The "Emergency" President & His Pliable Supreme Court

 

The “Emergency” President & His Pliable Supreme Court

Weakness Masquerading as Strength

Can you be clever but stupid at the same time? Can you pretend that you are strong and focused when you don’t have a clue what you are doing? Will your constituents follow you every time you cry “wolf,” noting a huge problem you can blame on others that only you can solve? Are you certain that you can distract your loyal flock, even on their most fundamental beliefs, every time you cannot deliver what you promised? The “clever” part of this equation is always twofold: always blame someone else for the issue (even if you are the source of the problem; demonization requires consistency) and always have at least a little truth in your exaggeration of the problem only you can solve. Or is Trump the very definition of woke weakness?

For those of you who fear a constitutional crisis looming, be advised we are well into that crisis and in the bitter process of doing away with our Constitution with the conniving conspiracy of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Along with Roberts’ unorthodox right-wing “contextual originalist” associate justices, he is able to repeal the plain meaning of that revered document and prior Supreme Court panels’ interpretative decisions… often with seriously flawed logic and miscites of relevant precedents. “Originalism” assumes an inflexible constitutional provision that must be interpreted within the context of society and technology in existence at the time of passage. Thus, in determining the application of gun control legislation applicable to AR-15 military-grade assault rifles, the Court can only apply the Second Amendment within the rules applicable to front-loading, single shot muskets and flintlocks. Not exactly what Jefferson and Madison had in mind when they drafted those early provisions in the hopes of a flexible and sustainable foundation to carry the country forward for years, if not centuries.

But the “only I can fix it” mantra, and the litany of “emergencies” sufficiently persuaded his MAGA cult that even if Trump needed dictatorial powers to effect his “cure,” that was acceptable to them. With an immigration policy that needed a fix since the last time it was amended (in 1986 during the Reagan years, with every effort to update thereafter rejected by the GOP, even on proposals advanced by a Republican president), the border became Trump’s campaign “emergency,” even as 2023/24 was finally resulting in far more deportations than Trump 1.0 could deliver. Trump won the 2020 election on a pledge to deport all those violent undocumented aliens, effectively suspending the Constitution, creating a de facto police state, at least to blue cities and states… with cruel results that devastated our farmers and small businesses. His heavy-handed methodology pushed his national disapproval levels way past his approval levels.

Trump had also produced an impossible-to-understand tariff chart that conflated tariff rates with unrelated balance of trade issues; he somehow found an “emergency” in every nation of the world’s economic relationship with the United States. Enough to usurp the congressional jurisdiction to set tariffs so he could fix them himself. The economy soon see-sawed into chaos, as Trump fired number-gathering bureaucrats for reporting what hundreds of federal workers produced… an expression of a failing job market. He only wanted numbers he liked to be reported. “Tariff liberation day” – with TACO vacillations unending – prices pushed upward quickly… but Trump’s flock “believed.” This tariff distraction was still not enough.

Trump was made aware that his name was in those “Epstein” files, so he amped up his distraction force with one more big move: even as the FBI’s statistics showed a huge decrease in violent crime (26%) in the nation’s capital, Trump declared a DC crime “emergency,” brought in federalized troops and a bevy of additional agents from various federal agencies, and attempted (but failed) to commandeer the local police force… all to eliminate criminals and the homeless from DC. Of course there was still crime in DC, and no one is “pro-criminal,” so he may have shocked at the initial support from DC’s mayor, who still insisted that the local police remain under her control but in cooperation with Trump’s forces. Trump suggested that he might replicate the use of the military in other blue cities as “crime” became his new political mantra. The crime rates in DC already were significantly less than they were in Trump 1.0.

His efforts at distraction needed a little more to turn off the demand for release of the “Epstein files” – more even after trying to fire the head of the Federal Reserve and even as the Speaker of the House (a MAGA Trump lackey) dismissed the House for summer recess so they could not even vote on releasing those files for months. Many in his MAGA flock were turning on him over “Epstein.” Yet there was another headline distraction playing into Trumps’ hands.

Trump is the master of exaggeration and blame and the most susceptible to flattery president this country has ever had. Getting an immediate ceasefire in the Russo-Ukraine war was another headline-grabbing “emergency” opportunity. Anchorage Alaska, August 15th: As we witnessed in this surprising meeting between Trump and “just call him Vladimir” Putin, the Russian leader’s false praise of his American counterpart, confirmation that the Ukraine War “would never have happened had Trump been President” when that invasion began, and that Trump lost a rigged 2020 election since the use of mail-in ballots always enables voter fraud, Putin’s flattery worked.

