As we head towards the election in 2020, the United States faces a very real crisis that goes beyond the pandemic that we are currently sheltering from. Our leadership, particularly the president, continues to ramp up anti-Democratic, authoritarian actions that pose a direct threat to our Republic. Donald Trump is also taking advantage of the current state of affairs to assert his authority and push the bounds of the executive office, setting this country on a perilous course if he were to win re-election. Now is the time for the people of this country to make their voices heard and to prepare to stand against him when casting our ballots in November.
Just this past week, Trump’s actions have been quite concerning and should be setting off alarm bells to those who want the U.S. to remain a free and Democratic country. He has started pushing towards the re-opening of the country, despite the reservations of medical experts, and when the states pushed back he claimed “when somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total”. This of course is not true based on our Constitutional system, with the states maintaining the authority to regulate their own affairs. As a leader, he has an obligation to guide the country in times like this and make recommendations. But he is not a king or dictator (at this point), and cannot force the states to re-open at his command. He did back away from the claims later in the week, but the fact that he made the assertion at all should raise plenty of alarm.
Trump also threatened to misuse one of his powers as he warned he might adjourn Congress in order to push through multiple executive branch nominees. The Senate is currently in a “pro forma session” with no-one present due to the pandemic until May 4th (a decision made by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell), and therefore no nominees can be approved. The Constitution allows the president to appoint nominees for a limited time when the Senate is in recess. But it does not give him the actual power to adjourn Congress. He claims that the nominees are essential to the current situation and that Democrats are blocking the appointments, but the fact that he has already put through many contentious and controversial nominees is a large part of the problem.
In yet another overreach of his authority, Trump has claimed that he will cease funding for the World Health Organization (WHO). He is trying to redirect blame for the current situation to that entity, falsely claiming they did not provide sufficient warning for the severity of the pandemic. But he was the one who downplayed the threat posed by Coronavirus until the death toll started rising. And he has no authority to halt the money going to WHO because Congress controls the power of the purse and they authorized the funding. Trump can make future recommendations to cut off funding and/or refuse to sign any new legislation that sends money to WHO. However, he can try to use the current national emergency to divert those funds, similar to what he did with his wall, but that represents a clear overreach of his authority.
Trump and the Republicans also continue their scorched earth policy against the U.S. Postal Service as they refuse to authorize any additional funding during the current crisis. Mail delivery is down during the pandemic, and the USPS could run out of money by later this year. The Republicans have been eager to privatize that branch of the government for quite some time, but the service it provides is essential to the country. Along with this, Trump and the Republicans continue to resist vote-by-mail initiatives even though that would make the upcoming elections much safer during the current pandemic (and also bring added revenue to the Post Office). Their stance hurts the average citizen and could make the upcoming vote more dangerous.
For any other president, just one of these actions could have been scandal enough to have them removed from office. But we live in unprecedented times and this is just another week in the presidency of Donald Trump. The Republicans refuse to stand up to him for fear of backlash, despite the fact that many of his actions go against the “principles” that the party allegedly stands for (remember when they accused Obama of overreaching his executive authority?). The Democrats have proven mostly ineffectual, and the tacit opposition they raise is often lost amidst the media’s reality TV style focus on the daily drama created by Trump.
Thus, the onus lays with the people to make a stand against the very real threat Trump poses to our country. And the upcoming election could very well be the last chance he have to turn the tide of authoritarian leadership peddled by Trump and the Republicans. The current president has little respect, and even less understanding, or our Constitutional form of government. And he attacks the system established by that document on a daily basis while also exerting ever more authority over the country as a whole. If he want to save our Republic, he must be removed from office.
We have the opportunity in the upcoming elections assuming Trump does not try to quash those or minimize participation to the point that he is guaranteed victory. In the meantime, we must make our voices heard and make it clear that we do not accept these authoritarian actions that threaten our freedoms and endanger our Constitutional system of government. For now, social media should be a way for us to voice opposition, especially since he is particularly focused on Twitter. But as the stay-at-home restrictions ease, live protests should follow. We the people must make a stand for our Democracy, and we must do it now, lest the warnings that the Founding Fathers and other defenders of liberty have issued about the dangers of authoritarian rule come to fruition and destroy our Republic.
