“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely “

Lord Acton

 

President Trump is nakedly using tactics employed by Putin, Xi and other autocrats he so admires to exercise his insatiable quest for near total power;

  • Pay-to-play schemes to coerce some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals, corporations, law firms and media organizations to support his policies;
  • Weaponizing government agencies to assist in his revenge campaign against those he deems as political enemies or to have “mistreated” him;
  • Staffing government agencies with, often unqualified, personal loyalists;
  • Orchestrating legislation which can disenfranchise millions of otherwise eligible but likely opposition voters;
  • Using unfounded claims of a “national emergency” to bypass Congress and govern by decree (Executive Orders);
  • Fueling peoples’ fears and telling them who is to blame (Democrats, immigrants, ethnic and religious minorities) for their frustrations and unrealized expectations and goals;
  • Labeling people and organizations whose exercise of their Frist Amendment rights challenge his agendas as un-American criminals or traitors;
  • Rewriting history (from the slave trade, treatment of Native Americans, and contributions of African Americans and women to the January 6th insurrection); and
  • Adopting a Joseph Gobbels’ strategy of asserting and continually repeating “big lies” (specifically, and with zero proof, about a stolen 2020 election).

In just sixteen months Donald Trump has routinely ignored the Constitution, undermined America’s reputation as reliable partner in the defense of democratic nations, diminished its standing as the global posterchild for liberty and foremost defender of human rights, enabled bigotry and violence to become acceptable, and reversed much of the progress our nation had made toward the realization of ideals and aspirations proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence’s Preamble.

The president has routinely violated both his oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” and his Article II mandate to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”  Meantime, he, his family and his businesses have illegally and/or unconstitutionally enriched themselves to the tune of hundreds of millions to perhaps billions of dollars.

Although simply a White House “tenant” with a four-year, rent-free lease, Trump is unilaterally and unnecessarily redesigning the historic structure and its grounds.  He is having the Reflecting Pool (which he defaced by driving through it) repainted in what he calls a “patriotic blue”, and plans to erect a massive arch which will desecrate the gateway to Arlington National Cemetery.

His unconstrained narcissism is on display as he renames public building after himself, is directing his subordinates to add his image to both U.S. passports and currency, hopes to see his likeliness added to Mount Rushmore, and drapes huge banners featuring his scowling face on many federal buildings, scenes one might expect to see in Bejing, Pyongyang, Cairo, Moscow, Tehran, or other dictatorships.

In addition to Trump demanding public funding for the above projects, his unconstitutional war in Iran, a requested 140% increase in defense spending (presently around $950 billion, greater than the next ten nations’ defense spending combined), pardons for January 6th insurgents wiping out $2 billion in court ordered restitution payments, and his golf junkets and trips to attend sporting events (estimated at currently estimated at $100-plus million) are to be paid by American taxpayers.

Trump defends efforts demanding Republican-controlled states redistrict to help Republicans retain control of Congress, not to enact legislation to improve the lives of Americans (who would benefit from better and less expensive health care, affordable housing, lower energy and food costs, and a cleaner and safer environment, all of which have suffered since his inauguration) but, in his own self-serving words, “You gotta win the midterms ’cause, if we don’t win the midterms, … I’ll get impeached”.

His recently announced an unprecedented sweetheart “deal” with his Justice Department run by his former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, is pure corruption.  In it Trump agreed to withdraw his highly-dubious $10 billion lawsuit against the government he oversees in return for a $1.78 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to pay loyalists (likely including January 6th insurrectionists) whom he claims were mistreated (again without proof) by a “weaponized” Biden Justice Department and a permanent grant of legal and IRS audit immunity for himself his family members and his companies.

This agreement totally flawed and cannot be allowed to stand!

  • The Justice Department is supposed to represent America and Americans, not any single individual including a president.
  • Only Congress can appropriate monies for specific usages.
  • In America, no one, including a president, should be immune from the laws other Americans must obey.
  • Due to his prior work for Donald Trump, Blanche should have recused himself and had no direct or indirect input into this or any other agreement involving Donald Trump personally.

Trump’s “America First” mantra has been mere rhetoric.  Time and again, he has demonstrated he really doesn’t give a damn the country any more than the Constitution or even average Americans!  Donald Trump lives in his own fact-free, fantasy reality, only concerned about his own hide, power, public adulation, personal wealth, and his legacy.

In the darkest days of 1776, Thomas Paine wrote, “THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country;”, words on which cowardly Congressional Republicans should reflect deeply and remember they took an oath to the Constitution, not to Donald Trump!