The heart of the American experiment in democracy, indeed, the heart of civilization generally, is respect for law and order. Various empires throughout history have kept “law and order” through force or threat of force, but in a Constitutional democracy the law, and the scope of authority of those who make the laws, and limits on those who enforce the laws, are carefully spelled out.
The current presidential regime is clearly considers itself to be above the law.
Encouraging and promoting lawlessness
The first, most obvious, and most outrageous example of Trump’s utter disregard for the law is the insurgency at the Capitol building on January 6th, 2021. Donald Trump amassed the crowd, incited a riot, egged them on, and refused to intervene to stop the violence for 187 minutes. The slogan “stop the steal” really meant “don’t count the legitimate votes” and “keep the loser of the election in office.”
For years afterward, as the normal processes of the law brought more than 1,500 individuals to justice, Donald Trump continued to call the insurrectionists “heroes,” “patriots,” “warriors,” and “hostages.” Trump has even called this act of domestic terrorism “a day of love.”
Of course, the ultimate betrayal of law and order occurred on the first day of Trump’s second term of office when he pardoned everyone (over 1,500 individuals) convicted of any offense at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
Corrupting the law
It gets worse. Now the Trump Justice Department is demanding a list of any member of the FBI who participated in any of the January 6th investigations in any way “at any time.” The Justice Department email about this comes right out and threatens these people with “personnel actions.” This, of course, is govspeak for “lose their jobs.”
In other words, the coming days and weeks will see a literal purge of any career law enforcement official who is seen, accurately or inaccurately, as being “disloyal’ to Trump. This is a Soviet Russia level of corruption.
Trump also wants to appoint patently-unqualified, loyal toadies to critical positions of power in the Federal government. To nominate Kash Patel, a man with a published “enemies” list, a man who hates the FBI, to lead the FBI is a slap in the face to the men and women who have faithfully served our country in law enforcement for decades. Patel actually lied under oath multiple times during his Senate confirmation hearing!
Ignoring the law
Many times during Trump’s first two weeks back in office it has been made clear that when Trump or his people do not like a law, they simply ignore it.
When Trump fired at least 17 independent inspectors general, at multiple Federal agencies, by email on January 24th, he conveniently forgot that such a move requires a 30-day advance notice to Congress. Inspectors General are expected to be independent of political pressure. Their job is to see that the law is enforced and that money is spent appropriately. (Of course, Trump can’t have that!).
There are laws that govern asylum for immigrants. Trump has suspended them without consulting Congress. Trump has fired two Democratic officials on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a member of the National Labor Relations Board, even though their Congressionally-defined terms of office are not up.
He believes HE is the Boss, HE is in charge, and everyone in the Federal Government should be loyal. and obedient, to HIM!!! (Never mind that antiquated oath that says “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution”).
Will Congress defend its own Constitutional role?
The founders anticipated that there would be a struggle for power between the executive and the legislative branches of their new government. To reign in the possibility of a despot becoming President, they specifically gave the power to make the laws, and the power to spend money, to the Congress. They believed that the Congress would be more responsive to the people than the President might be.
Their theory of “Balance of Power” is now being severely stress tested. At question is whether the House and Senate will find the courage to stand up to this rogue President and disallow his illegal, and in some cases even unconstitutional, usurpation of power – and his blatant “dumbing down” of Federal departmental leadership.
Given that both Houses of Congress are in Republican hands, I find it hard to be optimistic.
Sources:
Thompson, et al, “187 Minutes of Dereliction,” Final Report of the Select Committee (Chapter 7), Govinfo.gov.
Tom Dreisbach, “Donald Trump calls Jan. 6 a “day of love.” Here are the facts.” NPR, October 29, 2024.
Ryan J. Reilly, “Trump pardons roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack,” NBC News, January 20, 2025.
Even Perez, et al, “Trump DOJ demands list of thousands of FBI agents, others who worked on Jan. 6 and Trump investigations for possible firing,” CNN, January 31, 2025.
Nikki McCann Ramirez, “The biggest moments from Kash Patel’s testy FBO confirmation hearing,” Rolling Stone, January 30, 2025.
Katherine Faulders, et al, “Trump fires 17 independent watchdogs at multiple agencies in late-night move,” ABC News, January 25, 2025.
Andrea Hsu, “Trump fires EEOC and labor board officials, setting up legal fight,” NPR, January 28, 2025.
Aaron Zitner, “Trump kicks aside Congress with sweeping claims of presidential power,” The Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2025.
When the wicked rule, the people mourn. We see it more easily with Trump but it’s also in our state (and many others where Republicans have supermajorities). It manifests itself in legislation, as with restricting voting or taking away free speech with unions. However, it also shows up in government officials using their office for personal gain or refusing to comply with other parts of the government. A perfect example is Utah’s former AG ignoring records requests which finally came to light showing these exact things and the current AG office refusing to do anything. Finally, the same attitude shows up in the people. Just drive on the freeway at the speed limit and count how many people pass you, some going really fast.
Yet the Church’s newspaper won’t editorialize any of this. This means the Church is pro-Trump! Get used to it.
It is necessary to understand what Silicon Valley – the tech billionaires in it – are doing. For them Trump is a useful idiot. See my website lead story lewjeppson.com.