Most of us, and that does not include Donald Trump, know or should know that Russia is a has-been power with a now rather small economy – despite its size and population, Russia has only the 11th largest economy (even eclipsed by Italy), and like many third world nations, is based on resource extraction for its primary wealth. And while it still maintains an array of sophisticated weapons systems with nuclear capacity, so do India, Pakistan, N Korea, Israel and several European nations. Russia is not remotely the powerhouse it was in the Soviet era… but to Trump, the 1980s defined Russia in his mind… forever.

Within minutes of their initial contact, gone was the Trump bravado (“if there isn’t an immediate ceasefire, Russia will face serious consequences”), his repeated statements of disappointment at Putin’s recalcitrance faded into that old-boy bromance of yore… and as Putin was elevated by Trump to the world stage, he sat with Trump in the presidential limo, and was reverse flattered to the point of embarrassment. Putin got exactly what he wanted: a much-coveted delay (i.e., no ceasefire) with zero consequences, the royal treatment by a sitting American President and a suggestion that it would be Ukraine making the concessions to the invader. With European skeptics watching cowering and obsequious Trump, senior European leaders immediately indicated that they would now be joining Trump in his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on August 18th. Apparently, they feared a repetition of the Ukrainian President’s last White House humiliation.

But the “only I can fix it” mantra, and the litany of “emergencies” sufficiently persuaded his MAGA cult that even if Trump needed dictatorial powers to effect his “cure,” that was acceptable to them. With an immigration policy that needed a fix since the last time it was amended (in 1986 during the Reagan years, with every effort to update thereafter rejected by the GOP, even on proposals advanced by a Republican president), still unraveling further during the Biden years, even as the border was Trump’s campaign “emergency,” even as 2024 was finally resulting in far more deportations than Trump 1.0 could deliver. Trump won the 2020 election on a pledge to deport all those violent undocumented aliens, effectively suspending the Constitution, creating a de facto police state, at least to blue cities and states… with cruel results that devastated our farmers and small businesses. His heavy-handed methodology pushed his national disapproval levels way past his approval levels.

His earlier distraction efforts, concocting an impossible-to-understand chart that conflated tariff rates with unrelated balance of trade issues, he somehow found an “emergency” with every nation in the world; everyone’s economic relationship with the United States… enough to usurp the congressional jurisdiction to set tariffs so he could fix them himself. The economy see-sawed into chaos, a Trump fired number gathering bureaucrats for reporting what hundreds of federal workers produced… an expression of a failing job market. He only wanted numbers he liked to be reported. “Tariff liberation day” – with TACO vacillations unending – pushed prices upward quickly… but Trump’s flock “believed.” Was that “emergency” working?

Still, there was nothing he could do to could turn off the demand for release of the “Epstein files” – after accusing Barack Obama of treason, announcing mysterious and questionable tariff deals, trying to fire the head of the Federal Reserve and trying his best to distract the “Epstein” headlines, even as the Speaker of the House (a MAGA Trump lackey) dismissed the House for summer recess so they could not even vote on those files for months – Trump knew he needed an even bigger distraction.

Trump was made aware that his name was in those files, so his amped his distraction force with two moves: first, even as the FBI’s statistics showed a huge decrease in violent crime (26%) in the nation’s capital, Trump declared a DC crime “emergency,” brought in federalized troops and a bevy of additional agents from various federal agencies, attempted (but failed) to commandeer the local police force to eliminate criminals and the homeless from DC. Of course there was still crime in DC, and no one is “pro-criminal,” so he may have shocked at the initial support from DC’s mayor, who still insisted that the local police remain under her control but in cooperation with Trump’s forces. Trump suggested that he might replicate the use of the military in other blue cities as “crime” became his new mid-term election mantra. Even though the crime rates in DC were significantly less than in Trump 1.0. Emergencies were “everywhere,” a dictator’s dream.

I’m Peter Dekom, and even as Trump sandbags the vulnerable, even many of his own MAGA constituents about to lose their medical coverage to accommodate tax cuts for the rich, the one issue he needed to deflect the most was his failure to release the “Epstein files”… and it remains to be seen if Trump has finally found a distraction for that too.