Columns, Constitutional Law

Can Democracy Survive the “Defenders of Democracy”?

Below is my column in The Hill on the latest calls to protect democracy with distinctly undemocratic measures. Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton insisted that the 2024 election was our D-Day, suggesting that voters would have to fight the GOP like the Nazis in World War II.  Clinton previously called on Europe to censor American citizens when Twitter sought to dismantle its censorship program and called her defeat in the 2016 election “illegitimate.”  Yet, for many civil libertarians, the “defenders of democracy” are the very threat to democracy going into the 2024 election.

Here is the column:

In 2024, the greatest test for our Constitution may be whether it can survive the “Defenders of Democracy.”

Ronald Reagan often said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Today, Reagan’s line cannot compare with the line that sends many of us into a fetal position: “I’m a Democrat and I am here to save democracy.”

The jump scare claim is that unless citizens vote for democrats, the end of democracy will begin shortly. In 2022, House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told “Fox News Sunday” that “democracy will be ending” if Democrats lost the midterms.

The rhetoric has continued to ramp up with the upcoming election.

From President Joe Biden to a host of progressive politicians and pundits, the 2024 election is all about saving democracy. The public has been told that if the Democrats lose power, citizens will be living in a tyrannical hellscape. Vice President Kamala Harris stated in one interview that 2024 “genuinely could be” the last democratic election in America’s history. Dozens of Democrats have said that democracy will end if Biden is not reelected.

The Washington Post even ran an op-ed titled, “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending.”

Many Americans have tuned out the overheated rhetoric, as shown by Donald Trump’s continuing lead in many polls even after his conviction in Manhattan. The warnings also ignore that our system has checks and balances that protected democracy for centuries as the world’s oldest and most successful constitutional system. These dire predictions would require all three branches to fail in an unprecedented fashion.

While these figures cite the Capitol riot on Jan 6., 2021 as evidence of the pending collapse of democracy, the system worked as designed on that day. Congress refused to be deterred by the riot and virtually every court (including many presided over by Trump-appointed judges) rejected challenges to the election.

The most obvious threats today to the democratic system are coming from the left, not the right.

Democratic secretaries of state sought to block Trump from the ballot in 2024, and Democratic members sought to bar roughly 120 colleagues from their respective ballots. It seemed that the greatest threat to democracy was its exercise by voters. Fortunately, a unanimous Supreme Court rejected the theory and added, “Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos.”

There has also been a push by Democrats to keep third-party candidates off ballots. Again, the last thing democracy needs is for voters to have more democratic choice.

In New York, Democratic congressional candidate Paula Collins even suggested that, after the election, the focus must be on “re-education” of MAGA voters, although she acknowledged that “that sounds like a rather, a re-education camp. I don’t think we really want to call it that. I’m sure we can find another way to phrase it.”

Democratic operatives are using the same rationalization to call for biased reporting to help Biden get reelected.

Democratic strategist James Carville this week demanded more “slanted” media coverage against Donald Trump to save democracy. Carville was triggered by New York Times editor Joe Kahn suggesting that the newspaper report the news in a fair and neutral manner. The suggestion sent many pundits into vapors at the very thought of reembracing objectivity in journalism.

“I don’t have anything against slanted coverage,” Carville insisted. “I really don’t, I would have something against it at most other times in American history, but not right now. F— your objectivity. The real objectivity in this country right now is we’re either going to have a Constitution or we’re not.”

It was particularly galling to hear the call for “slanted coverage” in the same week that the Hunter Biden laptop was authenticated and used as evidence in his Delaware trial. The government has called the widely reported claim that the laptop was “Russian disinformation” a debunked “conspiracy theory.” Carville was making his pitch for more biased reporting to the very media that buried the laptop story before the last election and spent two years in denial of its authenticity.

Yet, many journalists agree with Carville. Some journalism schools have been teaching that reporters need to dump concepts of objectivity and neutrality to achieve political and social reforms.

