As rational Americans despair and MAGA cultists applaud, Trump and Musk and their local clones are busily turning federal and Red state governments into kakistocracies, with the unprecedented acquiescence of legislative invertebrates. As the rest of us struggle to determine what actions might mitigate the ongoing destruction, we are seeing the emergence of a few bright spots–the presence of at least some principled public servants who refuse to participate in the wholesale abandonment of truth and the rule of law.
And that refusal matters.
The Bulwark recently cited an observation by Juan Linz, a political scientist who studied the breakdown of democratic regimes.
Linz argued, based on many examples from all over the world, that democracies fail not so much because of the presence of anti-democratic challengers but because of the failure of their elites to stand up to such opponents. These elites often engage in “semiloyal” behavior, which Linz defines as “a willingness to encourage, tolerate, cover up, treat leniently, excuse or justify the actions of other participants that go beyond the limits of peaceful, legitimate patterns of politics in a democracy.” They go along to get along, coming up with excuses all along the way for the authoritarian challengers. They fail to stand unequivocally for democracy and the rule of law, and liberal democracy fails.
We’re currently seeing a lot of that “semiloyal” behavior.
But we are also seeing principled behavior. Numerous media outlets have reported on a recent set of resignations similar to the Saturday Night Massacre following Nixon’s demands to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
Donald Trump experienced a Thursday Night Massacre.
“Manhattan’s U.S. attorney on Thursday resigned rather than obey an order from a top Justice Department official to drop the corruption case against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams,” the New York Times reported. After the case was transferred to the public integrity section at Main Justice, a total of five more DOJ attorneys resigned. In a blistering letter — one for the history books — former U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon blasted the Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove III’s order to dismiss the case, describing a nefarious quid pro quo and accusing Bove of ordering the collection of notes that would have documented a meeting concerning the matter. Sassoon and other DOJ lawyers have demonstrated uncommon courage in defense of the rule of law.
Sassoon is no “woke” liberal. She clerked for Antonin Scalia, and was a member of the Federalist Society. As Daniel Richman, a Columbia University law professor who was a former federal prosecutor, said in a statement praising Sassoon, “That the resignation should be by someone with sterling Federalist Society credentials only highlights the difference between the Trump administration and serious conservatives with integrity and respect for the criminal process.”
The top federal prosecutor in New York and two senior federal prosecutors in Washington have resigned after they refused to follow a Justice Department order to drop the corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, multiple officials said Thursday.
The resignations amount to a stunning public rebuke of the Trump administration’s new Justice Department leadership in one of the country’s highest-profile criminal cases.
Justice Department officials tried to move the case to the agency’s Public Integrity Section in Washington, but John Keller, the acting head of that Section, also refused to drop the case and resigned, two sources said. Three other members of the section also resigned, as did the acting head of the department’s Criminal Division, which oversees federal criminal cases nationwide.
In his resignation letter, Hagan Scotten, who once clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts. wrote
Any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way,
If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me.”
The integrity shown by these public servants is a reproach to the thoroughly corrupt Trump/Musk administration. Trump’s Presidency is an effort to stay out of prison and punish anyone who opposed him. Musk’s conflicts of interest are overwhelming, as a recent letter from several Democratic members of Congress enumerated.
He has a financial stake in ongoing federal enforcement actions; his companies are currently the subject of at least 32 federal investigations, complaints, and other enforcement actions, and his company, X (formerly Twitter), is launching a digital wallet that would fall under the oversight authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an agency Musk is trying to shut down.
Trump and Musk make Nixon look like a boy scout.
Thank you for finding some sunshine peeking out of the thunderstorm that we are experiencing these days.
“legislative invertebrates…” lol! Great phrase! Thanks for your daily dose of sanity amid the insanity.
As for those elected representatives in Congress who’s inaction continues to allow the wholesale destruction of our government let me remind them that silence is complicity. Eventually there will be a price to pay for such complicity.
Shame on the Republican delegation from Indiana.
I applaud these public servants for their integrity, but whenever I hear about wholesale resignations, I always wonder what is actually achieved by the action.
Now there are number of high-level positions within the government that can be filled by Trump loyalists. It would seem more courageous (and helpful) for these bureaucrats to stay put and fight the good fight from within.
Theresa, it isn’t just Indiana. EVERY red state legislature and Republican reps. that are sent to Washington are totally complicit in this dismantling.
One of my least favorite invertebrates is judge Marchand who wiggled out of actually putting the orange monster in jail. Talk about jiggery pokery …
Democrats can stay up all night yelling and people can flood the streets carrying signs, but the rats are not leaving the pantry. The free food is too good. The Trump monstrosity simply doesn’t care. They have stacked the courts with idiots who comply – like Aileen Cannon (Really?). How do law schools graduate fools like this? Did they miss their ethics classes?
