After the American Century
The most serious aspect of Trump's perforance as president was how he abused his position and seized power. A Constitutional crisis emerged in the Trump years. The office of the president was abused, the foreign service weakened, scientific expertise dismantled, and the Justice Department turned into a political tool. The problems began with Trump’s 2016 campaign and continued in the White House. As the New York Times summarized the conclusions of the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee, released in late August 2020: “Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign sought and maintained close contacts with Russian government officials who were helping him get elected. The Trump campaign accepted their offers of help. The campaign secretly provided Russian officials with key polling data. The campaign coordinated the timing of the release of stolen information to hurt Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” The Times concluded: “the American people could reelect a man who received a foreign government’s help to win one election and has shown neither remorse nor reservations about doing so again.” Only in a deeply troubled country could a politician receive 70 million votes after such revelations.
Trump not only received Russian help, but orchestrated many illegal actions by his closest aids, many of whom ended up pleading guilty to felonies. His longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in hush money to two women whom Trump had affairs with. Cohen pleaded guilty to bank fraud, tax evasion, and violating campaign finance laws. Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted on eight counts of bank and tax fraud, and he was accused of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to launder money. Trump’s assistant campaign manager, Rick Gates, was convicted of money laundering, tax evasion, and bank fraud. George Papadopoulos, Trump’s foreign policy advisor, served as a go-between to the Russians and relayed valuable information about what they had hacked from Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He was convicted of lying to the FBI about these activities. All of the crimes were committed by close associates to assist Trump. Yet after these crimes and other suspicious activities were uncovered by the House of Representatives’ impeachment enquiry, the Republicans blocked all attempts to investigate further. Trump was never questioned in person, and he was not held accountable. His closest associates were convicted criminals, but the Republican-controlled Senate found it unnecessary to call a single witness in a sham impeachment trial.
The fact that Trump was never held accountable for his collusion with Russia was part of a larger pattern. The federal government under his control operated with inadequate Congressional oversight or control. The Constitution decrees that only Congress can allocate funds. But when Congress refused to pay for a wall along the Mexican border, President Trump seized money allocated for other purposes and used it illegally to start building the wall. Furthermore, the president often ignored Congress in other ways. He refused to send officials to testify before Housecommittees, including matters of national security.
Many departments of government were headed by appointees who had never been approved by the Senate, as required by the Constitution. Trump fired cabinet secretaries and other important officials and then appointed an “acting” head who was never vetted by the Senate. They included individuals with grossly inadequate qualifications, who were selected because of their loyalty to the president. Acting secretaries may temporarily fill a position until there is time for a Senate hearing. But repeated appointment of loyalists with little or no experience while avoiding Senate hearings violated Trump’s oath of office. Like every president, he swore to abide by the Constitution, which declares that the Senate must approve cabinet appointments. He had 21 cabinet secretaries confirmed in Senate hearings, but he fired many of them and appointed 28 acting secretaries without hearings. They included the acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, an outspoken conservative and Trump loyalist with no qualifications in the area of intelligence. Grenell replaced another acting director, Joseph Maguire. Even Homeland Security has had an acting director, Chad Wolf. The Republican-controlled Senate did not fulfill its constitutional duty to evaluate, and if necessary to reject, those nominated, and the press did not treat the massive avoidance of confirmation hearings as a major problem.
During the Trump years, the placement of the Justice Department in the executive branch became a major problem, because it was investigating the president and his advisors. The Justice Department does not simply carry out programs mandated by Congress. It must seek out and prosecute crime. The problem with locating Justice in the Executive branch of government became obvious in the case of Michael Flynn, one of Trump’s close associates. Flynn confessed to several crimes and was awaiting sentencing. But under pressure from the White House, the Justice Department suddenly announced that it no longer would prosecute the case. Likewise, when a special prosecutor of impeccable reputation was assigned to investigate the possible collusion between Russia and the Trump election campaign, the president obstructed and openly attacked the investigation. It would be more sensible to place Justice under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Then the president could not fire or intimidate attorneys who prosecute cases that affect him or his associates. To preserve the integrity of the Department of Justice, it ought to be removed from the Executive’s control. That change requires an amendment to the Constitution.
The president illegally reallocated funds for projects that Congress did not approve, he brazenly ignored Congress when it suited him, he interfered with the work of the Justice Department when it investigated him, he escaped accountability for felonies committed for him by his lawyers and campaign managers, and he misused his office by pardoning associates convicted of felonies, so that they never went to prison. When the legislature loses control over the expenditure of funds, when it loses control over leadership appointments, when the president orders the civil service not to testify at its hearings, when he constantly interferes with the Department of Justice, when he pardons those convicted for crimes by associates to aid him, then there is a deep constitutional crisis. The federal government became unbalanced under Republican control. Crimes went unpunished, and the president’s usurpation of power was not challenged.
Encouraged by his successful contempt for Congress and the rule of law, the logical next step after he lost the 2020 election was to attack the election itself and the legal system, and then orchestrate an insurrection. Should be be elected again in 2024, then the worst is yet to come, and it is certain.
