OPINION: What Has The U.S. Become?

It seemed strange this year to celebrate the birth of our nation when the Trump/Project 2025 administration, its accomplices and appeasers were sounding a death knell to the principles that made our nation great.

Freedom, human rights, fairness, education, equal opportunity and humanitarianism now have little or no place in the federal government and in many red states.

A founding principle of our country is that it’s a democratic republic, with separate functions for each branch of government.

Members of Congress represent their constituents and make the laws. The White House enforces the laws. The courts interpret them and determine whether they’re constitutional.

In addition, we all can express our opinions, and journalists can report the truth.

Now the checks, balances and norms that have kept one person or group from getting too powerful are disappearing faster than immigrants or whomever ICE suspects is one.

Since Trump took office, the real lawmaking has been with his barrage of executive orders. And the GOP Congress revealed itself as little more than a White House auxiliary when it pulled all-nighters to pass the cruel and regressive legislation that Trump himself christened “The One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Polls showed it wasn’t the will of the people because it’s all about tax cuts that mainly benefit the super-wealthy while shredding the safety net and adding trillions to our already massive national debt.

Quite a few GOP members of Congress expressed legitimate concerns and could have joined Democrats to kill the bill. But nearly all voted for it anyway as fear of offending their party leader … trumped … scruples and campaign promises.

The House passed the bill in May by one vote.

The Senate had to call in JD Vance on Tuesday to break a tie on its revised version. It’s important to remember that the bill would have stood a much better chance of defeat if Bob Casey had just gotten as many votes as Kamala Harris did in Pennsylvania.

But he didn’t. So two days later, it got through the House after strongarming by Trump and deputies Vance and Speaker Mike Johnson.

In an apparent homage to Trump, someone in the House blasted his signature campaign song as Johnson signed the bill. (I’ve always wondered if Trump, or more likely a Project 2025 aide, chose that gay anthem to prepare the 98% for living in a YMCA-like environment.)

GOP lawmakers aren’t the only ones who folded like a house of cards when Trump got feisty.

Big law firms that had represented his adversaries agreed to provide free legal services in line with his administration’s agenda after he threatened or ordered sanctions against some of them.  

Paramount is paying $16 million to settle a frivolous lawsuit Trump had filed and will provide free commercial air time for right-wing talking points. The company claims the deal is unrelated to its pending $8 billion sale to Skydance, which requires approval from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission.

Trump’s “Justice” Department was able to force the University of Virginia president to resign because he wasn’t getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion programs fast enough.

And almost exactly one year ago, the Supreme Court’s MAGA majority granted presidents near-total immunity from any crimes they commit while in office – almost as if the “justices” knew Trump would win in November.

But not everyone has fallen into line.

Democrats in Congress didn’t have the votes to stop Trump’s megabill, but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke for nearly nine hours to foil the GOP’s plan to pass it in the dead of night. And in the Senate, Democrats required clerks to read all 940 pages to drive home what was at stake.

Some law firms have sued. Many news outlets still cover the government, warts and all. Several million of us demonstrated that we want “No Kings” last month.

So it’s important to remember on this Fourth of July weekend that if we want our country to remain free, we must be brave and resist Trump and whatever other domestic autocrats are fighting for power over us. 

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.

Want to be a columnist with Coal Region Canary? Contact us at newscanary@gmail.com.

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