This week, reporters were irate after Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis issued a blunt message that the newspaper could not survive after losing half of its readership and tens of millions of dollars last year. He told the staff: “People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”

The fear that these newspapers might cover Biden and Trump in a fair and balanced way was immediately denounced as . . . wait for it . . . a threat to democracy. After Carville’s meltdown, the Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan warned Kahn and others that “our very democracy is on the brink, and how the Times covers that existential threat is of extraordinary importance.” She then asked whether the paper will “forthrightly identify the problems posed by a radicalized Republican Party that is increasingly dedicated to lies, bad-faith attacks and the destruction of democratic norms.”

Sullivan expressed alarm that the media would “try to cut the situation straight down the middle as if we were still in the old days — an era that no longer exists?”

The “era” appears to be the golden age of journalism when most Americans respected and patronized the same media outlets. Now, citizens are fleeing mainstream media, and polls indicate that they view reporters as pursuing the very political agendas embraced by figures like Carville and Sullivan.

Many voters are also responding to what they see as the politicalization of the criminal justice system, particularly with Trump’s recent trial in Manhattan. Again, these cases are being embraced as key to “defending democracy” when many citizens view them as the very antithesis of a nation committed to the rule of law.

This glaring disconnect was evident when President Joe Biden spoke on the top of the Point-du-Hoc in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Biden again used the event to suggest that democracy was in danger in the United States with the upcoming election. Yet, Biden has overseen widespread government censorship with federal agencies targeting those with opposing views on everything from elections and climate change to COVID-19 and transgender policies.

As Democratic secretaries of state sought to bar Trump from ballots, Biden refused to oppose the efforts. When liberal law professors and members demanded to pack the Supreme Court to guarantee a liberal majority, Biden refused to denounce it during the last campaign.

This is why some in the country may view Biden and the Democrats as existential threats not just to democracy, but to themselves. They see a party that is engaged in efforts to cleanse ballots (of Republicans), censor dissenting voices and prosecute political opponents. That is not exactly what propelled those men to climb the cliff of Pointe-du-Hoc in 1944.

Fortunately, our democracy does not depend on any president. It was designed by James Madison to withstand the worst, not the best, motivations of our leaders. After all, Madison wrote in Federalist #51, “If Men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

The system that he designed has withstood political, economic and social crises, including a civil war. It may even protect us from today’s “defenders of democracy.”

Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”

404 thoughts on “Can Democracy Survive the “Defenders of Democracy”?”

  1. Judge Merchan told the jury to “follow the law” when he knew full well that the Constitution requires them to follow the vibes. That could be grounds for an appeal.

    —- Jonathan Turley

      1. That’s a quote from Turley.
        He has apparently lost his mind.
        Or he has been hitting the sauce.

  2. Professor Turley Writes:

    “Congress refused to be deterred by the riot and virtually every court (including many presided over by Trump-appointed judges) rejected challenges to the election.

    ******

    Key Passage From Above:

    “virtually every court rejected challenges to the election”.
    ……………………………………………

    One is flabbergasted that Turley could write the passage above without realizing the sheer magnitude of irony.

    Donald Trump has NEVER acknowledged that his challenges were rejected by ‘virtually every court’. What’s more, 8 Republican Senators and 139 Republican House members voted AGAINST certification of Biden’s victory even ‘after’ the January 6th riot broke out.

    Those House Republicans voting against certification included then Speaker Kevin McCarthy, future Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican Whip Steve Scalise.

    It is currently well-known that search committees compiling lists of appointees for the next Trump administration (should he win this November) must carefully AVOID anyone who acknowledged Trump’s 2020 defeat.
    The same holds true for Vice Presidential possibilities.

    Former Vice President Pence refused to play along with Trump’s false elector scheme. And only ‘because’ Mike Pence refused to play, did America not break into total chaos. One presumes Professor Turley understands this fact. Mike Pence was the ‘only’ guardrail that held on January 6th!

