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The end of the world as we know it [1]

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Date: 2025-03-17

I am not trying to be alarmist, but this is a serious question. How are we going to put humpty dumpty back together after the Orange Bumbler is gone?

My neighbor, who's a retired Federal employee, just returned to the beach for a break from a couple of months in DC where she runs a consulting business for Federal employees, coaching them on career paths, navigating the system, etc. The tales of shock are pretty epic, but that's not what we spent much time talking about. We talked about how rules have gone out the window, starting with DOGE. It is doing things without a shred of authority, and the things it is doing would be illegal if those who do have authority did it instead. She then brought up an unrelated development, deportations continuing in defiance of Court Orders.

She is a moderate, by the way, by which I mean she is a progressive who is skeptical of government centric approaches to problem solving. For example, I think she would support a public option, but not single payer. Our discussion of the Schumer debacle was interesting. She wasn't supportive of a shutdown, but she could see both sides of the issue. She could also see how Schumer's handling of the process warranted his removal as Senate Minority Leader. I think part of the reason she opposed a shutdown is out of concern for her clients.

That turned the discussion in a direction that eventually led to the topic of this diary. A shutdown would basically have unforseen consequences, and likely accelerated the dismemberment of our government. On the other hand at the current rate of dismemberment, we are looking at hitting rock bottom within a year. So, what difference would it have made if a shut down accelerated it by a few months? At any rate, there it was, the million dollar question. When, not if, but when we hit rock bottom, what's next?

Say Democrats win both Chambers of Congress in 2026, then what? Do they Impeach the Orange Bumbler, which would put Vance in office? Do they Impeach Vance too? Let's assume they have the votes, and ask what the basis would be. The Orange Bumbler is easy, but Vance? I know why I would impeach him. He will be as lawless as the Orange Bumbler, and our system can't sustain this sort of conduct much longer. Thanks to SCOTUS, Presidents are no longer deterred by legality, so pre-emptive Impeachment is the only recourse. Would that be abuse of the impeachment power and set a dangerous precedent. You betcha, but so what? Would it work? That depends on whether the Orange Bumbler has so corrupted the system by then that he can rally Executive branch agencies to pull off a coup.

So let's say his coup fails, and we now have a President Jeffries, Democratic control of both Chambers, and about a year left before the next election. You can bet the right will be hopping mad, motivated to vote, the economy a mess, and the media blaming Democrats. What should Democrats do to fix the system before they are out of power again? Reinstate criminal proceedings against the Orange Bumbler, expand and pack SCOTUS so criminal sanctions can be established as a deterrent to the next President, including disposing of the self-pardon issue? Prosecute the lot of those who acted illegally at his behest?

Whether it occurs in the way I just outlined, or via elections in 2028, the problem will be the same. if and whenever it transpires that Democrats regain power, the challenge will be cleaning up the mother of all messes left by a Republican regime. This time it won't be rebuilding an economy. It will be rebuilding the principle of rule of law, and the norms that made it possible for our liberal democratic form of governance to function.

Perhaps it's the lawyer in me, but step one has to be expanding and packing SCOTUS, and then filing test cases to overturn recent insane precedents from reproductive rights, regulatory authority, to money as political speech. Even then, the most crippling precedent from a systemic point of view, executive immunity, will be difficult to get at. DoJ will have recharge the Orange Bumbler unless of course a Democratic President is willing to take one for the team and break the law to serve as a test case.

I intended this to be a quick drive by consisting of the title, the question, 'how do we put humpty dumpty back together after the Orange Bumbler is gone', followed by a musical Coda, but I got carried away. Now I'm late for a meeting so no time to fix typos.

Oh, and the obvious musical coda…

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