By Sid Schwab / Herald Columnist
Today’s lesson is from the Federalist Papers. Open your textbooks to The Federalist No. 76 (National Archive: tinyurl.com/4fed76). Quilled by the recently resurrected Alexander Hamilton, it includes the following:
“It will readily be comprehended, that a man who had himself the sole disposition of offices, would be governed much more by his private inclinations and interests, than when he was bound to submit the propriety of his choice to the discussion and determination of a different and independent body, and that body an entire branch of the legislature. … He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than … being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure. …”
That, in a florid nutshell, is the rationale for requiring the Senate to investigate, then approve or deny a president’s choices for positions of power. Mr. Hamilton must have had exactly the narcissistic, vengeful, self-promoting Trump in mind. (Wrongly, he presumed a human capability of shame.) Not alone among his colleagues, idiocratic Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., believes Trump should be allowed anyone he chooses, without pesky, Constitution-mandated interference (HuffPost: tinyurl.com/badcoach4u).
Aware of human imperfections, the Founders almost had it right. But they seem to have assumed that, in aggregate, senators would not suffer the infirmities we see in Trump. That, tasked with evaluating obviously unqualified and dangerous nominees, senators would place duty to protect and defend the Constitution above all else. In their defense, Our Fathers were surrounded by and were themselves men of good intention, having risked much to create a new nation. If they foresaw a sociopathic individual like Trump as president, they could not have imagined a Senate majority of them.
We’ve referred to Trumpism as oligarchy, plutocracy, kakistocracy, authoritarianism, dictatorship, all of which apply. We see now that the best description is a Mafia-style protection racket. Pay tribute, you’ll be safe. If not, you’ll regret it. As a flock of tech billionaires and media titans knee-walk to Mar-a-Lago, we see it’s working as intended.
Pre-election, Trump said about Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, “We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election.” He’s made similar threats about media people and their organizations. Zuck caved. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos caved. Apple’s Tim Cook caved. The CEO of the L.A. Times caved. After ABC News caved over the interpretation of New York’s “penil” code (oops! Was that a typo?), Trump filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register for publishing a poll that turned out to be wrong. It’s the playbook used by all the world’s dictators of whom Trump is a fanboy: an overt, intentional attack on the First Amendment. Knuckling the press is authoritarianism defined. Seeing mainstream media falling in line like sheep is ominous.
Trump is flaunting his Mafiosical methods like a bludgeon. So is his smarter alter-ego Steve Bannon, who said, last week, “we’re going to get retribution. [Media] need to learn what populist national power is, on the receiving end. I mean investigations, trials, and their incarceration.”
Retribution for what, one might ask. Exercising the Billed rights of American citizens?
What’s remarkable about such abject capitulation is the communal cowardice. Trump — so far, anyway — hasn’t caused Putinesque defenestration of opponents or death by exploding airplanes. He hasn’t yet — far as we know — poisoned anyone or, like NoKo Kim, sent them before firing squads. These groveling genuflectors are wealthy beyond words. They can afford highest-class lawyers. If they chose to, they could take forceful stands for the Constitution and against Trump’s lawlessness.
Bullies aren’t strong. Trump’s power isn’t internal. In a doom loop of ignorance, arrogance and weakness, it comes from the pusillanimity and prejudice of his voters, convinced to reject America’s fundamental values; from the certainty of their electeds that those voters will preserve their jobs and cashflow if they, the “leaders,” vote with Trump, and dispose of them if they don’t; from those appointees who’ll do Trump’s bidding; and from congressional greed and cravenness, knowing his nominees will unleash unrestrained, unconstitutional, government terrorization unknown in North America but afraid to stand against it; while Trump gloats, golfs and goes AWOL from the responsibilities of office.
Maybe enough Republican senators will remember their obligations of office and reject Trump’s most preposterous picks. While we imagine that unlikely outcome, House Republicans are fine with Trump’s plans to prosecute members of the House January 6th Committee for doing their constitutional duty (Bulwark: tinyurl.com/2prison4them). It’s mass surrender by an entire party to America’s greatest threat since the Civil War.
In control for now, congressional Republicans are the only ones positioned to preserve our constitutional democracy, but they’re too fearful and selfish to do it. Sadly, “The People” are fine with it (New Republic: tinyurl.com/theyluvit).
Email Sid Schwab at columnsid@gmail.com.
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