Maybe you recall that I’ve been in Thailand for the last two weeks. The first week I spent in a medicine retreat – and I’m excited to tell you about that later. But what grabbed my attention in this second week while touring Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second-largest city, were the omnipresent images of the Thai king and the insights I gained about his authoritarian rule – as it would relate to a second term Trump presidency.
It’s a chilling reminder of what just happened in the United States on July 1st – where the (conservative-majority) U.S. supreme court granted former president Donald Trump an unprecedented degree of immunity from criminal prosecution. The high court’s ruling is so shocking that liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent: “The President is now a king above the law.”
What might that look like? In Thailand, I learned of how the king exists above the law. His name is Vajiralongkorn, officially known as King Rama X. He ascended to the throne 8 years ago after the death of his father, the highly respected and loved, King Bhumibol (Rama lX), who was renowned for his dedication to improving the lives of his people during his 70 year reign.
But there’s none of this warmth for the new guy, his 71-year-old son, King Rama X. And no wonder, he and his military junta/dictatorship are reported to loot the country and enforce a broad gag law, lèse-majesté. This law makes it illegal for Thais to criticize him or his regime in any manner — “no defaming, no insulting, no threatening.”
The military junta manipulates and stretches this law to suppress dissent and limit freedom of expression. According to Human Rights Watch, the government continues to restrict fundamental rights, particularly freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and prosecutes human rights and democracy activists, as well as critics of the monarchy.
According to the organization, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, from 2020 to 2023 about 2,000 Thais were prosecuted for exercising free speech or association under the gag law. Regularly, citizens exercising small expressions of free speech are sentenced to three to fifteen years in prison. This climate of fear and persecution created by the Thai government has effectively suppressed the protest movement.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai scholar and dissident, has written widely about the situation from his exiled home in Japan. In one account, he reports that an elderly Thai man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sending text messages deemed critical of the monarchy.
Repression by the military-led government is skillfully applied, Pavin says, including disappearances and apparent killings of at least eight leading opposition figures and surveillance of others the police feel might cause trouble. Thailand, he says, is a place where journalists, civic activists, lawyers, and others are summoned to a military base for often brutal “attitude adjustment.”
The monarchy, or the king thing, is extremely useful to the military government as a tool of political control – they’ve carefully cultivated kingly images of Rama X to enforce the appearance of mandatory reverence to him. I saw his image plastered everywhere, countless posters and billboard size portraits – on libraries, schools, office buildings, along roads, and airports.
In the thousands of Buddhist temples, his visage is deliberately paired with symbols of Buddhism – so when a Thai pays honor to its revered traditions, the king’s visage invades the space like a “where’s Waldo?” scene. More than 90% of Thailand’s 17-million population are Buddhist and frequent these temples.
This progaganda can persist because of the deeply intertwined relationship between the monarchy and his military junta. The military leverages royal support to legitimize its rule, while the monarchy depends on the military to maintain its revered status and suppress descent in the country. This royal and military governance has made it nearly impossible for any opposition party to take control.
The Thai monarchy’s blatant disregard for the democratic process and will of the people parallels what Donald Trump is intending – along with his packed conservative Supreme Court and the cunning billionaires who close in around him to support their own interests. In an interview, Trump said he would be a dictator only on “Day 1” of his presidency – if he were to win in November. With this declaration: “I will be a dictator on Day 1,” it brings Thailand’s monarchy sharply into focus.
Let’s break it down. Here are some alarming comparisons of the Thai king and what Donald Trump could do in his second term, if he wins the November election:
Trump has a history of threatening journalists for simply reporting the facts. He frequently targets Democratic leaders and activists involved in peaceful demonstrations with his verbal attacks. His rhetoric often includes violent imagery. He has openly discussed retribution, creating a list of individuals he intends to punish if he is elected this November.
Thai government has routinely held outspoken critics of the monarchy in pretrial detention for months. They routinely harass and coerce democracy activists and human rights defenders, aiming to prevent them from organizing or participating in protests. So called “disappearances” of dissenters are common.
In his first term, Donald Trump used his powers of constitutional clemency to free or forgive many people who could be useful to his future political efforts. This included a record number of pardons for white-collar criminals who would go on to provide political and financial support to the former president.
Thailand’s monarchy gives the king the final word on pardons of convicted criminals. Upon his coronation, King Rama X pardoned about 150,000 prisoners by either shortening their sentences or sanctioning their immediate release including those jailed for insulting the royal family. The king reduced the prison sentence of a former Prime Minister (accused of corruption, abuse of power and disrespecting the monarchy) from an 8-year term to a single year.
A central aspect of Donald Trump’s governance, and a key plan for those aiming to run the government, is Project 2025. This initiative includes reshaping federal government policies and consolidating executive power.
Project 2025 would place the entire federal bureaucracy including independent agencies like the Department of Justice under direct presidential control through an extreme interpretation of the “unitary executive theory,” turning the federal police system into an enforcement mechanism against dissenters.
King Rama X has the ability to bypass the need for parliamentary or military approval. He has unilaterally ordered the transfer of two top-level infantry regiments from the Ministry of Defense to his direct command. These regiments now join a substantial private army that the king has been building since his time as crown prince.
Project 2025 would include firing government workers who would not be willing to pledge their loyalty to Trump and the MAGA ideology.
A ruling has been enshrined in all of Thailand’s recent constitutions, which state: “The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated. No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action.”
Project 2025 would require a three-fifths supermajority in Congress to raise individual or corporate income taxes, effectively making it nearly impossible to implement future tax increases on the extremely wealthy.
The Thai king has taken sole possession of the Crown Property Bureau, a state institution responsible for managing royal wealth, which holds assets worth billions of dollars (i.e. estimated $60 billion). It’s been described as his royal slush fund.
These comparisons are an unsettling look at the direction that the United States could be headed if Donald Trump is re-elected in November.
If I were writing about this from Thailand and discovered, the government may just order me home. However, I could also be in danger of being arrested and tried (usually in a closed court). Given my criticism here, if Trump is elected in November, what would be put into place could very well call for me to be arrested and tried for (some kind of) contempt.
Anyway, I found this an intriguing parallel and wanted to share it with you. I invite you to voice your thoughts in the comments section below.
With Love,
Becca
P.S. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to a Thai individual, whom I’ll refer to as K. K confided in me extensively about his personal experiences living under Thailand’s authoritarian regime. We held our conversations in the secure environment of a closed car to avoid any potential surveillance. I am profoundly thankful for his trust, especially given that he had been warned to stop posting sensitive comments on Facebook and feared exposure. When I asked K why he chose to share his and others’ experiences with me, he said he saw himself as a “conduit” between the underground and the mainstream. Unfortunately, he may never be able to read this due to the dangers associated with possessing such material, but I will do my best to find a way to share it with him to know the message is getting out.
P.S.S. Thanks for reading – in upcoming posts I want to tell you about another side of Thailand – often referred to as the East’s “Amsterdam of cannabis,” and also explore the emerging retreats designed specifically for psychedelic medicine therapies.
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Becca Williams
Emotions Therapist & Registered Dietitian
An Emotions Therapist, Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist, educator, group facilitator, and longtime plant medicine advocate.
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