Brian Beutler, an editor at The New Republic, warns that we are approaching “an authoritarian crisis.” I call it a constitutional crisis because there is nothing in our Constitution that deals with the actions of a Trump.
https://newrepublic.com/article/143984/were-brink-authoritarian-crisis
What if the president and his immediate family have colluded with a foreign power to influence the presidential election?
What if the president fires anyone who dares to investigate these charges?
What if the president attempts to intimidate the investigators?
What if the president lets it be known that he will pardon himself, his family, and his allies in the event charges are made?
Not even Nixon was so callous. He was a lawyer. He ultimately decided to resign.
Nothing in the. Institution prepared us for Trump.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
So long as Congress sits on the sidelines because a certain political party views this as a golden opportunity to enact their most cherished and unpopular ideas, anything is possible.
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Nothing in the Constitution prepared us for a complete lack of checks and balances in our government. Republicans in Congress have made no public response to the press about Trump’s willingness to fire Mueller. It is incumbent on us to call our members of Congress now and demand that they stand up for our country and constitution and tell Trump in no uncertain terms that he will be impeached if he fires Mueller. History will judge whether or not Congressional members are men and women of integrity, and their contemporaries will judge them too!
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At that point, it is time for the 64% who do not support him to bring this to the streets . I suspect that number will be even larger at that point.
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And what if DT refuses to leave even after he is impeached and found guilty?
It is truly time for prayer.
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Prayer does nothing except ease the mind/conscious of the one who does it. Meditation does the same. Which is all fine and dandy but do not expect any results outside of your own mind.
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Diane The power and responsibility go back to “the people.”
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Why go back?
We may yet have to wrest that power back in a currently unimagined fashion that will be, quite sadly, deadly to millions
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Duane E Swacker “Why go back”? Because power in a democracy shifts back and forth in a tension filled relationship between our elected leaders and the people who elected them.
That’s why there’s hope in a democracy still, as distinct from other forms of government–the power doesn’t rest in one place at the top, and especially in the president (king/dictator/petty tyrant, group of oligarchs or the “party”). It’s spread around even when its in “the government”: between Congress, the High Court, and the Presidency. That’s why Trump is struggling so–he seems not to understand how power works in a democracy. He think’s he is the leader of a dictatorship–or at least wants to centralize that power so he will become one–like Putin.
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The Constitution saddled us with a Presidential system, enormous power in the hands of the executive branch, winner-take-all elections which favor the established parties, unlike the Parliamentary systems common in Europe. The party not in power is supposed to be “the opposition” checking the party in power, but for over 40 years the Democratic Party has acted like Republican-Lite, moving to the right to support the same billionaire class and its neoliberal looting of public wealth and public goods. Nixon had to resign in ’74 because the Dems had not yet made their decisive move to the right and still had some liberal lions raising hell. Also, the mass movements of that time were also raising hell from below for civil rights, black power, environmentalism, women’s rights, gay rights, anti-war, etc. The same Constitution which is now a weak tool to stop Trump and a party controlling all branches of govt. was in place 50 yrs ago when LBJ lied about the Tonkin Gulf incident to force the war in Vietnam which Congress went along with, The difference now is not that the Constitution is suddenly weaker but rather that the alignment of political forces has radically changed, much farther to the right, no Democratic Party progressives(Sanders is an Independent barely tolerated among Dems; Eliz. Warren is too isolated to make a difference, etc.). When mass movements again consolidate to the left, those in power will discover how to get rid of a Trump, no matter what the Constitution says or doesn’t say.
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DT can not pardon himself. Nixon looked into it and the DOJ issued a memo explaining it.
https://www.justice.gov/file/20856/download
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Nixon secured Gerald Ford’s promise of pardon as part of his resignation after elevating Ford to the VP.
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Many don’t know that little tidbit of history. And it was Ford’s acquiescence that set the stage for much more presidential shenanigans. Do I need to name any?
