While it's true we need to figure out how to restrain the Executive, - we must remember that in this case the Executive was handed the power by Congressional Republicans. Whatever changes we make to reign in the Executive must include a way of holding those who abandon their constitutional obligations in Congess. It must be more than elections. Some sort of formal trials and punishments must be in the mix.
If we prosecuted white collar crime rigorously, with steep fines and real prison sentences, it would disappear in a few years. Rich people have an aversion to accountability, and the prospect of actual incarceration would give them pause.
The Supreme Court gleefully declared that life imprisonment was a fitting fate for a black man whose "third strike" was stealing some videos for his kids.
Now is the time for us to unite and stand up against Trump's crimes and his enablers on SCOTUS pretending to have the power to make fake law. Everybody who is anybody (who has the potential ability to prosecute Trump) should prosecute Trump under federal or state criminal law. Nothing SCOTUS said in Trump v. United States should deter any such prosecution.
SCOTUS's so-called judgment in Trump v. United States was essentially a mere head fake. SCOTUS said Presidents have absolute immunity when they perform "core" duties and they might have immunity when they perform "official" duties. But nothing for which Trump was being prosecuted could even possibly have been either a "core" or an "official" duty. Everything for which Trump was being prosecuted was a violation of his oath and our Constitution.
The People established and emphasized in Article II that we vested in the President only "executive Power." The People also emphasized the limits of all executive power. For the most part, "executive Power" obviously and necessarily means the power and duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." But the laws might not cover every situation. So the People established and emphasized (and every president at the start of every term expressly acknowledges with his oath of office) that the president must "faithfully execute the Office of President," which necessarily means fulfilling the duty to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." That's it. That's the extent and limit of all executive power under our Constitution. No president was given any power to do anything that wasn't necessary and proper to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution.
Nothing for which Trump was being prosecuted (or for which he should be prosecuted in the future) consisted of fulfilling his duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" or of fulfilling his duty to "preserve, protect and defend [our] Constitution." Trump can and should be prosecuted for the crimes he has committed, and nobody should be even slightly deterred by any pretense by any SCOTUS justice to the contrary.
Alas, if it were only so. But wealthy people will always feel they can work the system, whatever it is, and have the money to throw at their illegal ventures to keep them in play.
I think the majority of people are getting very frustrated with and intensely opposed to the idea that the rule of law only applies to regular folks, and not the elites.
I think JP is realistic. There's a difference between wanting the wealthiest to face justice and the actual reality. It's not as though most of the founding fathers were poor. Hamilton was born poor but married into $$$$$$.
Money can be methamphetamine for the ego. It does not affect all the same way, but in the worst cases, focused love of money can induce pure evil. Lincoln was known for his working class origin.
Yes, it's the thing I was sure would turn people against TFG and his cronies: the blatant display of the different systems of justice, one for the rich and one for the rest of us.
And also shed accountability, from speeding tickets to great public harms. Some, such as Trump, glory in perceived impunity, and break many rules just because they can.
Both Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans were handed power by FOX News, which still totally dominates RW media, the place where 85% of conservatives go for some/most/all of their news. FOX powers both Trump and the GOP.
FOX--unlike it's smaller competitor Newsmax--has even refused to report on virtually *any* Epstein Scandal news; while continuing to portray Trump as some sort of divinely sanctioned business genius who is utterly infallible. Which is why Trump still has a 92% favorability rating with the GOP base; and is why both he and every single GOP politician regularly lies about virtually everything--because they know FOX will back their lies.
Until or unless FOX News and RW media can be required to tell the truth, and use actual journalistic standards in their "reporting"; like 2+ sources on a story, timely retractions, etc.--our democracy is in mortal peril.
Your concise statement hit the nail on the head. Why blame it all on trump? Wishful thinking didn't get him elected. Idiots did. And then again??? The lack of critical thinking afflicting a large percentage of Americans is gobsmacking. And the rest of us are left to struggle with the consequences....
Don't underestimate the Republican skill for propaganda. Brainwashing the Right is something they've worked tirelessly on for decades, and precisely the reason for the "They're eating the dogs and cats!" remark during a televised national debate.
So when Trump lies about something--like that only foreigners are paying the import tariffs--the Base is programmed to think, "Oh, that can't be right. Yet it must be part of some new 3D chess move by our Blessed-by-Jesus President."
I don't believe the propaganda is working anymore. I heard a dyed-in-the-wool MAGA who had voted for trump three times go on a call-in radio talk show and apologize for his actions. The Epstein files and mass deportations are doing him in....
If even 10% of MAGA votes Dem; and another 15-20% are too disheartened to go to the polls, 2026 will be a sweep. The House will flip--likely strongly. But the Senate is still a tossup.
One of my many revenge fantasies is seeing the entire Murdoch family in Guantanamo. Interestingly, I haven't seen mention of them in the Epstein files yet, but I definitely consider them part of the Epstein class (or lack thereof).
It might be brainwashing and propaganda, but this is what a large portion of the population wants. It feeds their grievance and confirms their world view. They don't care about reality, they want to feel comfort and outrage according to how they define the world. Fox has a symbiotic relationship and so do politicians.
Fox could turn into NPR but they would lose all their viewers. Someone else would take over their ad revenue to cater to the MAGAs. For now we still have this thing call freedom of speech.
There's no way to get to these people. Maybe reality like floods and drought, economic ruin, and other real-world catastrophes will land on their doorstep but then they'll still blame liberals and Democrats. The only way is the defeat them at the polls.
I agree that Congressional Republicans have effectively abandoned any effort to control thls president and any real effort to govern. Almost every Republican member should be removed for dereliction of duty! I also believe the American electorate deserves a share of the blame. Trump's first term was an exercise in chaos and ended with an attempted coup to remain in power. In my opinion, these facts should have precluded any possibility of re-election.
