Donald Trump threatens the entire existence of the American republic. He is able to do this because the Supreme Court he created is assisting him in doing so. It is a corrupt Court – on which more later. It overturned a central right for half of our population. It routinely mixes and matches rationales, jurisprudences, logics to arrive at the end point of transforming America into their extremist vision. We’ve heard that yesterday’s decision was a terrible decision, an extremist decision, that it changes the American experiment fundamentally. No disagreement with any of those points. Most importantly, in my mind, it’s a fake decision. Yes, it will now be controlling within the federal courts. But it doesn’t change the constitution any more than a foreign army occupying New England would make Massachusetts no longer part of the United States. That may seem like a jarring analogy. But it’s the only kind that allows us to properly view and react to this Supreme Court.
The rationale for the decision yesterday has literally no basis whatsoever in the US constitution.
Josh is correct, but I don’t think it matters. This corrupt, activist, fascist SCOTUS majority does not care that they just made up law out of whole cloth; they’ve been doing it for years. These six people who make up the majority have decided that the Constitution, 250 years of precedent, popular opinion, and the foundational ideas that have made America what it is since 1787 are what they say they are, fact, history, the will of the people and precedent be damned.
I live in a country of three hundred and forty million people.
In this country, six unelected christian nationalists, five of whom were placed on the court by presidents who lost the popular vote, all of whom are opposed by SEVENTY PERCENT of the population, are making up laws out of whole cloth because their power is unchecked. A country that allows six people to impose their regressive authoritarianism on an entire population is not a free country. It is not a Democracy.
America has not been attacked like this since 9/11. Six unelected people forcing their christian nationalist agenda on a population of three hundred and forty million is not a Democracy. It is tyranny.
In the pointless parlor game of “What can Joe Biden Do, Now That He’s Above The Law” (as if he ever would), everyone is missing the central message I took from yesterday’s ruling: SCOTUS is going to install Trump as dictator for life, by any means necessary. Somehow, after he loses the popular vote again, and after he’s even lost the Electoral College again, these six Fascists will invent a reason to overturn the will of the electorate, again, even if they have to invent law to do so. Every single one of their rulings this term have been part of their coup. Now, just line them all up and connect the dots. Don’t leave out Project 2025 or Agenda 47.
This is terrifying. We barely survived four years of Trump, when there were at least some guardrails around him. SCOTUS just tore those down and turned them to ash. I am terrified that we are four months away from the likely end of what passes for freedom in America, and once it’s gone, I doubt it is coming back in my lifetime.
Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
“America has not been attacked like this since 9/11.”
Oof, felt this gut punch. 100% accurate.
I am a french-canadian, and I watch what is going on in your country from afar. And I, too, think it’s scary what is happening at the moment. They put too much power in the hand of one person, that has never been a good thing historically. And now, that man, who is not a good person, and who is not very intelligent either, put some key elements in the Supreme Court to achieve his goals. He also has the Chamber of Representatives on his side too. And what the Supreme Court is doing now, they are doing it while the man is not even in power! Imagine what it will be like when he will come back in the White House! Sky’s the limit. I, too, think we are seeing the creation of the first american dictator, and it won’t be pretty. I think that when we thought in 2020 another Civil War war far fetched, I think it is a real possibility now. Cause I am pretty sure that the majority in the US won’t accept being oppressed, jailed, or killed because they are democrats. And the bad guy already told the medias he will go after all his opponents, like Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un or even Hitler. I feel sorry for american people. Really sorry.
I also feel sorry for Mr. Zelensky who will be left on his own. Lucky Europe has raised since the beginning of the war, but on the short term, they can’t replace the american power to help ukrainian people. It looks as if we are on the verge of a third world war, and that stupid Trump doesn’t help at all. He puts oil on the fire. If there is no Civil War in the US, we’ll live in a world of dictatorship, each one crazier than the other. It’s a very sad time in history, and Trump is a very big part of that shit show.
