I want to share with you the thoughts of Robert Kagan, historian, foreign policy adviser, author and columnist. I first ran an item in this blog about him in 2016 after reading his warning about the threat to our democracy from the “mobocracy” he saw being activated by Donald Trump.
Here is that item. Rereading his warning now, I’m amazed by how prescient his analysis was.
Kagan was on a podcast over the weekend, and I want to share with you his thoughts now (lightly edited to remove repetitions and inaccuracies in the transcript).
Kagan says: “I know there's resistance growing in the United States now, but what I'm worried about is that by the time that resistance reaches the point where people say, well, we really shouldn't be doing this anymore, it'll be over. Trump will already have all the power, and then it won't matter what Congress thinks, and it won't matter what the Supreme Court does, and that is how you have dictatorships.
“He's basically in the process of sidelining the other two branches of government. There's a reason the founders set up three branches of government, and there was one reason alone. It was to prevent tyranny.
“The reason they gave Congress the power of the purse was not because they thought Congress would be better at spending the money. It was to prevent tyranny. That's what they learned from their revolution. The degree to which Congress is now unconstitutionally ceding its authority over
control of the spending of money is basically making it possible for Trump to rule this country by himself without recourse to any other institution in this nation.
“I don't think we've quite reached the point of no return, and there is a very simple thing that everybody can do. Everybody should be deluging the representatives' offices with complaints and concerns. And I think it's important because at the end of the day, there is a vulnerability, at least until Trump has so much power that he doesn't have to care anymore. which we're heading toward.
“But until then, there is a vulnerability. The members of Congress, their number one fear is not being reelected. And so you've got to put political pressure on them to show a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of courage to oppose Trump.
“By the way, there are indications so far that people who do push back on Trump find that then the administration does begin to back down. So there have been some various areas where, you know, some of the cuts have cut too deep in certain constituencies that maybe they're a little worried about.
“And when those constituents have pushed back, they've changed the system. And so, you know, we're just sitting here assuming that they're unstoppable. And I think, you know, I don't believe that's true yet. And so I think that this is the time.
“If ever you were going to do something as a citizen to save your country, this is your time. And you don't have to do anything other than place a phone call, write a letter, go to a protest, go to a legal protest.
“I think enough people are being affected by it now and will be affected by it that if they just do what citizens are supposed to do and, you know, really give their elected officials a hard time, well, you don't know what effect that might have.”
Meanwhile, Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who served on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, says Republican lawmakers privately are nervous as recent town halls show voter anger over the activities of Elon Musk.
Kinzinger is urging voters to ratchet up pressure in public settings because critical town hall audiences are the most “uncomfortable” moments of a politician’s job.
“Right now, Republican members of Congress fear one person: Donald Trump. They don’t fear you,” Kinzinger says. “When they start fearing you, that’s when they start having a different calculus.”
Well, dear readers, it seems clear that each of us has role in at least writing to our House and Senate representatives —red state, blue state, regardless of party. They’ve taken an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. And that means defending the separation of powers. Using their power to check and balance the executive branch. At a minimum, we can remind them that we expect them to use their power and that our vote depends on it.
My husband suggests that Democrats have no justification for cooperating with Republicans on legislation until Republicans fulfill their constitutional oath to check and balance the executive branch.