Just this past week, Trump’s actions have been quite concerning and should be setting off alarm bells to those who want the U.S. to remain a free and Democratic country. He has started pushing towards the re-opening of the country, despite the reservations of medical experts, and when the states pushed back he claimed “when somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total”. This of course is not true based on our Constitutional system, with the states maintaining the authority to regulate their own affairs. As a leader, he has an obligation to guide the country in times like this and make recommendations. But he is not a king or dictator (at this point), and cannot force the states to re-open at his command. He did back away from the claims later in the week, but the fact that he made the assertion at all should raise plenty of alarm.
Trump also threatened to misuse one of his powers as he warned he might adjourn Congress in order to push through multiple executive branch nominees. The Senate is currently in a “pro forma session” with no-one present due to the pandemic until May 4th (a decision made by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell), and therefore no nominees can be approved. The Constitution allows the president to appoint nominees for a limited time when the Senate is in recess. But it does not give him the actual power to adjourn Congress. He claims that the nominees are essential to the current situation and that Democrats are blocking the appointments, but the fact that he has already put through many contentious and controversial nominees is a large part of the problem.
In yet another overreach of his authority, Trump has claimed that he will cease funding for the World Health Organization (WHO). He is trying to redirect blame for the current situation to that entity, falsely claiming they did not provide sufficient warning for the severity of the pandemic. But he was the one who downplayed the threat posed by Coronavirus until the death toll started rising. And he has no authority to halt the money going to WHO because Congress controls the power of the purse and they authorized the funding. Trump can make future recommendations to cut off funding and/or refuse to sign any new legislation that sends money to WHO. However, he can try to use the current national emergency to divert those funds, similar to what he did with his wall, but that represents a clear overreach of his authority.
Trump and the Republicans also continue their scorched earth policy against the U.S. Postal Service as they refuse to authorize any additional funding during the current crisis. Mail delivery is down during the pandemic, and the USPS could run out of money by later this year. The Republicans have been eager to privatize that branch of the government for quite some time, but the service it provides is essential to the country. Along with this, Trump and the Republicans continue to resist vote-by-mail initiatives even though that would make the upcoming elections much safer during the current pandemic (and also bring added revenue to the Post Office). Their stance hurts the average citizen and could make the upcoming vote more dangerous.
For any other president, just one of these actions could have been scandal enough to have them removed from office. But we live in unprecedented times and this is just another week in the presidency of Donald Trump. The Republicans refuse to stand up to him for fear of backlash, despite the fact that many of his actions go against the “principles” that the party allegedly stands for (remember when they accused Obama of overreaching his executive authority?). The Democrats have proven mostly ineffectual, and the tacit opposition they raise is often lost amidst the media’s reality TV style focus on the daily drama created by Trump.
Thus, the onus lays with the people to make a stand against the very real threat Trump poses to our country. And the upcoming election could very well be the last chance he have to turn the tide of authoritarian leadership peddled by Trump and the Republicans. The current president has little respect, and even less understanding, or our Constitutional form of government. And he attacks the system established by that document on a daily basis while also exerting ever more authority over the country as a whole. If he want to save our Republic, he must be removed from office.
We have the opportunity in the upcoming elections assuming Trump does not try to quash those or minimize participation to the point that he is guaranteed victory. In the meantime, we must make our voices heard and make it clear that we do not accept these authoritarian actions that threaten our freedoms and endanger our Constitutional system of government. For now, social media should be a way for us to voice opposition, especially since he is particularly focused on Twitter. But as the stay-at-home restrictions ease, live protests should follow. We the people must make a stand for our Democracy, and we must do it now, lest the warnings that the Founding Fathers and other defenders of liberty have issued about the dangers of authoritarian rule come to fruition and destroy our Republic.
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