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Let the Special Prosecutor do his job. And, if Drumpf fires him, then it’s time for the Republicans – and Democrats to stand together and initiate the articles of impeachment and then follow what the Constitution says. We are supposed to be a government of laws, not of men (people).
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So please explain to me what it is you think is going to happen the day Mueller is fired. I am certain the answer will be nothing. Trump is not an aberration he is the embodiment of a fifty year project.
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Joel Herman and Mate It seems to me that the fundamental question is whether the Republicans in Congress will allow Trump to continue to consolidate power by their zombie-like inaction. To most of us, it’s time for the white coats brigade to march in and take Trump to the funny farm. (And yes, I think Pence and the Kochs with their shadow government are as slimy as they come.) But because we are still a democracy, and because everyone seems to be betraying their Oaths of Office by their inaction, it will be up to The People who are the constituents of Congress to rise up like no other time in our history.
It’s not in the Constitution (Mate) but in us–as the so-called weaknesses and oversights in the Constitution suggest. You don’t fix a democracy by weaponizing its Constitution.
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“You don’t fix a democracy by weaponizing its Constitution.”
Hm. Don’t you first have to create a Constitution which declares a democracy?
But yes, that probably can’t be done without rising up.
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435 Representatives of the American people
100 Senators representing states
50 governors leading states
1000’s of State senators and representative representing towns and regions of their states
Tens of Thousands of mayors and county executives leading regions and towns an villages
Tens of Thousands of alderpersons, councilpersons, and boards representing millions of people in their cities and towns
ALL ELECTED – ALL HELD TO A HIGH STANDARD – ALL WITNESSES – ALL HAVE A MICROPHONE IN THEIR FACE DAILY AND A BULLY PULPIT. Yet, the vast majority are silent (some are to be applauded for speaking out and their courage).
Official Checks and Balances are Constitutional.
Confronting these actions does not require official, Constitutional measures.
It takes courage and voice. It takes courage to speak up and lead constituents if they, too, do not see it. Journalists investigate. Resisters protest. Persisters never give up marching. Electeds are supposed to lead.
Too few and far between are speaking up. (Again, some are, some at great political risk, and their stance and courage applauded)
This is a “Grandpa, Grandma, Where were you and what did you say and do when…?” moment.
This is a “How do you sleep at night if you don’t speak up?” moment.
This is a “How do you look your constituents in the eye and say, ‘This is ok with me?'” moment.
This is a look in the mirror moment.
This is an “I would be outraged if it were the other guy so why not this one?” moment.
Regardless of party, side of the aisle, religious, political, social, educational, environmental, or financial stance and beliefs; these adult behaviors are just wrong and not who we are even in the most controversial of times.
Silence is deafening. Silence is approval.
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“Confronting these actions does not require official, Constitutional measures.”
What non-Constitutional measure do you think was needed to avoid the election of the Trump in the first place?
“Silence is deafening. ”
I certainly don’t hear silence, do you? During my 32 years in the US, this is the first time I hear massive voices of protest even in the South.
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“Too few and far between are speaking up. (Again, some are, some at great PERSONAL AND CAREER risk, and their stance and courage applauded)
This is a “Grandpa, Grandma, Where were you and what did you say and do when…?” moment.
This is a “How do you sleep at night if you don’t speak up?” moment.
This is a “How do you look your STUDENTS in the eye and say, ‘This is ok with me?’” moment.
This is a look in the mirror moment.
This is an “I would be outraged if it were the other guy so why not this one?” moment. . . .
Silence is deafening. Silence is approval.”
With a couple of changes (capitalized) the exact thing can be said about all the Go Along Get Along Good German teachers and administrators who implement the the standards and testing malpractices, harming oh so many children in the process. WAKE UP TEACHERS AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT BY THE CHILDREN!!
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Silence is deafening. Silence is approval. Trump has a hard time silencing the press. The press informed
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“I call it a constitutional crisis because there is nothing in our Constitution that deals with the actions of a Trump.”
