The Crisis is Here. Now What?
[Trump] intends to send those he hates to foreign prisons beyond the reach of U.S. law. He does not care — he will not even seek to discover — if those he sends into these foreign hells are guilty of what he claims. Because this is not about their guilt — it is about his power. . .This is the emergency. Like it or not, it’s here.[i]
Yes, it is here. But how did it get here. And where do we go from here?
It “got here” on January 21, 2010, with the “Citizens United” judgment. On that fateful day, Justice Kennedy joined right-wing Justices Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito and declared that corporations and foreign entities were “people” and had a first amendment right to make unlimited contributions in America’s elections.
Justice Stephens’ 90-page dissent argued that calling corporations “people” and allowing them to contribute without limits in our elections would invite corruption. He wrote that if corporations were able to massively outspend the ordinary citizen, it would cause them to “lose faith in our democracy.” He said: “A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold.”[ii]
Stevens argued that “corporations are not We the People for whom our Constitution was established.” Therefore, “they should not be given speech protections under the First Amendment, which protects individual self-expression and self-realization.” [My italics.] Corporation spending should be treated as a “business transaction,” Stevens argued, since it is the ‘the furthest from the core of political expression’ protected by the Constitution.”[iii]
President Barack Obama denounced the “Citizens United” decision during his 2010 “State of the Union Message” because he “did not think American elections should be bankrolled by America's most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities.” Seated in the front row, facing Obama, Justice Samuel Alito -- eager recipient of corporate favor -- mouthed the words "Not true."[iv]
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alito+mouths+not+true+to+obama]
But it was true. Stevens and Obama were correct. Over the last fifteen years, corporations have been on a drunken spending spree buying and selling politicians (and two Supreme Court justices) like they were penny stocks -- mostly Republican politicians, among them some of the dumbest, most corrupt, and most bigoted single-cell life forms in America.
In gratitude for the corporate millions spent on their campaigns and stock portfolios, MAGA Republicans sheepishly responded to corporate demands, regardless of their oath of office and the overriding needs of the country.
Republican politicians (photo above) have repeatedly crushed, or attempted to crush, legislation favoring the environment, gun control, civil liberties, due process, voting rights, women’s rights, education, immigration, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and LGBTQ rights.
Buoyed by “Citizens United,” McConnell and Leonard Leo’s Federalist Society added three more right-wing justices to the Supreme Court, securing a far-right majority dedicated to rewriting the Constitution. This Court, to their everlasting shame, even went so far as to slow-walk the Special Counsel’s insurrection charges against Trump, instead granting him near monarchical power. Ironically, Trump is currently exploiting those powers, challenging the very Supreme Court that kept him out of prison and made his election possible.
So, that’s how we got here.
Still, the Constitutional order might be salvaged if a critical number of House and Senate Republicans would abandon the Trump juggernaut and boldly reassert the prerogatives of the legislative branch. But, as Lisa Murkowsky recently stated in a shaky voice, Republicans are afraid, afraid not just of being primaried, but of being assassinated by one of Trump’s goon squads.
At this point, it would be easier to teach a monkey to play a Bach Prelude on the harpsichord than to expect a single Republican politician to stand up to Trump.
Increasingly, fear, anger, and frustration are animating mass demonstrations across the country as Trump and Musk “chain saw” our economy, social security, civil liberties, medicare, medicaid, NATO, and our military. Too late, perhaps, but nearly one in four voters who supported Trump in the 2024 presidential race question whether they made the right decision. [https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-supporters-regret-vote-poll-2060498]
David Brooks suggests that Americans should augment these protests with national boycotts and strikes.
It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power. . . These movements used many different tools at their disposal — lawsuits, mass rallies, strikes, work slowdowns, boycotts and other forms of noncooperation and resistance. . .Right now, Trumpism is dividing civil society; if done right, the civic uprising can begin to divide the forces of Trumpism. . .In other words, a civic uprising has to have a short-term vision and a long-term vision. Short term: Stop Trump. Foil his efforts. Pile on the lawsuits. Turn some of his followers against him. The second is a long-term vision of a fairer society that is not just hard on Trump, but hard on the causes of Trumpism — one that offers a positive vision.[v]
Brooks’ ideas are important, but perhaps otherworldly. The suggestion that today’s MAGAmerica is capable of being persuaded by “a long-term vision of a fairer society,” might have been plausible in a pre-Trump America. Not now. Trump will hardly acquiesce to “a comprehensive national civic uprising.” If Trump was prepared to overthrow the government on January 6th, 2021, when he wasn’t as well positioned as he is now, he will almost certainly enlist his expanding legions of violent supporters to again “fight like hell.”
His manifold fascist behaviors in just a few months make it clear that removing Trump from office will require more than boycotts, strikes, mass demonstrations, and a long-term vision of a fairer society.
For example, what happens if Trump ignores Supreme Court judgments that might try to restrain him? Which federal institution will execute their decision(s)? Who will indict and arrest him? Who will drag him out of the White House if he is impeached and convicted? Or, if he is defeated in the next election? Pam Bondi? Kash Patel? Pete Hesgeth? Tulsi Gabbard? Marco Rubio? Linda McMahon? Mike Johnson? Will his generals rally to his cause and join forces with his battle-tested militias? What happens if he is actually tried and convicted, but simply pardons himself?
Americans today have box seats to the “deconstruction” of our Constitution and our Republic. Why? Because power rests in the hands of a mentally ill fascist dictator, sadly fortified by billionaires who were corruptly liberated by “Citizens United.”
What will it take to restore order? To restore law? To protect and preserve our Constitution, to preserve and protect our free press, to preserve and protect citizens from enemies domestic?
The hypothetical possibilities are tantalizing, ranging from the ridiculous to the apocalyptic:
Trump realizes he wronged his country and resigns. He first fires all the dipshits in his cabinet.
The Republicans magically discover courage, impeach Trump, and evict him from the White House.
Millions of MAGA folks have a “come to Jesus moment” and actually “come to Jesus” — the one featured in the New Testament.
The U.S. Military affirms its allegiance to the Constitution and not Trump, and rogue organizations like ICE, re-read their oath of office and obey their wounded consciences.
The Senate impeaches the Supreme Court’s two corrupt MAGA justices; moreover, the three MAGA-lite Trump appointees confess they have been tools of the Federalist Society and promise to do better.
The billionaires who mockingly flattered Trump’s “giant brain and magnificent physique” realize that their cynical ploys failed and toss him aside as they watch their wealth evaporate.
The Defense Department jettisons their incompetent Secretary when they realize he is a FOX celebrity who accidentally wandered into the Pentagon after a weekend bender. Trump let him stay there because he has a great head of hair.
The tens of thousands of people in government whom Trump and Musk have fired seek their own retribution.
The ordinary people of America who see their futures being needlessly destroyed say “Enough!”
[i] Ezra Klein, “The Emergency is Here,” New York Times, 17 April 2025.
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC#cite_note-63
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] David Brooks, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/opinion/trump-harvard-law-firms.html