Amid the cheers and gloats from the 50.2% of voters who chose Donald Trump, the rest of us are trying to wrap our heads around the fact that the guy who incited his goons to attack the Capitol is returning to the White House. And showing every sign of attacking democracy and a host of rights.
No one knows for sure what will actually happen, but Trump and his MAGAs are likely to have lots of help.
Trump created the ultra-regressive Supreme Court majority that overturned Roe v. Wade, eroded the separation of church and state and punted on partisan gerrymandering.
Presumably, those “justices” didn’t know who’d be the next president when they made their immunity decision in July. Whatever they were thinking, they’ve legalized just about any otherwise illegal thing Trump wants to do once he takes the oath of office.
What about Congress?
Since the GOP has flipped the Senate and kept the House, it remains to be seen whether Congress will stand up to Trump or stand by him no matter what.
Clearly, he expects “his” party members to meet his every demand, no matter how outrageous. And he has proud puppets, like Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas, who said: “His mission, his goals and objectives, whatever that is, we need to embrace it. All of it. Every. Single. Word.”
Five days after the election, Trump posted on social media that the Senate shouldn’t confirm any of current President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees, even though it pushed through 13 Trump judges during the 2020 lame-duck session under Mitch McConnell. (Among them was Florida fangirl Aileen Cannon, who threw out the classified documents case against her favorite felon.)
The Senate did confirm two Biden judges last week. And in a secret ballot, the GOP senators spurned MAGA favorite Rick Scott as majority leader in favor of John Thune, who had condemned Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election but now touts his allegiance to him.
The doozies Trump has nominated for other positions — for their professed loyalty rather than their qualifications — have been too much even for some Senate Republicans.
Matt Gaetz, who before resigning from the House last week was the subject of an ethics investigation, is the attorney general pick. Fox News host and diversity opponent Pete Hegseth got Trump’s nod for defense secretary despite his lack of senior military experience. And in these post-pandemic times, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s best known for his anti-vaccination position and crazy statements, hardly seems like a guy to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Given the GOP’s slim majority, these nominees may wash out during the Senate confirmation process. Some of the party’s senators have criticized them, but whether they’ll vote accordingly remains to be seen.
Welcomed at the White House
Trump is getting a smooth transition, something he received from President Barack Obama after his 2016 victory but denied Biden after his 2020 defeat.
And while Trump refused to honor the tradition of inviting his successor at the White House, Biden hosted him there last week.
Kamala Harris conceded right after Election Day; in four years, Trump never acknowledged his loss. He told his supporters to fight like hell to keep him in power; she said: “A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny.”
I admire the Dems’ sense of fair play, but it’s heart-breaking to see them paving the way for an aspiring tyrant, albeit a democratically elected one.
So I’m glad Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman of New York is proposing a resolution to clarify that under the 22nd Amendment, no one can be elected president more than twice, even if the two terms aren’t consecutive.
Our own GOP Congressman Dan Meuser supports the Constitution, including the 22nd Amendment, said his spokesman, Matt Hanrahan. Because the resolution wasn’t introduced yet, Hanrahan declined to comment further.
Trump was talking – or maybe joking; who knows? – about a third term even before he was elected to his second. And just last week, he told House GOP members he might need their help if they decide “’he’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out.”
That’s just one more reminder of how unfit he is.
Lisa Von Ahn is an experienced columnist previously published in the Pottsville Republican Herald newspaper.
Canary note: Opinions expressed in any Op-Ed column appearing on this site are the views of the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of Coal Region Canary.
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