A 21st century criminal needs a 21st century, constantly updated Constitution to deal with.
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Let’s face it, the Constitution is overly permissive. It allows corrupt criminals lead the country, the states, the cities. It allows the expansion of the US tax code to grow from 70 pages to a 73,954 page jungle, it allows politicians hide their tax returns, it allows politicians pardon each other, it allows billionaires buy influence, it allows the secretary of education go to bed with ALEC.
All this is permitted in the name of freedom, the freedom to expand, to get insanely rich and powerful. It is time to distribute freedoms equally, it’s time to design a constitution which explicitly protects the 100%, always.
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Mate,
The men who wrote the Constitution assumed that those who rose to eminence would be men of honor and dignity. They knew that men were not angels, yet they did not write a document that anticipated a cunning unscrupulous loon like Trump
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Diane “They knew that men were not angels, yet they did not write a document that anticipated a cunning unscrupulous loon like Trump”
What implication do you this this has for the “document”?
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Perhaps i am mistaken, but i thought the Constitution was expressly intended as a means of avoiding the reliance on the honor and dignity of men.
If they were actually counting on that, I’d have to say they made a very grave — and foolish — error.
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SDP “Perhaps i am mistaken, but i thought the Constitution was expressly intended as a means of avoiding the reliance on the honor and dignity of men.”
This is the very part that needs to be addressed. Great principles sound great as explanations for the recipe about what’s allowed and what’s not allowed in our country. But the exact recipe is needed, and the recipe shouldn’t be open to any interpretation.
It’s great when the doctor says “we’ll beat your cancer”, but we do want the exact plan how this will be accomplished, and the plan should not assume, cancer will help us out in any way.
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One of the problems is that many Americans tend to look at the US Constitution and “founding fathers” through rose colored glasses.
The document was deeply flawed — just on the slavery issue.
And many of the deepest problems with the Condition result from the fact that the executive is the branch that is given the power/responsibilith to execute and enforce the laws, so if the e ecutive goes rogue, who does the execution and enforcement?
The statement “no one is above the law” is very popular but it seems to be clearly false.
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SomeDAM poet The statement “no one is above the law” is a foundational principle of a law-governed political culture. It’s not “false.” It’s what we take as an assumption to our living here. Presently, it’s only ignored, like the emoluments clause and so many other laws and protocols.
We’ve stayed away from referring to some among us as un-American. But in this case, clear evidence abounds that Trump and our Zombie Congress, who don’t reign him in, are concrete manifestations of just that: they are acting in a wholly un-American way. No bones about it: We have elected a sociopath who wouldn’t know a “law” if it bit him in the ass. (Did I write that out loud?)
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The claim that “no one is above the law” made when Presidents have regularly broken laws and gotten away with it is actually no different than the claim that ” no one is above the atmosphere” made when astronauts are orbiting in the space station.
Both claims are false.
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SomeDam poet The Constitution, and the statement, no one is above the law are not “true or false.” In a Constitutional democracy no one is above the law on the principles that are embodied in that Constitution and accepted by those who live under it.
Neither the statement, nor the Constitution itself, are metaphysical realities (as you seem to imply by calling them “false”). They are choices that we make when we create and live in one. True of false, in this case, are oxy-morons–they don’t relate. What is relevant is that Trump and the rest are in violation of those heretofore accepted principles. Ignorance of the Constitution, and the violations of it, is the MAIN problem we are in crisis about. Did you think the Constitution, once in place, could never be challenged or that we wouldn’t have to know what it means to our daily living, or to defend it–because it was “true”?
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Lamentably, Catherine, there are a few “above the law”. Diplomats from foreign countries being the most obvious one. The other, perhaps not so obvious to many are the rich and corporations that can buy “justice” for themselves. Yes, indeed, it does happen.
