The limits of complicity and tyranny are boundless in Washington.
President Donald Trump is gluttonous for power; he can’t get enough, and he’s getting cocky. On Wednesday, Trump posted “LONG LIVE THE KING!” on Truth Social, proclaiming New York City’s congestion pricing program was “dead.” The White House recirculated his royal decree to X and Instagram with an illustration of a fake Time magazine cover (that looks AI-generated) where Trump dons a suit and golden, glittering crown.
If you think Trump won’t seek a third term, think again. He’s “joked” about it to House Republicans before, and on Thursday, he again “joked” about seeking an unconstitutional re-election campaign to a roaring crowd chanting “Four more years!” (Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican, already introduced a measure in the House to amend the U.S. Constitution to allow for three terms, like a dutiful page boy.)
It’s not funny anymore.
No one is above the law in this monarchy, besides Trump. No one has a bottomless supply of money, besides Elon Musk, his closest ally (and co-president). No one can do what Trump does, but Trump.
He can fire all the civil servants he wants, dismantle independent federal agencies, freeze spending authorized by Congress, nominate unqualified loyalists to exact revenge on his enemies, rewrite history and even try to change the Constitution.
Who’s going to tell him no? The GOP Republicans sure are silent. In that silence, they are complicit in his crimes.
Who’s going to prosecute him? Yes, lawsuits challenge Trump’s blatantly unlawful actions, like revoking birthright citizenship, firing inspectors general, and freezing foreign aid programs. But the courts are slow, and Trump continues to defy them. Will the Supreme Court side with Trump’s appeal to fire the head of an independent ethics agency? A federal judge already ruled on Thursday that Trump and Musk’s onslaught of government worker layoffs can continue. Labor unions should take up these concerns with the Federal Labor Relations Authority, ruled the judge, but Trump also recently fired the agency’s chair. It’s a Catch-22.
The six black-robed justices who granted Trump immunity from criminal prosecution might be all that stands in the way of his reign.
“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” wrote Trump on Truth Social and X last weekend. (A botched quote from an actor playing Napoleon Bonaparte in the movie “Waterloo.” Subtle, huh?)
Trump is right: He isn’t violating the law because there is no law to violate.
John Locke, the 17th century philosopher whose political ideas are reflected in the Constitution, warned us: “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.”