Congressional Republicans Could End Trump’s Madness – Washington Monthly
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Twenty Republican senators and a handful of House members. That’s all it would take for Congress to end the madness of King Trump.
President Donald Trump is responsible for a mind-bending array of constitutional crises. Trump is suing his own Treasury Department for billions of dollars over a leak of his tax information that occurred during his first term (when, needless to say, his own nominees controlled both the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service); he is waging a reckless war on the heels of a forced extradition of another nation’s head of state, without congressional approval and in violation of international law; he is trying, by executive order, to override the Constitution on birthright citizenship and state control of elections; and he is openly flouting judicial orders on several fronts, including detentions and deportations.
With all the attention the Trump administration receives for its chaotic and intemperate policies, it’s easy to forget that it is Republicans in Congress who bear the chief responsibility for failing to safeguard the constitutional order. At any time, it would take fewer than two dozen of the 535 members of Congress to take a stand for the preservation of the American republic. Given Trump’s souring approval ratings and his feud with many of the right wing’s most prominent influencers, Republicans who did so might well survive re-election.
That the American people saw fit to elect the unfit Donald Trump once was disappointing, but perhaps unsurprising. The Founders knew that democracies attract demagogues, and fashioned the Constitution accordingly. Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 68 that “talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man” to higher office, and in Federalist 71 that the voters may be subject to “the wiles of parasites and sycophants” and “the snares of the ambitious.” They designed the system so that Congress would, to maintain its own power and privileges, remove a chaotic would-be despot by means of impeachment.
Now, the power of partisanship—along with the moral cowardice of individual Congressional Republicans—is preventing that outcome. Republicans in Congress may secretly whisper in the halls that Trump is unfit, but their own electoral self-preservation instincts, interests in seeing their policy agenda passed, and fears of reprisal prevent them from doing what they know to be right. The Founders did not adequately guard against this. However, George Washington warned of danger in his farewell address—noting that the combination of demagoguery and extreme partisanship could enable “a frightful despotism” leading to “the absolute power of an individual.”
However, the underlying structural forces do not excuse congressional Republicans from their responsibilities nor justify their lack of courage.
Impeaching Donald Trump would not stop Republican policies from being enacted. In fact, Trump’s mercurial decision-making, short attention span, and sycophantic personnel choices often undermine the execution of those policies; a JD Vance- or Mike Johnson-led White House might be more efficient at enacting a MAGA agenda. The nation would not be spared the cruelty of MAGA policies, but it would no longer be vulnerable to the whims of a declining and capricious soon-to-be octogenarian. Those Republicans who lean more traditionalist—i.e., free-trade-oriented and less nativist—might welcome the change. They would also be freed from Trump’s uniquely unpopular baggage.
Nor is it clear that Republicans who jettisoned Trump would suffer electoral consequences. Right-wing influencers tend to keep their ears closer to the conservative base than politicians do. Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes may bray about Zionism. That they believe they can blast Trump over his foreign misadventures and survive, however, suggests that the ground has shifted. Joe Rogan has evidently made a similar calculation. Fox News is caught in the middle. If the media organs that both reflect and lead the MAGA coalition feel that they can depose Trump and live to tell the tale, why can’t at least 20 GOP members of Congress do the same?
It may be that they fear physical harm to themselves and their families if the spotlight of Trump’s ire falls upon them. That fear is perhaps justified. When Marjorie Taylor Greene broke ranks over the administration’s handling of the Epstein Files last fall—prompting the president to call her a “traitor” on social media—the former member of Congress said she and her family began receiving death threats from Trump’s supporters.
But so far, no violence has befallen Republicans like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Rand Paul, and Justin Amash, who have stood up to Trump. No violence has befallen the media personalities who now stand against him.
Members of Congress must find their spines. After all, under the system the Founders created, they are the line between democracy and despotism.
Follow David on Twitter @DavidOAtkins. David Atkins is a Washington Monthly contributing writer, activist, and research professional living in Santa Barbara as well as an elected DNC Member from California. He is president of The Pollux Group, a qualitative research firm.
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