Then there are the nearly 40% of registered voters who stayed home on election day … Do their vertebral columns also reside in the basement of their civic sloth and ignorance? It’s not a simple solution by any means. This craziness and corruption has been coming for decades. But there are key lowlights:
Ronald Reagan nominates Antonin Scalia to SCOTUS. George H. W. Bush hires Karl Rove and Lee Atwater to establish winning at all costs. He also nominates the unbelievably and unrepentant Clarence Thomas to SCOTUS. Newt Gingrich enflames the rhetoric of political campaigning following the playbook written by Rove and Atwater, et. al. Bush the Younger appoints the fundamentally corrupt and feeble-minded John Roberts and Sam Alito to the bench. Finally, King Orange I nominates three other vacant minds to SCOTUS to protect him from going to prison.
This is all a bad movie script that even John Voigt or Clint Eastwood wouldn’t accept a role.
We have all occasionally participated in the ongoing culture of “dissing” the legal profession, mainly through humor. That profession does have its share of predators chasing ambulances and money.
On the other hand, what profession is better educated in civics? Now’s the time for mutual support with everyone who is clear-eyed about what we have and why it has worked so well for 250 years. We have to be resolutely focused on how we can protect and restore all of the Constitutional laws and norms that are threatened and perhaps help us mitigate accountability if we break a few of them in protest of the attack of MAGA zombies and their mindless destruction of who we are as people.
Great post, Sheila Kennedy! Thank you for that. And great responses, as usual.
As for why those resignations are so important, they would not be able to continue the fight because they would have been summarily fired for not complying with the corrupt demands of this administration’s DOJ. They are all heroes, in my mind, just as were those brave DOJers from the Nixon administration.
We are not going away, right! This is even more outrageous than expected, and it must be confronted and stopped wherever possible. Come on Chutkin, you can do better than that!
Vern nailed it until he mentioned Clint Eastwood, one of Hollywood’s MAGA supporters, like Mel Gibson. Mel told folks that the LA fires were likely intentionally promoting environmental causes. He’s abused his brain over the years.
I’ve never heard of Linz, but I appreciate his perspective. The Elites in the US are primarily stifled and acquiesce to power. The university system is as worthless as the media because it has all fallen in line with the oligarchy. This has happened across the country since the ’70s and ’80s. Today, tenure doesn’t protect them, so they can be terminated for their stances. It isn’t suitable for fundraising, which is now one of the largest departments within a university system. Koch’s has invested in over 150 universities across the US, which has certainly paid off.
Ball State hired a president who was pro-climate change and very progressive. The community, faculty, and students loved him. However, the conservative board did not. He was ousted and gagged (with a bribe) by the board. The leader of the Faculty Senate called the board “a politburo” and was immediately replaced by a dweeb from the philosophy department. LOL
We are transitioning from a kleptocracy to a kakistocracy, which seems like a natural happenstance when you let a bunch of thieves into the government. We rank 25th in the world as a democracy, which is 100% the fault of our Fourth Estate.
The authoritarian handbook tells the leader to capture the press because one-way communication (propaganda) is the key. The alignment of our press under Trump should have citizens protesting by turning off their TVs, but that will never happen in the US. The spineless vertebrates are at every level of our society, and only the most spineless are allowed to rise in the oligarchy. 😉
WHO, WHO, WHO are our possible future leaders to campaign against the Trump Fascist Monarchy? Ideas and goals and a few minor wins sporadically are nice but “nice” won’t bring back democracy, Rule of Law or reinstate the Constitution of the United States of America. That takes identified people who are willing to lead; their names and faces need to become household words, giving us the possibility, the hope, that there is someone who will have the audacity to call out Trump and Musk and raise their sword in defiance. Faith appears to be lost; is this chaos the beginning of the the end of America or the end of the beginning of Fascism?
Liz Warren and Bernie Sanders remain our stalwart leaders of speaking out on the public stages still willing to allow the truth to be spoken. To call the liars a liar and the criminal acts destroying the government the criminal acts they are. Bernie realizes he is too old for another presidential nomination; Liz is still keeping us informed of facts and truths but is this nation still too weak minded to accept a woman as president?
“Trump’s Presidency is an effort to stay out of prison and punish anyone who opposed him.” He has so far won on every issue and his Vice President Vance spoke before NATO – using Trump/Maga words and goals – resulting in Europe announcing that the United States is now their adversary. Where else remains for the United States to hold the losing hand? We should have trumped Trump’s ass long ago; we overlooked the chances to “…know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em. know when to walk away and know when to run…” The Democrats gambled and lost; is there even the possibility of a re-deal? This is the second time we have lost face globally; will there be a third chance? It appears to me to be strike three and we are out!
We are not going away. We are strong and care for America and we will “fight” with dignity and integrity. That is what our country and allies deserve. We will NOT succumb to Trump’s and Musk’s self-serving, dangerous agenda which cares not in the least for our country or the safety of the world. They are a disgrace.
