The Rule Of Law Is Going, Going…

Most of you were probably carrying out your daily routine, going to work, studying for classes or otherwise too busy to watch the coronation of our new president. By design, it was quite the show. Whatever else he may be, the new president is a showman (of the lowest common denominator) and salesman (not that I would buy anything that he sells). For many Americans, that seems to be enough.

Along with the show, he signed twenty six Executive Orders (E.O.) yesterday during and after the inauguration events. They fell into several general categories. Some were just silly, such as declaring that the “Gulf of Mexico” is now the “Gulf of America.” Some rescinded every meaningful E.O. issued by President Joe Biden, whether or not it was good for the country — if Biden signed it, it’s gone. Some enacted his wildest campaign promises. Some ended our participation in various international organizations. The list goes on.

To me there were three that stood out because they indicate that the current president intends to ignore the rule of law and the Constitution to do whatever his whims dictate — just because he thinks he can.

First, he overrode the suspension of Tik Tok in the United States. Personally, I’ve never knowingly seen a Tik Tok video and have certainly never posted on that platform. I cannot speak to its role in the lives of 175 million Americans. What I do know is that the president declared it a threat to American national security during his first term and pushed to have it banned. (The threat comes from the Chinese Communist Party as Tik Tok’s parent company is based in China. It collects massive amounts of information on every Tik Tok participant. Such knowledge and infiltration is a threat to our national security in times of conflict.) Congress went to work and passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that banned the platform by a date certain (19 January 2025) unless it was bought by an American entity. President Biden signed it into law. The law was appealed to the Supreme Court that unanimously ruled that the law was Constitutional. (A rare 9-0 vote in these times.) To recount, the legislative, executive and judicial branches all duly considered the threat to national security and concluded that it was valid. They all agreed to ban the platform. The new president overrode all of that. Mainly because the tech-bros wanted it and the CEO of Tik Tok flattered the president as the savior for 175 million Americans (and who knows what else was promised or exchanged?) If the price is right, one wonders what other laws will he decide to ignore?

Second, he declared an end to birth right citizenship which is enshrined in Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” In case you missed your High School civics class, the president cannot do away with parts of the Constitution on impulse. This is a direct threat to all of us. Since 1868 the idea that those born in America are Americans has been foundational to who we are as a nation. It was a main driver to those that immigrated to our country during all of those years knowing that they and their children had a chance to be treated just like anyone else in this great land. Its foundation was the need to enforce the other elements of the Constitution protecting formerly enslaved people and to give them the same rights as their enslavers. Immigration policies or not, a president cannot just ignore the Constitution because he does not like what it says about all of us having equal rights under the law.

Third, in what to me is the most egregious of all of his E.O. actions, is the pardoning of roughly 1500 criminals and the commutation of the sentences of fourteen more involved in the violent attempt to over throw our government. Their actions led to the first time that our country did not have a peaceful transfer of power after an election. Most vile of all, the president’s inauguration speech contained passages that continued to push the Big Lie — that he won the 2020 election which was the cause of the violent attacks. He had the unmitigated gall to stand in the rotunda of our nation’s capital, which was defaced by his supporters, and spout out that the election was rigged and that these violent criminals were “J6 hostages.”

This was a giant double FU to American ideals, the American people, the Constitution, and the rule of law. So much for supporting the thin blue line and law and order.

The president of the United States gleefully and with malice of forethought put violent thugs and domestic terrorists back on the street. Some of those pardoned were convicted of seditious conspiracy. In other words, they got together to plan to violently over throw the government. 140 law enforcement officers were beaten, tased, sprayed with chemicals and otherwise nearly killed. The coup mob is now free and able to act again. Among those set free were Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers — two white nationalist groups loyal to the president. These individuals that were all unconditionally pardoned had been investigated, indicted, either pleaded guilty or were convicted by a jury of their peers and sentenced by judges of all political stripes, including by some appointed in the president’s first term. The President’s action was a clear “in your face” rebuke of FBI agents, multiple prosecutors and judges, the Capitol Police, the Washington Metropolitan Police and anyone that suffered at the hands of the mob.

I am afraid that this is only the beginning of a long and dark period in our history. Although there are already legal challenges underway to stay or over turn many of his most absurd E.O.s, what is clear is that on the first day of his Administration, the president set the tone that he is above the law, does not need to follow the Constitution and will protect those that commit crimes on his behalf. There is no limit to the danger he presents. In his mind, anything goes and he dares anyone to stop him. My worst fears are becoming real.