Donald Trump is fully acting like America’s first elected autocrat and aspiring dictator. In his mind and that of his followers and allies, he is the State. The law is what Trump deems it to be on any given day. The president’s whims, desires, beliefs, moods and plans are to be followed without question. The United States of America is to be The United States of America under Trump.
In the most recent example of Trump’s tyrannical aspirations, he proclaimed that “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” In the context of a years-long pattern of similar statements, Trump truly believes that he is some type of American Caesar or Napoleon above the law. Trump’s statement is a direct rejection of the basic norms of democracy, the Constitution and the rule of law in the United States.
In the face of such gross corrupt power and rapidly escalating dictatorial moves and aspirations, America’s democracy and the so-called Resistance continue to be weak and ineffective. The Democrats’ pathetic response is exemplified by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who asked reporters during a recent press conference, “What leverage do we have? They control the House, the Senate and the presidency; it’s their government.” Here is a suggestion: Jeffries and the other senior Democrats need to ask themselves, “What would Mitch McConnell do if he were in our position?” They should then do that — times ten. Leaders must meet the demands of the moment and crisis. In total, the Democratic Party is failing to rise to the challenge.
The courts, however, are attempting to stop Donald Trump and his administration’s plainly unconstitutional and likely illegal acts. Judges have issued orders against Trump’s attempt to nullify the 14th Amendment to the Constitution and cut off the federal government’s loans and grants and other spending, which is a power exclusively reserved for Congress. However, the Trump administration is refusing to fully comply with these court orders. If the Trump administration continues to defy the courts, it will, in all probability, force a constitutional crisis. This is likely their plan.
Last year, the right-wing extremist justices on the Supreme Court basically decided that Trump is a king who can do anything he wants as long as he claims that he is acting in an “official capacity” in accordance with his “constitutional authority.” Such a ruling is the ultimate appeal to power for Donald Trump. The courts can tell Trump to stop his executive orders and other diktats and all he has to do is invoke how they are extensions of his “presidential authority” and are thus “legal.”
What of the American people? What of their outrage and disgust at the Trump administration? Public opinion polls show wide support for President Trump and many of his actions — support that is not limited to Trump’s MAGA diehards. America’s democracy is very ill and getting much worse every day.
“The veiled threats against the judiciary and its authority may reflect an effort to put pressure on the courts to make some concessions to the administration to avoid the direct conflict between the branches and the potential constitutional crisis that might come with ruling fully against them.”
In an attempt to make better sense of President Trump and his administration’s use of executive orders and their legality and power,