But as those opponents strategize their response, it is vital that they see the important truth that there is no going back to the status quo ante. President Trump and Elon Musk really have altered the structure of things. They’ve taken steps that cannot be so easily reversed. If American constitutional democracy is a game, then they’ve flipped the board with the aim of using the same pieces to play a new game with their own boutique rules.
And so the president’s opponents, whoever they are, cannot expect a return to the Constitution as it was. Whatever comes next, should the country weather this attempted hijacking, will need to be a fundamental rethinking of what this system is and what we want out of it.
The only way the US political environment becomes healthy again is either through a Renewal, or through a new system. I say Renewal because the reality is that the old republican guard was right when they said the federal government was becoming too powerful, Trump proved it and is wielding this power to its fullest extent. We need to claw back presidential power, restore state sovereignty and overturn Citizens United, among other minor changes to the system the Founders left us.
That is the “fix” what is already there option. The other, better but more harmful in the short term option, is to completely form a new system. But there’s no way the current division will be overcome without huge changes a la New Deal (which is actually one of the main causes of this current crisis).