By Sid Schwab / Herald Columnist
If a dictatorophilic “president” refuses to obey the law, and when his party in Congress doesn’t care, who’ll stop him?
The Constitution is but a piece of parchment. What can believers in democracy do? Roll it up and smack him with it? The weakness of constitutional democracy is “Consent of the Governed.” It works only when citizens and their leaders willingly submit to its laws. When our government, established by men who escaped tyranny and sought to prevent it here, ignores it, who’s there to enforce it? The Supreme Court? The body that granted Trump nearly unlimited immunity, gutted the Voting Rights Act, and grafted words onto the parchment saying that unlimited, unaccountable political donations are free speech? That decided corporations are people? Ignores Justices Calence Thomas and Samuel Alito’s corruption?
If the court were to declare any of Trump’s or President Musk’s actions unconstitutional, Musk, J.D. Vance, and Holy Mike Johnson have been clear: they don’t care. SCOTUS can direct U.S. Marshals (TouTube: tinyurl.com/marshal4u) to arrest people who ignore its rulings, but they’re under the aegis of Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose first actions were to do Trump’s bidding in going after prosecutors who lawfully targeted his crimes. We’ll find out soon enough whether Trump will uphold the Constitution. And whether Trump’s foresight-deficient voters will rejoice if he doesn’t (Esquire: tinyurl.com/whocares4u).
Until Republicans restrict it to Republicans, the ultimate restraint on leaderly lawlessness is the vote. But, following successful, long-term efforts by rightwing media, that’s failed, too. Which leaves only the slimmest of hopes that the taken-in will take back out; something toward which the Foxified have shown no inclination. They need to understand how democracy protects them, which they don’t. They need to realize and care what’s happening to it, which they can’t. They need to seek sources of accurate information, which they won’t. If Trump, who just opined that CBS and “60 Minutes” should be abolished, deplatforms all but Foxoid media, they never will. Free speech, which Republicans once claimed Democrats were against, is in the eyes of the office-holder.
I’ve mentioned The Bulwark previously (thebulwark.com), a group of former Republicans boldly calling out Trump’s unfitness and the dangers he represents. Among them is Bill Kristol, founder of the conservative Weekly Standard, former Fox “news” contributor. Presumably to silence him, Elon lied that he’s on USAID’s payroll, using that as a reason to take it down (Bulwark: tinyurl.com/noUSAID4u). Swallowing the lies like seals do salmon, mixing and neologizing metaphors, Muskovites jumped on the slandwagon (tinyurl.com/wholies2u).
To complaints about Musk’s illegal neutering of USAID, Trump has assured us that Elon gets nothing out of it. Well, except that he happened to be under investigation by USAID’s inspector general (Gizmodo: tinyurl.com/looking2EM). And that, by diminishing its benefits to America’s image abroad, he enhances China’s. Which might have something to do with the fact that Elon does billions of dollars of business there and hopes to keep doing so.
Yale Law School grad Veep Vance’s response to a judge enjoining Musk’s illegal incursions was that it should be ignored. Musk called for the judge’s impeachment. The response of congressional Republicans to this anti-constitutionalism can be summarized in no words. MAGA voters? Even fewer. “Ominous” would be mine.
MAGA was founded on xenophobia, homophobia and anti-diversity. Because Trump is making good on it, his supporters find damage anywhere else irrelevant, if, jubilant about deportations and anti-trans actions, they notice or care. They may soon, though, if any of them experiences credit card or banking fraud. Immediately after confirmation, Russ Vought, Trump’s head of the Office of Management and Budget and Project 2025 mainliner, disbanded the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Of the 4 million people to whom it has refunded more than $1.8 billion fraudulently taken, surely many are Trumpic. Who benefits from killing it? Banks. Republican donors. Nothing is more confirmatory that Project 2025, whose playbook Trump (“I never heard of it”) and his appointees are following page by page, is about enriching the rich and ignoring or intentionally hurting everyone else.
Likewise, defunding the National Institutes of Health. Even people who reject science and distrust allopathic health care will be hurt. Losing access to its publications harms physicians and their patients. Research funding is being limited, threatening progress in cancer treatments, among others (Bulwark: tinyurl.com/yes2cancer). It’s inexplicable and malicious. For countless Americans, including Trump’s idolizers, it could be fatal (MSNBC: tinyurl.com/notsane4u).
So what is it, MAGAs? Are you OK with Trump’s march toward plutocratic autocracy because you think you’ll be fine? You know the aphorism, right? (Holocaust Memorial Day Trust: tinyurl.com/theycame4u)
If not, you should.
Email Sid Schwab at columnsid@gmail.com.
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