Why are we paying any of these people? It’s OUR money they so blithely spend. I think the entire public has become divorced from this reality. I keep hearing that we should call “our” representatives. However, aren’t they all, in some fashion, accountable to us as our employees? Everyone should be screaming at Schumer and Jeffries about what we want/expect. They work for US!!
Jen's article raises important points, but it misses by a mile a crucial, self-evident truth. Hamilton's irrational optimism hardly proves that "[]the Framers did not imagine the sort of restraints necessary to contain a manipulative narcissist wielding an enormous propaganda apparatus and determined to break laws and norms."
The people who wrote and ratified our Constitution were influenced far more by our Constitution than they were by Hamilton's irrational optimism. That's why the People in Article II expressly established and emphasized that "[t]he President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of" any "high Crimes" or high "Misdemeanors," including (but not limited to) "Treason" and "Bribery." Clearly, the people who wrote and ratified our Constitution did much more than merely imagine that we might elect a president who would be so vile as to abuse his position and our trust to commit even treason and bribery.
The fault lies not with the people who wrote and ratified our Constitution. The fault lies with those who followed them, including us. We simply don't see and we simply haven't done what they expressly empowered us to do. Article I Section 8 emphasized (in 1788) that "Congress shall have Power" to "make all Laws" that we consider to "be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution [Congress's enumerated] Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."
The people who wrote and ratified our Constitution vested in Congress the power to impeach presidents and try them. So the people also necessarily vested in Congress the power to make laws requiring such impeachment and trial to be conducted very much like criminal trials--governed by the rule of law rather than by mere politics.
The people who wrote and ratified our Constitution vested in the President the power to grant pardons, so the people also necessarily vested in Congress the power to make laws restricting the pardon power, e.g., to preclude a pardon for any conduct for which the President, himself, could be impeached, convicted and removed from office. We also need laws that require as much transparency about payments for pardons (potential bribery) as we have regarding other forms of political payments, e.g., political contributions.
Article I also secured to the People the power to replace the entire House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate every 2 years if they fail to make laws that we consider to be necessary and proper. We the People need to wake up and stop passing the buck. It's not the Framers' fault that we are where we are. It's our own fault.
I kind of agree! I recently read that monsters will be monsters; they do what monsters do (read malignant narcissist here). But the others have a choice.
Exactly. The laws are useless without strong enforcement mechanisms. Today, we have a perfect storm: a criminal, egocentric and revenge-obsessed "leader" enabled by Congress, the courts, and the rich to do as he pleases with no consequences. I'm not sure there's a cure for that sine the law seems to be without enforcement mechanisms and voters put a criminal back in power.
Started to lay out exactly this in much less civil tones. Thanks for making critical points. When I look back at origins in Congress, it seems that it began when Gingrich clearly told Clinton that while Dems' aim was to help the people; for Republicans it was about getting and holding power and then considering why they were there. He then pushed for voting against any bill sponsored by a Democrat. Then Mitch McConnell brought same to the Senate.
BosPhotoGuy, you're right. We need to push our representatives in Congress to enact better laws to better protect us from purported public servants who knowingly violate their oaths of office.
"We the People of the United States" to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves" did in June 1788 "ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (Preamble). The People in Article VI established and emphasized "the supreme Law of the Land," emphasized the duty of Congress to make federal "Laws" in "Pursuance" of our "Constitution," and established and emphasized that all legislators and "all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of [all] States" are always "bound" in all conduct "to support [our] Constitution."
Regarding that last clause, the People established and emphasized that all legislators and "all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution." For some reason, no law (as far as I know) makes it a crime for any of our purported public servants to knowingly violate their oaths.
In contrast, many laws make it a crime to violate another oath that you or I might take. That crime is called "perjury" and federal law (18 U.S. Code § 1621) says it is committed by a person "having taken an oath [ ] in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath." That law permits us to be punished for committing that crime by being "fined" or "imprisoned not more than five years, or both."
It's high time much more was done by Congress to make sure that they and all executive and judicial officers respected and honored their oaths or faced consequences for knowingly violating their oaths.
They definitely didn't think that the combination of impeachment and elections would suffice. The proof is in what they put in our Constitution (the paramount law of "the supreme Law of the Land"). Please consider my comment below (or above) responding to Jen re: what I called "Hamilton's irrational optimism."
Great piece, but one thing not focused on was the role of the Electoral College in giving us anti-democratic, uniquely bad presidents such as Trump I and W. The Interstate Voter Compact only needs a few more states to sign on to negate this archaic and harmful institution.
I think the problems with our system of government go much much deeper than getting rid of the EC. JR identifies many violations of the Constitution but the law is toothless in enforcing them and there's nothing to prevent the Executive from ignoring the courts. She identified some of the holes but as Trump has demonstrated with a Congress under his power, he can do anything and a lot of things unanticipated in the law.
The Congress itself has become totally dysfunctional and hasn't passed a budget on time since 1997 and can't pass any meaningful legislation. No other country has a government like ours because they all fell into autocracy and kleptocracy like the way ours is going.
I also like David Frum’s recommendation to make require the release of tax reports for any Federal officer and their spouses and children if they receive secret service protection.
A fundamental problem that gave rise to Don the Con is that, accurately or not, a non-trivial slice of the population has ceased to believe that the government is working for the common good. And if that's true, they're ready to vote for someone who says essentially that they will burn down the house, without any thought (or at least an honest discussion) of what will replace it.
FDR put it best when he said "people who are hungry and out of a job (to which I'll add 'and have given up hope that through their own honest efforts they can change that') are the stuff of which dictatorships are made"
we know it....when will MAGA understand he NEVER intended to help them...he just used them to get elected. will their racism and stupidity keep them from ever getting it ? will they put together the money cut from SNAP and Medicaid is being used to set up NAZI style camps in america ? tax cuts for rich...everything Xcept policies to make their lives better ?
