Donald Trump is a wannabe dictator, we all know that. And he has been aided and abetted in his pursuit of absolute power by a feckless and subservient Congress.
Now we have the United States Supreme Court falling in line.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has upheld Trump’s Muslim travel ban. The basic rationale? Trump, as president, has the constitutional power to decide issues of national security. So when Trump said he was proposing his travel ban against mostly Muslim countries to protect the homeland, that was good enough for the five conservative members of the Court.
It didn’t matter that lower courts had struck down each and every iteration of Trump’s travel ban, the first of which was issued in January 2017. It didn’t concern the Supremes that each lower court found that the initial order, and each new version since, exceeded the president’s authority granted by Congress and was motivated by Trump’s prejudice against Muslims.
If Trump said it wasn’t about religion but national security, then that was just fine for the deferential justices. All evidence to the contrary be damned! It doesn’t matter that the man occupying the White House is a pathological liar.
We are living through dangerous times. It is obvious our two other supposed co-equal branches of government … legislative and judicial … are not going to challenge Trump’s power grab.
The only way to begin getting out of this mess is to flip Congress in November.
Of course today’s decision wound not have been possible but for Mitch McConnell’s unprecedented move to block President Obama from nominating a replacement on the Court after the unexpected death of Antonin Scalia.
Here’s a thought. What happens when Trump declares that, as president, it is his responsibility to protect all life, both born and unborn? What happens when il Duce proclaims all abortions illegal?
I’m afraid to think what this conservative court, thanks to the illegal seat occupied by Neil Gorsuch, will decide.
Photo | eatprayvote.org
