The Art of the Steal

 

Distraction can be used on a small scale: stealing from someone talking on his phone; or petting a person’s dog. Trump uses it on a grand scale – using the media to control the national narrative away from what he doesn’t want people to know. Pickpockets steal wallets, jewelry and watches. What is trump stealing? In a word – DEMOCRACY.

Whether he’s focusing on: the wall; declaring a phony state of emergency; separating  detained Guatemalan and Salvadoran border-crossers from their children —  and talking about sending them to sanctuary cities; lying that the Mueller report completely exonerated him; claiming that Obama and Hillary spied on him; or raising the possibility of a third summit with Kim Jong-un (after all, the last one went so well), he is turning everyone’s attention away from the one thing he doesn’t want us to notice – that he is well on the way to turning American democracy into an autocracy

How is he doing this?

First, having stacked the Supreme Court, Trump is now confident that he can ignore laws he doesn’t like, because  +that Court, will rule ultimately in his favor.

On April 13^th the New York Times reported “Justice Breyer’s dissent reflects that things have quickly gotten ugly at the court since the replacement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who was a moderating force — with the more conservative Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.”.While this rift related to capital punishment cases, the Times stressed that the divide between the five conservatives and the four liberals on the bench is spreading to all issues.

On the same day, the Times also ran a piece about the justice department deciding not to defend two laws – one which, if defeated, would eliminate the Affordable Care Act  (Obamacare); and the other outlawing genital mutilation – both at the urging of Trump. The treasury department has also been instructed by Trump not to turn over his tax returns  to Rep Richard Neal, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who is  clearly entitled by law to obtain them from the IRS. This will likely result in a lawsuit that will end at the Supreme Court. Even in the unlikely event that the court were to uphold the legality of Neal’s demand, the delay could last until the next election, effectively rendering the subject moot.

Second, with his stooge Attorney General William Barr, his Supreme Court stacked with Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, his compliant  Senate leader Mitch McConnell and his Senate Justice Committee Chairman, Lindsay Graham – Trump has enough power in all three branches of government to make it very difficult for Nancy Pelosi – for all her skills and strength –  to override a president who can get away with breaking laws he doesn’t like.

Third. Trump is dilly-dallying over appointing new cabinet secretaries. Instead he is replacing those he has fired or forced out with people in “acting” positions, who don’t have to be confirmed by the senate and lack the full authority of a duly appointed cabinet secretary – so are more compliant with his demands

Fourth, Trump is getting rid of people who will not obey his orders to break the law. He did this with Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security, who, in spite of her cruelty in separating infants from their mothers, was not tough enough for him. Then, after first saying he would close the Mexican border (which would have had a disastrous effect on the US economy) and then announcing he would not do so, he instructed Kevin McAleenan, another Homeland Security official, to close the border – and promised him a pardon if he ran into trouble for doing so.

While it has long been apparent that Trump has no regard for the law, having found that he can get away with almost anything, these very recent developments are blatant evidence that he prefers autocracy to democracy and is quite far along in the process of getting his way. His Art of the Steal is working:. First Autocracy; then Dictatorship? We truly can’t afford to wait to find out.

What’s to be done?  My hope that Chief Justice Roberts would protect the reputation of the Supreme Court by putting the future of the nation over protecting Trump has diminished. Impeachment or resignation now seem remote, particularly in view of the clever way Barr has managed the Mueller Report. So the only answer is to make sure Democrats win the presidency and the Senate, and hold on to the House, in 2020. Also, they must do so by a substantial enough margin to prevent Trump from claiming fraud and refusing to leave.

In the meantime we have to hope that the Democratic House, led by Nancy Pelosi, can hold off the worst results until then

In short, Democrats have to beat The Art of the Steal with The Art of Appeal – and win the next one BIG