Many major disasters end up being the culmination of a number of small errors and missteps that occur over a period of time. The September 11 th terror attack was partially due to the result of a number of intelligence failures that, individually were not big deals but the culmination over time led to a huge loss of life and ultimately to the US long term war in Afghanistan. Investigations into airplane crashes often cite a number of small errors committed by pilots which when added sequentially end up in a crash. The democratic crisis we currently find ourselves in in the United States is the culmination of a number of Congressional acts and judicial rulings which over time have led us here. There have been many, many opportunities to have avoided or stopped this train wreck but for whatever reason, people failed to act.
The Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case in 2010 opened the door for people and corporations to pump unlimited amounts of money into elections. This allowed Elon Musk to spend $250 million to help get Trump elected. Now he is trying to buy the Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin that will be contested in an election on April 1st. Billionaires can try to buy elections with impunity.
The Supreme Court substantially weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 2021 making it easier for States to pass laws under the guise of voter integrity or protecting against voter fraud, but are, in fact, designed to make it harder for some groups to vote. Laws making it more difficult to vote in Republican-led states have spread like wildfire since this ruling.
Trump was impeached following his attempt to shake down President Zelensky prior to the 2020 election by withholding military aid that had already been approved in exchange for Zelensky to make a public statement about an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden to help him politically. Even though a number of Republican senators voiced opinions stating that what he did was wrong, the Senate under Mitch McConnell could not muster the votes to convict Trump.
Trump was impeached a second time after the failed insurrection on January 6th. Once again, despite an impassioned speech in which Mitch McConnell held Trump responsible for this despicable and clearly, anti-democratic act, he and his fellow Republican senators failed to convict Trump.
Once out of office, Trump faced numerous legal actions. He was successfully sued for defamation by E. Jean Carroll in a civil lawsuit about a sexual assault. He was tried and convicted on 34 felony counts regarding a payment to adult film star, Stormy Daniels, in a case about an alleged affair. Charges were brought against Trump for the January 6th insurrection and for the illegal possession and handling of classified documents. However, in those latter two cases, Judge Eileen Cannon continued to delay judicial actions which ultimately led to the dismissal of these charges.
Several states tried to sue to have Trump removed from the presidential ballot for the 2024 election given that he was a convicted felon. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed his name to be placed on the ballot.
In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling stating that a president is entitled to ‘limited immunity for official acts’ while in office which has opened the door for President Trump to believe that he can now act without unchecked power.
This potential disaster could have been prevented and stopped at many points over the last few years. However, we are facing the largest Constitutional crisis since the U.S. Civil war because people in positions of power and people who should have known better, chose to ignore all the red flags and all the warning signs. So, here we are sailing into an ocean of large ice bergs and the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Republican congresspeople are still saying ‘Full Steam Ahead!’ But unlike on the Titanic, Trump, his sycophants and his billionaire buddies will be the first to jump in the lifeboats (or perhaps be plucked from the deck by their personal helicopters!) and the rest of us will be left to try to survive in the icy waters of Trump’s recklessness, greed and egomania. The sad fact is this ship should never been allowed to sail in the first place. Grab your life jacket!