And so this unhappy segment of our society elected Donald Trump, who literally tore down a part of the White House and hasn't done a thing for them of benefit: No better healthcare plan, no lower prices for anything (housing and insurance included). Were they to take the blinders off, they would see that they have been sorely used.
That's right, though there are also parts of the MSM that have been bought by "friends of Trump" or want to curry favor for their own business interests. Take the LA Times and the Washington Post as examples of this.
That was Germany after WW1, and the subsequent demands which were imposed on the country in retribution. Adolf Hitler then rose to power with promises of “making Germany great again”, and that was what the broken German people needed to hear, a leader they thought would give them back their national pride.
We must have a Constitutional Mechanism to bring a lawless President to heel. Starting wars without the consent of Congress? Tearing down 1/3 of the White House? Plastering his name all over US Government buildings? Turning the DOJ into the legal retribution branch of tRump Inc? Destroying the CDC? We need a nimble Constitutional/Legal way to stop such a president in his tracks and force adjudication on him - while in office. And if he is adjudicated to have violated a new, improved Constitution then he needs to be out. Simple as that and removal should entail removal of the whole regime he brought into office with him.
I think the frustration for many of us is the assumption that we already had/have such mechanisms in place and no one is brave enough to implement them.
Agreed. In the absence of people who have a backbone and a conscience, even the best constitution on earth is little more than empty words on aging parchment.
The mechanism to fix the problem is there already, but there we've elected a Congress who doesn't have the guts to employ it. And the shortcomings are assisted by an out of control SCOTUS
My suspicion is that if impeachment and conviction were determined by secret ballot, then Don the Con would get the heave-ho, because all Democrats would support it, and you might actually find enough Repugnican'ts to get a House majority and 2/3 of Senators to vote them, respectively. But the Repugnican'ts in Congress have checked their conscience, their backbone, and their gonads at the door when they signed on to be crew on the SS Drumpf and he has his own party intimidated.
Exactly! Impeachment and the 25th Amendment are political solutions which simply don’t work. We need a Constitutional change to add teeth which could give us a legal remedy for a lawless president.
there's no reason to even contemplate impeachment and removal or the 25th amendment because then we'd be left with VANCE! the only offramp for this abomination is in the next two elections. even this november seems to be a lifetime away.
Look no further than the Bondi-Blanche-Trump Department of Justice. The enforcer is in bed with the criminal. This department was what we assumed would always do its job honorably. We were proven wrong.
We already have that-- it's called impeachment and conviction. The problem is that given the current degree of polarization, and the requirement for 2/3 of the Senate to favor conviction, then nobody will ever get convicted.
Back when I read the WaPo (before it became Bezos' personal rag) they had a column by a Harvard academic named Danielle Allen. She wrote a piece on some work to get senior political scientists/constitutional experts to list some things they think should be changed if the Constitution gets re-written.
One of those changes was to make it harder for the House to impeach, but easier for the Senate to convict once impeached. I think the suggestion was a 60% vote of the HOuse (currently it's a simple majority), and a 60% vote of the Senate (currently 2/3)
Could we have a secret ballot vote during impeachment trials in the House and Senate? Would that make it easier on those who fear for their lives among other forms of retribution?
Good question! I don't think there's anything in the Constitution specifying how the vote is to be taken, and the Constitution does say that each House of Congress shall make its own rules. A session with Google says the Constitution also says that if 20% of the Senators vote to record the votes in a ledger then that's how the votes shall be recorded. So Google concluded that while it's theoretically possible, it's never going to happen.
Not a bad idea out of hand, but as noted below, it remains in a fraught political situation. Those politics got us into this quagmire. It is going to take new ideas to get us out. Making proportional representation the law of the land would aid in that.
It all starts with tax returns. The RNC will forever be to blame for the mess we're in. If Trump didn't want to disclose his returns, he should have been immediately disqualified. End of story. If Democrats can reclaim majorities in both houses, they can make some bold moves to keep us on the right track. I don't know what it takes to eliminate the Electoral College or unfair representation in the Senate — it's absurd that California gets the same amount of senators as Wyoming, the Dakotas or New Mexico — but that would be a huge step. Term limits for SCOTUS and making them operate under the stanards of every other federal judge would help. Maybe increasing the size of the court, too. Adding D.C. and PR as states would be fair to both of them and help. We have to get big money out of politicis, and gerrymandering House districts too. That's in a perfect world, I know. But rigid political idealogy has to be cast from our political system. We need two functioning parties, a yin and yang, but we don't need two warring parties. I know we can survive this mess, because Trump and his goons are too stupid. But as usual, Jen is right. We need to make sure there is never again an attempt on our democracy.
the one thing I disagree with is changing the senate. I think it is genius to have given each state 2 senators. otherwise The USA would be run by Calif completely. The house as you know goes by population and gives more members to Calif etc. which is OK because when it comes to deciding evertyhing, each state has an equal say.
Each state has two senators. And it lets North and South Dakota, and Montana, Vermont, and New Hampshire to control the Senate. The minority hijacks all the legislation.
the way I understand it is the house passes whatever crap they want to pass...house is given reps by population and it varies every 10 years per population. crap goes to senate and each state,having 2 senators, has equal standing to pass the crap or vote it down.
While it will never get reversed, I still contend that Trump did not win in 2024. He was guaranteed a win by Musk and co. to the tune of $240 million. Musk was promised access to way too much private information about the government and American citizens.
Eliminating the Electoral College should have happened after 2000 election, when Bush won and Gore didn't demand a recount in FL, and Sandra Day O'Connor voted her party.
I think that the Supreme Court should not be appointed by the President. It's way too partisan, especially when the candidates appointed lie under oath. I also think it should be equal Democrat and Republican with the Chief Justice the deciding vote. That would get politics out of it.