    So for Turley to write that democracy is ‘not’ under threat this November, is a denial of all denials. Though again, one is shocked that Turley could write this column oblivious to reality.

      1. “Paid DNC troll. Ignore.” In other words, “I’m too stupid to address what was said.”

        1. No it means you are big hands turdrunner, the spastic idiot non-savant.

      2. Apparently, big hands doesnt like you posting that every time he lays his steaming turd here.

    2. The funny thing is that Jim Clyburn voted to overturn a free and fair Presidential elecfion, claiming, among other things, that computer voting machines tabulated votes for the wrong candidates This was Jan 6, 2005

      1. But he didn’t fraudulently try to steal the election like Trump and his supporters did.

      1. You really should do something about that narcolepsy.
        Make an appointment with Dr. Phil

        2. You should do something about that maga episiotomy. Your OB/GYN can help, tranny

    4. “It is currently well-known that search committees must . . . carefully AVOID anyone who acknowledged Trump’s 2020 defeat.”
      “Well known” by whom? And what is the source of their knowledge?

      1. Peter Shill hasnt licked his habit of using drugs, makeup, fake wigs and falsies all at the same time.

  3. We have just witnessed the weaponization of the criminal and civil justice system, in order to target Joe Biden’s political opponent. The conviction of Donald Trump is going to be overturned. We have seen Democrat governors seek to strike Trump’s name from the ballot, to deny their citizens the right to vote for whom they choose.

    Yet we are supposed to believe that it’s treason to think Democrats interfered in the 2020 election.

    1. In order to call Trump’s conviction a sham, you need to explain what is wrong with the EVIDENCE. So far, you, Turley and every right wing extremist who claims this will be overturned has failed to explain what’s wrong with the evidence. That’s what it will take to overturn it.

      2. “What’s wrong with evidence?”
        What evidence, exactly? Checking records that accurately reflect written checks, and accurately call those payments “legal expenses”?
        Absurdity is your stock-in-trade.

    2. Karen S: you MAGA ites don’t speak for “we” or “us”. Trump received a fair trial–the evidence against him all came from insiders and proved that he DID falsify business records to cover up his tryst with a porn actress to help him cheat his way into office after the Access Hollywood tapes proved he bragged about sexually assaulting women.

      There is not and has never been, any proof that Democrats interfered with the 2020 election–Trump lost, just like he was predicted to. Trump is the one who interfered with the 2020 election, by buying off Daniels and Mc Dougal and by enlisting the help of Russian hackers who spread lies about HIllary Clinton.

      1. “Trump is the one who interfered with the 2020 election, by buying off Daniels and Mc Dougal and by enlisting the help of Russian hackers who spread lies about HIllary Clinton.”

        When you are screeching and spitting, you nasty smelly sack of shit, do you get any on yourself?

  4. If (representative) democracy would end if Donald Trump wins the presidency in 2024, then why didn’t it end when he won in 2016? Past predicts future. That past includes record unemployment, and affordable groceries.

    Also, it may take years for Trump’s conviction for his bookkeepers entering the NDA as legal expenses rather than the entirely novel way of assigning it a campaign contribution t himself, to go through the appeals process and get overturned. If the conviction does get overturned as unlawful, then it would mean that Democrat activists in the criminal justice system unlawfully interfered with the 2024 presidential election. If Trump loses this election, and his case gets overturned, then Democrat activists in a NYC courtroom were able to successfully prevent the entire country from selecting the president.

    Trump has been ahead in the polls. He’s packed venues in deep blue NY. Meanwhile, Joe Biden wobbles around, slack-jawed, while his wife leads him around on the world stage. He has experienced such severe physical and cognitive decline, that the White House had to, in all seriousness, publicly deny that President Biden defecated in his pants next to French President Macron. If he didn’t, then he got confused over if he was supposed to sit down or not. Only a select few will know if the president of the United States was incontinent, or whether he was too intellectually impaired to understand when to stand and when to sit down.

