Trump was a businessman before becoming a politician, and he has no qualms about handling matters of state with a “let’s get it signed, sealed, and delivered” mentality.
An elected individual who is fearless in making important decisions and has a can-do attitude is a welcome addition to any government.
It’s all well and good to know the art of the deal, but things get a little trickier when the agreement isn’t just a little shady, but outright corrupt.
A smooth and polished statesman in charge is excellent, but you don’t want a shark in a suit who specializes in the shakedown, a strategy that gangsters and dubious operators use all over the world!
Although we do not advocate government by shakedown as Trump’s presidential philosophy, Steven Greenhouse’s article in The Guardian does make a legitimate point after careful consideration.
According to Greenhouse, Americans have long extolled the virtues of the rule of law and their constitution. However, Donald Trump’s erratic and spiteful administration has gradually supplanted that ideology with a completely other one known as “governing by shakedown.”
Greenhouse notes that Trump has violated the Constitution and federal law, and he has intimidated anyone who have opposed him, including US trading partners, law firms, and colleges, into bending over backwards and allowing old Uncle Don to get his way.
According to Greenhouse, this is authoritarian rule rather than the rule of law, and it should affect not only the US but the entire world.
Greenhouse’s branding of Trump as the world’s emperor of shakedowns implies that controlling news cycles and negotiations, along with the White House cheerleaders and his horde of irascible supporters, only serves to bolster Trump’s ego. They see him more as the chosen messiah than as a wealthy kid who got lucky and would tell lies to protect himself.
According to Greenhouse, Trump’s actions shouldn’t come as a surprise. He has long given little attention to abiding by the law and enjoys negotiating and controlling others. However, the actions of the Supreme Court and Congress, the two other purportedly equal branches of government, should startle us. In the face of Trump’s shakedown ruling, they have effectively rolled over.
Even though Congress has placed stringent limitations on when and how a president can impose tariffs, Republican members in Congress have watched idly by while Trump has slowed economic growth and increased inflation by imposing duties on over 90 countries. Trump’s tariffs are a regressive sales tax that disproportionately affects Americans who are not wealthy, despite Republicans’ vows that they will never raise taxes.
Greenhouse notes that the Supreme Court has remained eerily silent while Trump continues to rule by shakedown. He concluded by calling on the Supreme Court and Congress to “wake up, step, and lay down the law.”
Either Trump’s rule of shakedown is halted, or democracy and the rule of law risk being engulfed in a swamp shaped like Trump.