The biggest problem we have to deal with is Congress. Congress will never vote for restraints on itself. They will never vote on "term limits".
And I don't know how to get $ out of the equation. Ban all corporate donations? They will still find a way.
Honor and truth have taken a vacation with this government. It will take a long time to achieve both ever again.
"I think that the Supreme Court should not be appointed by the President" It takes confirmation by the Senate to seat a Justice of the Supreme Court, but when you have a partisan Senate, this is what we get. We also had inadequate action on the lies told during confirmation hearings, or the bending of rules that seated the last two Justices.
A vast improvement could be made simply having a larger SCOTUS and random assignment of 9 justices to each case. Put at least 13 (one per district) but maybe as many as 19 on the court. Whichever 9 are assigned, they write decisions and dissents as today, but those outcomes are binding. No en banc follow-ups.
Today cases are engineered by monied interests to end up in front of the supremes for the purposes of obtaining or overturning a specific precedent. If there's no certainty about the ideological leanings about the justices to hear any given case, there would be fewer manipulations and more emphasis on the merits of the arguments.
John Roberts has destroyed the Equal Rights Law and Civil Rights Law of 1964. That has been his sole purpose and his contribution to Project 2025 and the Federalist Society. He has destroyed it has taken away Jefferson’s idea of equal rights for all people.
The way we choose individuals for office must be done without the benefit of external money from outside groups or individuals with the power to buy their candidate. In fact, the Government should bear the cost for this campaigns and they should be short. We don’t need another Regime Leader Trump campaigning for four years. Citizens must be educated as to the importance of the offices they are choosing candidates for. These are not spots on a home entertainment show or a reality TV show: these offices have real impact. Persons who have been effective in raising money from PACs, billionaires, Tech Broligrchs, etc., have turned out to be compromised, spineless, captive servants of this money. We also need to figure out what to do when the occupants of different elective and non elective office refuse to perform the duties of their office. Mike Johnson, for example, has been running a tax payer funded vacation club for himself and his cronies. Chairman Roberts over at $COTUS has been running a Price is Right show. There are many opportunities for We the People to recover this nation and to have a rebirth of freedom and to put this evil time behind us.
Jen’s Gravamen … “Plainly, we cannot rely on the discernment of the American people.” … Can a people so demonstrably lacking in discernment be relied upon to craft laws necessary to save itself … from itself?
I love this ! do hate that it's true though. What I learned most from all this is the grand stupidity of the american people. I had no clue as to the dumbness of the average american and I have found it stunning.
Patricia … Don’t give up. My quote was a small part of Jen’s piece. There is more to the story and more - legislatively and otherwise - that can and must be done. Jen never gives up. Neither should we.
The problem is ignorance, in some cases willful ignorance. People have been brainwashed by Faux News (pronounced "Fox"), and our education system is failing our youth. All these systems are intertwined, so there is NO easy fix.
It may already be too late, our Supreme Court is complicit, our Congress weak and ineffective, our executive branch utterly corrupt,and American voters too blinded by racism, xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny to choose anyone but Donald J Trump as president of the United States. Righting the ship of state will take a herculean effort….
The Founders (bless their hearts) were of a mind that anyone who would rise to the presidency should and would, have, above all, an unswerving sense of honor. Pretty amazing actually that it worked for as long as it did. Having no sense of honor is one thing, but not recognizing that one has no sense of honor is worse – as we have seen.
This is especially important because truthfully the rest of the world has given up on Trump and the United States! We have at the moment, no guards in place to prevent another person like Trump as you say to do the same thing. So why would other nations trust us? Truly huge changes need to happen before the United States can recoup anything like the respect that it may have had in the past. I am not one to believe that America is the greatest. I’m just a person who loves my country, but also loves the other countries in the world.
While it's true we need to figure out how to restrain the Executive, - we must remember that in this case the Executive was handed the power by Congressional Republicans. Whatever changes we make to reign in the Executive must include a way of holding those who abandon their constitutional obligations in Congess. It must be more than elections. Some sort of formal trials and punishments must be in the mix.
If we prosecuted white collar crime rigorously, with steep fines and real prison sentences, it would disappear in a few years. Rich people have an aversion to accountability, and the prospect of actual incarceration would give them pause.
They would not risk it
Crimes of greed would recede.
You are assuming that rich people would have the same "justice" as the rest of us. That they don't is one of our systems' biggest failures.
if any of us pulled the crap these guys did we WOULD be in jail...no key.
The Supreme Court gleefully declared that life imprisonment was a fitting fate for a black man whose "third strike" was stealing some videos for his kids.
I have never understood the US legal system’s lax punishment of oath-breakers and frauds, so, yes, you are right!
Now is the time for us to unite and stand up against Trump's crimes and his enablers on SCOTUS pretending to have the power to make fake law. Everybody who is anybody (who has the potential ability to prosecute Trump) should prosecute Trump under federal or state criminal law. Nothing SCOTUS said in Trump v. United States should deter any such prosecution.
SCOTUS's so-called judgment in Trump v. United States was essentially a mere head fake. SCOTUS said Presidents have absolute immunity when they perform "core" duties and they might have immunity when they perform "official" duties. But nothing for which Trump was being prosecuted could even possibly have been either a "core" or an "official" duty. Everything for which Trump was being prosecuted was a violation of his oath and our Constitution.
The People established and emphasized in Article II that we vested in the President only "executive Power." The People also emphasized the limits of all executive power. For the most part, "executive Power" obviously and necessarily means the power and duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." But the laws might not cover every situation. So the People established and emphasized (and every president at the start of every term expressly acknowledges with his oath of office) that the president must "faithfully execute the Office of President," which necessarily means fulfilling the duty to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." That's it. That's the extent and limit of all executive power under our Constitution. No president was given any power to do anything that wasn't necessary and proper to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution.