    A single percentage point lost in the polls after the Fascist abuse of power and unlawful conviction of Donald Trump, is directly due to Democrats interfering in the election.

    1. Karen – Trump definitely has the momentum over comatose dementia-addled Biden. His rallies are full of thousands of enthusiastic supporters, including huge percentages of minorities and young people, and they love being there. I think a lot of the enthusiasm lately is *because* of the sham convictions and lawfare being waged against him. The Georgia mug shot was a harbinger of a more general trend: the more they persecute him, the more he takes on folk hero status as an outlaw rebel riding to the rescue, to free us from the corrupt, incompetent, stifling kleptocracy currently running this country into the ground. Just MHO.

    2. “…entering the NDA as legal expenses rather than the entirely novel way of assigning it a campaign contribution…” You clearly only listened to Trump’s hallway harangues and didn’t give one brain cell of attention to the arguments and evidence given in court. In the hallway trunk and say whatever the hell he wants without any evidence to back it up. But in a court room you can’t do that. Which is why his lawyers never even made the argument that these were mislabeled expenses. Their entire case was based upon attempting to show that Michael Cohen was a liar and therefore the entire prosecutorial case was groundless. Because that’s all they had. The evidence that Trump purposefully shielded payments of campaign contributions was overwhelming.

    3. Karen S: Trump didn’t have his act together in 2016–but he still did plenty of damage–killing the economy, causing unnecessary deaths of Americans, and harming America’s relations with allies–all because of his ego and incompetence. Economists agree that if he gets back into power, the economy will take another nosedive–tax cuts for the wealthiest, cuts of Social Security and Medicare, millions losing health coverage, tariffs that will drive up the cost of goods and rolling back consumer and environmental protections. Please stop repeating the slop you heard on MAGA media. Trump was convicted because he is guilty–it’s not an accounting error. Trump is the one who engaged in election interference–by hiding the truth about his sexual misconduct from voters and accepting help from Russian hackers who smeared Hillary Clinton.

      Trump is NOT ahead in the polls–Biden is. And, attendance at rallies is not an indicator ov voting preferences. You are lying about Joe Biden–why do you believe such crao? And, it has been proven that Fox edits out Trump’s slurring of speech and other foibles.

      You don’t know what the word “fascist” means – so stop embarrassing yourself.

      1. Gigi is a poll denier!!!

        Wait until nov 6th, when gigi announces

        Trump is not President elect, Biden is.

        What a stupid kunt

      2. You don’t know what the word “fascist” means – so stop embarrassing yourself.

        This could be the best ever.

        Gigi thinks someone else is embarrassing themselves.

        You couldnt embarrass yourself any more if you shit your pants in front of the pope.

        12 amendment
        Texas crude
        8% interest
        Dc natl guard

        What spastic kunt.

  5. I will quote Nancy Pelosi, “I take responsibility” for failing to have a better security plan. How about this? Nancy Pelosi takes responsibility J6. However, for Nancy Pelosi, there would not have been out-of-control rioting at the Capitol. We heard the J6 committee report. Why wasn’t this Pelosi admission in the report? “We have responsibility, Terri,” Why wasn’t this included? And this, ” “No, that’s not a question of how they had … they don’t know. They clearly didn’t know. And I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more.”

    1. Of course, the left will say J6 is Trump’s fault and dismiss all the facts known. I am sure some leftists like Moron George and Anonymous will attack me and say the words aren’t accurate or out of context. When I say I got the information from Just the News, they will call that news source liars. But I don’t rely on anonymous sources, and JTN doesn’t either. That is why JTN backs it up with a video taken by Pelosi’s daughter.

      https://x.com/RepLoudermilk/status/1800240082701431239

      https://justthenews.com/government/congress/pelosi-declared-video-shot-daughter-i-take-responsibility-jan-6-security?utm_source=breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

      When the left makes false accusations, they know a lot about them because that is what they do.

