The turmoil we're experiencing isn't really due to Trump himself, it's due to the political/societal context we've built for decades. Trump is a symptom, an opportunistic illness that inevitably attacks when conditions are ripe.
We can't just legislate Trump and his corruption away. There are plenty of existing laws and systems that would have stopped Trump in his tracks years ago; they simply weren't enforced by the Republican party when it was in power. Congress had the power to remove him from office and they abdicated that responsibility. Even worse, SCOTUS has flouted historic legal precedents and gone rogue. They conservative justices have an agenda, and they are blatantly twisting interpretation of the law to fit their goals.
Rule of law only exists when people agree to abide by it. It is fundamentally a self-governing system; without the agreement of individuals to believe in it and follow the rules, it has no inherent authority to compel compliance.
Without rule of law, democracy fails. I'm not sure how -- even under the best scenario for the 2026 midterms -- we return to a law-abiding society that is willing to enforce our rules. Once people stop believing in rule of law -- as the Republicans have done en masse -- how do you convince them to voluntarily re-enter into that societal agreement?
Right-wing conservatives have opted out of our system because it was getting far too close to leveling the playing field. It no longer promised an inherent advantage for White Christian Men (and their dependents). They would rather have a fascist state than a democracy, so our liberal rallying cry that democracy is a stake doesn't sway them; quite the contrary.
www.restoftheworldreport.com
