For nearly ten years, a number of Democrats (and even a few Republicans during the early years – the current vice-president compared him to Hitler) have been trying to alert our fellow citizens to the danger that Donald Trump posed to our democratic republic.
We were often greeted with scorn and laughter. More than once, during my years as a local Democratic party columnist, I was told by my conservative colleagues that I was just suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a disease that caused one to irrationally fear Trump and exaggerate his danger to our Constitution.
Now, I suspect, there may even be a few Republicans secretly suffering from this disease and wondering if our new Health Czar, Robert Kennedy, Jr., might know of a vaccine that could have helped them.
But seriously, “the Constitution is collapsing,” to quote a headline from Karen Tumulty’s column in the Washington Post. She worried about all the illegal or semi-legal “work-arounds” the president has used to act swiftly, as his Project 2025 mentors urged him to do, to change our foreign and domestic policies before the American people can effectively and legally challenge his actions.
There was the declaration of a state of emergency to justify tariffs on our neighbors, although this was never used before to impose tariffs since, after all, the Constitution does give Congress the authority to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises”(see Article 2, Sec. 8).
And then there was Trump’s use of unelected-but-very-rich friend Elon Musk to depopulate and/or destroy entire federal agencies that provide services to the not-so-very-rich people in this country and abroad.
These actions violate both the letter and intent of many laws passed by Congress. But by shrinking or eliminating USAID, the FBI, OSHA, and a few others to drain the Trumpian swamp, he will make money available to support another tax cut for wealthy Americans.
This is a seizure of power by the President, who has made it clear that he wants no employees in the Executive Branch who might even think of disagreeing with him, despite the Civil Service Act of 1883 giving them civil service job protection against being fired for political reasons.
All this suggests that the Constitutional order that has survived since 1789 is in deep trouble. Like thousands of others, I have called my Congressmen, asking them to tell President Trump to fire Elon Musk and work through Congress to try to legally enact his program of change.
The future of the American Republic as well as the very lives of millions of people who depend upon federal health and economic benefits are now in the hands of Congress. Members of both political parties are beginning to realize that.
Congress is not our last line of defense against the emerging dictatorial rule by the rich (oligarchy). If they fail to restrain the President, we still have the courts and, failing that, the people themselves.
But Congress should be given a chance save the Republic. Our current Supreme Court has shown reluctance to oppose an out-of-control executive. We have, however, seen Republican senators demonstrate the courage to oppose wrong-doing by a president of their own party. Republicans told Richard Nixon to resign in the summer of 1974 for lesser offenses than Trump committed on and since January 6, 2021.
More recently, Senator John McCain cast the deciding vote to block Trump’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017. Here is what he said on that occasion:
“We are an important check on the powers of the executive. Our consent is necessary for the president to appoint jurists and powerful government officials and in many respects to conduct foreign policy. Whether or not we are of the same party, we are not the president’s subordinates. We are his equal.”
By contrast, read these words from current House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson:
“We don’t see this [Trump Musk’s attack on federal agencies and employees] as a threat to Article 1 at all. We see this as an active, engaged, committed executive branch authority doing what the executive branch should do.”
Congress may be a thin reed to grasp in our struggle to save democracy, but we must give it a chance.
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