Nothing for which Trump was being prosecuted (or for which he should be prosecuted in the future) consisted of fulfilling his duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" or of fulfilling his duty to "preserve, protect and defend [our] Constitution." Trump can and should be prosecuted for the crimes he has committed, and nobody should be even slightly deterred by any pretense by any SCOTUS justice to the contrary.
Unfortunately, SCOTUS appears to disagree.
With what exactly?
Really good point that I haven’t seen made anywhere else.
Even when corporate contempt for their legal responsibilities leads to otherwise avoidable deaths.
Alas, if it were only so. But wealthy people will always feel they can work the system, whatever it is, and have the money to throw at their illegal ventures to keep them in play.
I disagree.
I think the majority of people are getting very frustrated with and intensely opposed to the idea that the rule of law only applies to regular folks, and not the elites.
i agree. the differences between regular people and the elites has never been drawn so clearly.
I think JP is realistic. There's a difference between wanting the wealthiest to face justice and the actual reality. It's not as though most of the founding fathers were poor. Hamilton was born poor but married into $$$$$$.
Money can be methamphetamine for the ego. It does not affect all the same way, but in the worst cases, focused love of money can induce pure evil. Lincoln was known for his working class origin.
Yes, it's the thing I was sure would turn people against TFG and his cronies: the blatant display of the different systems of justice, one for the rich and one for the rest of us.
And also shed accountability, from speeding tickets to great public harms. Some, such as Trump, glory in perceived impunity, and break many rules just because they can.
All actions need to have consequences!
And also requiring those committing white color crimes to do restitution to their victims.
Love the rhyme in your last line — reminiscent of the OJ trial. 🏆
who also got off...
We would certainly make a big difference.
Both Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans were handed power by FOX News, which still totally dominates RW media, the place where 85% of conservatives go for some/most/all of their news. FOX powers both Trump and the GOP.
FOX--unlike it's smaller competitor Newsmax--has even refused to report on virtually *any* Epstein Scandal news; while continuing to portray Trump as some sort of divinely sanctioned business genius who is utterly infallible. Which is why Trump still has a 92% favorability rating with the GOP base; and is why both he and every single GOP politician regularly lies about virtually everything--because they know FOX will back their lies.
Until or unless FOX News and RW media can be required to tell the truth, and use actual journalistic standards in their "reporting"; like 2+ sources on a story, timely retractions, etc.--our democracy is in mortal peril.
also americans are idiots
Your concise statement hit the nail on the head. Why blame it all on trump? Wishful thinking didn't get him elected. Idiots did. And then again??? The lack of critical thinking afflicting a large percentage of Americans is gobsmacking. And the rest of us are left to struggle with the consequences....
Don't underestimate the Republican skill for propaganda. Brainwashing the Right is something they've worked tirelessly on for decades, and precisely the reason for the "They're eating the dogs and cats!" remark during a televised national debate.
So when Trump lies about something--like that only foreigners are paying the import tariffs--the Base is programmed to think, "Oh, that can't be right. Yet it must be part of some new 3D chess move by our Blessed-by-Jesus President."
I don't believe the propaganda is working anymore. I heard a dyed-in-the-wool MAGA who had voted for trump three times go on a call-in radio talk show and apologize for his actions. The Epstein files and mass deportations are doing him in....
If even 10% of MAGA votes Dem; and another 15-20% are too disheartened to go to the polls, 2026 will be a sweep. The House will flip--likely strongly. But the Senate is still a tossup.
20% of polls say people don’t know or they don’t care. 🤷🏽
exactly !
and racist misogynists. Some just could not vote for a woman and too many feared brown immigrants and 'men' playing women's sports
Fux Noise is blatantly a propaganda outlet, and it never comes or will come within shouting distance of journalism.
One of my many revenge fantasies is seeing the entire Murdoch family in Guantanamo. Interestingly, I haven't seen mention of them in the Epstein files yet, but I definitely consider them part of the Epstein class (or lack thereof).
Complete lack thereof!
It might be brainwashing and propaganda, but this is what a large portion of the population wants. It feeds their grievance and confirms their world view. They don't care about reality, they want to feel comfort and outrage according to how they define the world. Fox has a symbiotic relationship and so do politicians.
Fox could turn into NPR but they would lose all their viewers. Someone else would take over their ad revenue to cater to the MAGAs. For now we still have this thing call freedom of speech.
There's no way to get to these people. Maybe reality like floods and drought, economic ruin, and other real-world catastrophes will land on their doorstep but then they'll still blame liberals and Democrats. The only way is the defeat them at the polls.
Before everything else, need to excise the tyrant. Pressure Congressional Republicans.
Epstein is Trump's Achilles Heel.
I thought so too but...
Congresswoman Jayapal will not give up - and she is one of many: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1453071873115938
I agree that Congressional Republicans have effectively abandoned any effort to control thls president and any real effort to govern. Almost every Republican member should be removed for dereliction of duty! I also believe the American electorate deserves a share of the blame. Trump's first term was an exercise in chaos and ended with an attempted coup to remain in power. In my opinion, these facts should have precluded any possibility of re-election.
hump should have been arrested that night...
Why are we paying any of these people? It’s OUR money they so blithely spend. I think the entire public has become divorced from this reality. I keep hearing that we should call “our” representatives. However, aren’t they all, in some fashion, accountable to us as our employees? Everyone should be screaming at Schumer and Jeffries about what we want/expect. They work for US!!
Jen's article raises important points, but it misses by a mile a crucial, self-evident truth. Hamilton's irrational optimism hardly proves that "[]the Framers did not imagine the sort of restraints necessary to contain a manipulative narcissist wielding an enormous propaganda apparatus and determined to break laws and norms."
