Week 19 - The Return
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you'll remember.
This week marks another inflection point in Trump’s pace of breaking norms, and unfortunately a turn for the worse.
For the first few weeks after Trump’s inauguration (Weeks 12–15), his pace of breaking norms was frenetic. The regime used terms like “flood the zone” and “shock and awe” to describe their efforts to overwhelm the system with actions, many of which seemed to be plucked out of the pages of Project 2025.
Then, three weeks ago, I observed a shift. Why? The stock market and economy started to falter, citizens started showing up at town halls and taking to the streets, and Trump’s approval began to crater. Week 16 slowed, Week 17 slower yet, and last week, Week 18, I was really encouraged that we had slowed his roll as he was feeling the heat. It felt like We the People and the courts together were holding back the levee of awfulness.
This week the levee broke.
Democrats will have their opinions about the judiciousness of Minority Leader Chuck Schumer flipping from a “no” vote on Wednesday, to a “yes” vote on Thursday, joining Senate Republicans to vote for a GOP funding bill that is a continuing resolution for six months, nullifying one of the only, if not only, levers of power in the short-term. This came after House Democrats voted unanimously (save one) against the measure, and sent it to the Senate, where 60 votes were needed, with the understanding that their Senate colleagues would for the first time say no to Trump. Schumer and nine colleagues did not. I wrote more about it here.
Whatever your opinion about Schumer’s move, the purpose of this project is to track our descent into authoritarianism. Observing it in that vein, his move was undoubtedly obeying in advance. We have seen plenty of that already in the lists from corporate executives, elected Republicans, and others seeking power, or trying to stay safe. This week, we also started to see universities obeying in advance, firing or expelling students and staff in an effort to not lose federal funding.
I can also attest to there being an abrupt shift in the pace of broken norms after that Friday vote, almost immediately. Week 19 started off slowly, but after the vote, Trump seemed more brazen than ever, openly defying federal judges and calling for their impeachment, issuing executive orders, firing officials meant to serve out terms, and so on. It was as if Trump felt further liberated, having completely vanquished the legislative branch. All that remains is We the People and the courts. We are holding up for now, admirably.
This week, Trump noticeably shifted his focus back to immigration. Recall he ran on the economy and immigration, and has messed up the former pretty badly already, so it was time to throw some shiny coins and change the subject. He is testing boundaries on deportations, even birthright citizenship, that are extremely troubling, and could be a harbinger of dangerous things to come. Several of Trump’s action in this week’s list, in what one legal scholar mused were asserting “dictatorial power,” will likely be eventually tested at the Supreme Court, and could expand presidential powers. That is a stated goal in Trump’s gleeful defiance.
NYT reported the Republican Party has ceded power to Trump, enthusiastically, eroding the influence of the legislative branch. GOP lawmakers embraced a stopgap funding bill that gives Trump wide discretion on funding, a role traditionally played by Congress.
Republicans have been silent or cheered as Trump and Musk’s DOGE canceled programs and grants appropriated by Congress, and fired thousands of workers without consulting lawmakers who are charged with overseeing federal agencies. No oversight hearings have been held.
Republicans also given up their power to overturn Trump’s tariffs. The power to levy tariffs is vested with the legislative branch. The precedent the GOP is setting may weaken Congress’s role going forward, as Trump and Musk have been essentially granted free rein.
On Friday, WAPO reported that Trump’s speech at the Department of Justice broke all norms, as it is rare for a president to visit the DOJ, and ignore the separation meant to be between them. Trump delivered an hour long campaign style speech, filed with tangents and misleading information.
The room was packed with Trump’s staunch allies, including Michael Flynn, whom he pardoned in 2020, calling him a “patriot.” He thanked deputy AGs Todd Blanche and Emil Bove and AG Pam Bondi. He called Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed his criminal charges, “brilliant.”
Trump falsely claimed that Democrats had interfered in the 2020 election and threatened to imprison his perceived opponents, saying, “What a difference a rigged and crooked election had on our country…And the people who did this to us should go to jail.”