While Most Voters Care About Affordability, Trump Spits on the Constitution... Again

 

While Most Voters Care About Affordability, Trump Spits on the Constitution… Again

"The Republicans should say, 'We want to take over,'… We should take over the voting ... in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked and they're counting votes." 

 Donald Trump post, February 2nd

Unless and until Congress votes otherwise, the “Elections Clause in Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution establishes a framework for elections, delegating initial authority to state legislatures while granting Congress the power to adjust these rules. States decide the ‘Times, Places, and Manner’ of congressional elections, but Congress can change these arrangements. This dual approach allows for state-specific solutions and federal oversight… Federal oversight of elections under the U.S. Constitution involves an interplay of authority between national and state governments. Congress has taken action to ensure fair and equitable voting practices across the nation, particularly when state regulations fall short of protecting fundamental voting rights.” USConstitution.net. And there is no way that Congress could generate enough votes to implement Trump’s demand.

But as is exemplified throughout the Trump administration - defying court orders, delaying or reconfiguring statutes and court orders to say what the Trumpers want them to say - has been Trump 2.0 signature response… with a Constitution-twisting Supreme Court all too frequently siding with Trump. Thie above=quoted message means Trump has seen the Democratic victories in red state special elections, recent victories in statewide elections displacing GOP candidates handily and is acutely aware of his unpopularity among the general population, even as his MAGA base cheers him on… except for the embarrassment of the Epstein scandal which just getting worse.

According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence dropped by 9.7 points to the lowest it has been since 2004. Even as the GOP has outraised campaign funding for the midterms by a significant multiple of Democratic efforts, Trump knows that, without serious vote manipulation and rigging, Congress will no longer be under his control after any fair midterm election. From his crass gerrymandering effort to his causing voter rolls to be altered to eliminate likely Democratic voters (red states have cooperated, blue states have resisted), dumping “vote-by-mail” and preparing to seize voting machines and ballots – his FBI seizure of 2020 ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, tells you how far he is willing to go – Trump truly wants to cancel or rig the midterms in favor of his minions and sycophants in Congress.

While Americans are getting riled up at the scenes of ICE/CBP cruelty, shifting the tide away from Trump’s/Stephen Miller’s brutal sweeps and immigration tactics, affordability is Trump’s weakest suit. His federal agencies also have little credibility from the lower courts and most people polled. 52% of Americans question his mental stability, and even MAGA advocates who have fought for open carry gunowner rights have joined the NRA in decrying Trump’s statement that citizens who legally carry guns face being shot by ICE agents in areas of likely immigration sweeps.

We’re even seeing some movement in a few CEOs facing these horrible events, the economic chaos, that represents Trump 2.0… who are finally speaking up. Not with the force that should take place, but they are beginning to realize that without some containment of Trump’s international expeditions, his hard track to alienate allies, and his failing economic policies, their businesses will suffer at every level. Knowing that Trump punishes those who do not support him, these CEOs have been wary of speaking what needs to be said for fear (clearly justified) of government inquiries, loss of government contracts/approvals, targeted FBI investigations and denial of exemptions from tariffs and regulatory controls. Their employees want more than passive acceptance. The loss of immigrants impairs corporate growth. So little voices, particularly from Minnesota based major corporations, are starting to emerge. Not what should happen… but at least something.

There has been zero evidence of measurable voter fraud in any major election since 2016, even after numerous judicial challenges. But loser Trump cannot accept a system where he cannot win. Everything he is doing is either lining his own pockets with conflicted cash or foisting exceptionally inane or harmful policies on the American people. His clown-car of major political appointments seems to have eschewed neutrality, evidenced a willingness to side-step or reject constitutionally mandated choices, favoring appointees who prioritize Trump’s will over the law, even over common sense.

But after watching the stock market plunge at notions of his controlling the Federal Reserve, even Trump understood he could not appoint a puppet as the new Fed Chair. Shifting from an unacceptable choice, Trump moved to the lowest common denominator of acceptability choice, in the hopes of rapid Senate confirmation. The markets were confused at the appointment of Kevin Walsh, as LA Times columnist, Michael Hiltzik points out in his February 3rd editorial: “The best being said for Trump’s pick for Fed chair is that it could have been worse…

“On paper, Warsh’s credentials as Fed chair look decent enough. He served on the Fed’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011, as an economic assistant in the George W. Bush White House from 2002 to 2006 and before that as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley… Kevin Warsh… is lightly regarded by economists and expected to vote the way Trump wants on interest rates… The one thing that was clear about President Trump’s nomination of Kevin M. Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, announced Friday, is that the investment community didn’t really know what to make of it.

“The dollar rallied, even though Warsh has been agitating for more rate cuts, which tend to undermine the dollar’s value. Gold and silver spot prices plummeted, with the latter experiencing its worst day in 45 years, as fears about Trump’s attacks on the Fed’s independence eased — despite Warsh’s alignment with Trump’s disenchantment with the Fed’s management.”

But economists the world over know that if the Fed’s neutrality is compromised, if the Fed follows Trump’s dictates on cutting interest rates, the long-term impact will make the United States look like inflation ravaged Argentina. Consumer costs will skyrocket, credit and mortgage markets will be compromised… and even Republicans in Congress are wary. In the end, Trump truly seems to be unable to create stability, to maximize values for Americans, and is more obsessed with his own wasteful visions – particularly his monarch-mimicking architectural visions – than the welfare of all but the richest in the land and his own power/enrichment. This must end.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it’s time to draw a line in the sand, reject the rule of Trump law and to return to the rule of law for all.