Napoleon
Last week, Donald J Trump, 47th President of the United States, tweeted this on both his own “Truth Social” social media site, and his friend and advisor Elon Musk’s “X”:
“He who saves his country does not violate any law”.
To some it makes sense. It was the premise of the old Fox TV show starring Kiefer Sutherland “24”. He played Jack Bauer, a Federal Agent who had 24 hours to save the nation from some calamity. Bauer’s motto was: sometimes you have to break the law to protect America. And he did.
But it has a whole different context when the President of the United States, the chief law enforcer of the Nation, the person entrusted with protecting American freedoms, says something like that. And worse, it’s a direct quote from Napoleon Bonaparte.
If you missed that part of world history, Napoleon was a general in the French Army. He stepped in to stop the chaos of the French Revolution, then proceeded to crown himself (literally) the Emperor of France and tried to conquer Europe.
Only I
Add to that yesterday’s Presidential Executive Order:
“…(this order) reestablishes the longstanding norm that only the President or the Attorney General can speak for the United States when stating an opinion as to what the law is.”
Only the President can speak for the United States. And, only the President can state an opinion as to what the law is. Only the President: does Congress, or the Courts have a say? Only the President: it echoes his campaign phrase from 2016, “Only I can fix this”.
According to Mr. Trump; he can decide what the law is, and he can decide whether to “violate” it or not. Only HE (and, of course, Elon) can decide. And let’s not forget, the United States Supreme Court has already granted him criminal immunity for anything he might do as part of his “official duties”.
Shouts
I told you.
It was shouted it from the “mountaintop” (or molehill) of my computer. I told you in an essay called “History Lesson”, and one called “Who Do You Trust” and another called “Godwin’s Law”, and even one from way back in 2018 called “America First”. We now face exactly what was predicted, by me and others with much bigger megaphones, including President Biden. This President of the United States is committed to personal power. And, this President has let loose among the government his own personal “hit team”, “24” style, to go into the structure and destroy it.
Saving money is not the real reason that Elon Musk’s “DOG-E kids” are ripping the government apart. The real reason is to destroy any opposition to Trumpian domination. In the avalanche of government firings (most illegal) are the carefully chosen few, culled out because they might show some dedication not to MAGA’ism, or Trump, but to the US Constitution. Their removal is covered by the general chaos.
We are living the dream that Steve Bannon preached “long ago”. I wrote about that in one of my first essays in 2017, “The Bully and Bannon”. Not only is it the “deconstruction of the administrative state”, but Bannon’s getting his “alliance” of the Northern, White Nations. Trump is back to kowtowing to Russia’s Putin, and Ukraine will be the sacrificial lamb to the “cause”.
I told you.
Governing by Fiat
And before MAGA acolytes claim that Trump is showing “leadership” through his executive actions, let me make an historic contrast. Franklin Roosevelt entered the White House in the middle of the Great Depression. He knew that he had a mandate for change; that he had the public support to do almost anything to alter the economic path of the Nation.
But he didn’t do it by himself. He called Congress into session, and passed 15 major laws in the first 100 days, the opening salvo of New Deal legislation. FDR led through his negotiating skill to get Congress on board with change. And while the Supreme Court ultimately held some of those laws as unconstitutional, Roosevelt was that force for change.
But Trump, even though he has a compliant House and Senate, has failed to offer legislation. Instead, he is “ruling by fiat”. He pre-empted the legislative process by issuing sixty-six (as of today) Executive Orders, commands that often overrule existing Congressional legislation. The majorities in Congress have said almost nothing about it. The Courts have intervened on a few, but also seemed overwhelmed by the avalanche of action. And, when the Supreme Court finally gets the chance to intervene, there’s no guarantee that they will uphold the Constitution. The majority has already demonstrated their fealty to Trump.
I told you.
And now, WE have to decide how to stand up for the America WE believe in. Will WE stand up for our tradition of freedom and yes, even Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Because WE are NOT for the America that Donald Trump wants. And history will judge US for what we do, now.
