In the wake of the January 6 riot at the Capitol, it looked like Trump was done. Democrats and Republicans condemned inflammatory rhetoric and violence. Yet, even though that was enough of a visceral scare to Congress to bring a second impeachment against Trump, there were still enough. Republican Senators who didn’t support conviction.
During the Biden administration, efforts to hold Trump accountable and ensuring mechanisms to prevent a future authoritarian executive were stymied. During the last Congress, Democratic control of the Senate was tempered by Manchin and SInema’s maverick positions kept the filibuster in place. The Republican party has primarily stood for opposing whatever democrats propose, more than any actual policies. Protecting democracy not being something that Republicans would be willing to do, even if it had the potential to keep the sitting Democratic president in check.
Trump-friendly courts have issued rulings that lay the foundation for a system where TFG is above the law and prosecutors do not have the authority to pursue TFG. Trump was dealt the most favorable hand possible with Judge Cannon’s selection to preside over the classified documents trial where she’s been able to to slow and scramble the prosecution of that case enough to avoid any pre-election trial, if not any accountability. The Supreme Court not only managed to delay the trial in the January 6 prosecution, but also created a system where a President has broad immunity over any official act.
So much of our system is based on norms, rather than laws. Sometimes, the law has been adapted to codify norms, such as the 22nd Amendment. During his presidency, Trump tested the bounds of the ways norms and regulations constrain the application of power. After Trump realized that his base doesn’t care if he acts “Presidential” or not and conservative think tanks have spent the last few years drafting a blueprint for applying power to bring about a white Christian nationalist theocracy, there is no reason to believe that a second Trump presidency will be anything but a disaster for anyone who isn’t a white supremacist or be willing to play ball and do business with the kakistocracy.
And now we stand on the precipice of a dangerously close election. Joe Biden is a fine President, but this is a job that visibly ages the people who serve in it and Biden is the oldest person to serve as President. And whatever the causes (fatigue, illness, stutter, dealing with a loud narcissist across the stage) it was not a reassuring performance. (His appearances over the last couple of weeks have been reassuring.)
Trump will pull the US out of NATO and align with Putin and Orban. Trump will unreservedly support whatever Netanyahu wants to do in Gaza. I’d suspect that it is highly likely that results in the current hostilities in Ukraine and Gaza to break out into larger regional wars and an isolationist, anti-immigrant Trump administration standing back and standing by while a Russia-EU war or a regional conflict in the Middle East. Anti-abortion laws will restrict women’s rights to bodily autonomy. A post-Chevron regulatory state will favor whoever the administration decides in in favor.
It is frustrating to think about potential stakes of this election and fear that all that Democrats have to offer to counter the end of America is “donate money” and “vote harder”! And since there appear to be no institutional responses left to save the day, all that we can do is vote. I believe that there are significantly more people in this country who oppose Project 2025 and support women’s rights to control their own bodies than who support Trumpism, but the stakes are high and the consequences dire.