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Duane E Swacker there are the principles embedded in our Constitution, and there are both legitimate exceptions and violations of them. Fortunately, most of us don’t define our political lives, and our expectations of the political order we live in, by the degenerative violations of that order and those principles. Do you?
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Catherine,
I’m not exactly sure of your questions but here are my answers:
(from the post above mine) Yes, the Constitution (and laws and Supreme Court decisions) can and should be changed when it conflicts with basic justice and civil rights. The bugaboo is in the details and with the seemingly impossible nature of those changes, especially in the Constitution and SC decisions.
And I can’t agree that “Most of us don’t define our political lives and expectations. . . ” Now perhaps many do not give it deep thought and generally latch onto the declarations of politicians and the media in their personal definition, so be it. Doesn’t mean that many of us don’t try to engage those ideas are different than ours.
“Do you?”
I choose no outside definitions of my own political leanings (which are quite mixed and varied) other than to consider myself a skeptical free thinker with no political or religious affiliations.
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Duane E Swacker A telling note. But more: that people don’t think about it much is the damning thing–damning of the practices and, more importantly, the omissions of our educational institutions up to this point in our history.
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Duane E Swacker About the Constitution you say: “The bugaboo is in the details and with the seemingly impossible nature of those changes, especially in the Constitution and SC decisions.”
Far from inviting “bugagoo,” the Constitution is structured so that we are less likely to err on the side of displacement towards system or this-or-that ideology. The Constitution reveals our founders’ incisive understanding of the dynamism of history and the subsequent need for real people not to “displace towards ideology,” but to embrace the necessity of thoughtfully working “down” from general principle to thinking our way into the every-changing details of history that we find ourselves in. If we get tired of doing that, then we should think about going to live in a Communist (or other) kind of political system.
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Trump is a lunatic. If worse comes to worse, isn’t there a way to pull the 25th amendment card because he’s such a nutter? I would be surprised if the GOP didn’t really prefer to have Pence as POTUS, since he’s not a loose canon nor a flip flopper like Trump. Plus Pence stands for every right wing thing Republicans can imagine and dearly love.
Not that life wold be any better for the rest of us under Pence. Just about everyone in the line of succession would be absolutely awful for this country, the rights of people of color, and women. The thought makes me shiver. Just wondering about all the options, because that article makes it sound like the GOP is committed to Trump through thick and thin, at all costs, as if it’s a done deal, and I highly doubt that’s true.
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Homeless, the 25th Amendment won’t work in this case because Trump has chosen a cabinet slavishly loyal to him. He is loyal to no one. Remember the televised cabinet meeting where they went around the table and each of them roboticalled praised the Leader and thanked God for the chance to do Trump’s bidding?
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Right, Diane. I have never experienced a more reprehensible potus…ever, and I am old. That DUMP is CRAZY and utterly self-centerned and totally CRUEL and MEAN. Maybe he will fall into a sink hole with all his people. I like this image.
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The book that has informed me the most these past many years, with the growing normalization of the far-right, and more immediately with the rise of Trump: ‘They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-1945’ by Milton Meyer
It was first published in 1955. It should be required reading for every American in every civics class. While its about regular Germans, 1933-1945…..it’s not really about Germans….if you know what I mean. The Germans, of course, are our warning.
It turns out that the 1930s-40s fight between fascists and anti-fascists hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s just that so many of us, and so many on the left believe that we won against fascism so it’s no longer a thing.
The 1930s and 40s have so much to teach us about how right wings work and how left wings should respond. That period also has a lot to teach us about our specific fights now against privatization and how the front line in that fight is militant labor. We’ve forgotten so much and it’s all right in front of us to learn and understand.
I babble. Check out the book. All Im trying to say.
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Thanks for the reading suggestion!
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The Congress has completely abdicated its own power and shirked its own responsibilities. It appears that most members have never even read the Constitution, particularly the part having to do with declaring war.
If anyone is to blame for the current crisis, it is Congress (both major parties)
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AGREE, SomeDAM poet. The GOP and the DNC have failed us and the rest of the world. I am embarrassed to be an American.
