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Yes this is really happening [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-05
The Brennan Center for Justice is a progressively minded nonprofit law and public policy insitute, part think tank, law firm and advocacy group at NYU’s School of Law. They are staffed by lawyers, clerks and law professors—people who know their sh*t. You can read more about them here:
en.wikipedia.org/…
Bottom line: if they say we have a problem, Houston, we have a problem.
Their latest weekly briefing pulls no punches.
Over and over, [the Trump Administration’s] actions violate the law — either the Constitution, or statutes, or both. Some moves may be designed to dare the courts to sanction these power grabs. More likely, it seems increasingly clear, they don’t care.
(My emphases)
Take Elon Musk’s lightning war on the U.S. Agency for International Development, the government’s principal body providing humanitarian assistance around the world. . . . Musk’s aides took over the agency. They froze most foreign aid, threatening the provision of medical care and the safe operation of refugee camps. They accessed its confidential data. They shut down its website. Staff was ordered to stay away from the office. . . . All this is illegal. USAID was established as an independent entity in a law passed by Congress in 1998. Congress could shut it down or move it, but a roving billionaire adviser to the president cannot.
These are the facts, and they are undisputed:
If presidents can decide when to spend and not spend all on their own, then Congress becomes little more than an advisory body to a monarch. Certainly that’s what the framers thought. Over and over, in just two weeks in office, Trump has flagrantly broken the law or violated the Constitution.
This is crucial:
All this is happening while the new president is making clear that the law will not be enforced when it comes to his own misconduct or that of his supporters. The Inauguration Day pardon of the January 6 insurrectionists was followed by a purge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with the top career officials removed and hundreds of agents now being probed because they worked on the prosecution of the Capitol rioters.
When one party must obey laws and the other does not, that’s what you call a one-party state. Fascism. Communism. Dictatorship. A slave state. We are not in Kansas anymore. The idea that old norms apply is out the window, thanks to this madman. Yes, like it or not we ARE in the midst of a Constitutional crisis.
As the article above concludes, the only question is, what are we going to do about it?
There have been lots of great ideas floated here and elsewhere. I’ve plugged this site before, as it’s a well-informed, well-researched resource for nonviolent opposition. It provides examples from history and from other countries which I find comforting (we’re hardly the first nation to experience this!), plus ways of keeping yourself sane. Check it out and support them if you can:
wagingnonviolence.org
I also recommend accepting that we are going to have to use what weapons we have to defend the institutions under attack. That might mean protesting or being vocal online, or simply donating funds to organizations that defend the climate, women’s reproductive rights, immigrant rights and so on. I think of it as the “Trump tax”—replacing federal funds that should be spent anyway. Think about your priorities and causes and choose a few--but stick with it, this is going to be a long battle.
One final word about protests. I have read all sorts of opinions here about whether or not to protest. Some are worried that protests will give the Evil One an excuse to declare martial law. My own 2c is that not protesting is an even worse choice. Not protesting is equivalent to giving him what he wants without a fight. Protests also show other Americans and the rest of the world that we are NOT OK with this madman’s actions. That is super important.
I might add that appeasement and rolling over were 1) not effective pre-WWII, and 2) are not respected today. How do you want history to see us?
I joined this site during the runup to the 2004 election. I never dreamed that nearly twenty years later it would become so central to the life of our democracy. We are the best resource we have. Be kind to each other, treat each other with respect, and never give up!
With love,
oscarsmom
(oscarsmother on Bluesky)
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