Two week mark of the Trump presidency: attempted rule by fear and favor

 To take the standard of the Department of Justice it had until recently, to administer prosecutions "without fear or favor'.is a good standard of how the rule of law should work in order to be as fair and nonpartisan as possible.  It is also a standard for democracy as a whole and describes the ideal fairness standard for which it strives. By the two-week mark of the Trump presidency, Trump has turned that worthy goal upside down, and he is attempting to create a regime using fear and favor to gain power and to keep it.  

This is just the beginning with Trump's opening salvo of decrees and executive orders. The pushback has not begun. We do not know how effective the pushback will be. It will come from the courts and from the voters in the midterm election in two years, which could reinforce the legislative branch, giving them a backbone with a different party in the majority., and restoring some degree of the balance of powers. It could also come from the streets, given the passions and anger Trump has awakened.  It could be propelled by Trump's decisions that result in higher living costs and inflation, disillusioning some of Trump's 2024 voters.

Who is Trump favoring?  Trump is the dream ruler for billionaires. He promises to lower taxes on rich people and free them from administrative constraints on rich people's ability to become richer. These barriers the already rich want to control or eliminate were designed to protect consumers and the environment and to cut the ability of the government to provide help to those unable to help themselves, the sick, the elderly, and racial and societal minorities, Head Start,  and children with poor nutrition. One of the regime's first acts: fire the head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Next, they will attempt to eliminate civil service employees by reclassifying through regulation F, removing protections from political pressures, and replacing them with loyalists to Trump or the ideology of Project 2025 so that government rulings are in step with their priorities. Already executed in Trmp's first week: the end of DEI and the firing of all employees associated with the program. The plan laid out in Project 2025 was to eliminate DEI (diversity) goals in hiring and promotions as if it is to make white males who claimed they were the victims of discrimination the sole government rulers again as they were before the civil rights movement of the 1960s. 

The attempt has virtually neutered Congress so far, with the GOP majority nodding heads or being silent and turning over their power to Trump to do as he pleases. Trump and Musk ignored the Constitution and laws that define the executive branch's role in "faithfully executing" the laws and funding Congress passed. Instead, they are attempting to become the controller of the purse in the place of the legislature.

How could this happen? Trump uses the tools of the powers of government to discipline his followers to comply by threats to primary them if they are House members and to destroy those he sees as political enemies by using the DOJ to bankrupt them by filing criminal action (without even probable cause) against anyone else.  Trump's revenge against anyone who had anything to do with bringing criminal charges against him since 2020 may satisfy his hateful instincts, but it also serves as making an example of how he would treat those he sees as his foes and how he keeps his supporters in line.  It is a rule by fear in political messaging as well. Fear of "others" who are not white males and are immigrants has been the leading drumbeat of his campaigns since he first entered national politics. It has been a successful message and strategy. Trump knows what works, and he knows the soul of his core supporters.

Trump is attempting to rule by favor, as well, as he places in power as a reward for loyalty and campaign contributions, primarily the very rich. Top of the favors he promises are lower taxes, with loss to the treasury offset by a reduction in government and national security services and regulations protecting consumers and the environment.  By placing his loyalists up and down government agencies, he can offer those favors to those who have proved their loyalty to him and his priorities.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/trump-fires-rohit-chopra-wall-street-consumer-protection-rcna190444?

https://www.yahoo.com/.../invitation-foreign-actors-bondi... Yesieree bob, voters do not need to know what China, Iran, or Russia are doing to help MAGA win in any elections, right? WRONG.

Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of our democracy

Original revised and re- posted on 2/13/17; in print, Sky Hi News as Democracy in the Age of Autocracy 2/15/17

A jaw dropper: Said Stephen Miller on Sunday talk shows regarding the Muslim country ban and the judicial review of it:

“As we begin to take further actions,...that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.”

The part of that statement that is objectionable is not that the executive branch has strong powers to protect the country from threats from terrorism; it does.. It is the phrase we: "will not be questioned" which indicates that due process, anti discrimination clauses, freedom of the press, separation of powers, and rule of law have no constraints provided by the Constitution in matters of national security. What this does is lay ground work and precedence for application to "further actions" of other executive powers.

Who is Stephen Miller? A chief policy advisor to President. Trump and a former aide to our new US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. If this is the view of the Trump administration of separation  of powers and the rule of law and an independent judiciary, we are looking at many, many more court challenges and Constitutional crises before the Trump administration is able to stack the federal judiciary with his appointees and controls all three branches of government.

