A Not-So-Funhouse Mirror for Trump’s America
When Andrew Jackson Burned the Government to the Ground—And Called It Democracy
Let’s talk about the first time a wannabe strongman gutted the U.S. government, installed unqualified loyalists, handed public lands to corporate cronies, and called it a win for “the people.”
No, not Trump.
Andrew Jackson.
Jackson was elected in 1828 as a populist outsider—a plainspoken military man who promised to smash the corrupt elite. Sound familiar? He came into office with a chip on his shoulder and a list of enemies, and his first order of business was turning the federal government into his personal fan club.
Within weeks of taking office, Jackson fired hundreds of career civil servants, many of whom had served under multiple presidents. Their replacement qualifications? Not expertise. Not experience. Just loyalty. Jackson’s philosophy was simple: “To the victor belong the spoils.”
And So the Spoils System Was Born.
Suddenly, federal jobs—from postal carriers to customs officers to Cabinet officials—went to friends, donors, drinking buddies, and political hacks. Think of it as LinkedIn for grifters. Or, if you’re watching today’s news, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago job board.
But while the press and Congress were distracted by the hiring circus, Jackson pulled off one of the most horrific abuses of executive power in American history.
The Indian Removal Act.
Signed into law in 1830, the Indian Removal Act gave Jackson the power to displace Indigenous nations from their ancestral lands in the Southeastern U.S.—lands that just so happened to be rich with resources and highly desired by white settlers and investors. Under the guise of “negotiated treaties,” Jackson’s administration forced tribes like the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw to give up everything.
The result was the Trail of Tears—thousands of men, women, and children marched at gunpoint, starved, and left to die in what can only be called ethnic cleansing for profit.
The People Who Fought Back
Despite the brutality of Jackson’s regime, resistance rose from every corner:
Cherokee leader John Ross took the fight to the courts and built an unprecedented legal strategy to defend his people.
Black Hawk of the Sauk Nation returned to reclaim stolen land and led an armed resistance—one that was crushed, but remembered.
Abolitionists and moral reformers began to see the connections between slavery, land theft, and federal corruption—and started calling it out.
Disaffected politicians broke ranks with Jackson, forming the Whig Party, a coalition built around restraining executive overreach and protecting institutional integrity.
These weren’t instant victories. But they planted the seeds of reform, realignment, and future resistance.1
Why Jackson Still Matters (and Why Trump Loves Him)
Trump didn’t just hang Andrew Jackson’s portrait in the Oval Office for decoration. He’s modeled his presidency after him.
Fire the experts, hire the loyalists
Undermine courts and ignore rulings
Use racism and nationalism to consolidate power
Turn “the people” into a brand name for your regime
Rewrite democracy in your own image
Both men promised to restore the Republic.
Jackson left the country gutted. Trump is doing it in real time—hollowing out the government, turning Americans against each other, and unleashing armed gangs to abduct and deport brown people with impunity—all while calling it freedom.
Jackson called it "democracy."
Trump calls it “America First.”
But it’s the same old authoritarian bait-and-switch.
Stay strong. Stay bold. Stay American!
—Lady Libertie
Lessons for Today
History isn’t just here to depress us—it’s here to arm us.
If we want to stop Trump 2.0 from pulling a Jackson playbook, here’s what we can learn from the people who fought back the first time:
1. Watch the Appointments
Jackson's biggest power move wasn’t a speech—it was staffing. Trump’s doing the same: planning mass firings and loyalty tests. Don’t just track elections—track who’s being hired, fired, and installed behind the scenes.
2. Build New Coalitions
The Whigs were formed by unlikely allies uniting against authoritarian overreach. We need the same now: left, center, and disaffected conservatives working together to block a fascist regime from taking root.
3. Don’t Rely on the Courts Alone
John Ross won in the Supreme Court. It didn’t stop Jackson. Courts matter, but so does public pressure, protest, and mass refusal. Be ready to fight on more than one front.
4. Document Everything
Moral witnesses and abolitionist printers preserved the truth when the government was full of lies. Write it down. Film it. Share it. Archive it. The future depends on knowing what really happened.
5. Stay Human
The people Jackson tried to erase? They kept their stories, their language, their resistance, and their humanity. That’s the real lesson: Don’t become what you’re fighting. Don’t let them take your soul.
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We never fully overcame the legacy of Jackson’s presidency—we resisted it, reformed around it, and tried to contain it. The Spoils System was eventually dismantled after a presidential assassination sparked civil service reform in 1883. Native nations, though brutally displaced, survived and rebuilt, continuing to fight for sovereignty to this day. Jackson’s political overreach gave rise to the Whig Party and, later, movements for abolition, labor rights, and civil rights that pushed back against his legacy. After Watergate, Congress passed reforms to rein in executive power, but many were political fixes, not permanent protections. The truth is, Jackson’s belief that loyalty trumps law—and that power belongs to the winner—was never fully buried. Trump didn’t invent this moment. He’s just the latest to weaponize it. Our job isn’t just to stop him—it’s to finish the fight Jackson started.
And perhaps Jackson's most damaging and long-lasting achievement was putting Roger Taney on the Supreme Court. Taney wrote the Dred Scott decision, effectively allowing slavery in every state in the country. Jackson's appointment lived long after him, just as Trump's justices will live long after him and continue to harm our democracy.
That's why it's not enough to impeach the president. Several Supremes need to be impeached for corruption and also hedging and lying to Congress. Was it Jackson who coined the phrase "the only good Indian is a dead Indian"? I've always hated that about him! He needs to be postumestly impeached (is that a thing?) anyway, figures Trump would admire him. Birds of a feather? Two buzzards in history picking over the bones of a nation.