The people who wrote and ratified our Constitution were influenced far more by our Constitution than they were by Hamilton's irrational optimism. That's why the People in Article II expressly established and emphasized that "[t]he President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of" any "high Crimes" or high "Misdemeanors," including (but not limited to) "Treason" and "Bribery." Clearly, the people who wrote and ratified our Constitution did much more than merely imagine that we might elect a president who would be so vile as to abuse his position and our trust to commit even treason and bribery.
The fault lies not with the people who wrote and ratified our Constitution. The fault lies with those who followed them, including us. We simply don't see and we simply haven't done what they expressly empowered us to do. Article I Section 8 emphasized (in 1788) that "Congress shall have Power" to "make all Laws" that we consider to "be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution [Congress's enumerated] Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof."
The people who wrote and ratified our Constitution vested in Congress the power to impeach presidents and try them. So the people also necessarily vested in Congress the power to make laws requiring such impeachment and trial to be conducted very much like criminal trials--governed by the rule of law rather than by mere politics.
The people who wrote and ratified our Constitution vested in the President the power to grant pardons, so the people also necessarily vested in Congress the power to make laws restricting the pardon power, e.g., to preclude a pardon for any conduct for which the President, himself, could be impeached, convicted and removed from office. We also need laws that require as much transparency about payments for pardons (potential bribery) as we have regarding other forms of political payments, e.g., political contributions.
Article I also secured to the People the power to replace the entire House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate every 2 years if they fail to make laws that we consider to be necessary and proper. We the People need to wake up and stop passing the buck. It's not the Framers' fault that we are where we are. It's our own fault.
I blame Congress more than trump....
I kind of agree! I recently read that monsters will be monsters; they do what monsters do (read malignant narcissist here). But the others have a choice.
Exactly. The laws are useless without strong enforcement mechanisms. Today, we have a perfect storm: a criminal, egocentric and revenge-obsessed "leader" enabled by Congress, the courts, and the rich to do as he pleases with no consequences. I'm not sure there's a cure for that sine the law seems to be without enforcement mechanisms and voters put a criminal back in power.
Started to lay out exactly this in much less civil tones. Thanks for making critical points. When I look back at origins in Congress, it seems that it began when Gingrich clearly told Clinton that while Dems' aim was to help the people; for Republicans it was about getting and holding power and then considering why they were there. He then pushed for voting against any bill sponsored by a Democrat. Then Mitch McConnell brought same to the Senate.
BosPhotoGuy, you're right. We need to push our representatives in Congress to enact better laws to better protect us from purported public servants who knowingly violate their oaths of office.
"We the People of the United States" to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves" did in June 1788 "ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (Preamble). The People in Article VI established and emphasized "the supreme Law of the Land," emphasized the duty of Congress to make federal "Laws" in "Pursuance" of our "Constitution," and established and emphasized that all legislators and "all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of [all] States" are always "bound" in all conduct "to support [our] Constitution."
Regarding that last clause, the People established and emphasized that all legislators and "all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution." For some reason, no law (as far as I know) makes it a crime for any of our purported public servants to knowingly violate their oaths.
In contrast, many laws make it a crime to violate another oath that you or I might take. That crime is called "perjury" and federal law (18 U.S. Code § 1621) says it is committed by a person "having taken an oath [ ] in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath." That law permits us to be punished for committing that crime by being "fined" or "imprisoned not more than five years, or both."
It's high time much more was done by Congress to make sure that they and all executive and judicial officers respected and honored their oaths or faced consequences for knowingly violating their oaths.
I agree with you. I think the founders thought the combination of impeachment and elections would be sufficient. Sadly, that is not the case.
They definitely didn't think that the combination of impeachment and elections would suffice. The proof is in what they put in our Constitution (the paramount law of "the supreme Law of the Land"). Please consider my comment below (or above) responding to Jen re: what I called "Hamilton's irrational optimism."
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Great piece, but one thing not focused on was the role of the Electoral College in giving us anti-democratic, uniquely bad presidents such as Trump I and W. The Interstate Voter Compact only needs a few more states to sign on to negate this archaic and harmful institution.
Adding amendments is quite difficult. So much of this lies with Congress
TASKS
CONGRESS - prepare now for when you can get these laws passed. Republicans stop fearing this evil 34xfelon and do your job.
WE THE PEOPLE - VOTE and keep up the anti-ICE and NO KINGS events. Call your legislators daily.
MEDIA - print the whole truth.
CONTRARIAN - keep up the good work you do
Lori, Excellent point! My next read … https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250260352/letthepeoplepickthepresident/
I think the problems with our system of government go much much deeper than getting rid of the EC. JR identifies many violations of the Constitution but the law is toothless in enforcing them and there's nothing to prevent the Executive from ignoring the courts. She identified some of the holes but as Trump has demonstrated with a Congress under his power, he can do anything and a lot of things unanticipated in the law.
The Congress itself has become totally dysfunctional and hasn't passed a budget on time since 1997 and can't pass any meaningful legislation. No other country has a government like ours because they all fell into autocracy and kleptocracy like the way ours is going.
Oy yes very true!!!
I also like David Frum’s recommendation to make require the release of tax reports for any Federal officer and their spouses and children if they receive secret service protection.
What we need to change (if we're able to get beyond this quagmire):
-- No Unitary Executive (E.g. KING) nonsense.
-- No felons are eligible.
-- Tax returns must be provided.
-- Complete disassociation with any business, foreign or otherwise.
-- A POTUS is NOT above the law.
-- All of those "simple dictator" things you mentioned.
-- Having a knowledge of history, the world and our constitutional republic should be a must as well.
Honestly, these don't seem like such difficult rules.
I would add independent health reports must be required and published, of presidential candidates and their VP's.
I think we've depended on most of them for years! All gone at the moment....
