We Are Under Attack From an Enemy Within

By listening to our founders and refusing to go along with this, we can name and defeat the ongoing danger to our constitutional republic

He’s getting worse: Trump at a campaign rally this weekend. (Photo by Roberto Schmidt via Getty Images)

We humans have a natural impulse to adapt to reality. It has been essential for the survival of our species and the development of civil society. But now, that same normalizing impulse is putting us in serious danger.

Let me be blunt: Too many Americans have absorbed and continue to tolerate Donald Trump’s insane, destructive behavior as a fact of life—a reality to live with. Most of the corporate media has facilitated that mentality as it relies on traditional framing devices that give an air of legitimacy to this crazed and chaotic White House. In their need to maintain access at all costs—and their reluctance to risk their position—they have failed to articulate the very actions that are accelerated the destruction of our constitutional republic.

As we speak, the Trump regime is defying court orders, rejecting Congress’ power to control spending and pursuing myriad tactics to once again try and subvert the outcome of our federal elections. Each of these illustrates a lawless regime and a dangerous despot who feels free to abuse his power and run roughshod over the requirements set forth in our Constitution. But how often do you hear this reality communicated with the clarity and urgency that it deserves?

Just as I believe that we are facing a psychiatric emergency with Trump as a man, I believe we are facing a constitutional emergency with an executive branch of government working to centralize its power at all costs. My friends, we are under attack from an enemy within.

In a less broken political environment, we could count on a cabinet and a Congress to pursue the constitutional mechanisms of the 25th Amendment and/or impeachment to remove Trump and stanch the growing cancer.

But the failure of these institutional mechanisms to provide the necessary checks makes overwhelming clear the necessity of We the People doing our duty to save our republic. This work is currently underway in Democratic campaigns across the country. But in less than a month, each of us has a sacred duty to help end the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate with a massive voter turnout and a resounding Democratic victory—diluting the potential of the Trump regime to subvert the election’s outcome and deny the will of the voters.

In other times, my impulse toward caution would lead me to resist using language that could be attacked as unduly alarmist or hyperbolic. But these are not normal times—and this election is likely our last chance to stop the march of fascism led by Trump and his enablers seeking to hold onto power by any means necessary, democracy and free elections be damned.

We should take seriously Trump’s repeated assertions that he intends to stay in power after 2028—assuming he lives that long. We should not laugh off Trump operative Steve Bannon’s comments last year in an interview with The Economist. “He’s gonna get a third term,” he said. “Trump is gonna be president in 2028. And people oughta just get accommodated with that.”

No, we should not get accommodated to that, Steve.

Nor should we accept the regime’s failure to comply with hundreds of immigration-related court orders resulting in over 700 lawsuits, causing federal judges and other legal observers across the country to decry. Nor should we accept that Trump thinks he can cancel without consequence over $1 billion in Congressionally approved funds for immigration services, foreign aid, education, health research and minority-owned businesses. Nor can we tolerate the growing evidence that the regime is pursuing a sophisticated and nefarious plot to subvert the November midterms to entrench and expand Trump’s maximum, unfettered power.

This regime must be stopped—by you, me and every American citizen who remains committed to self-governance and living in a constitutional republic.

Let me briefly underscore the assertions of our founders when defining the constitutional means by which our society could function without reliance on the demands of a king or a despot and in order to avoid slipping into tyranny.

As for ignoring court orders: The Constitution lays out a separation of powers of each branch of government to protect against possible abuses by one branch over another. Here are the words of James Madison in Federalist 51: “The great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same [governmental] department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.” Madison called this “essential to the preservation of liberty.”

As for usurping Congress’ power to control spending: The Constitution could not be clearer. This is Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 on spending: “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” This is Article I, Section 9, Clause 7: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” As Madison explained in Federalist 58, “This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance”—that is, to check abuses and overreach by the executive branch.

As for Trump manipulating the elections and subverting the will of the people: A president has no constitutional authority over federal election administration. Period. As Article I, Section 4 states, “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof.” Moreover, the president has no power to overturn election results or cancel an election.

Of course, these are not the only examples of the Trump regime’s constitutional violations and indifference. The overwhelming levels of corruption, including the repeated taking of bribes from foreign governments and others, obviously transgresses the Constitution’s Emolument Clauses. Nor will simply acknowledging these transgressions stop the abuses, not as long as Trump is surrounded by a cabinet of sycophants and a confederacy of cowards and fellow fascists in Congress.

Yes, I am encouraged that there are Democratic members of Congress who are already writing bills and planning ways to rein in Trump’s abuses and reverse the dangerous expansion of executive power in the years ahead. “We have a massive reconstruction task ahead of us,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the House Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, told The Washington Post.

But none of this begins in earnest until the Republicans lose their majority. And that depends on enough Americans channeling their fury about Trump’s corruption, crime and indifference to their needs and getting out the vote. We are under attack by an enemy in the Oval Office and we can put an end to this expanding emergency.

As we head to the midterms, it’s more important than ever to support the survival of democracy. I remain committed to raising my voice as vividly and fiercely as I can. I hope you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber for just $50 a year or $5 a month to show your support and enhance your engagement—to share your thoughts in the comments sections and access all content.