The End of the Rule of Law
President Donald Trump Declares That All Interpretations of the Law Begin and End With Him, Refers to Himself as King of the United States
I started writing this article yesterday after the White House published a new executive order, stating that the only accepted interpretations of the law in the executive branch will be those which are determined by the President of the United States or the United States Attorney General. However this afternoon, the White House posted, to all of its official social media pages, an image depicting Donald Trump wearing a crown with the text “Long Live the King”, as he seeks to override New York and New York City law to end congestion pricing in the city. That hasn’t actually appreciably changed the content of this article given that it’s fairly consistent with the point I’m going to make - that Donald Trump seeks to upend the rule of law and basic fundamental concepts of Democracy in the United States.
In Donald Trump’s executive order, “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies”
Section 7 declares: “The President and the Attorney General, subject to the President’s supervision and control, shall provide authoritative interpretations of law for the executive branch. The President and the Attorney General’s opinions on questions of law are controlling on all employees in the conduct of their official duties. No employee of the executive branch acting in their official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General’s opinion on a matter of law, including but not limited to the issuance of regulations, guidance, and positions advanced in litigation, unless authorized to do so by the President or in writing by the Attorney General.”
This is a clear cut instruction to all employees of the federal government that they are not to follow the instructions of the Supreme Court of the United States unless directly instructed to do so by the President or Attorney General. This instruction is, in essence, an instruction to all employees of the executive branch that they are to entirely disregard the United States Constitution and simply do whatever the President tells them to do, regardless of regulation passed by Congress or any ruling in any court.
Donald Trump told us that he will be a dictator on day 1. It seems that this is a campaign promise he has actually kept. He has assaulted American institutions on all fronts, he conspired to create forged documents certifying an election win in 2020. He demanded that the Governor of Georgia rig the election in his favor. He sent a mob to the capital and told them to “Fight like hell”, as they called for the murder of Vice President Mike Pence to stop certification of the election in 2020. Now re-elected, Donald Trump is actively destroying all of the institutions designed to prevent him from successfully achieving what attempted in 2020.
Joe Biden left the Presidency with a clear message to the American people. “There are no kings in America.” Donald Trump is now coming in with a new one, “I am the King, Long Live the King.” If anything has become clear over the last 16 years of American politics it’s this: Our system of checks and balances, which exists to ensure that we have no tyrannical rulers in this country, only works when everyone plays by the rules. 16 years of Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump gaming the system to control all 3 branches of government have resulted in a situation where Donald Trump can call himself King while 271 republicans in congress do absolutely nothing about it
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