      When they say what about J6, one has to recognize Pelosi as the proximate cause and that the Democrats lied and ran a destructive campaign to the nation that was untrue. I hope this gains traction because even the dumbest, except Moron George, have to know the Democrats lied and should have cast the blame on themselves.

      Do not vote Democrat, even for dogcatcher. They are destroying America and everyone who doesn’t directly benefit from their crimes.

      1. S Meyer,

        You’re talking like a 5th grader. You’re making no sense and whatever it is you’re trying to say is nowhere near accurate.

        1. Listen to Moron George! I provided him a video taken by his daughter that anyone can look at. All, Look at the video and note what a moron George is.

      2. You need to be more accurate and say do not vote Democrat, do not vote traditional GOP, do not vote Libertarian… rather, vote do-nothing whine and complain new style Republican populist.

      3. S. Meyer,
        Just read that this morning.
        From the JTN report,
        “It did show me that at least the speaker herself, admitted that they were not prepared,” Loudermilk said on “Just The News, No Noise.” “If she didn’t know that they were even requested, then who in her staff or who was it that would not approve the request for the National Guard? … It is surprising to me that she did say, ‘Hey, I am taking responsibility for this,’ then the select committee spends $18 million, trying to say that it was Trump’s responsibility that the National Guard wasn’t there and that the Capitol was breached.”

    2. Alan, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter made a video record of all conversations that her mother engaged in on January 6th. That video record has been submitted to the new J6 committee.

      The video record indicates that the National Guard response that day was stymied by the White House. At no point did Trump approve ANY response!

      So if Republicans intend to keep blaming Pelosi, that video record vindicates.

      1. Congressional testimony was that Trump floated the idea of calling up the National Guard for January 6, 2021, and Nacny Pelosi and Mayor Bowser rejected the idea. “Bad optics” said Pelosi’s office.

      2. It is documented that Trump and the White House approved the troops, and the Pelosi video proves she was responsible for most of the problems. Though I believe some of the videos were provided to J6, Pelosi’s admission of guilt was kept from J6. J6 was a lie!.

        Liars Lie.
        Drinkers and druggies screw things up.

        Sanity is not part of your world.

    3. When is Trump going to take respon;sibility for lying to America and inciting the January 6 insurrection that left one of his delusional followers dead? January 6 wouldn’t have happend but for Trump and that massive ego of his.

  6. “These dire predictions would require all three branches to fail in an unprecedented fashion.” Well, the Legislative and Executive branches have failed in an unprecedented fashion. All that’s left is the Judicial Branch, whose members are being doxxed and stalked and threatened by Senator Schumer. I think democracy is screwed. Let’s go back to being a Constitutional Republic like we are supposed to be. Democracy is overrated and not what the founders intended. It’s also on life support thanks to Biden and the Dem party.

  7. “We have modernized and ennobled the concept of democracy. With us it means definitely the rule of the people, in accordance with its origin. We have given the principle of Socialism a new meaning.”–Joseph Goebbels

    Sound amazingly just like the Democrats, eh? Indeed! National Socilaism is the Democrat Model for what they call Amerika.

    1. The stupidity of Trumpsters reaches new lows. If you spent just 90 seconds reading about “National Socialism” you would learn it has nothing to do with socialism as an economic model. It means something more akin to Christian Nationalism. The “Socialist” in the party’s name was about the social fabric of Germany, i.e., white, blue-eyed Arians.

      2. “If you spent just 90 seconds reading . . .”

        Which I have done, and taught, for some 30 years (including the Nazi intellectuals).

        Their use of “socialism” refers to socialism’s basic premise: That the individual’s life, including his thinking and work, belong to the state. That barbaric, collectivist premise is present (to varying degrees) in any type of socialism, wherever and whenever it’s practiced.