It’s definitely bad. Like, really bad.
“SCOTUS is going to install Trump as dictator for life, by any means necessary.”
I hadn’t looked at the recent rulings in those stark terms, but on reflection I fear that you’re exactly correct. This is about them deciding that they have the power to install the government that can enforce a society to their preferences. And their preference is people in their group with their boots on the necks of people outside of their group. And they’ve decided that while they still have to pretend a little bit, it’s only a little bit.
Most of the rest of the world is looking at what’s happening over there with absolute dread. We hope that you all can come out of this and not destroy the global economy and allow Putin, Kim and Xi to do whatever they want.
If we get out of this with only 10 million deaths and no nukes I will call us Lucky
So really the only remaining question is, what are you willing to do about it?
Sadly for most the answer is likely, ride this dumpster fire straight to the bottom.
Many people don’t really have a choice other than to ride the dumpster fire. The economic reality is that the people who will be targeted by Trump–immigrants, minorities, lower-income Americans–do not have the financial ability to skip work and protest or resist. Whether or not this is by design, it is the reality.
We’re heading toward a very dark part of history.
Apart from voting, what actions do you have to suggest? Inquiring minds REALLY want to know!!!
The Supreme Court has no authority to enforce decisions they make, and several historical examples exist to illustrate this. Unfortunately the legal ways of fixing this require a majority or supermajority of congresscritters leaning left, so it’s not anything that can be assured of in the upcoming elections. I have a bad feeling about this…
I’ve been around since the early days of “Where’s My Burrito” and the Soapbox, and I’ve never made a secret of my leanings. I was against the war in Iraq, against the war in Afghanistan, and against the war on reality. I’ve screamed to the high heavens when there was nothing more I could do, I’ve tried to prove to people on the internet that they were wrong, I’ve voted in every election since I was able to, and I actively engage people who I think can move from unknowing ignorance to being informed. I’ve contributed time and money, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with allies on the rare occasions that I was able.
One thing from Trump’s election in 2016 sticks out to me. I did and still do live in a relatively liberal part of a liberal city. I remember sitting in a local bar, pizza, and gathering place while the electoral votes were registered in 2016, and my liberal neighbors were aghast that Trump was winning, and eventually won. The response was not righteous anger, rage, and people organizing to stand against what we all eventually came to see as the shitshow that his Presidency was pre-destined to be. Instead, my neighbors organized a cry-in. I didn’t bother to attend.
Over and over, Team Blue has brought a sternly worded letter to a tank battle. We are where we are–in part–because of a failure of leadership. There has been a lack of foresight, a lack of tenacity, and a lack of grit. There has been a lack of organization, and an institutional lack of urgency by both Team Blue and the State and Federal government to deal with a clear and present danger to Democracy, and to the American Republic. Wil’s perfectly right to point out that President Biden isn’t likely to solve the issue–despite Biden’s advanced age and the fact that far younger men than he have given their lives by throwing themselves on grenades to protect those around them. A life of service does not necessarily equate to a willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good.
So where are we? The election, at best, is a coin-flip. At worst, the Supreme Court will do everything it can to ensure that Trump is reelected. We can and must do everything we can at the Local, State and Federal level to ensure that the election is fair and that the results are a true reflection of the votes cast. Likewise, we can and must do everything we’re able to ensure that Team Blue and unaffiliated anti-Trump voters turn out to the maximum possible extent. We cannot let a third party candidate like Kennedy “Ross Perot” this election. When (not “if”) things go sideways, we must be willing to fight for what’s right, and fight for reality. That will mean different things to different people, depending on ability and position and location. Maybe it’s donating to a legal battle, maybe it’s protesting in the streets, maybe it’s dressing up as a mailbox and dancing. In the end, we will need to support one another with every tool at our disposal.
We will need to essentially rebuild America.
