On Trumpery and Firing Up Our Activism

“When the president does it, that means it is not illegal,” said Richard Nixon to the British interviewer, David Front, years following the disgraced former president’s resignation from his office for criminal offenses of bugging and spying on his political opponents and for the massive cover-up.

Donald Trump, an obvious practitioner and extender of the Richard Nixon School of Criminal Behavior employed “Tricky Dick’s” line of argument in Trump’s demand that all charges be dropped in his election interference charges on the basis of presidential immunity.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, according to a filing she handed down December 2, 2023, denied former President Donald Trump’s motion. The Judge wrote that Trump’s four years as president didn’t give him the “divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”

Chutkan disagreed with Trump’s claim that the Constitution granted him presidential immunity, saying the Constitution’s “text, structure, and history” don’t support that argument. Chutkan added that “former Presidents enjoy no special conditions on their federal criminal liability.”

Well, actually they do. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision in Trump v. United States on Monday, July 1, 2024, provided broad presidential immunity. The Court declared that a President is immune from prosecution when exercising the “core powers” of the presidency.

Immunity means a person cannot be prosecuted, and that it is not merely a defense to prosecution. Although the majority of “justices” did not outline precisely what were these “core powers,” nor what would be considered as outside of them as an “unofficial act,” there is no higher or stronger example of a “core power” than what is outlined in Article II, Section II of the U.S. Constitution stating that the “President shall be the Commander in Chief.”

During arguments on this case in front of the Supreme Court, Justices asked Trump’s lawyers whether a President could dispatch a “SEAL Team” to kill his political enemies.

The Court’s ruling seemed to have answered its own question in the affirmative. If a President, acting in accordance with their official capacity, orders the military to kill other Americans – judges, elected officials, reporters, your neighbor, you – they can do so, and that a President who did that would be immune from accountability under criminal law.

“This new official-acts immunity now ‘lies about like a loaded weapon’ for any President that wishes to place his own interests, his own political survival, or his own financial gain, above the interests of the Nation,” Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent.

The Supreme Court, composed of three Trump nominated justices, has elevated the Presidency to a virtual monarchy as the chief executive officer who is above the law.

On Activism:

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the term “trumpery” first appeared in the English language in the mid-15th century. Webster’s 1913 dictionary defined it as:

‘Trump´er`y’ – n: 1. Deceit; fraud. 2. Something serving to deceive by false show or pretense; falsehood; deceit; worthless but showy matter; hence, things worn out and of no value; rubbish. a. 1. Worthless or deceptive in character; nonsensical talk or writing; ornamental objects of no great value.

A democratic republic like the United States of America, as in any other form of governmental system, however, demands an informed and committed public to maintain at least a basic standard to which our leaders are held. Even within some of the most tyrannical regimes throughout history, resistance movements have come to the fore to work on behalf of the people over autocratic, oligarchical, and kleptocratic assaults.

Individuals and groups of people have found ways to become involved according to the times in which they find themselves, and according to their own particular interests and strengths. Everyone has a place in our nation in building and maintaining strong and equitable institutions and acting as bulwarks against democratic decline.

Let us use fire as an analogy to democracy when determining the elements and where each of us fit in its sustenance.

What does it take to create and sustain fire? I’ll give you a hint, it takes three major elements: fuel (something to burn), oxygen, and a spark or another adequate heat source.

Similarly, in our work to create and sustain a truly great equitable nation, it takes people with differing interests and talents (fuel, oxygen, spark), with connecting values and goals coming together to make this thing called our “democratic republic” become a reality.

Stephanie Ruhle, MSNBC program host and reporter, who not-so-long into Donald Trump’s first term as President, required her guests to pay her $2.00 each time they used the already overused term “unprecedented” when referring to the words and actions of that very atypical President.

Unfortunately, she was correct, for when what was once considered “unprecedented” has become routinized to the point of normalization, the shock that once sparked vigilance and counteractions to challenge the attacks on our social institutions and on some of our cherished values can diminish over time by the mere drain on people’s energies and desire for engagement.

During this current moment in our grieving process over the results of the last presidential election, as we are recharging our activist batteries for the impending fights ahead as the once-and-future would-be autocrat transitions to take over the reins of power again, we can learn from the lessons of the past and imagine new ways of defending our rights and our power.

Since our democratic institutions are only as strong as we the people are strong, I know we will overcome the toxic red tide that has washed over us and come up staring toward the sunshine within a deep blue sky.