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American oligarchs began to dismantle a government of the people, by the people and for the people, decades ago, so that they could rule as colonialists. The nest of vipers includes a well-funded media, directed by men like Murdoch and Roger Ailes, who distort info. and, deflect from wrong-doing.
The oligarchs unleashed a hell of right wing citizen paranoia, which undermines progress in all forms and that elected Trump. The sickness of perpetual disruption enables the greed of the richest 0.1%, people like DeVos and Erik Prince. Pence will become the new national face of the oligarchs.
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YEP!
But just not the oligarchs but the hard core fundie xtian religious fanatics (think people like the Mercers, Kochs and DeVoses). They truly believe that Amurika should be an xtian caliphate, no different, except the god that they supposedly worship, than the current Iranian or Saudi Arabian caliphates
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Trump expects complete loyalty. He does not forgive anyone who breaks that rule. He is unable to follow morality or ethics and has alienated international allies. He becomes outraged when anyone differs from his irrational thinking.
The nation is in a state of constant stress from his blatherings. Each morning I wake up and wonder what has happened. What misdeed has he done today? He is an outrage.
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Trump is loyal only to family. Everyone else is on edge. He operates by the chaos principle.
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dianeravitch Trump is tribal. Somehow he lived in American but got through his whole developmental process here without understanding the difference between tribal and civil culture, between a president as petty-tyrant or neo-king and a president who understands and abides by the rule of law and his Oath to the Constitution, where its principles are higher than the person who happens to hold the office; and the difference between running a business (which he also apparently runs like a self-serving petty-tyrant), and authentic leadership in a democratic country.
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For those responding disagreeing to the silence is deafening (indicating the mass protests) and others – – How many REPUBLICAN Senators, Representatives, Governors (except on medicaid), and State representatives have you heard criticize T’s outrageous, story changing, egregious behavior?
THEY ARE SILENT. Country is so polarized and party usurps all (can’t use the t word) so they don’t have the courage to criticize him T has his base convinced the press is fake, lying, out to get him. The ONLY critics his base and even the 1%ers will respect are GOP electeds. “If they’ve turned on him – he’s done.”
Diane wrote: The men who wrote the Constitution assumed that those who rose to eminence would be men of honor and dignity. They knew that men were not angels, yet they did not write a document that anticipated a cunning unscrupulous loon like Trump
Diane – doesn’t this apply to ALL electeds? I don’t see any honor or dignity in Congress and many in state capitals.
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This just came in on an email from the White House:
“Obamacare is a burden on working families and job creators all across this Nation. If we don’t replace it, the calamity will only get worse. Americans desperately need relief. Congress needs to step up and do their job, by repealing and replacing Obamacare. The legislation working its way through Congress right now provides the choice and control people want, the affordability they need, and the quality they deserve in healthcare.”
…………….
Exactly what is the ‘affordability they need’, ‘quality they deserve’ and ‘choice people want in health care’ when millions will loose all coverage? Seniors will have their premiums raised so that they become unaffordable. Pre-existing conditions will not be covered from lack of funding. Women will loose benefits for ‘conditions’ such as pregnancy. Healthy people will get meager coverage plans until they get sick and then they’ll be dropped.
The Trumpcare that Republicans cherish will cause millions to loose any type of coverage. [Drop Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood.] Guess this is the freedom of choice they admire. You can choose to not have health care and die. Great choice. Of course, Congress wrote out an exemption for themselves. It’s okay to be wealthy and get care. Screw everyone else and call it ‘quality care they deserve’.
How totally rotten is our Congress? How totally rotten is the Orange Buffoon to push something like this on people? He’s too ignorant to understand or care about what is happening. He just wants to sign his name to ‘improved, cheap, really wonderful healthcare’.
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All lies.
PT Barnum once said that you never go broke betting on the ignorance of the American people
I had hoped we were better than to believe the Liar-in-Chuef
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