Independence Day: May it not be our last

By Mike Weland
Publisher

“Today, there is no lower court in the United States of America than its highest court,” I wrote Monday after the abhorrent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on presidential immunity from criminal liability brought by the only U.S. President in U.S. history to have ever confessed to needing it.

“The U.S. Supreme Court of Donald J. Trump has upended the rule of law, negated the separation of powers, ended the constitution and opened the door to a fascist dictatorship,” I wrote in a brief op ed.

And I received the very response I anticipated … the derision of people in red hats marching in lockstep toward the edge of the earth, laughing at the lemmings warning them of the peril of the cliffs ahead. And as for the past nigh ten years now, Trump, his sycophants nor the red-capped who follow him ever closer to the abyss with such blind devotion realize they’re marching down a well trodden path to disaster.

“You’re an absolute idiot if you believe anything that is printed by the administrator of this page when it comes to anything political,” Jason writes. “This man goes out of his way to discriminate against any opinions that aren’t his own, widely left leaning views. How he is able to operate this page with the word ‘news’ in it is an absolute joke.”

Why Mr. Funderburg … did I write something with which you disagree? I beg forgiveness. Next time we argue, I’ll kowtow and agree without question to all you say!

Takes the fun out of it though … I was hoping, after near ten years, I might finally hear a cogent explanation as to why so many support such a weak and cowardly misfit as Donny J. I wait still.

“If you think today is the first we’ve been betrayed from within by the weak entrusted with power, then you’ve been sheltered!” Chad Kimball said of my assessment of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“You’re right, but no betrayal thus far will have such widespread ramifications as this one,” I replied.

“Oh, I don’t know… have you seen what they do with your tax dollars or your southern border?”

Why yes, yes I have!

Trivial issues of momentary import, Chad. The Supreme Court’s action undermines the validity of our entire system of governance, upends our judicial system, negates the concept that all are equal under the law and completely undermines the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances in favor of the executive.

In so doing, it undermines the foundations underpinning our constitution. Did you like habeus corpus? Due process? The right to remain silent? Only works on the assumption that the law applies equally to all.

“Mike it’s in your writings. one example, when you put no article about how well Biden did on the first debate. Why was that if your not a lefty?”

It’s not about left and right, Velma, it’s about right and wrong.

The MAGA contingent is gloating, having failed to grasp just what they’ve released upon themselves. Not a single legitimate argument as to what Trump offers that will benefit anyone other than Trump. Expecting loyalty from a man for whom loyalty goes just one way.

But boy, did we own the libs!

“Why no article on debate?” Velma asked again. “Biden’s true colors came shining thru yet you didn’t do a piece on it .”

“Velma Davis it is easier to slam Trump than it is to promote Biden,” Rick Benson responded. “Interesting to note that Mr. Weland thinks he knows more about what’s good for our country than six Supreme Court justices … must be that advanced law degree he has!”

You don’t need a law degree to see what the Supreme Court did Monday.

In the 235 years since George Washington was elected, 45 men have served as President of the United States. Only one of them, who held office from 2016 to 2020, has ever insisted that a president needed absolute immunity from criminal prosecution in order to effectively carry out the duties of the office. It is apt that Donald John Trump is the only U.S. President to be impeached twice for high crimes and misdemeanors, the only U.S. President to incite an insurrection rather than concede he lied about a rigged election and so become the only president to have failed to have peaceably transferred power.

Trump had the most corrupt administration with a record for most officials convicted and jailed and he is the only former U.S. President to be indicted and convicted for felony crimes. He ran the first time to avoid bankruptcy. He runs now in an attempt to avoid prison. And now he doesn’t have to win, for the six “conservative” justices on the Supreme Court gave him a get out of jail free card, win or lose.

And this should scare you: If he wins in November, none other than Donald John Trump will be the first U.S. President to not be bound by the laws he is entrusted to execute.

There are those who say, and Trump himself the loudest, that he is a victim, persecuted by a liberal cabal out for supreme power … that they’d be coming after you but for him standing in the way. And there are millions who buy it, for whom faithfully believing even the most blatant of Trump’s myriad falsehoods is the key to membership in the cult.

Trump wasn’t exonerated on either impeachment … the Senate never tried him, instead capitulating and bowing before the glowing orange one, doing his bidding ever since, little more than sycophants and boot lickers who said it was the function of the courts to mete justice.

And now Trump won’t likely face justice in a court of law … six of its nine highest judges having capitulated to the glowing orange one, putting him, one man only and a weak reed at that, above the law.

Instead of holding our nation’s highest elected official to a higher standard commensurate with the trust they hold, the Supreme Court threw away any hint of a standard.

If he wins in November, he will have a license to kill and he’s already boasting how he plans to wield it. He will be the epitome of the worst of the European monarchs our forefathers fled, and who the framers so carefully crafted our constitution to preclude from ever gaining hold of this nation’s government.

You true conservatives forget history. Trump, motivated solely by his own narcissism, has risen along a general timeline that mimics in many ways that of Adolph Hitler. Both usurped a political party and made it their own, both attempted to overthrow their government. Both paid small prices for their treason and were actually strengthened because of it. Hitler’s comeback culminated with his being appointed chancellor, after which he introduces censorship, ends civil liberties and sets himself up as dictator.

Trump has yet to be elected again, but in today’s malign climate, he very well could be, and with Monday’s Supreme Court decision, he will be the first U.S. President unrestrained by two of the three co-equal branches of government or the rule of law. And he’s told us over and over his intentions.

He will do away with the civil service system and replace those working for the public good with loyalists who will work for Trump. He will prosecute his political enemies for crimes for which he alone bears guilt, weaponizing the U.S. Department of Justice as his own personal bludgeon. He will round up and deport millions, and you can bet they won’t all be illegal immigrants.

Like Hitler, he will likely appease “his soldiers,” those he told to stand back and stand by, giving them a brown shirt or other such symbol of unity and pride and releasing them at last to intimidate, beat, rob and even kill with impunity Trump’s “enemies of state;” liberals, the educated, Democrats, journalists … the list will grow.

For the sake of our nation, I hope I’m wrong, but in ten years of Trump, that hope remains unfulfilled.

And what if the American people come out in droves to support our constitution and the democratic republic that is, and by their vote deny Trump another foot in the door?

Neither Trump nor his many loyalists will accept it. There will be insurrection, there will be violent uprising, perhaps even, as some predict, civil war, though I doubt it. That takes discipline MAGA lacks.

But far better to quell a second insurrection, send these “conservative” extremists back beneath the fringes from whence Trump set them loose, restore our constitution’s checks and balances and embrace again the hard work of ever striving to form a more perfect union wherein all citizens are equal over the much easier imposition of one small faction’s mores and prejudices.

Happy Independence Day, America. May we have it to savor next year. And may the symbol of the day, our American flag, come once again come to symbolize pride in a great nation rather than loyalty to one deeply flawed man.