King Trump?

I’ve been discussing the senate impeachment trial with friends lately. Most of them make predictable arguments based on their partisan allegiances. To my Republican-leaning friends, the Democrats have had it out for a Trump from the start and this is just another chapter of faux outrage over his behavior. Most concede he is not exactly a standup guy. But “regular” politicians are all corrupt and the whole system needed some shaking up. And, it’s about time someone stood up against unrestricted immigration, political correctness gone wild, and Chinese exploitation of US trade and economic interests.

 To most Democratic-leaning folks, Trump has indeed been a disaster from the start. He continues to trample on everything they hold dear. The environment, multiculturalism, gender equality, the list is long. The Ukraine issue is just the latest example of outrageous behavior.

 As for the few remaining moderates in this country, I recently heard a BBC report from small-town Pennsylvania. Some of the people interviewed, including a local Democratic politician, lamented the excessive partisanship. Several of them suggested Democrats should worry less about impeachment and more about kitchen table issues.

 To my ears, most of these concerns have some merit. But when it comes to the impeachment trial, I believe they miss the key point: Do we want the US to remain the checks-and-balances-style Democracy the Founders envisioned, or do we want a reversal to a more monarchical style of government?

To illustrate what I mean by monarchical, let’s go back to the mid-1700’s when the constitution was conceived. Most if not all of the Founders were deeply familiar with the history of previous forms of Western government, which basically meant European monarchies. They knew that “politics” in Europe was essentially synonymous with the personal and family affairs of its ruling Kings (and occasionally Queens). Kings took countries to war when they felt slighted by other kings. They made peace and struck alliances by marrying off their sons and daughters into other countries’ royal families. As Louis XIV supposedly said, “l'état, c'est moi” (“I myself am the nation”).

 To appreciate this system of government, all you have to do is to watch pretty much any historic drama series on TV. “The Tudors”, “Borgia”, “Victoria”, “The Crown” — take your pick. Even “Game of Thrones” will do the trick. They are all about the intrigue around and between rulers and ruling families. Minions and aristocrats jockeying for favors. Alliances and deals between ruling families. And plotting against enemies or potential threats, both internal and external.

 The American Founders were both deeply familiar with and deeply disgusted by this system of government. They genuinely wanted to create something better. So, inspired in part by the British Parliament, they devised a system of checks and balances designed expressly to prevent the rise of a European-style king. This desire becomes abundantly clear if you read the constitution and other contemporaneous writings such as the Federalist Papers. Their main, almost sole, objective was to prevent the accumulation of power into a King-like figure. And for over 250 years, this approach was famously successful and resulted in a United States that has been the driving force for order, peace, and prosperity in the world.

 Now, coming back to modern times, most people are aware of the fact that the world has changed. The executive branch has taken a far more dominant role than the Founders envisioned. Whenever a Democrat holds the White House, you will notice Republican elected officials make this point frequently, vigorously, and loudly.

 Furthermore, the Nixon years showed Americans how a paranoid and combative president could use this extensive executive power to target political opponents. Nixon was found to have enlisted parts of the FBI, CIA, IRS, and Department of Justice to wiretap and/or investigate political opponents. All in order to advance his own political fortunes and make his re-election more likely.

As a result, the Nation decided that the constitutional checks and balances were no longer sufficient to prevent presidential abuse of executive power. New checks and laws were needed. Consequently, the Watergate scandal led to campaign finance reform, a more robust Freedom of Information Act, and stronger requirements for financial disclosures by key government officials. Other disclosures such as releasing recent income tax forms became expected but not legally required. (Search Wikipedia for “Watergate” for more details.)

Then in 2016 the United States elected a President with a successful background in private business. In and of itself there is nothing wrong with this. But as a writer in Entrepreneur Magazine rightly pointed out in 2010, “Your Company Is Not a Democracy”. And Donald Trump’s company isn’t just any business. It is to this day a personally branded real estate empire. It remains very difficult to distinguish between Trump the man and the Trump Organization company. They are essentially one and the same brand.

Upon becoming President of the United States, Donald Trump has taken that same approach to running the country. He generally uses all means at his disposal to attack political opponents, override bureaucratic policy recommendations, and he has demonstrated a clear preference for making deals with strongman rulers such as Putin and North Korea’s Kim over traditional American allies such as European democratic leaders. And as numerous commentators have pointed out, he has worked tirelessly to mobilize the executive branch to act in his personal interest. From removing James Comey from the FBI when he refused to do his bidding, to tirelessly lobbying for the removal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein for the same reason. And threatening, coercing, firing, or intimidating countless other leading government officials and political allies. 

When the President was found to have pressured President Zelensky of Ukraine into opening an investigation into Joe Biden, his presumed chief political rival, it was clear that the post-Nixon safeguards were no longer effective. And then the House of Representatives started investigating and issuing subpoenas, which were met with total and complete stonewalling. This showed the Founders’ vision of checks and balances was also under severe threat. In plain terms, Trump had started behaving like a King. More and more he appears incapable of separating personal affairs from the affairs of state. And he has been increasingly successful at marshalling the resources of the United States against domestic political enemies.

 This is what the impeachment trial is about. If the Republican Senators fail to grow a backbone and act, I believe the United States will have effectively ceased to be a checks-and-balances Democracy. President Trump may still be punished by voters at the ballot box in 2020. If so, the transformation to a monarchy will not be complete. But having essentially dismantled congressional oversight and the post-Nixon constraints on executive power, we will be two thirds of the way to the world of Louis XIV.

UPDATE: Fixed spelling of monarchical.

UPDATE II: I just rediscovered an earlier post where I argued that Obama was not responsible for reigning in executive power.  Some might say I'm being inconsistent today when I'm implicitly arguing that Trump should respect and not attack the independence of the Justice Dept.  But I think there's a difference between actively attacking and failing to reform (while staying within legal bounds and accepted historical norms).  I'm open to other arguments though.