Thanks so much for replying
@otto. I’m afraid I’m going to sound pretty defeated.
The Republicans (Trump’s party) have the majority in both the House and Senate. They won’t defy Trump because they are (rightly) afraid of him and/or agree with him. They won’t even meet with their angry demonstrating constituents. The next congressional election is in 2026 (if there is one) and it will be too late. We’ll see if the demonstrations on April 5 at the capitols of all 50 states have any effect.
I think the media is afraid too. There is no coverage of the demonstrations that I can see except on liberal MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show. Trump has the billionaires like Bezos (Amazon and the Washington Post), and Zuckerberg (Facebook and Instagram) in his pocket. He goes after newspapers and TV stations that have stories he doesn’t like. Musk owns Twitter/X and routinely scrubs uncomplimentary posts.
I don’t mean to sound unappreciative of your suggestions,
@otto. Normally, they would have an effect. But we are dealing with a President and government that is trampling the Constitution and laws with no fear of consequences. Trump promised retribution (for what was “done” to him) and he’s succeeding. Court cases that go against him are appealed and will end up at the Supreme Court, where he has a majority of the judges on his side. Even if they rule against him, the courts have no power to enforce their opinions. In the past, Presidents would comply. But Trump will do what he wants.
There are a lot of very smart people in this country. I read their comments on various substacks I follow and they are all asking “What can we do?” If there
was something to do, I’m sure they’d be doing it. I’m afraid it’s too late, even for many of the suggestions in Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny.”