When Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term as POTUS, those of us who listened to what he had to say (and the lies he uttered) while campaigning expected that he would:
- move rapidly to engage in revenge against his perceived enemies (in Donald Trump’s world, that would comprise anybody who does not say “Yes Sir No Sir Three Bags Full Sir” to every cockamamie idea he espouses).
- Appoint utterly unqualified people to cabinet roles, simply because they are subservient and sycophantic
- attempt to bully countries and continents
Unfortunately, Trump has, in addition to all of the above, gone even further into Lalaland, mainly because of the influence of Elon Musk and his DOGE gang. Despite lying and bullshitting from day 1 about how they were going to find massive savings, all DOGE has achieved is to cause massive disruption in government and (probably) increase spending.
The Trump administration has also engaged in gross malfeasance as it attempts to expel illegal immigrants. It is clear that the administration has been randomly pulling people off the streets based on lack of probable cause, and has been openly defying the courts when asked to account for its illegal actions. Numerous judges have ruled against the administration all over the USA to date.
Unfortunately, too many elected Democratic representatives are laboring under the delusion that there are still reasonable Republicans out there, who will come to their senses and save the day. This delusion is powerful, especially among the Old Guard, the gerontocrats (like Sen. Chuck Schumer). They are slowly, quietly, making statements about effects like inflation and unemployment, while actually voting in favor of Trump’s government nominees. This is the equivalent of arguing about whether to move off the railway tracks while a train is heading towards them at 100mph.
The Democratic Party is doing its best to prove that it is not fit for purpose in the current US political era. They do not seem to be able to read the room, and realize that this is an existential moment for the United States. There are some democrats (like AOC and Bernie Sanders) who do understand the stakes, and who are leading by example. But when the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate both decide to take a week off to go on book tours, we can be pretty sure we are dealing with politicians who are still in the zone of denial known as Business As Usual. Primarying incumbents out of office is not common in the Democratic Party, but based on the level of anger amongst progressives, I can see it becoming a notable feature of the 2026 election cycle.
That is, if there is still a meaningful 2026 election cycle. IMHO, if Trump can eliminate representative democracy, or reduce it to a superficially plausible “rubber stamp” version (like Russia, Hungary and other Russian satellites), he will do so.
The situation that the USA is in leads me to conclude that the only people who can deter Trump from completely vandalizing the rule of law and representative democracy are the judges. They have tenure, and they cannot realistically be impeached because the GOP lacks a 2/3 Senate majority. The main obstacle is SCOTUS, which is now impaled on the consequences of its ruling that sitting Presidents have almost total immunity from illegal acts. SCOTUS now has the difficult task of trying to qualify that stupid ruling in a way that still leaves them with some vaguely plausible role. Nearly all litigation landing at SCOTUS in the next few years is going to be related to Donald Trump’s actions and those of his administration. While older Justices like Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas would not mind SCOTUS being abolished, since they can then retire, the younger Justices like Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch would find themselves out of a job, and the liberal justices ditto. As for John Roberts, well, he brought this shit upon himself by failing to lead as the Chief Justice. He lost control of his court a long time ago. HIs epitaph will not be remotely flattering.
Summary: Worse than I thought, about as bad as I feared.