Can that be done in a way that preserves any or many of our current structures, governmental and otherwise? I have no idea. It’s very, very clear that two of our three branches of government are broken, however, and it’s similarly clear that one of those three has a thumb on the scales of justice to break the third branch. I truly cannot say that I’m optimistic.
Team Blue has been unwilling to destroy every law and every norm to get our way like Team Red has.
I agree with you that we need to be willing to fight with every tool at our disposal– starting with voting, of course. I’m just not sure what will work.
The majority of the country, as far as we know, does want rule of law, fairness, LGBTQ and women’s rights, the things that we stand for, and it would be hard for the forces of tyranny and fascism to totally override those hundreds of millions of people.
For some incomprehensible reason many don’t seem to realize that the Orange Menace wants to take those things away from them. A major part of our job is to continue to yell about that as loud as we can.
Where things are headed is frightening. It’s going to be sad when people look back on the movie “Civil War” and start calling it prescient.
I didn’t see it, but as I recall it was the rest of the United States vs Texas and California. If the universe ever gets that weird I’m turning in my intradimensional library card.
I wonder if the sitting president could dissolve the Supreme Court by decree. And establish a new Supreme Court with 12 elected judges instead of appointed ones. That could correct one of the problem in the US political/judicial structure.
According to the Supreme Court, a sitting president could have the Supreme Court killed and then appoint anyone he wants. History will reflect very poorly on the conservative Justices
I’m terrified. For me and my wife as LGBTQ+, for everyone in the U.S. who is a minority, for everyone who is not their version of Christian. I’m filled with an increasing level of dread I’ve never felt in my life. The only thing I know to do is to vote, and hope that enough people in the U.S. have read and, more importantly, understood history to see the parallels, to see the incredibly dangerous rabbit hole we’re stumbling down, and vote to ensure this doesn’t happen. I’m not even just talking about President, cause that’s not enough. The alt-right has a stranglehold on the country, we need a majority in both the House and Congress just to hold back the storm, let alone undo the damage that has already been done.
I cannot stress this enough to anyone reading this: we NEED to vote, in ALL elections, not just the Presidential. It matters more now than it probably ever has.
“Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.”
― Joseph Stalin
That could also be a quote by Trump.
It’s scary just to watch your country crumble from outside. Religious people in government is a terrible idea.
It depends greatly on the religious person. Plenty of the left is religious, it’s just that the liberal view on the subject is that the only way government and religion should interact is for the government to say “Everybody gets religious freedom, including the freedom to avoid religion altogether. You don’t get to stop your neighbors from having and living different beliefs. Yes Karen, we mean you, sit down.”
This also means that If he wants to round up anyone and demand they be incarcertated or killed – he can and would get away with it
Agree that this decision was corrupt nonsense. I am not American, but I say: band together, turn fear into action, and collectively push back HARD.
The Powers That Be have done an astonishing job of putting the public to sleep. The public simply lacks the capacity to believe it can happen here, even while it is literally happening here. It’s why we have such massive wealth disparity, why Roe v Wade was overturned, why the planet is melting (though we have help with that), why COVID killed so many people who, days before, were denying its existence. I wrote a poem about the pandemic called, “I Guess I Was Wrong. (Dies).” There are no verses, because the title says it all.
Even our leaders don’t see it. Obama should have declared Mitch McConnell’s refusal to do his constitutional duty de facto confirmation of his candidate, sat Merrick Garland’s ass on the bench, and dared the Republicans to do something about it. But because of our collective inability to believe bad things can happen here, Trumald D Jonp got to be President for 4 years, and he got to soil our Supreme Court.
Fortunately, the people can’t stay asleep forever. Unfortunately, by the time they wake up, they’ll have to fix everything the hard way. I’d like to thank those late sleepers when they wake, but by then, the Christian Soldier Army won’t allow correspondence from LGBTQ+ reeducation camps.