Andy Austin….KUDOS…unintended consequences of profiles in courage….
I dearly love your posts and share them Unfortunately, you sometimes use words that the average person does not know – and this turns them off. Thomas Nast’s cartoons were easily understandable and therefore effective. With your vocabulary< I am certain a more understandable word could have been used for kakistocracies. Perhaps unscrupulous?
Just got this…how do you explain? Poor education? Too much Super Bowl?
A new Emerson College Polling national survey of US voters finds President Trump with a 48% job approval rating, and 42% disapproval. Since January, Trump’s approval has decreased by one point and his disapproval has increased by one point. The survey measured approval of the job Elon Musk is doing at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Forty-five percent disapprove of the job he is doing, while 41% approve; 14% are neutral.
Speaking of invertebrates, my spouse and I have repeatedly written senator Young asking pointed questions and demanding that he honor his oath of office. And to grow a spine. The results: crickets. Same for our state rep Chris Jeter. Apparently they are not equipped to answer questions from voters. I can’t believe anyone thinks these guys are really interested in serving the needs of all of their constituencies.
Lester at 9:21: According to 538’s live average tracker, Trump’s current favorability rating stands at 46.6 percent, with 48 percent unfavorable, giving the president a net unfavorable rating of plus 1.4.
With all the talk of the Republicans needing to find a spine – well, so do the Democrats. This wasn’t a mandate with only 30% of the vote. Stop clutching your pearls, get out there, go on Fox, shout to the rafters and play some hardball. If the majority who voted respected decency, honesty and rule of law we wouldn’t have this confederacy of dunces in power. So take off the gloves and fight fire with fire. And take it to the people.
As a very old, not very healthy person with limited assets, I have little to no ability to impact the actions of the sociopaths who run this state, let alone the country. I have turned off local news entirely as the “journalists” delivering the daily recitation of murders, fires and accidents with an occasional nod to a local complaint about potholes and street clearing just for fun are insipid for one and complicit in their silence for another. Indiana Capital Chronicle is my local go-to for local and state news.
The Guardian, HRC, Joyce Vance, Jay Kuo and the Contrarian keep me informed about the national and international destruction of the U.S. as a stable democratic republic. The fact that the indifferent and cultish voters have twice chosen a felon as their leader tells the world that we are untrustworthy at best and fascist at worst.
I am weary, angry and heartsick for my children and grandchild.
Even if he died tomorrow, they would make him a martyr. The oligarchy would just shuttle another puppet into his place. Vichy France was full of those like our current crop of those all to willing “to go along to get along”, selling their souls and the lives of their countrymen for safety and profit. If ever a scarlet letter needs to be used to identify corruption and immorality, it is now. Name names and call out the sedition wherever you see it.
Does anyone know which part of the constitution talks about appointments by the President and Congress? I’m trying to understand what is going on from a policy standpoint.
MoJo, the majority of those who voted didn’t vote for Orange Jesus. Unfortunately the anti-tRump vote was split between Kamala Harris, Jill Stein, and Chase Oliver. What we have now is a result of protest voters and non-voters. We can thank them for this mess.
As for staying and fighting, you can’t do that and still disobey a direct order. That’s why Richardson and Ruckelshaus quit. The deal was that they would resign in protest to draw attention to what was happening and Bork would stay and do the dirty work. Bork didn’t foresee the damage he was doing to his own reputation. That night is part of the reason he didn’t get to SCOTUS.
Suzanne, Article One the Constitution will answer your questions. You can find full text online.
OK so there’s an actual appointment clause. Does anyone know within the appointment Elon has been given what the parameters are of that role. Because it seems like there aren’t any?
Thank you Peggy.
Scotus ruled that the president has immunity when carrying out his official duties, they didn’t say he had immunity when he went outside of or overreached prescribed role i.e. impoundment of funds authorized by congress. What will Scotus do?
Andy–you shared my thoughts. So the question with all of these folks resigning–what does it mean. The case never gets officially dropped but sits out there? I certainly understand–I guess they could have waited to be fired and collect unemployment; but I find it troubling when people who are reported to be competent and have integrity, resign. Isn’t that just quitting when the country needs you most?.
During a hostile takeover where your ordered to go against the Constitution and rule of law, calling out the injustice and exposing the corruption by resigning is the ultimate protest. Those employees’ abilities and power would be greatly compromised along with their total health under the duress of the corrupt regime.
re: Linz. Sadly, the democracies did fail, though. What they’ve all had is “An Excess of Freedom” which England has been able to pull back when necessary to survive.
And it has survived except for about 12 years of Republican rule, but it’s technically not a democracy.
Our problem revolves around the fact that Lies are given more credibility than Truth, and that has brought us to where we are now.
Are immigrants in Springfield still eat their neighbors cats & dogs?