Testing, Testing...
With each day, the Trump administration pushes the limits of its power and stress-tests the Constitution.
This weekend marked the 250th anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord, the “shot heard round the world” and the opening exchanges of the American Revolution. The symbolic significance of celebrating the origins of the nation in its current divided moment is in sharper focus than ever.
Garrett Graff writes at his excellent Doomsday Scenario substack that:
“It’s perhaps darkly fitting that America stands today at one of the three or four great crossroads of our grand experiment in democracy and self-government since.
“The existential national crucible that Donald Trump has quickly brought to the fore over the last few weeks… presents us with one of the starkest test of values and the constitution our country has ever faced.”
On Good Friday, the anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride to warn his fellow patriots of impending danger, Prof Heather Cox Richardson spoke at the Lantern Service at Old North Church in Boston. Her history lesson was resonant.
She said, in part:
“Paul Revere didn’t wake up on the morning of April 18, 1775, and decide to change the world. That morning began like many of the other tense days of the past year, and there was little reason to think the next two days would end as they did. Like his neighbors, Revere simply offered what he could to the cause: engraving skills, information, knowledge of a church steeple, longstanding friendships that helped to create a network. And on April 18, he and his friends set out to protect the men who were leading the fight to establish a representative government.”
You can watch the full event here:
This past January, the White House established a “Task Force” to oversee events in the run-up to next year’s July 4th national birthday, apparently dissatisfied with the work already done by the non-partisan initiative America 250 which was established by Congress in 2016.
Obviously, the administration’s critics would say that’s far from the worst thing it has done since it took office; while that list of largely ego-driven provocations seems to get longer by the day.
This week alone, for example, we saw the State Department rethinking how it defines “human rights”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said the administration was considering whether to “move on” from trying to secure a peace deal in Russia’s war on Ukraine. The president, of course, had pledged during the campaign that he would end the war “in 24 hours” after taking office.
Harvard University, an educational establishment older than the country itself and the wealthiest among its peers, pushed back against the White House’s demands to force changes to its organisational structure, igniting a new phase in Trumpism’s attempt to reshape the nation’s colleges. Meanwhile the revocation of student visas continues.
Amid ongoing uncertainty over his tariff policy, the president hinted that he might want to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before Powell’s term expires next year; a threat at least for now tempered by a fear of even greater market chaos.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has emerged as a leading contender to build parts of Trump’s prospective “Golden Dome” missile defense shield, according to Reuters.
Just as the deadline ran out for Trump’s cabinet members to report on whether the administration should impose martial law under the Insurrection Act, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly recommended against allowing the president to deploy US troops for law-enforcement tasks on the southern border.
Hegseth may have other problems, though, as it emerged that he had shared operational details of another attack on Yemen on a second Signal chat – this one involving his wife and brother. Politico reported that “dysfunction” at the Defense Department could leave Hegseth on shaky ground.
Health Secretary RFK Jr, still dogged by his agency’s response to the measles outbreak which now has some 700 cases in more than 20 states, made some appallingly cruel remarks about children with autism.
“These are kids who will never pay taxes. They'll never hold a job. They'll never play baseball. They'll never write a poem. They'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
There was a time, not so long ago, where a public statement like that would probably mean the end of a political career. I guess since January we’ve just run right on past that point. And keep the nation’s pastime out of your mouth.
But it’s specifically the escalating conflict around how the White House wants to manage deportations that is heightening alarm over a possible “constitutional crisis” due to an open disregard by the executive branch for American courts and the notion of due process. The legal tussle over the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man deported in error to El Salvador, ratcheted up this week, pushing the administration closer to a showdown with the Supreme Court.
The wider GOP reaction was perhaps best summarised by a Republican Congressman who told Fox News “Maybe he (Abrego Garcia) is not a terrorist. But he's a potential terrorist. He's a terrorist watchlist person,” whatever that means. Trump adviser and “counterterrorism czar” Sebastian Gorka went further, suggesting that anyone advocating for due process for Abrego Garcia could be seen as "aiding and abetting a terrorist" and be federally charged; meanwhile Trump himself has hinted at deporting “homegrown” US citizens to foreign prisons.
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One if by land, two if by DC…
This fraught moment is obviously also a test for opponents of the current regime and how they might respond to what’s happening. In a further echo of pre-Revolutionary War Boston, Stuart Stevens wrote this week that “it is the cumulative weight and fury of outrage that turns the tide.”
He writes:
“If a hostile foreign power was successfully executing a plan to make America poorer, less healthy, less educated, more economically stratified with degraded upward mobility, and more racially divisive while fracturing the civil bond of rule of law, it is hard to imagine what would be done that Trump and his anti-American Republicans are not doing.”
And, addressing Democratic leaders…
“This isn't a battle of your choosing. But it is the battle for which you will always be judged. This is the moment you must show the world and history which side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge you are standing on.”
Saturday saw the second series of protests across the nation against Trump and Elon Musk, under the banner “No Kings”; while Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continue to “electrify” Democrats at huge rallies – including Sanders’ appearance at Coachella.
At a micro level, though, this piece at NPR on how American communities like this one in Maine are wrestling with current events maybe gives us a clue as to where we’ll likely find ourselves when the immediate storm may have passed, but political disagreements remain.
“This crowd seems to skew toward people who are upset with the current administration, which stands to reason — people who support the way things are going might not feel the need to come out and air their complaints. One man does quietly leave after asking his question or two. Outside the bar, he explains why.
"I heard enough," he said with a laugh.”
At least these guys are in the same room and talking, without anyone being dragged out by security.
How we eventually rebuild civic discourse and figure out what comes next in how we govern ourselves is still uncertain, but there seem to be plenty of people who want to try. The current occupant of the White House, however, seems concerned only with staying in office “for a long time.”
A month ago, Stewart Patrick wrote presciently for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, that Donald Trump had “launched a second American Revolution. This time it’s against the World.”
Happy Easter.
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“No one gives a damn about the things I give a damn about,
The liberties that we can't do without
Seem to disappear like ghosts in the air;
When we don't even care, it truly vanishes away.”
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As always, thanks for reading. You might also enjoy – if that’s the right word these days – these previous posts:
Some Men Just Want To Watch The World Burn - April 13 - As his chaotic trade war spirals, Trump claims leaders are “kissing my ass” to make deals.
Nice Country You’ve Got Here… March 30 – Would be a shame if anything happened to it.
What Is It Good For? – March 16 – Absolutely nothing. Say it again.
If you’re a new reader, thanks very much for joining us. I try to write a baseball-specific post midweek, then a politics wrap on weekends. I hope you’ll find something interesting along the way. Drop me a line and let me know what you think?
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Brilliant round-up Steve. We're well beyond 'flood the zone' territory and keeping up is nigh on impossible without States of Play. 🙏🏻