It’s Up to Us Now

If there was any doubt left, the MAGA-ruled Congress proved yesterday that Donald Trump owns it by approving his sweeping “big beautiful bill” that slashes taxes for the rich and pays for it by increasing taxes on the middle class and, especially, the poor.

It’s a bill that poll after poll shows Americans, by wide margins, do not like. It extends tax cuts on rich people and corporations that had been scheduled to expire this year, adds new ones, increases funding for defense and border security, cuts nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid, sharply reduces food assistance for the poor (the SNAP program), phases out clean-energy tax credits passed under former President Joe Biden — and increases the debt limit by $5 trillion, something Republicans said they would not do.

All just so billionaires can get more money. Damn that kind of greed!

It was a major political gamble for vulnerable lawmakers because it left them wide open to attacks during next year’s midterm elections that they have deserted their constituents. But they had a choice. They could either support what their constituents plainly wanted, or what Trump wanted. If they chose their constituents, Trump threatened to find and support opponents for them in next year’s Republican primaries. He even threatened them with angry posts on social media, including this:

“MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT’S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!”

They folded. They are definitely his now.

And the Supreme Court is leaning that way. One week ago today, the high court gave Trump a big win – not a decisive one but a big one.

At issue was whether the 14th Amendment meant what it said: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State to which they reside.” Trump had ordered that the amendment was unconstitutional, three district judges had ruled otherwise, appeals had reached the high court, and now it was up to the court to decide.

But the court didn’t decide that. Instead, the justices voted 6-3 to grant Trump’s request to partially pause the three judges’ opinions by repudiating the concept that local judges could issue nationwide injunctions. That decision, which becomes active in about three weeks, makes it seem the justices couldn’t even invent a way to say the amendment doesn’t mean what it says, so they started there and worked back to a place where they could give Trump something.

It could have been worse. The court left open the prospect of additional litigation in the lower courts about how much the injunctions should be narrowed, as well as the possibility of class action litigation on behalf of groups who were not part of the original litigation but would be affected by the order.

So yes, it could have been worse. The court could have capitulated to Trump entirely and ruled the amendment is unconstitutional. It didn’t do that, but it capitulated enough. It signaled that even though judges across the country have been rejecting Trump’s orders in remarkably high numbers, the Supreme Court has granted Trump unprecedented powers. The justices granted him immunity from being charged with any crime he may commit while performing his presidential duties, or allowing him to deport migrants to countries other than their own. It seems the Supreme Court is falling under his spell, just like Congress has done.

Toss in the fourth estate’s failure to do its watchdog job and Trump’s march to dictatorship is nearly complete.

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What’s scariest about all this is that Trump appears not to care about what voters think. He keeps on making self-serving decisions that crucify the poor and middle class to make the rich richer, and he doesn’t care that it could very easily lead to a blue tsunami in next November’s midterm elections. What’s scary about that is that it may mean he does not expect there to be any elections next November.

Look at his statistics. A recent Quinnipiac poll of registered voters emphasizes how far Trump’s popularity has plummeted since he took office. The numbers are remarkable. They showed that only 38% of registered voters approve of the way he’s doing his job, while 54% disapprove.

Voters don’t like his handling of individual issues any better, including immigration, 43% approve, 54% disapprove; deportations, 40% approve, 56% disapprove; the economy, 40% to 56%; trade, 38 to 57; universities, 37 to 54; the Israel-Hamas conflict, 35 to 52; and the Russia-Ukraine war, 34% approval to 57% disapproval.

They don’t like his appointees, either. Only 38% approve of the way Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is handling his job, while 53% disapprove. About 37% of voters approve of the way Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is handling his job, while 46% disapprove. And 38% approved of the work billionaire Elon Musk did, while 57% said it was either “not so good” or “poor.”

No politician in his/her right mind would keep on pushing the issues that are likely to get him and his elected friends in government tossed out, but he does. And that’s why I think he does not expect there to be another election. It’s probably part of his plan to have a third term, despite what the Constitution says about it.

He can’t order that, of course. But there are avenues open to him that he could, with the help of Congress and the courts, employ.

Suppose Iran should reply to Trump’s attack by causing some sort of terrorist attack in America, or some bad migrants caused some serious problem. Trump could say it is a national emergency, declare nationwide martial law, put his goons on every street corner, rule that the times are too dangerous for elections, and “postpone” them. His kingship would be complete.

Or he could have his Justice Department investigate elections – and he is doing this — to show how easy they are to rig (which they are not, but a lot of people believe anything he says, such as the Big Lie that he lost the 2020 presidential election because it was rigged, which it was not).

Or he could push the state legislatures to make voting so hard, and gerrymandering so severe, that Democrats do not stand a chance.

He probably has other ideas, but whatever he does now, it’s up to us to defeat him — us, meaning We the People. We’re in a more mandatory all-hands-on-deck time than we have been since the days of King George III. Every one of us has to do something, no matter how small. You can begin today by attending a No Kings Day 2.0; there is probably one near you. But do something. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

And do not doubt the power of one person’s action. Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian human rights lawyer known for her defense of activists, opposition politicians and individuals facing human rights violations, says that even a single creative protest by an ordinary person can ignite a broader movement. She cited the woman who in 2017 stood on a Tehran street, removed her head scarf and waved it at the end of a stick. The incident went viral and began the “girls of revolution street” movement to end the compulsory hijab. And while the hijab law remains in place, women now sometimes get away with ignoring it.

We’re the only power left that can save democracy. We cannot depend on Congress, the Supreme Court or the press to help us. It’s up to us, and if we do not give up we will win.

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