Did We Elect a Monarch?
In a democracy, the way changes to the government are made is by passing laws, created by Congress and then signed by the President. But Trump is simply putting out executive orders, (essentially issuing decrees like a king) completely bypassing the legislature and the democratic process.
All modern presidents have used executive orders to a limited extent. But Trump is making sweeping (often unlawful) changes to whole agencies, stopping funding for laws, ignoring the Constitution and harming lots of people – and our country – as listed below:
- Using threats and intimidation against Congress – Trump has encouraged violence against perceived enemies, including congressional Republicans, to maintain obedience
- Using the Justice Dept. to exact retribution – Trump is investigating and prosecuting people and institutions he sees as enemies. According to a Reuters investigation, the total is at least 470 federal, state and local officials, law firms, universities, media organizations and corporations.
- Illegally firing federal employees and making a chaos of the work these organizations have to do, including: the FDA, IRS, USDA, CDC, NNSA (the agency that handles nuclear weapons)
- Illegally cutting funding for programs that Congress established, including science and medical research, education, public safety, veterans and food assistance for the young, old, disabled and poor.
- Effectively shuttering USAID by illegally cutting funding and firing employees, resulting in the deaths one adult every 3 minutes and one infant every 31 minutes, according to Boston University
- Seizure, detention and deportation of immigrants has skyrocketed, enabled by”expedited removal“. This process established by executive order, allows DHS to detain and deport someone without a hearing before an immigration judge, effectively upending due process or the right to legal representation.
- Extorting Universities and Law Firms – Trump has threatened the largest universities and law firms with punitive action if they didn’t submit to administration’s orders – and pay $ millions in favors
- Illegal Tariffs – Trump has imposed punitive tariffs on most of the nations of the world (including our closest allies), claiming a false emergency to justify this action. This has resulted in economic upheaval, domestic inflation and harm to US producers from international retaliation.
- Unprecedented Graft and Corruption – Trump has used the power of the Presidency to make $ billions off of crypto currency, including allowing the sale of advanced AI chips to UAE (despite concern that these chips could be shared with China), after they invested $2B in Trump family cryptocurrency firm. Trump also accepted a 747 airliner as a gift from another middle east country that wants to buy weapons.
- Curbing Guardrails to Executive Department Power – Firing 18 Inspectors General, attacking independent media, threatening the Federal Reserve, stripping civil service protections from tens of thousands of federal employees so that they can be replaced with loyalists, even firing the labor statistics chief after weak jobs report
- Promoting Election Interference – Trump is abolishing election security networks, attempting to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines and promoting the redrawing of congressional districts (gerrymandering) in Texas and other states to benefit Republican candidates and keep control of the House.
- The capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is widely considered illegal, according to international law, because it violated Venezuelan sovereignty and it lacked legal justification because the abduction was not a legitimate law enforcement action since the US cannot unilaterally enforce its laws on foreign soil without consent.
- The sinking of boats off Venezuela is described by legal experts, the United Nations, and international critics as illegal under both international and U.S. law. These attacks are considered acts of war, but since no armed conflict exists, they violate maritime law and the President lacks the authority to initiate these military strikes without authorization by Congress. Other violations pertain as well.
- Killing of innocent US citizen civilians by ICE and Border Patrol agents in MN – While a thorough investigation has not been divulged, video evidence contradicts the official explanation of what happened, especially the claims that both these victims were a threat to federal agents.
This President is out of control, trashing the constitution in his quest for power and enrichment. Does it make your blood pressure go up a little? It should. Does it make you think:
“What the hell gives him the right to do this to my country?”
The answer is “he doesn’t have the right” – no one does. But isn’t that why we’re here?
Be sure to check out the list of Sources to add to your base of information, as needed, and to confirm the quality of the places we get our info. Latest Articles is another good resource.
The Organizations listed a couple steps later have a ton of information about their particular areas and provide additional ways to keep up with what’s going on. Most of these groups have email lists and put out regular communications as well. For the next step, see the section on Spread the Word