Sunday thought: America without a president

Friends,

People ask me almost daily: “Can he really do this?”

My answer: He’ll do anything he can get away with.

He believes he can get away with anything as long as his Republican lapdogs remain in control of Congress, as long as congressional Democrats remain wimpy and disunited, as long as the Supreme Court immunizes him from prosecution, and as long as he feels he can disregard lower-court rulings with impunity.

This is why it’s so urgent that We the People are rising up — making a ruckus at Republican town halls, phoning our senators and representatives so often we’re jamming congressional switchboards, joining our local Indivisible resistance groups, demonstrating, forming sanctuary communities, and boycotting corporations (such as Tesla and Target) that are caving to Trump.

Another thing we can do is stop recognizing him as president.

He may occupy the Oval Office, but he has repeatedly violated his oath of office to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and … preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

He sends the National Guard into Washington, D.C., on the pretext that the city is overrun with crime when its crime rate has plummeted to its lowest in 30 years.

He supports Vladimir Putin’s demand that Ukraine cede territory it controls to Russia, thereby rewarding Putin’s aggression and breaking with our European allies.

He orders ICE to “disappear” people — including American citizens — into detention camps and foreign jails.

He instructs Republican governors to super-gerrymander in order to gain more Republican seats so Republicans have better odds of staying in control of Congress after the 2026 midterms.

He usurps the constitutional power of Congress to dispense federal funds.

He usurps its authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations.

He takes personal gifts from foreign powers, also in direct violation of the Constitution.

He invites corporate executives to give him personal gifts in return for government favors. He and his family make a fortune on cryptocurrencies, which he has officially encouraged.

He smothers criticism of him and his regime. He attacks universities, media corporations, and law firms that have offended him. He fires public servants who tell the truth.

This is the same man who attempted a coup against the United States less than five years ago: refusing to accept the outcome of the 2020 election, telling Republican governors and secretaries of state to change election returns and his vice president not to certify the results, encouraging a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, and later pardoning all who were found guilty of participating in that assault.

By repeatedly violating his oath of office, he has relinquished the presidency.

His presidency is illegitimate.

We must disavow our allegiance to him.

We don’t yet have the votes to impeach him, but we should stop referring to him as President Trump. Urge others to do so as well.

We will not fall for his strongman bullshit. He wants us to think he’s invincible and that we can’t stop him. But we won’t allow him to intimidate us, and we will stop him.

He wants to make us so cynical and hopeless that we give up our opposition to him. But that we will never do. We will keep fighting.

We will assume that everything he says is a lie. Ditto for his “spokespeople.” And for his White House staff and Cabinet. We will never fall for or repeat his lies.

We will not even listen to him. When he’s about to speak, we’ll turn off whatever device we have. We will not even read accounts of what he says, because they are meaningless drivel.

We’ll pay attention only to what he does. We’ll take whatever nonviolent action we can to stop him from trampling on our rights and freedoms.

I say all this more in sorrow than in anger. We are living through a profound tragedy. America is suffering a grievous loss.

Some day we will once again have a president.

We will support people of integrity who seek the highest office in the land. People who will honor their oath of office.

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