A fundamental problem that gave rise to Don the Con is that, accurately or not, a non-trivial slice of the population has ceased to believe that the government is working for the common good. And if that's true, they're ready to vote for someone who says essentially that they will burn down the house, without any thought (or at least an honest discussion) of what will replace it.
FDR put it best when he said "people who are hungry and out of a job (to which I'll add 'and have given up hope that through their own honest efforts they can change that') are the stuff of which dictatorships are made"
And that is primarily because the GOP has been assaulting public education since the so-called "Reagan Revolution."
We have to acknowledge that this current iteration of the federal government is NOT working for the common good.
we know it....when will MAGA understand he NEVER intended to help them...he just used them to get elected. will their racism and stupidity keep them from ever getting it ? will they put together the money cut from SNAP and Medicaid is being used to set up NAZI style camps in america ? tax cuts for rich...everything Xcept policies to make their lives better ?
And so this unhappy segment of our society elected Donald Trump, who literally tore down a part of the White House and hasn't done a thing for them of benefit: No better healthcare plan, no lower prices for anything (housing and insurance included). Were they to take the blinders off, they would see that they have been sorely used.
MSM needs to keep these ideas in headlines. Of course, too many still reply on the entertainment network (read FOX) for their "news."
That's right, though there are also parts of the MSM that have been bought by "friends of Trump" or want to curry favor for their own business interests. Take the LA Times and the Washington Post as examples of this.
Completely agree!!
That was Germany after WW1, and the subsequent demands which were imposed on the country in retribution. Adolf Hitler then rose to power with promises of “making Germany great again”, and that was what the broken German people needed to hear, a leader they thought would give them back their national pride.
We must have a Constitutional Mechanism to bring a lawless President to heel. Starting wars without the consent of Congress? Tearing down 1/3 of the White House? Plastering his name all over US Government buildings? Turning the DOJ into the legal retribution branch of tRump Inc? Destroying the CDC? We need a nimble Constitutional/Legal way to stop such a president in his tracks and force adjudication on him - while in office. And if he is adjudicated to have violated a new, improved Constitution then he needs to be out. Simple as that and removal should entail removal of the whole regime he brought into office with him.
I think the frustration for many of us is the assumption that we already had/have such mechanisms in place and no one is brave enough to implement them.
Agreed. In the absence of people who have a backbone and a conscience, even the best constitution on earth is little more than empty words on aging parchment.
The mechanism to fix the problem is there already, but there we've elected a Congress who doesn't have the guts to employ it. And the shortcomings are assisted by an out of control SCOTUS
My suspicion is that if impeachment and conviction were determined by secret ballot, then Don the Con would get the heave-ho, because all Democrats would support it, and you might actually find enough Repugnican'ts to get a House majority and 2/3 of Senators to vote them, respectively. But the Repugnican'ts in Congress have checked their conscience, their backbone, and their gonads at the door when they signed on to be crew on the SS Drumpf and he has his own party intimidated.
Exactly! Impeachment and the 25th Amendment are political solutions which simply don’t work. We need a Constitutional change to add teeth which could give us a legal remedy for a lawless president.
there's no reason to even contemplate impeachment and removal or the 25th amendment because then we'd be left with VANCE! the only offramp for this abomination is in the next two elections. even this november seems to be a lifetime away.
Look no further than the Bondi-Blanche-Trump Department of Justice. The enforcer is in bed with the criminal. This department was what we assumed would always do its job honorably. We were proven wrong.
Project 2025 has covered all the bases.
Democrats need a plan to counteract all the actions of the Heritage Foundation.
We already have that-- it's called impeachment and conviction. The problem is that given the current degree of polarization, and the requirement for 2/3 of the Senate to favor conviction, then nobody will ever get convicted.
Back when I read the WaPo (before it became Bezos' personal rag) they had a column by a Harvard academic named Danielle Allen. She wrote a piece on some work to get senior political scientists/constitutional experts to list some things they think should be changed if the Constitution gets re-written.
One of those changes was to make it harder for the House to impeach, but easier for the Senate to convict once impeached. I think the suggestion was a 60% vote of the HOuse (currently it's a simple majority), and a 60% vote of the Senate (currently 2/3)
There needs to be an apolitical mechanism, as the one we have is fraught with politics, as you point out.
Could we have a secret ballot vote during impeachment trials in the House and Senate? Would that make it easier on those who fear for their lives among other forms of retribution?
Good question! I don't think there's anything in the Constitution specifying how the vote is to be taken, and the Constitution does say that each House of Congress shall make its own rules. A session with Google says the Constitution also says that if 20% of the Senators vote to record the votes in a ledger then that's how the votes shall be recorded. So Google concluded that while it's theoretically possible, it's never going to happen.
That's a great idea, but Congress, as leaky as a seive, how long would it take for the secrecy to evaporate?
How, for an occasional private like this?
Agree in concept, but the people have already shown that being a corrupt, cruel, and convicted candidate is not disqualifying for the presidency.
How do you get elected representatives to have higher standards for the presidency than the voters do?
Not a bad idea out of hand, but as noted below, it remains in a fraught political situation. Those politics got us into this quagmire. It is going to take new ideas to get us out. Making proportional representation the law of the land would aid in that.
