No Checks, No Balances

Trump’s horrific bill represents the single largest transfer of wealth, from the poor to the wealthy, in US history.

“But idealists are often unpredictable. They tend to be the ones who turn bitter overnight, deceived by the lies they’ve told themselves.” Don DeLillo, Libra.

The radical, illegitimate Supreme Court has done it again. Either the six conservatives (Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and Barrett) are blind, deaf and dumb or they’ve given up trying to hide their open support for an all-powerful executive branch. The court typically issues a flurry of rulings in June, at the end of its term, and court watchers were waiting to see how the majority would rule on Trump’s Executive Order banning Birthright Citizenship, a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment. Just for clarity, the 13th-14th-and-15th amendments are known as the Reconstruction Amendments, written and ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

But the Birthright issue was something of a Trojan Horse, and the court didn’t bother to rule on the constitutionality of Trump’s EO. Instead, they issued a typical John Roberts brand of convoluted logic and bizarre reasoning to restrict the imposition of universal injunctions by lower courts. Universal injunctions have been used by judges for many years, sometimes for good purpose, sometimes for ill, most recently to temporarily block many of Trump’s EOs. Once again, the Roberts court has made the legal playing field uneven, inconsistent and conditional. As with the court’s decision overturning reproductive rights for women, this one leaves a confusing patchwork in its wake.

Writing for Public Notice on July 1, Lisa Needham noted the following:

“The conservatives also ignore how hard it would be to undo these harms if Trump’s executive order is ultimately found unconstitutional. Babies will already have been deported. Parents may have self-deported with their child. Families may have relocated to a state covered by a narrower injunction. Thanks to the administration’s scorched-earth method of litigating cases, suing it is incredibly costly.

But none of that matters to the majority. To them, Trump’s desires carry the day. He wants to be able to carry out his executive orders and he doesn’t feel like waiting. For the conservative justices, that outweighs families torn apart and the deportation of literal babies. It’s a stark reminder that these justices care only for the powerful, and see injustice only when the powerful are deprived of doing whatever they want. They are completely untroubled that their ruling will cause harm grave harm to others.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s budget bill, which isn’t Big and Beautiful, but ugly and cruel, passed the US Senate by a single vote cast by VP Shady Vance. This means the bill squeaked through both chambers by a single vote, which shows how unpopular it is — though for varying reasons — among the legislators. Public polling demonstrates that when citizens understand what’s in the bill — massive tax cuts for the richest Americans, increased spending for ICE, the Pentagon, prison construction, mass surveillance, along with loss of health care and food assistance for the poorest among us — they overwhelmingly oppose it. Trump’s horrific bill represents the single largest transfer of wealth, from the poor to the wealthy, in US history. Budgets are often described as moral documents. This big ugly cruel bill shows very clearly who and what the American political class values. Clue: it’s not human beings with needs, our climate, children, seniors, renewable energy, education.

Huge amounts of money will be invested to expand DHS/ICE/Border Patrol operations. The masked RoboCops we’ve seen terrorizing hard-working immigrants (and US citizens) in LA will increase in number and be armed with the latest weaponry and surveillance gear. Their shows of force, power, and domination will spread to other cities on the whims of Trump and Stephen Miller. Make no mistake — DHS is Trump’s private army, under the control of the Executive Branch, funded with our tax dollars. He can deploy it against whatever internal enemy he chooses. This should scare the bejesus out of you. The parallel you might draw is that of Hitler’s Brownshirts and SS.

For years I’ve argued that the only way to understand Trump is as a mob boss, a Don. Power, control, and demonstrations of both are what he lives for. One only has to look at the way he extorts foreign leaders with tariffs, university presidents with threats to withhold federal funds from their institutions, television networks like ABC and Paramount (CBS) with bogus lawsuits and regulatory threats, and big law firms by promising sanctions if they take cases opposing his policies. This is flat out gangster behavior.

A few words about Zohran Mamdani, the young Democratic Socialist who won the Democratic nomination for Mayor of New York City, and in so doing set off a firestorm of fear-mongering, Islamophobia, racism, and lies, not just from the usual Republican nitwits and blowhards, but from Democrats! Why is Mamdani being attacked and demonized? What is Mamdani advocating that is so objectionable to the Democrats? For one, he’s opposed to the genocide in Gaza. For another he won his race without the Democratic Party infrastructure and consultants; Bill Clinton jetted into NYC to campaign for Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor who is credibly accused of numerous instances of sexual harassment. Yes, there’s ample irony in seeing Bill Clinton stump on behalf of Andrew Cuomo. Did they compare notes, swap stories? For a third, Mamdani is opposed to the idea of Billionaires.

Do the Dems object to Mamdani because he proposes to make city government work for people, to help them deal with basic necessities like transportation, housing, child care, jobs, and education? Is this what Democrats think is “radical” in 2025? Are they afraid of Mamdani because he can do what they cannot: engage with and energize voters who are sick and tired of surviving off the scraps left by the Billionaire Class? When did an effort to make people’s lives better become a political sin?

Here are some New York Democrats who have thus far refused to back Mamdani: Gov. Kathy Hochul; Sen. Chuck Schumer; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand; Rep. Gregory Meeks. Gillibrand went on a racist rant that should have resulted her in being sanctioned. Every one of these politicians is an impediment to progress. Schumer is years beyond his sell-by date; Jeffries is robotic and ineffective as an opposition leader.

No, my friends, neither the courts or the Democrats are coming to save us. Even juxtaposed against Trump’s GOP clown show, millions of Americans hate the Democrats. Why? Because they stand for a brand of politics that serves their corporate donors and keeps their political consultants, pollsters, and strategists employed. They want to sit in the safe center while the country burns, unlike Zohran Mamdani who wants to take concrete steps to improve people’s lives.

What will save us in millions of people in the streets, coast to coast. The No Kings demonstrations were a good start, but only that. 5 million people isn’t enough. We need tens of millions, as we saw during the Arab Spring, in Turkey more recently, in Poland and Brazil. If Americans turn out in such numbers, the regime will shit its pants, and will probably overreact, which may be tragic. 77 million people handed this lawless regime enormous unchecked power. Tens of millions of people in the streets also sends a message to the political duopoly, Republicans and Democrats, who decades ago learned they can ignore their constituents, lie to them, break promise after promise, and pay no political cost. That’s the dynamic we must change if we want to restore sanity and decency to this beleaguered republic.