A good summary as the urgency increases each day. T

Memo to America: Just Say No

By William S. Becker

As President Donald Trump defies the Constitution, disgraces his office, and violates the law, we

have counted on the courts to be democracy’s last line of defense. Many are doing their jobs. However, we can’t count on the nation’s highest court when it receives cases brought by or against the president.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been “trumpified.” At last count, it has handed Trump 21 victories

this year using its “shadow docket” to rule in his favor without public hearings or explanations.

We should be able to count on Congress to counter Trump’s abuses, but it’s currently controlled by cowards and capitulators. So, democracy’s last lines of defense are patriotic citizens, Democratic governors, and the U.S. military.

From the time we are children, we recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Civil servants and soldiers solemnly swear to defend the Constitution. Trump is challenging our sincerity. However, our oaths don’t allow capitulation to tyrants, even tyrants who command the weapons of retribution.

Trump’s modus operandi is to withhold federal funds from disobedient governors and to fire generals who defy him. When Trump tries to bully us into breaking laws and giving up our freedoms and rights, we must all say no, even if we pay a price. The price pales in comparison to that paid by the 1.3 million men and women who have died fighting America’s wars.

Consider the military. Trump addressed hundreds of the nation’s top generals and flag officers earlier this month at Quantico. They saw firsthand that the Commander-in-Chief is unfocused, unhinged, and unwell. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke, too, suggesting that officers resign if they don’t like the administration’s autocratic policies, including Trump’s encouragement that generals use American cities as training grounds and fight a war at home against “enemies within.”  By that, he means anyone who defies him.

Yet the real enemies are those who defy democracy, decency, and laws. They work in the White House and Trump’s cabinet, like attack dogs eager for their master’s next command.

However, members of the military, from top to bottom in the chain of command, are not only honor-bound but also required to refuse unlawful and unconstitutional orders. That obligation is codified in oaths, court decisions, and the military Code of Conduct. Officers and enlisted personnel alike can be court-martialed and prosecuted for breaking laws.   Following orders is not a defense.

In a 52-page opinion last month, a federal judge ruled that the president illegally deployed armed forces in Los Angeles. Another federal judge blocked Trump from sending Oregon’s National Guard into Portland. Trump tried to evade the ruling by deploying troops from California and Texas instead. The judge clarified that the president could not deploy the guard from any state into that city.  

As I write this, Trump has authorized the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. The state’s Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against the deployment. It would seem that the military should stand down until the legality of Trump’s orders is settled.

Instead, Trump abuses his command. The Military Times notes, “When a sitting commander in chief authorizes acts like these, which many assert are clear violations of the law, men and women in uniform face an ethical dilemma...Troops who are ordered to do something illegal are put in a bind — so much so that some argue that troops themselves are harmed when given such orders. They are not trained in legal nuances, and they are conditioned to obey. Yet if they obey ‘manifestly unlawful’ orders, they can be prosecuted.“

Meanwhile, federal law enforcement officers, who dress and behave like Trump’s personal paramilitary, appear to be violating the Hatch Act by helping him carry out a political vendetta against Democrat governors and mayors. The Hatch Act prohibits government personnel from engaging in political activities in their official roles or using government resources for partisan purposes.

“Already in Chicago, masked federal law enforcement agents armed with rifles roam the city’s tourist districts and the southside,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union. “Federal agents have arrested people who recorded their actions. Ten miles west of Chicago, camouflage-clad and masked federal agents—some reportedly positioned like snipers from the rooftop of the building—fired tear gas and pepper balls against a crowd of 100 protestors and journalists outside of the Broadview ICE facility. Federal agents are conducting immigration raids in Chicago and its suburbs with aggressive shows of force, including helicopters, flash bang grenades, and dozens of trucks and agents.”

In one incident, ICE agents raided an apartment building in the middle of the night. Some were repelled from a Blackhawk helicopter to flush families into the street, damage personal property, arrest 37, and detain others for hours without charges. Four U.S.-born children were separated from their parents, joining more than 100 child citizens taken away from parents in immigration actions this year, according to CNN.

Sooner or later, official bullying and violence will trigger a reciprocal response as tempers rise and citizens defend their cities.  Trump seems to be provoking that response so he and his Hater-in-Chief Steve Miller can invoke the Insurrection Act and give legal cover to his military crackdown against people of color and left-leaning citizens. The first shot may already have been fired in Chicago when ICE agents wounded a woman during a confrontation with demonstrators.

Legal questions have also surrounded the methods of armed and masked agents who arrest immigrants without identifying themselves or specifying charges and deport them without due process. The Constitution affords due process rights to citizens and non-citizens alike.

Meanwhile, some critics of Trump’s authoritarian tactics urge Democratic governors to engage in “soft secession” to gain greater autonomy from Trump’s government.

This all could have been avoided if members of Congress had fulfilled their obligation to check and balance presidential abuses. They are bound by oaths, honor, and the Constitution to put country over party and remove Trump from office for his profligate crimes and misdemeanors. It would signal to other aspiring autocrats that the Republic can and will defend itself.  

But so far, Republicans are merely watching and colluding with Trump as he weakens the Republic with his thousand cuts.  

Finally, the American people must say no: no to elected officials who don’t do their jobs, no to masked agents who deny their rights, no to storm troops that attack their liberties. Citizens must say no to bullies with badges and supplicant soldiers. However, they must also say no to violence. Violence gives Trump the excuse to invoke warlike powers and crack down harder while claiming he champions law and order. With violence, Trump wins. As a fascist, he loses.

Mock him, defy him, march by the millions, and rally. Write editorials and songs. Film arrests and abuse and take legal action. Use passive resistance and civil disobedience. Vote. Work on political campaigns. Make clear who the victims and villains are. And don’t give up.

Never give up.