It all starts with tax returns. The RNC will forever be to blame for the mess we're in. If Trump didn't want to disclose his returns, he should have been immediately disqualified. End of story. If Democrats can reclaim majorities in both houses, they can make some bold moves to keep us on the right track. I don't know what it takes to eliminate the Electoral College or unfair representation in the Senate — it's absurd that California gets the same amount of senators as Wyoming, the Dakotas or New Mexico — but that would be a huge step. Term limits for SCOTUS and making them operate under the stanards of every other federal judge would help. Maybe increasing the size of the court, too. Adding D.C. and PR as states would be fair to both of them and help. We have to get big money out of politicis, and gerrymandering House districts too. That's in a perfect world, I know. But rigid political idealogy has to be cast from our political system. We need two functioning parties, a yin and yang, but we don't need two warring parties. I know we can survive this mess, because Trump and his goons are too stupid. But as usual, Jen is right. We need to make sure there is never again an attempt on our democracy.
the one thing I disagree with is changing the senate. I think it is genius to have given each state 2 senators. otherwise The USA would be run by Calif completely. The house as you know goes by population and gives more members to Calif etc. which is OK because when it comes to deciding evertyhing, each state has an equal say.
Each state has two senators. And it lets North and South Dakota, and Montana, Vermont, and New Hampshire to control the Senate. The minority hijacks all the legislation.
the way I understand it is the house passes whatever crap they want to pass...house is given reps by population and it varies every 10 years per population. crap goes to senate and each state,having 2 senators, has equal standing to pass the crap or vote it down.
How about no one who is a felon, convicted of crimes, can run for the presidency?
While it will never get reversed, I still contend that Trump did not win in 2024. He was guaranteed a win by Musk and co. to the tune of $240 million. Musk was promised access to way too much private information about the government and American citizens.
Eliminating the Electoral College should have happened after 2000 election, when Bush won and Gore didn't demand a recount in FL, and Sandra Day O'Connor voted her party.
I think that the Supreme Court should not be appointed by the President. It's way too partisan, especially when the candidates appointed lie under oath. I also think it should be equal Democrat and Republican with the Chief Justice the deciding vote. That would get politics out of it.
The biggest problem we have to deal with is Congress. Congress will never vote for restraints on itself. They will never vote on "term limits".
And I don't know how to get $ out of the equation. Ban all corporate donations? They will still find a way.
Honor and truth have taken a vacation with this government. It will take a long time to achieve both ever again.
"I think that the Supreme Court should not be appointed by the President" It takes confirmation by the Senate to seat a Justice of the Supreme Court, but when you have a partisan Senate, this is what we get. We also had inadequate action on the lies told during confirmation hearings, or the bending of rules that seated the last two Justices.
A vast improvement could be made simply having a larger SCOTUS and random assignment of 9 justices to each case. Put at least 13 (one per district) but maybe as many as 19 on the court. Whichever 9 are assigned, they write decisions and dissents as today, but those outcomes are binding. No en banc follow-ups.
Today cases are engineered by monied interests to end up in front of the supremes for the purposes of obtaining or overturning a specific precedent. If there's no certainty about the ideological leanings about the justices to hear any given case, there would be fewer manipulations and more emphasis on the merits of the arguments.
John Roberts has destroyed the Equal Rights Law and Civil Rights Law of 1964. That has been his sole purpose and his contribution to Project 2025 and the Federalist Society. He has destroyed it has taken away Jefferson’s idea of equal rights for all people.
I would say no running presidential candidate older than 70, or better yet, 65.
Please watch the underrated Peter Sellers movie, *Being There*.
The way we choose individuals for office must be done without the benefit of external money from outside groups or individuals with the power to buy their candidate. In fact, the Government should bear the cost for this campaigns and they should be short. We don’t need another Regime Leader Trump campaigning for four years. Citizens must be educated as to the importance of the offices they are choosing candidates for. These are not spots on a home entertainment show or a reality TV show: these offices have real impact. Persons who have been effective in raising money from PACs, billionaires, Tech Broligrchs, etc., have turned out to be compromised, spineless, captive servants of this money. We also need to figure out what to do when the occupants of different elective and non elective office refuse to perform the duties of their office. Mike Johnson, for example, has been running a tax payer funded vacation club for himself and his cronies. Chairman Roberts over at $COTUS has been running a Price is Right show. There are many opportunities for We the People to recover this nation and to have a rebirth of freedom and to put this evil time behind us.
I especially like that you spelled it $COTUS. That seems quite accurate.
Jen’s Gravamen … “Plainly, we cannot rely on the discernment of the American people.” … Can a people so demonstrably lacking in discernment be relied upon to craft laws necessary to save itself … from itself?
I love this ! do hate that it's true though. What I learned most from all this is the grand stupidity of the american people. I had no clue as to the dumbness of the average american and I have found it stunning.
Patricia … Don’t give up. My quote was a small part of Jen’s piece. There is more to the story and more - legislatively and otherwise - that can and must be done. Jen never gives up. Neither should we.
The problem is ignorance, in some cases willful ignorance. People have been brainwashed by Faux News (pronounced "Fox"), and our education system is failing our youth. All these systems are intertwined, so there is NO easy fix.
And Fox is played 24/7 in our military cafeterias! Keeps them brainwashed.
It may already be too late, our Supreme Court is complicit, our Congress weak and ineffective, our executive branch utterly corrupt,and American voters too blinded by racism, xenophobia, homophobia and misogyny to choose anyone but Donald J Trump as president of the United States. Righting the ship of state will take a herculean effort….
The Founders (bless their hearts) were of a mind that anyone who would rise to the presidency should and would, have, above all, an unswerving sense of honor. Pretty amazing actually that it worked for as long as it did. Having no sense of honor is one thing, but not recognizing that one has no sense of honor is worse – as we have seen.
Amen brother!
Are you (subtly) implying that Pam Bondi was wrong when she proclaimed Trump as "the greatest President ever"?
Pam Bondi is trying to keep her job !!!
This is especially important because truthfully the rest of the world has given up on Trump and the United States! We have at the moment, no guards in place to prevent another person like Trump as you say to do the same thing. So why would other nations trust us? Truly huge changes need to happen before the United States can recoup anything like the respect that it may have had in the past. I am not one to believe that America is the greatest. I’m just a person who loves my country, but also loves the other countries in the world.