A lot of people have been very aware for a long time. There haven’t been legal ways around a lot of the crap, or even perhaps illegal ways that would actually work. But we haven’t given up!
Omg yes. They lied their ways into the positions which are nearly impossible to be removed from. Watch this….it’s sickening. https://youtu.be/WKp5FJs9Vms
Thank you! Everyone needs to be reminded!
I too am scared and freaked out. Wrote about it too. I didn’t sleep last night, thinking about it.
Would love to read that, if it’s in an online blog you might keep! Could you post the link here or PM me with it or something?
https://kirstencorby.com/2024/07/04/dystopia/. I need to change my signature link from my old blog.
https://kirstencorby.com/2024/07/04/dystopia/a/. I need to change my signature link from my old blog.
Wil, in the words of “Brother Devon Dudley” (yes, I’m a wrestling geek as well), “TESTIFY, MAH BRUDDAH!”
All we can do (currently) is get everyone we know out to vote blue, all the way down the ticket.
Listening to so many millions of US citizens, including newly hatched former immigrants, celebrate Independence Day, as if it were real, was so insulting. Blasphemous, really.
The rest of my thoughts for this comment are here, since it’s kind of long: https://justrosy3.wordpress.com/2024/07/06/thoughts-from-the-land-of-none/
The key, folks, is never lose hope. The world will not end if Donald Trump is elected. The world will not end if Joe Biden is elected and Donald Trump decides he will seize power anyway. The world will not end if the SCOTUS decides to throw the election directly to Donald Trump, though the scenario envisioned would have to be very, very close to the 2000 election where votes in the few hundreds made all the difference thanks to the electoral college (a system devised, ironically, to try to keep evil charismatic out of the seat of power).
Times will enivitably get dark. One of the things that helped Trump the first go around was that no one in the fourth estate with any real credibility was willing (before he was elected)to call Trump a liar. The words “mistaken” and “misinformed” and “exagerated” and “puffery” were bandied about in regard to the horendous lies the man spouted. Now the majority of those whose job it is to tell the truth to the American people are doing it. Truth is the light that shines in black corners and reveals horrors and crimes unimaginable.
A final thought. People were reluctant to invoke the name “Hitler” and “Nazi” in comparison to the things that team Trump and the Republican party were doing based on the mistaken belief that the holocaust was so awful that to compare anything to that period of time was considered hysteria, not to be taken seriously. They have been following the third reich playbook from the get go. Get elected legitimately (1933/2016). Take control of the judiciary (1933-1936/2016-2020). Attack the writers, the journalists, the philosophers (1933-1945.2000 to current). Find a scapegoat to blame everything on so that your supporters have a reason not to take responsibility for their own situations for good or ill (Jews/Immigrants as said scapegoats).
Point is, that after tremendous loss and darkness, the Nazi’s fell, Imperial Japan fell, the Italian facists fell. People of good will came together and fought to preserve the world. Or, for a more obscure point from one of the most intelligent men who has ever existed we may not be able to stop the darkness. In Issac Assimov’s Foundation, Hari Seldon informed the Emperor ad the powers that be that the Empire was headed for 30000 years of darkness. Hari was asked what they could do to stop that darkness. He replied nothing could stop it. But, actions taken could reduce that time to a 1000 years instead.
So that is our charge. We are not expected to stop the darkness that’s coming. Our charge is to do our best to keep that period of darkness as short as possible, not for ourselves but for those that come after. So short term, we vote, and try to hold the system together. If you can, volunteer to help. If you can’t send money to those who can. If you can do neither find time to show up at town hall meetings and school board meetings. Call out hypocrisy when you see it. Call a LIE a LIE when you hear it, and make sure others hear your words. Good luck to us all.
I wish I could be sure you were wrong.
There is good news from England, where the conservatives were finally routed after 14 disastrous years in power.
And it looks like the far right will be kept from taking over in France.
I’ll take any positive signs I can get.