what the Fake News Media reports, we’re working to advance our agenda every day.

In the first 9 months alone, we’ve delivered on our promises and have proven we’re ready to fight for what we believe is right for the future of this great country.

We did it together in 2016, and there’s no doubt in my mind we have the momentum to keep it going. But I need to know you’re committed to our movement, Friend.

This is your last chance to update your record before our end-of-quarter deadline, and I’m hoping you’ll do so by renewing your Sustaining Membership:

2017 SUSTAINING MEMBERSHIP

Email: paul.gillespie@gmail.com

Account Number: 28941494
2017 Sustaining Membership: PENDING
Deadline: September 30, 11:59 PM

CONTRIBUTE $250
CONTRIBUTE $100
CONTRIBUTE $75
CONTRIBUTE $50
CONTRIBUTE $35
CONTRIBUTE OTHER AMOUNT

Please contribute $250, $100, $75, $50, $35, or $10 to renew your Sustaining Membership for the 2017 year.

We cannot allow the Fake News Media and obstructionist Democrats to flood the airwaves and mislead the American people, Friend, and they are our strongest opponent yet.

So please, be sure to renew your 2017 Sustaining Membership before the September 30 deadline.

Thank you,


Donald J. Trump
President of The United States

P.S. - I’ve requested a list of every person who steps up and renews their 2017 Sustaining Membership before the September 30 deadline. I hope to see your name on the list.


CONTRIBUTE $100

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I learned a direct mail copying writing trick 30 years ago.  Put the most important piece of information in a PS.  People often read the PS before the body copy.  In this message, just below Trump's stern glare -- his standard look -- he tells me that he's asked for a list of every person who "steps up and renews their 2017 Sustaining Membership..."  He's asked for a list and he hopes to see my name on it.  See the veiled threat there?  I will be noticeable by my absence if POTUS doesn't see me on the list.  I don't know.  Maybe my undergrad days studying the USSR and East Germany left me with a heightened fear of the State snooping into our lives, but a glaring POTUS telling me he's going to check the list for my name feels like classic Stalinist/Maoist/Kim technique.