On Illegality

[writerkit]

I keep seeing people say that certain things Trump has done are illegal.

And while that's good to keep reminding people of, keep remembering that it's not normal, it's also important to remember that laws only mean something if someone is enforcing them.

The avenue of consequences for Elon Musk's DOGE not being a legitimate agency would need to come through Congress or the Attorney General. That is not going to happen.

So yes, remind everyone that this is illegal. But also make your plans assuming that there will be no recourse from the courts, at least in this matter. (I'm not even talking about SCOTUS here; I'm talking about who has the standing to bring a case in the first place.)

Comments

[jducoeur]

Along those lines: the first political-action organization I've actually donated to post-election is Defeat Extremists, who have been pointing out that special elections are a thing, and some are coming up relatively soon. Given the fascists' razor-thin majority in the House, we only need to flip three seats in order to start moving the needle back towards sanity, and Trump's steadily-softening poll numbers give us a fighting chance.

So there is at least a viable chance of not having to wait until the midterms (by which time it's entirely possible that too much damage will have been done).

Of course, the fascists know this, and will likely be pouring millions of dollars into those special elections. But they're one relatively near-term target to be worth paying attention to.