King Trump
The New Abnormal
The framers of our Constitution were white men. Most were wealthy and well educated. Some owned slaves. Most owned at least one woman for personal bloodline breeding.
The first three presidents lived in the same neighborhood.
None of them wanted to be king.
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land. It delineates the frame of a federal government. The first three articles embody the doctrine of separation of powers. The three branches identified in these articles are intended to balance and check the power of each other.
· Article One: Legislative (bicameral Congress)
· Article Two: Executive (president and subordinate officers)
· Article Three: Judicial (Supreme Court and other federal courts)
As of this writing, the “Constitution of the United States is the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in force in the world.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States
The document and the first ten amendments to it (Bill of Rights) purposefully did not include or discuss the role of political parties. Fierce partisan divides existed in the colonies, in the confederation, and in the new nation. And among the framers as they debated, deliberated, and compromised the language and intent of the constitution.
So, then, the partisan divide along conservative and progressive lines of thought has been with us all along. The voters have awarded control of the legislative and executive branches to different parties at different times and for different durations. America has a two-party tradition of public debate and private power.
Until now.
Donald John Trump has managed, over the course of a decade, to absorb the Republican Party and neuter the Democratic Party. He is the master of the MAGA cult. He is the hand puppet of the Billionaire Boys Club. He is the darling of a Supreme Court that Mitch McConnell, working off The Heritage Foundation list of candidates, stacked in his favor. He is the third, the only fully operational, political party in America today.
Elon Musk, the Billionaire Boys Club’s hand on the wheel, is executing a blitzkrieg demolition of the customs and guardrails of our rule of law to the benefit of Trump as figurehead of an oligarchical society. Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling, of The New Republic, reported on line on 05 Feb 25 that the current Speaker of the House describes the freezing of funds appropriated by Congress and the gutting of key government agencies responsible for the safety and welfare of the American public as a “long overdue, welcome development…We see this as an active, engaged, committed executive branch authority doing what the executive branch should do.”
This stunning surrender of Article One and Three powers to a single person in control of Article Two powers is precisely what the framers feared and worked to avoid. We have a single third party in power.
We the People will need to correct that situation.
I take true heart in the following facts of the moment:
Project 2025 thought it would take 100 days to refashion America, and planned accordingly. The last 85 days may be a bust.
1. Only fifteen days into the execution of demolition operations, some of We the People roused from our post-pandemic habits and patterns. The legislative branch is the only one vulnerable to our ire. We know and accept that fact. We are assembling in protest and voicing our concerns. We are spontaneously boycotting businesses with no commitment to diversity and equity. Trump has promised to use his Big Purse to depose rebellious representatives of both parties at the primary contest level. As for myself, I am heartily sick of pleas for party funding and partisan disinformation campaigns. I expect to be offered better alternatives than persons with a track record of disregarding my concerns and working against my stated needs and interests.
2. Donald John Trump is an old man of declining vigor and diminished intellectual capacity. He is vulnerable. He is a dangerous and pathetic grifter. The mere mention of the possibility of a third (well-deserved) article of impeachment has him howling like he took a gut shot. And, soliciting defense funds from the MAGA faithful. The guy thrives on martyrdom.
3. Elon Musk has overreached. He is vulnerable. Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy was the first member of the billionaire Boys Club to distance himself from Elon. I prophesy he will not be the last. Vivek wanted no part of Elon’s notion of why Trump created DOGE. He departed in protest, on principle. Other Big Boys will drop out of the drill when it gets too hot in Musk’s thundering political version of Hell’s Kitchen. When Musk’s overreach diminishes stakeholder profits of Club members, they may kick him out of the tree house. At that point, Elon will need to return to the aspiration of occupying Mars. Planet Earth well may be too tough a nut to crack.
We the People must, and will, rise to defend our inalienable rights and protected freedoms.
Using our persons and our purses every day in every legal way, we will not just survive Project 2025.
We will prevail against it.
We will insist upon life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in our time and for that of our following generations.
First thing each day I look for your daily post. Your context, wisdom, and reality checks carry me through uncertain times. You remind me to focus on what I can control, contribute to my community, remind myself what my job is, and refuse to become cynical.