The people have the right to vote.. so they aren't powerless, not yet. That right has been weaken with political dirty laws aimed to weaken the DEM leaning voters. But it's still there and until that right is completely and fully restricted or just ignored (WI is a preview), the people aren't powerless.
It's not just the States. Congress and the courts need to step up and act as the checks and balances they are supposed to be. Trump would just be a joke in US history. He would be another Harding, a corrupt president but one who didn't do a lot of damage. It is more to the Congress particularly the McConnell led Senate and complicit courts that makes Trump dangerous.
Congress made a huge mistake with the stimulus - they should have allocated the money to the state gov't so Trump wouldn't be able to use it as a slush fund.
It’s in the law that Congress has oversight. They need to step and do it. There are tools that are there to reign Trump in. Congress is as much to blame as the President for any moves towards fascism.
The judiciary (SCOTUS in particular) is supposed to interprete the law and establish that what congress seeks is within the law, but what do we have so far? Trump disregarding oversight aided by the judiciary ( and same politicized judiciary will try to keep GOP in power come November)
What can congress do if a President fires any IG and refuses oversight and subpoenas? Impeach him??!! Mitch McConnell has already made it clear that he will give Trump complete protection no matter what Trump does, which is why Trump is able to do this.
They can block legislation the president wants. They can block funding for his projects infact they did that regarding the wall a few times. They can not have hearings they can block appointments. They can always still impeach. The tools are there Congress has to use them. This is why getting a Democratic majority in the Senate is just as important maybe more important than winning the Presidency.
Right now they can not block appointments and they have already passed his legislative measures. They have 0 control on how the stimulus is spent. Trump can hand it out to his kids if he wants and no one can do anything about it especially since he isn't going to tell anyone where the money is spent. He can give the money to political donors who will help him get re-elected. He can funnel the money into Super PACs if he likes and use it for attack ads. There are no boundaries anymore
A problem with the courts living up to their responsibility is that McConnell has been packing the courts with judicial incompetents whose value to McConnell is that they are useful ideologues. And they will be an impediment to actual justice for as long as they hold judicial seats.
Well, the Senate is as much to blame as trump for move toward fascism. The House did what they had to do--they impeached him and presented their case in the Senate.
Again, this is why getting a Democratic Senate is as important if not more so than winning the Presidency..
He has the power to influence the election in aways unseen before in American democracy. He very well could work with Florida's Gov and other key races to influence them using this crisis and his power to boost those candidates. We've seen him do this in Colorado already. And let's not forget that Wisconsin can serve as a template. In Nov, do you expect polling stations to be more or less available than they have been historically in key Democratic Party strongholds?
Court is 5-4 trump as we see in the WI vote with your life ruling. Republican in Congress has gave Trump a get out of jail card and they hold power in the Senate. The check and balance is not working. The only thing literally left is the House and the people vote coming up in Nov. But it's now quite easy to see how the people vote will be squashed under a crisis and emergency power. This is why I think the States need to be very clear - solve the problem and shore up safe and secure election. The House and Senate DEM need to do all it can to support that goal. (As for the $500B slush fund, Trump can and will just fire the IG responsible for looking over it and he has already say the IG needs his permission to report anything to the oversight committee in Congress - so there you go with that check and balance as well).
If all the checks and balances fail the only alternative is Civil War. To follow up with what Corrosion said earlier many of our institutions are being stressed including the right to vote but it is still there. I have no doubt there will be attempts at vote suppression and things like what we saw in Wisconsin. That is why it is vitally important we work to get the vote out. We work got get people registered and we work to make sure the vote happens. All of us can do those things by helping with registration drives. Offering to drive people to the polls and volunteering as election judges and poll workers.
