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A Terrifying Scenario; Democratic Backbone? and the Pope [1]
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Date: 2025-02-11
As we continue to confront the very real constitutional crisis caused by the blatant lawlessness of the Trump administration, orchestrated by the masterminds of Project 2025, and supported by the cowardice and corruption of a complicit Republican Party, some strong messages made their way to our news feeds recently.
The courts remain our best hope right now to thwart four-time indicted, twice impeached, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, insurrection inspirer, wannabe fascist dictator, convicted felon, President Donald Trump’s attempt to destroy our government and rule of law and install himself as an authoritarian president.
So far, the courts have come through in the form of temporary injunctions against various Trump actions. The issues now advance to hearings before judges, with our historically corrupt Supreme Court constituting the end game that will determine if we’ll have a country left when all this is over.
In that regard, attorney George Conway painted a terrifying scenario during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, as reported on the Raw Story website. He theorized what would happen if Trump simply refused to obey a court order.
For instance, a federal judge said Monday that the White House has defied his order to release billions of dollars in federal grants, the New York Times reported. This is the first time that a judge had ruled that the Trump administration is disobeying a judicial mandate.
You can read the Times report here.
In a possible tell, Vice President J.D. Vance said that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” (Here we should note that the courts absolutely have the right to determine whether government or anyone is violating the law and U.S. Constitution by its actions.)
Noting Vance’s claim, Conway predicted Trump would simply ignore the courts’ orders to stop and keep doing his illegal acts. This, he said, could lead to a constitutional showdown that could end U.S. democracy.
“There’s no reason that this government that has decided not to obey the laws and the Constitution of the United States is going to obey a court order …,” Conway said. He explained that it would be the job of the U.S. Marshals Service to take someone into custody for contempt of court or to otherwise enforce the order.
The U.S. Marshals Service is under the U.S. Department of Justice, which reports to Trump. Our new attorney general/Trump puppet Pam Biondi has already been installed at its helm by the Senate.
“What’s going to happen here, mark my words, is that at some point, they are going to basically tell the United States Marshals Service, do not enforce any of these orders, we will not obey them, and you are not to enforce them,” Conway said. “If the executive branch does not comply with court orders and makes a point of saying that we will not comply with court orders, the rule of law, as far as the federal government is concerned, is over …”
Conway said that if that happens, “The only recourse is to go out on the streets and march. … The only recourse will be for people to get out and say, we want the rule of law, we want a government that obeys the law, and that’s going to require people to go out on the streets, because that is, there is no other alternative.”
Like I said, terrifying.
You can read the Raw Story here.
***
Meanwhile, in the U.S. House of Representatives, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is talking about playing hardball.
Hardball? Democrats? I know, it’s easy to be skeptical. Still, the Hill is reporting that Jeffries has promised to use a possible government shutdown as leverage to fight Trump’s efforts to gut federal programs.
Jeffries “suggested” Democrats will oppose any federal spending bill that doesn’t explicitly prevent Trump from freezing, slashing, or otherwise altering various programs, including Medicaid, the Hill said.
“I have made clear to House Republican leadership that any effort to steal taxpayer money from the American people, end Medicaid as we know it or defund programs important to everyday Americans, as contemplated by the illegal White House Office of Management and Budget order, must be choked off in the upcoming government funding bill, if not sooner,” Jeffries wrote in a letter to House Democrats.
The letter laid out a 10-part plan to combat Trump’s unprecedented unilateral actions. Jeffries also said Democrats want to reform our immigration system as Trump vows to step up deportations.
It’s important to remember that for all of Jeffries’ talk, Democrats remain in the minority in the House. How far the Republicans go will be determined by how well they can keep their slim majority intact.
You can read the Hill’s story here.
***
How bad is our mess here, even the pope can’t keep himself from weighing in on it.
Pope Francis called Trump’s mass deportation plans a “major crisis,” according to a story on the National Catholic Reporter website about his “sweeping letter” to U.S. bishops.
“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution, or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” the Pope wrote.
“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” he added.
Pope Francis also rejected Trump’s efforts to characterize migrants as criminals.
“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of migrants with criminality,” he wrote.
The Pope “explicitly rejected” Vance’s (Him again?) attempts to use Catholic theology to justify the administration’s immigration crackdown. (Will this idiot ever learn to keep him mouth shut?) Vance is a recent convert to Roman Catholicism (Is it too late to give him back to wherever he came from? There should be some kind of warranty here.)
Vance said on Fox News (Where else?) that “You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”
Vance attempted to defend the administration’s migration crackdown by posting on social media to “Just google ‘ordo amoris.’”
(So, we did, and found it’s a Latin phrase meaning rightly ordered loves. I have a feeling that doesn’t give you license to hate immigrants, call them “vermin,” claim they’re “poisoning the blood of our country,” round them up like animals, put them in concentration camps, and ship them out of the country like so many pieces of garbage. But what do I know? I’m an ex-Catholic.)
The Pope didn’t mention Vance by name when he rejected his interpretation of Catholic theology.
“The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,” that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception,” he wrote.
Nice try, J.D. Really nice try.
You can read the National Catholic Reporter story here.
***
There’s just so much shit happening in our country right now. It’s really hard to keep up, but we have to.
They’re trying to rob us blind and take our country from us. Don’t let them. Stay informed. Keep active. And remember: If J.D. Vance says it, then it’s a bullshit lie.
Even the pope will tell you that.
***
Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Please share and subscribe for free via email on its home page.
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