Not many of us—at least not enough of us—have been paying enough attention. We have become so used to things being the way they are that we no longer recognize the real danger right in our faces to upend it all until it’s already on us. Even if we had adequate defenses, as we’ve had before, this time we seem so bemused or befuddled that we have simply not fought back hard enough.
But as luck would have it, help has come when and where we should have least expected it—from the old goat, the compromised U.S. Supreme Court.
On the one hand, Trump and his minions have continued their assault against American democracy, as both we and our children have seemed calcified and mind-feebled in response. Besides shredding the law by trying to set up a multi-million dollar fund of our money to give away to the criminals of the January 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol, by being both the one who brings the suit and the one who then drops it, saying he can pay himself as the one who was sued (the POTUS), which on the surface and upon closer examination is and was ludicrous, the Trumpites then stepped further and said people born here have no automatic claim of citizenship and therefore cannot vote.
Further, the mail-in ballots of even those who are verifiable citizens must be removed from the vote count. These were just the preliminary gut checks. But since Trump and his minions have still not given up on pursuits of control like that, even stepping them up, the federal courts have stepped in to declare these wholesale attempts at bamboozling the American electorate as null and void.
We, however, are simply standing whiplashed at the brazenness of the attempts to steal public money in plain sight and also to steal our rights to vote while they’re at it.
Well, here’s where that story is now. Trump’s slush fund is dead—killed by the court. Trump’s assault on “birthright citizenship” and voting is also dead—just killed by the Supreme Court. The 14th Amendment says what it means and means what it says.
Trump’s SAVE Act, another wing of the same objective, will not pass the Senate; thus, it will die in chambers. But hold on! Trump also got the Supreme Court to declare that there are no limits on how much money can be spent in elections—campaign finance controls are henceforth dead. For the heavily monied, the spoils of politics will continue.
But, for the good guys, mail-in balloting at least is a protected practice for Americans, and the Trumpites cannot seize the post office and confiscate public balloting. The states are still in charge of elections, not the federal government.
Not handled thus far is an issue that many Americans are still expecting to jump up and bite us: Trump’s probable attempt at sending in federal troops (including ICE members) to confiscate ballots in states where the Republicans may seem to be on the ropes once midterm voting starts. Of course that shouldn’t be and most likely is not legal, but we should expect Trump and his administration to try it anyway.
My, my, my. Our democracy will certainly get a full workout this year. Maybe it’s time. We’ll just see. But nobody else will save us, that’s certain. We will have to save ourselves.
“It’s a republic, if you can keep it,” Ben Franklin reportedly said. Let’s see… Let’s see.
And vote for Karen Bass!