        Keep whitewashing socialism. Tyrants love it.

  8. David Stockman – davidstockmanscontracorner.com
    Tucker Carlson And Jeffrey Sachs Debunk Washington’s Proxy War On Russia—Chapter & Verse
    There is no more complete, incisive and persuasive critique of Washington’s Ukraine fiasco then this extended interview with professor Sachs. Tucker Carlson leads him through 200 years of relevant history in manner that shows what honest long-form journalism is all about. An absolute must view!
    By: David Stockman ~ June 7, 2024

    Jeffrey Sachs: The Untold History of the Cold War, CIA Coups Around the World, and COVID’s Origin
    Professor Jeffrey Sachs is the President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. He is the author of many best selling books, including The End of Poverty and The Ages of Globalization.
    By: Tucker Carlson • The Tucker Carlson Show ~ May 29th, 2024
    https://tuckercarlson.com/tucker-show-jeffrey-sachs

    Video: (144 mins)
    https://iframe.cloudflarestream.com/350561295a732e7998cbd49421a5ba8d

    “Can Democracy Survive the “Defenders of Democracy”?”
    To Be (Democratic) or Not To Be, That is the Question – Hamlet

    3. Excellent interview by Tucker. Jeffrey Sachs is a top notch economist and he knows about Russia. He’s become a distinguished peace advocate, too.

      Saloth Sar

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  10. Read this verbatim transcript and tell me whether it’s from a mentally unstable homeless person standing on a street corner, or the Las Vegas speech of the GOP nominee for the President of the United States.

    “…I say what would happen if the boat sank from its weight and you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery and the battery is now underwater and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there. By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately. You notice that? A lot of shark. I watched some guys justifying it today. Well, they weren’t really that angry. They bit off the young ladies leg because of the fact that they were, they were not hungry, but they misunderstood what, who she was. These people are cray. He said there’s no problem with sharks they just didn’t really understand a young woman swimming. Now really got decimated and other people too. A lot of shark attacks. So I said, so there’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat. 10 yards over here. Do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking. Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted because, I will tell you, he didnt know the answer. He said, you know, nobody’s ever asked that question. I said, I think it’s a good question. I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water, but you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark.”

    1. You’re plagiarizing the illegitimate special counsel Jack Smith. Plagiarist!

    2. That looks like the GOP nominee for Potus. The same guy who gave us a secure border, no new wars, a booming economy, near-zero inflation, historically-low unemployment, trade deals benefitting America, criminal justice reforms to undo the racist policies of Joe Biden, energy independence, a contained Iran, and much more. People like you would rather have economic misery, World War III and nuclear annihilation, energy poverty and dependence on terrorist-sponsoring states, over-the-top inflation, and an all-out invasion at the border by illegal aliens . . . all so you can take pot shots at a transcript or complain about “mean tweets.” If America collapses it will be because of people like you preferring misery over peace and prosperity.

      Besides which the above transcript really isn’t that difficult to understand if you have any facility at language comprehension or an IQ above 80. As I said below, Trump was making fun of the insane green cult push to get rid of gas powered everything, including boats. He was using a fanciful anecdote to pose a scenario in which a battery powered boat was so heavy from its batteries that it would sink, and then the passenger would be put to the choice between being shocked from the batteries through the water, or having to contend with a shark.

    3. “Read this verbatim transcript . . .”

      If you were able to think, you might realize that it’s a very clever skewering of the shortsighted obsession with EV’s.

  11. “It’s the [Supreme Court], stupid!”

    – James Carville
    __________________

    The Justices of the Supreme Court swore an oath to support the Constitution.

    The Supreme Court promotes egregious corruption in America through its inaction and in its absence.

  13. having experienced a coup de tat and a revolution i prefer a coup and junta a la banana republic looks like we are heading that way

    1. “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America [into a totally corrupt tin pot dictatorship banana republic s—hole country].”

