Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: This is that constitutional crisis everyone has been talking about
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What does a constitutional crisis look like? If you’re waiting for the the secret police to come knocking on your door, or the maybe a few tanks in the streets, or perhaps a few of the more vocal people around you to suddenly disappear, that’s not it. ThAbbreviated Pundit Round-up: This is that constitutional crisis everyone has been talking about
What does a constitutional crisis look like? If you’re waiting for the the secret police to come knocking on your door, or the maybe a few tanks in the streets, or perhaps a few of the more vocal people around you to suddenly disappear, that’s not it. That’s not the crisis. That’s what comes after. The constitutional crisis comes when an authoritarian leader demeans the free press and the judicial system. It comes when that leader destroys the ability of the judicial system to act as a check on his actions. It comes when the legislature surrenders it’s authority. It comes … already. The constitutional crisis isn’t something that’s looming in the future, not even the near future. It’s here. We’re in the midst of it. This is what it looks like. I wish very much that that I could stop referring to the article on Masha Gessen wrote on the evening of Trump’s election. The problem is that her article has proven to be both frighteningly prescient and deeply instructive. So I turn to it again, and again, and again … Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization. Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. … It is a fact that the world did not end on November 8 nor at any previous time in history. Yet history has seen many catastrophes, and most of them unfolded over time. xHappy #StPatricksDay pic.twitter.com/4vVsW2smhB— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018 Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. It took Putin a year to take over the Russian media and four years to dismantle its electoral system; the judiciary collapsed unnoticed. The capture of institutions in Turkey has been carried out even faster, by a man once celebrated as the democrat to lead Turkey into the EU. It has been 14 months since Trump took power. In that time, he has attacked the media over, and over, and over. And he has fired the acting Attorney General, the Director of the FBI, and the Deputy Director of the FBI. At the Department of Justice, the Civil Rights Division, the Environment Division, the Civil Division, and the Tax Division are all being by temporary appointees put in place by Trump but not approved by the Senate. The State Department is empty of experience diplomats. The EPA has been turned into an engine for enabling the destruction of the environment by an oligarch in the making, who has walled himself off on a private floor guarded by a private army. xAndrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2018 Trump means what he says. This is not normal. Our institutions are being actively, purposely, and rapidly destroyed, while the ability of the press to raise an alarm has already been seriously undermined. And accepting Trump’s actions now on the assumption that something can still be done in November is a very, very dangerous bet. Rule #4: Be outraged. … In the face of the impulse to normalize, it is essential to maintain one’s capacity for shock. This will lead people to call you unreasonable and hysterical, and to accuse you of overreacting. It is no fun to be the only hysterical person in the room. Prepare yourself. Now. Let’s read some pundits. And plan. Read more