WILL WE BE ABLE TO KEEP OUR REPUBLIC?
At the inception of our constitutional democracy, Benjamin Franklin was asked the question : “Well, doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” His answer was: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
We are facing that the moment in time that Ben Franklin foresaw when he make those remarks. Can we keep it?
The founding fathers figured there could come a time in our country when our nation could have a president who would want to greatly expand the presidential powers and make himself more like a king or dictator. Power is an aphrodisiac for power hungry people like Trump and Musk. Trump defines himself and others based on their wealth, and their ability to throw their weight around and dominate others.
The way Trump got himself positioned to expand this power was not something that happened overnight, however. It was a 40 to 50 year project by Republicans. They have been stocking state houses with extremists who then pass laws that limit who can vote, purge voter rolls, limit vote by mail options and drop boxes, threaten people at polling places and, more recently, challenge the results of free and fair elections. There is even a national bill called the “Save Act” that, if passed, would require Americans in EVERY STATE to prove citizenship with a birth certificate or passport to be able to vote. This will make it much harder for poor people and women who got married and have a different last name to be able to vote in future elections. This is another attack on our rights and our democracy. Government should be making it easier, not harder, for us to vote. But Republicans have learned that when they suppress and limit who can vote, they win more elections.
The MAGA base was built up and bulked up using fear of immigrants and telling white men who to blame: the rising tide of Black and brown people, women, and (wait for it…) Jews (yeah, antisemitism has recently been creeping into conversations with rightwing social media podcasters with apologists for Hitler and questioning about whether Churchill and the allies were the real villains of World War II).
Trump got himself re-elected by preying on the grievances of white men who were not doing well thanks, in part, to globalization and international trade. There were others as well who should have known Trump’s intentions were anti-democratic but helped him anyhow: Fox News, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and more recently, social media podcasters like Joe Rogan, Charlie Kirk and many others, and uber wealthy capitalists like Jeff Bezos and others who have joined the campaign to deconstruct our government or acquiesce in it. Trump turned out to be the right guy for the leading role because he has the innate personality of a dictator.
Trump is a natural. Like Hitler he is our kooky version of a charismatic strong man with a cult following. He demands he be obeyed, is vengeful, unempathic, cruel, domineering, and a huge micromanager. Above all he is a masterful con artist who says the opposite of the truth and is believed by gullible people who want what he says to be true.
Unless people push back on him, we will lose our democracy. So far, there is precious little push back from people who should be doing that. What are they waiting for?
WHERE IS THE PUSH BACK?
The way our country was set up by the founders, the legislature was granted ample powers to push back on a rogue president. Congress, the House and Senate, has the power to do this under Article One of the Constitution. This Republican Congress could have chosen not to fund what Trump made clear he wants to do which was crater our government, not just trim the fat as Trump claims he is doing. This Republican Congress could have prevented Trump’s almost all totally unqualified cabinet picks from taking power. Congress can impeach and convict a president. Even now, our congress could right now, today! begin the process to impeach, convict and remove Trump from office.
The chance of that happening is zero.
Because the entire Republican party has been co-opted. Trump frightens and exiles anyone in the GOP who would dare push back. Any Republican with a spine- like Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger, has been hounded out of office and subjected to harassment by Trump’s MAGA followers and Trump himself and now Musk- tweeting at them and rousing his nasty online goon squad that keeps everyone in line for Trump.
How about the Democrats? That party is struggling to find its footing. Bernie Sanders is doing a great job of holding anti-oligarchy rallies that are bringing in 10,000 or more people when he speaks. Good for him. There are a handful of other strong voices like Chris Murphy, AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, and some others. I predict more will rise up when Trump’s approvals fall.
Senator Chuck Schumer is in the dog house with Democrats because he did not shut down the government as an act of defiance against the MAGA coup. But Schumer did the right thing by rejecting the bait. It was a trap. Republicans hoped he would shut down the government. Once the government was shut down, the Republicans planned to keep it shut down for 6 to 9 months or longer and blame the Democrats for doing it. Trump had hoped to use this as a way to further decimate government services and protections.
Where are our former leaders? Where are Barack and Michelle Obama? George Bush? Mitt Romney? Silent.
What about our governors? JB Pritzker spoke out. Tim Walz is showing up at town halls where Republican representatives are afraid to show up. We need more governors to speak out.
Who is defending our democracy?
Well…our legal system is still trying to function as if we are a constitutional democracy. The courts. Judges. Lawyers. The judiciary is the last line of defense before a democracy falls. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Timothy Snyder and others who have studied the fall of democracies to authoritarians, have written and spoken about the importance of maintaining the rule of law to preserve a democracy.
Trump is currently attacking the judicial system, law firms and judges with a battering ram. Why? Because to be a dictator, Trump needs to be the one and only determiner of what is right or wrong, what is true or not true, what is real and what is not.
To that end Trump, Musk and DOGE are also destroying research in America, NOAA, NIH, ending funding for research institutions, and attacking research institutions like Columbia University and others.
Trump, like all other would-be dictators, will continue to attack law firms, judges and the legal system because in courts of law and in the legal system truth matters. The legal system demands honesty, truth and facts. Propaganda is not acceptable as evidence. Something isn’t a fact just because Trump says it is.
TRUMP ATTACKS JUDGES, LAW FIRMS, AND THE LAW
Monday, Trump’s EEOC said it was investigating 20 law firms for its DEI programs and policies, including many top Am Law 100 firms.
Friday’s order against Paul Weiss also called out “global law firms” that it alleges have undermined the judicial process. Meanwhile, Steven Bannon, a conservative strategist, said the Trump administration is seeking to bankrupt “major firms.”
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Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. rebuked an idea raised by President Trump in a rare public statement after the president called for a judge’s impeachment on Monday. “Impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote, hours after Mr. Trump referred to the judge, James E. Boasberg, as a “Radical Left Lunatic” in a social media post and called for his removal.
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Legal fight: Judge Boasberg had ordered the administration to provide more information about deportation flights that carried more than 200 migrants to El Salvador on Saturday, as he sought to determine whether the White House had violated a court order. Justice Department lawyers only partly complied: They asserted that no flights left after the order was placed in the docket, but refused to provide departure times. (NYT)
Maybe this is a ray of hope.
Roberts might be signaling that the Supremes will not allow Trump to crater the judiciary the way he is blowing up the rest of our constitutional democracy. There have been around 100 cases filed in response to Trump’s unconstitutional and illegal seizure of power. Some will be heard by the Supreme Court. Those cases may not get the result Trump thinks he will get with what he believes are HIS Supreme Court Justices that he put on the bench. Trump thinks like a mob boss. He thinks the justices owe him a favor because he did them a favor.
If he does not get his way, will Trump defy the Court? Will Trump now dictate to the House that he expects it to impeach Judge Boasberg? That seems to be in the offing.
We are getting mighty close to a constitutional crisis.
CAN ANY GOOD COME FROM THIS?
Americans can see now that Trump and his oligarch pals are out for themselves – not the common good. They are greedy, self-centered and shallow.
Whether we can keep our republic will depend on Americans, without regard to political party, standing up against what is, shockingly, our common enemy: namely, Trump and our Republican led Congress and the oligarchy that has taken over our government. They are acting against the will of the majority. We did not vote for this. We do not want this.