      – Comrade Barack Hussein “Barry ‘I-Have-A-Statue-In-Jakarta’ Soetoro” Obama

  16. Professor Turley,

    Madison in Federalist 51 believed that “ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” meaning that the branches must be constructed in such a way that they feel bound to advance their own interests. But he failed to predict the rise of political parties and the dampening effects they would have on cross-branch competition. Political parties create ties that bind across the branches. Democratic members of Congress are often loath to closely monitor or check, much less attack, a president of the same party. And Republican legislators generally are not in the habit of censuring their standard-bearer. Essentially, presidents and legislators often rise above their station and see the other ties—ideological in this case—that bind them together.

    Moreover, these ties sometimes mean that gratifying one man’s ambition (say the president’s) may simultaneously promote the ambitions of another in a different branch (say a committee chair). The policy and personal aspirations of presidents and members of Congress from the same party are often best served by cooperating to promote the joint agenda as reflected in a party platform. Rather than being a rival, the president is often part of the same team

    While party ties will temper the willingness of presidents to criticize legislators of the same party, in practice it is more likely that these legislators will feel far more constrained in faulting presidents of the same party. The president is perceived as a party’s principal leader. As such, party men and women in Congress will have a harder time censuring him because they are far more likely be viewed as malcontents or Quislings. In contrast, presidents can reprimand party leaders without the same fear because, at least in part, they come to embody the party and cannot be attacked for disloyalty to themselves.

    As a result, we no longer have the system of checks and balances that Madison once envisioned. The party system has ruined it.

    You see this from Trump’s own comments, which are directly at odds with the power of Congressional Republicans. Congressional Democrats similarly fall in line, when there are clear capacity issues at stake if Biden wins.

    There’s of course Trump’s infamous dictator-for-a-day comment. But there are plenty of other examples of his plan to transform our government into an autocracy, including:

    – his pledge to issue pardons for J6 insurrectionists.
    – his plan to pierce the Department of Justice to direct it to investigate and prosecute perceived critics or opponents.
    – his intention to politicize regulatory agencies to force loyalty and quash dissent.
    – his plan use DHS agents as a domestic police force.
    – his plan to deploy federal law enforcement and the US military on American citizens in the US.
    – his suggestions that – like other autocrats – he might not leave office when a second term is up.
    – his repeated refusal to accept the results of the election and commit to the peaceful transition of power.

    Despite ALL of this, in large part, GOP Congressmen have not pushed back on this complete assault on the legislative branch. Instead, they fall in line because they must in order to keep their districts. Those that resisted (like Ben Sasse and Charlie Baker) left politics entirely as a result.

    2. Great post, but let’s delve deeper:
      – his pledge to issue pardons for J6 insurrectionists.
      – his plan to pierce the Department of Justice to direct it to investigate and prosecute perceived critics or opponents. (being done now by Democrats in multiple jurisdictions)
      – his intention to politicize regulatory agencies to force loyalty and quash dissent. (You will drive an EV and outsource manufacturing to China)
      – his plan use DHS agents as a domestic police force. (They are a police force, dick. Just not utilized by biden according to their charter).
      – his plan to deploy federal law enforcement and the US military on American citizens in the US. (You mean like bugging Trump’s office and spying on his campaign. Yep, already doing it).
      – his suggestions that – like other autocrats – he might not leave office when a second term is up.
      – his repeated refusal to accept the results of the election and commit to the peaceful transition of power. (Al Gore, Hillary Clinton).

      Man, that leaves you with two strong points: J6 Pardons and not leaving office. Given what Biden has done to our border and our economy, I’ll roll the dice this time with Trump. The rest of your thesis is canceled out pal.

