Donald Trump and The Law’s Battered Shield

“The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Shakespeare’s Henry VI

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America was founded as a nation of laws. The Framer’s idea was that the law would serve as a powerful shield against tyranny. That admittedly imperfect shield is today weakened by the Trump Administration. Let us examine why.

The Trump-corrupted Supreme Court came first. The nations only convicted felon to sit behind the Resolute Desk stacked the court with right-wing judicial zealots during his first shot at governing. The MAGA cult leader — in process — also managed to neuter the Republican Party’s genuine conservatives. This chief executive is nothing if not vengeful. He uses his considerable power to intimidate both sides of the aisle.

Regrettably, this White House has also stacked the deck by appointing slavish supporters to high-ranking posts within the Department of Justice. So, now, the law no longer serves as a shield for our republican form of democracy but instead acts as a cudgel for the near-exclusive use of a much-flawed man who knows nothing of self-restraint.

Remember that Mr. Trump fired the military’s senior-most lawyers, thereby ensuring little push-back from the US Armed Forces, who, in the post-WWII era, have focused on conducting “legal” combatant actions in a multitude of countries. That non-exhaustive historical list includes Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Libya, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and, more recently, Yemen and Iran, now Venezuela too. Is Greenland next? What about Iran, again?

None of these conflicts, or potential conflicts, is in fact altogether legal under the US Constitution, which gives full and complete responsibility only to Congress to declare war. The brilliant Framer and former president, James Madison, attempted to ensure that it was the legislature and not the executive that exercised that power. Thomas Jefferson, another former president, was in agreement. Unfortunately, that attempt has proven to be a resounding failure.

The last time Congress formally declared war was in the immediate wake of Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor at the request of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Although arguable, a case can be made that Congress is not in compliance with the nation’s founding instrument — an egregious and continuing failure of the institution. The lengthy list of countries subsequently invaded or assaulted by America is a direct outcome of that failure. The resulting impact is hundreds of thousands dead and multiple billions of US dollars wasted.

Which brings me to Venezuela. Maduro is a thug. He is corrupt, a Mafia chieftain masquerading as a Socialist politician. Those still serving in senior government positions in Caracas are also corrupt. Maduro, and before him, Hugo Chavez, would have ensured that long ago. Corrupt regimes do not tolerate honest civil servants. The people of Venezuela deserve better, as do the American people, who also currently suffer under a democratically elected, corrupt administration.

What can be done? International law lacks a viable enforcement mechanism. Without that, and regrettably, international law becomes an exercise in wishful thinking. Does might always make right in the Trump era? It may seem so to the contemporary objective observer. In Mr. Trump’s own words to the New York Times, “I don’t need international law,” and that he feels constrained only by “…my own morality.” I find that last statement terrifying.

It is important to note that the post-WWII Geneva Convention was an attempt to mitigate the horrors of the deadliest conflict in human history — seventy million dead. Some estimates suggest more may have perished. What is not in dispute is that the majority of those killed worldwide were civilians. That devastating conflict was precipitated by land grabs in both Europe and Asia. Does anyone see parallels here?

Where does that leave us? The only legal cure under the Constitution is impeachment. Our own house must first be put in order. Per The Economist, 356 days into Mr. Trump’s second term, “The president’s net approval rating is -17%…” and where fully “56% disapprove.” If memory serves, these tanking figures are some of the worst in the history of our republic. Only this chief executive’s first term reflected numbers this bad. Self-interested Republicans in Congress may someday abandon him.