Is America on the brink of tyranny? A bureaucracy purged of those loyal to the Constitution rather than to Donald Trump will send free and fair elections to history's landfill, along with the Bill of Rights. Trump plans to eliminate executive branch constraints on his power if he is elected president in 2024. Trump’s plan would substitute loyalty to him for loyalty to the Constitution. This vision is simultaneously frightening and unsurprising. In 2019, he said, “I have to the right to do whatever I want as president.” And in December, Trump called for the “termination of ... the Constitution.” The path to tyranny was marked when government officials are “obliged to take refuge in the absolute power of a single man.” One definition of an authoritarian state is that it is characterized by the consolidation of power in a single leader, "a controlling regime that justifies itself as a 'necessary evil.'" That kind of control necessarily features "strict government-imposed constraints on social freedoms such as suppression of political opponents and anti-regime activity." Trump’s 2025 blueprint would end governmental control on a president so he can dominate and control the governed. Controlling the prosecutorial power allows a president to use it to favor friends, destroy enemies and intimidate ordinary citizens tempted to speak out. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...dential-power-grab-2024-election/70430661007/
Deb, I understand and share your concern, but I fear you may get too worked up over disasters that are still only potentialities. Trump's return to the presidency still looks unlikely, and even if he makes it he still has a host of challenges in tearing down democratic institutions. The scenario is by no means impossible, but this is like the D&D version of doomscrolling. Cheer up! He got voted out, indicted twice (so far), Biden is rebuilding normalcy and doing well enough that he'll probably box out Trump from the presidency in this his last shot at it.
I don't believe he will win, but I do believe it's exactly what Trump wants, and would try to do. He would love nothing more than complete power over hiring, firing, the justice system, and persecuting those who oppose him. He wants loyalists only, and has made it crystal clear numerous times that he will unleash his fury on those who investigated him or turned against him when he attempted his coup. My point is that people who support this man are supporting the worst type of leader for America. Wake up!
Like I said, I don't see Trump winning, and it's not stress, but disgust. Everything about him is transparent to anyone not blinded by his BS of Mr. Save America from corruption. He is the epitome of corruption. He simply wants everyone to love him, and be loyal to him, or else. He wants the power to do whatever he wants, just like his little buddy in North Korea, with military parades when he speaks, and generals who don't question his agenda. It's pathetic, but that's the narcissistic sociopath he is.
The bureaucracy is to the executive what precedent is to the judiciary. Respect for precedent keeps the application of the law from swinging back and forth with the comings and goings of the judges. Not that precedent can't be overturned (we'll probably see much more of that from this SCOTUS), but it at least provides some ballast where the courts have to justify the change. Likewise, government agencies -- which are just creatures of legislation -- have their ponderous processes of rulemaking (proposed rules, comment periods, final rules, votes by appointed and confirmed commissioners, and then the endless parade of lawsuits) so that the application of the rules required by legislation do not capriciously swing with every incoming and outgoing president. Like precedent, rulemakings can be changed but there is a process to making the change so that everything is justified, predictable, and not needlessly disruptive to people's lives and businesses. If there is a sea change in the public psyche, the rules of the agencies (and rulings of the courts) will eventually follow. But, one aberrant election doesn't justify a mandate to change everything all at once. You can romantically call that tyranny, but it's really the secret sauce to America's strength in democracy and the economy. If Trump did succeed in purging the Deep State, the era of American hegemony would founder in corruption.
When members of the executive branch are all replaced with members loyal to the almighty leader, vs the constitution, you have tyranny.