      1. A bit confused. Are you suggesting Al Gore, Hillary and Joe are the same person?

        Also, the point of the post — as I made clear — is a critique of Madison, and by extension, Professor Turley. Arguing it is happening on both sides – and to some extent I agree with you – only further proves my point that Madison’s framework for separation of powers has clearly given way to the power of political parties…

      2. Oh, and more for “Anonymous.”

        To be fair and just (I know you care about those things, wink wink), I’ll let you keep 1 J6 Rioter behind bars for every 5 BLM/Antifa members you jail for destroying the Federal Courthouse in Portland OR. Even better, you can keep 1 J6 Rioter behind bars for every 23,000 illegal immmigrants you deport. Now you’re down to one issue, Dick. Who says I’m not fair?

        1. Some of us don’t have a “team.” Why would you make assumptions about my thoughts on completely unrelated events?

          1. Oh, so you’re just a fair minded contrarian.

            You gaslit with the first video. And then never explained how Trump was going to be dictator for a day or keep from leaving office. Instead you gaslit about an EO, as if Biden didnt sign 17 of them on day one. Or as if several of his havent been shot down by SCOTUS as unconstitutional. One was Signed despite him acknowledging that he was breaking the law. If you dont have a team, then you sound even more unhinged.

            I find it more likely that all this talk of the “threat” Trump presents is just prelude to retaining power if Trump is elected. After all, if we believe everything you say, how could we possibly allow him to enter office?

  17. There is a secret undercover audio recording of Justice Samuel Alito expressing views that he is not impartial.
    He said that America must return to “godliness”, and that there can be no compromise with the left.
    Alito said:

    “On one side or the other — one side or the other is going to win. I don’t know. I mean, there can be a way of working — a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised. They really can’t be compromised. So it’s not like you are going to split the difference.”

    1. Oh my gosh, that is earth shattering news! Who ever heard of such a thing? I mean just look at all the details of pending litigation that he is giving his views on. He gives away his positions on specific companies, specific political actors, specific plaintiffs and defendants! He names names, and gives his mental impressions of the case that’s pending before the court! He details how he’s slipping chemicals into fellow Justices’ coffee so they’ll rule his way. Wow!! Time for Congressional leaders to subpoena him and plant bugs in his chambers so that the Constitutional Republic can survive! Oh my!

      1. Anonymous: Hard to take you seriously when we all know DEMS don’t give a crap about the Constitutional Republic we were founded to be. Back to night school for you!

  19. There is no Constitutional prohibition against committing felonies, so it’s hard to see what the point of the Trump trial was.

    —- Jonathan Turley

  20. “Can Democracy Survive the ‘Defenders of Democracy’?”

    – Professor Turley
    _____________________

    “It’s the [discipline], stupid!”

    – James Carville
    ___________________

    The critical piece of the “democracy” of the American Founders and Framers is the discipline of the restricted-vote republic.

    The “democracy” of the communists (liberals, progressives, socialists, democrats, RINOs, AINOs) is the one-man, one-vote democracy of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” (i.e. hired help).

    The “democracy” of the American Founders and Framers is the severely restricted-vote-republic form.

    For effective and reasonable purposes, the Constitution provides for voter restrictions by State legislatures.

    Americans lost their purpose, their resolve, their backbone, their borders, their Constitution and their country.
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    “ENTITLED TO VOTE”

    “ACCORDING TO LAW”

    Merriam-Webster

    republic
    noun

    1b(1): a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law
    ____________________

    If you wonder what happened to America—what the problem is—it’s the expansion of the vote and the communist one-man, one-vote “dictatorship of the proletariat.”

    Never did the American Founders and Framers intend for the “hired help” to vote or lead the country.

    They intended for a capable group of enterprise leaders serving the nation on a brief hiatus to keep the country strictly on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

    If you give away the vote to leeches, parasites, and dependents, you give away the country.

    Lincoln illicitly and unconstitutionally ripped America off the Constitution and Bill of Rights in 1860 (reprehensible slavery must have been abrogated legislatively).

    There’s the inception of your problem.

    American freedom will never be seen or heard from again. 

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