"You can't trust Donald Trump, but you can trust Trump to be Trump"

As Donald Trump presses on with his self-declared ‘peace president’ tour through Asia, the United States is sliding deeper into political chaos as its self-imposed government shutdown nears the one-month mark.

“This is a moment of real emergency,” said Matt Duss, Executive Vice President, Center for International Policy.

President Trump’s rapid-fire, whiplash-style politics has been fuelling fears the US is becoming an autocracy.

Speaking on the Australia Institute’s After America podcast, Mr Duss said thousands of “No Kings” protests recently amounted to “one of the biggest national demonstrations in American history, if not the biggest” and showed, “there’s a lot of willingness to resist.”

“You have troops in the streets of American cities, rounding up our neighbours with no warrants, with very little evidence, if any evidence,” he said.

“American citizens who are accidentally detained will sit in detention for days without having access to any legal counsel or a phone call.

“He really does have a hardcore base that see him as their king and emperor and they’re willing to go wherever that leads.”

The Australia Institute’s Director of International & Security Affairs, Dr Emma Shortis, said the demolition of the White House’s east wing was a “unsubtle symbolism” for Trump’s governing style.

“People are reacting emotionally to it, understandably and it does seem to be feeding into this clear evidence that Trump is actually deeply unpopular.”

Millions of workers haven’t been paid for almost a month and are unable for necessities and health care, as the US Government shutdown becomes the second-longest funding lapse in history.

To “get around the freeze in federal funds” Dr Shortis said, “one of Trump’s billionaire mates is paying military salaries. His other billionaire mates are financing his destruction of the East Wing of the White House so that he can build himself a ballroom.”

“I really want future administrations, particularly Democrats, to take a page from this to note that you can just do things, if you just go for it,” said Mr Duss, trying to find a positive amidst the chaos.

“I’m seeing the metaphor … be willing to take bold creative steps, to tear things down that need to be changed and create new things.

“Trump moves so quickly that it’s difficult to keep up and to keep that opposition coherent when he’s breaking so many things at once.”

There’s also growing concerns the Trump administration will invoke The Insurrection Act which allows the president to deploy its military to supress an uprising or enforce federal or state laws.

“I’m actually surprised they have taken this long,” said Mr Duss, who believes sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer out onto the streets is to “test the boundaries” and “normalise the idea of US troops in US cities”.

Mr Duss said the administration was using a “blood and soil recruitment drive” for new officers and “simultaneously reshaping the US military”.

He said it was “troubling” to hear Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller tell officers they have “federal immunity” in the conduct of their duties.

“Troubling … is to much of an understatement. Just this idea, we’re not going to be bound by these ‘absurd’ rules of engagement where you can’t just massacre people.

“I think it’s clear that ICE is selecting for a specific type of person who should absolutely not be in this position.”

Dr Shortis pointed out those rules of engagement “are actively being discarded by the Trump administration off the coast of Latin America.”

Mr Duss agreed, pointing to the US strikes on alleged drug traffickers, or “narco-terrorists” in the Caribbean.

“Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth will go out and make these claims, “we put six drug smugglers at the bottom on the sea” but they’ve offered zero evidence

‘I think they offered classified briefings to members of Congress for the first one or two strikes and now they just don’t bother.”

While the Trump administration says the mounting military campaign is a war on drugs, Venezuela has accused the US is working to oust President Nicolás Maduro, whom Washington does not recognise as a legitimate leader.

“There’s zero evidence that Nicolás Maduro is the kingpin sitting on top of this drug gang,” said Mr Duss.

“I’ll refer you to a story that came out a couple of weeks ago that said Trump has authorised the CIA to plan for covert action and eventually overt action in a regime change.”

He said President Trump’s initial approach to the dictator was to form a pact to get US companies more access to Venezuela’s oil however he ultimately walked away from the truce.