Are we looking at the end of our beloved form of democracy that has kept us from being ruled by an autocrat  for 250 years?  The only powers standing between that happening, given the attitude being expressed by the administration,  lie in the hands of the other two branches, judicial and legislative, jealously guarding their own Constitutionally granted powers. If Miller represents the views of President Trump and the advisers to which he listens, that is an issue of greater importance than any facing us at this time. .

That burden of protecting our democracy falls the heaviest on the GOP members of the Senate  in screening judicial appointments to assure the independence of that branch.

We should revisit our school days civics classes and remember the beauty of our Constitution founded by those who had had their fill of being governed by an autocratic king.  The fear and abhorrence of autocracy was not just specific to our revolution in the 1776.. It is applicable to all wannabe autocrats who have plagued mankind since the beginning of civilization. Even in the memory of those of us living is the  natural tendency by strong men for power grabs initially using the nominal authority of constitutional democracies .It has happened  from Germany to Italy in the last century  to  Turkey and  Russia in the current era.

We have fought wars to protect our freedoms, but the danger comes now  from within our country,  Many are even willing to excuse Trump's admiration of autocrats and dictators so consumed they are by their desire for change, any change, from the past.

The fear is that Donald Trump seems to be  unschooled in public governance, depending on those he trusts  to guide his hands to make good on his campaign promises.  He is fueled by the glow of his rallies and the adoration of his followers. .  Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of our democracy before this all gets out of hand.

Via Reuters reposted by the Washington post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/trump-adviser-stephen-miller-says-the-presidents-power-will-not-be-questioned/2017/02/13/0f772184-f14f-11e6-9fb1-2d8f3fc9c0ed_video.html

http://forum.quoteland.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/99191541/m/836106145

How the suit suits both the White House and the GOP

The irony of the suit House Majority Leader John Boehner is filing against Pres. Obama on the issue of executive overreach is that it benefits both the moderate wing of the GOP and even  the White House to some extent. The likelihood is that in the long term the suit will fizzle like a fire cracker dud, lit up  for the 2014 midterms, but going nowhere later.

To recap what the suit is all about is that the President overstepped his authority and became a legislator when he delayed the mandate for a year for certain employers with  50 or more employees  to provide health insurance for their employees. The White House claims whether or not the provision is upheld by courts, the impact would not  impact many employers. The Census Bureau shows only 3.6% of firms employ 50 or more workers.

The GOP dominated House is playing whac-a-mole.   While decrying the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare)’s  burden on employers,  the President acted by ordering the delay to appease a protest from the business community and now the House suit wants to whack him for doing what they themselves had advocated. 

The suit will more likely not be settled by the Supreme Court until well after the 2014  midterms, so Court decisions themselves will not influence the 2014 midterms.   What are the chances it will go nowhere, anyway?    The Washington Post’s Wonkblog compiled some opinions and is worth a visit. "Boehner's problem is that the vast majority of lawsuits brought by members of Congress against the president on policy issues have been dismissed for lack of standing. “ and the Court will not hear the case per Lyle Denniston of the National Constitution Center as reported by Andrew Prokop in Vox.  The New York Times Jonathan Weisman notes it would truly damage the power of the executive branch.  The implication of Weisman’s remarks is it would damage power of any future GOP president as well,so the GOP shoul be careful what it wishes.

So why bother? It suits the GOP and Boehner’s  agenda because it rides the unpopularity of the ACA (aka Obamacare) and gives the GOP sustained ability to  dramatize their opposition.   Boehner’s suit supports the establishment side of his fractured party while giving the Tea Party talking points  to use  in place of advocating  impeachment when the likelihood of impeachment  is dim and not popular. Per a yougov.com poll,  only one third of Americans support initiation of impeachment proceedings. (Approval statistics fall along  party affiliation; independents are equally split)

Why should the Obama administration see an advantage? To dramatize the GOP as a “do nothing party of No” that opposes his acting even on issue on which they partly agree if it has Obama’s name on it. It also diverts attention from wannabe impeachers   and gives anti Obama passions another outlet to express themselves, one  that would be less damaging to the balance of powers.  

A version of this appeared in the www.skyhidailynews.com July 25, 2014

Data sources:

 http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/sep/18/2013.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/11/wonkbook-what-you-need-to-know-about-boehners-plan-to-sue-obama/

https://today.yougov.com/news/2014/07/14/one-third-americans-want-impeach-obama/