The Supreme Court has granted President Trump immunity from criminal prosecution when issuing “official acts” while in office.
by John Bossange
It happened so quickly. Yet here we are with an elected U.S. president who appears to have complete control of all three branches of our government. That concentration of power has occurred in the past. However, unlike all those presidents who served before him, the Supreme Court has granted President Trump immunity from criminal prosecution when issuing “official acts” while in office. That’s a massive change to the functioning of our branches of government, setting up a constitutional crisis in America.
This one Supreme Court decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts explaining the Court’s decision in Trump vs. the United States has placed President Trump above the law and beyond the historically understood limited power of the executive branch. Any president can now operate as a dictator, or as the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook calls it, a “Unitary Executive.” No law abiding US citizen from any political party or from any corner of America should be celebrating this misguided, consequential landmark decision.
Patriotic Americans believe in the separation of powers as defined by the U.S. Constitution. That’s gone now. The Immunity decision gives President Trump the power to make “official acts” without consulting or getting the approval of Congress. Further, as President Trump has done for decades, he can appeal lower Appellate and Federal Court decisions until a case is eventually brought before the Supreme Court. All of this takes time and taxpayer money, ending in numerous out-of-court settlements, the pathway Mr. Trump used as a private citizen.
However, if a case reaches the Supreme Court, only the President can enforce their decision. That’s how our Founding Fathers envisioned the balance of power. Our sixth President, Andrew Jackson, challenged the limits of the Executive Office, but finally complied with Chief Justice John Marshall’s decision back in 1832. Since then, every president has understood their allegiance to the Constitution, the checks and balances between the three branches, and their role to enforce Supreme Court rulings.
President Trump can now do otherwise, showcasing the nightmare scenario feared by the architects of our Constitution. Faith and respect to that sacred obligation, as sworn on the Bible by every president on January 20th, can now be violated. Recently that obligation has been broken by a series of executive orders issued by President Trump sanctioned as “official acts” protected by the Immunity decision.
If you voted for president Trump, you voted for a lot more than a name on the ballot. You voted for a coup, and you are getting the full package. The facts surrounding the President’s life as a private citizen present a well-known package of legal entanglements and sordid, distasteful personal comments and actions. But anarchy scripted in the coup’s package is darkening our nation as the elected President has begun to rule with not just immunity, but with impunity and immorality.
The growing list of reductions and eliminations of entire Federal departments and agencies along with the dismantling of this idea of the ”deep state” continue to be driven by impulsive actions, not grounded in reality, and with little thought for long-term consequences.
The war on Social Security, Medicare, public education, legal immigrants, climate crisis mitigation, our universities and libraries, the lRS, FDA, FCC, FEMA, EPA, DOE, HHS, HUD, DOJ, the VA, the Federal Reserve, our NATO allies, and our most loyal trading partners are all examples of irrational thinking with no real end game, only producing local, state, national, and world-wide chaos and destruction. Let’s call this for what is: Anarchy in America.
I believe revenge is a primary reason voters elected President Trump and the reason the coup unfolded so easily and quickly. Revenge and resentment are two powerful emotions felt by millions of dissatisfied Americans. President Trump carefully designed a well-planned campaign, identifying his version of domestic and foreign “enemies” of America, accusing them of the nation’s problems, justifying the coup. There are also those who have justified the coup expecting to profit from less regulation, privatizing government activities to their benefit. Greed and revenge have become the worst of bedfellows fostering anarchy.
The coup will last as long as the people allow it. Will Americans tire of Trump’s war on America? Will parents worry and begin to feel the pain of losing those institutions and regulations that have protected generations of Americans? For their children’s sake, they should. Every proud, patriotic, law abiding American should as well.
Americans will not accept anarchy and living under a dictator. Resistance is growing quickly as people wake up and realize what they voted for and what is now occurring with the coup in place. Eventually masses of patriotic Americans, long-standing institutions, and agencies will refuse to obey senseless executive orders designed to seek revenge, harm others, and benefit the wealthy. We are seeing signs of that push back already with growing demonstrations and increasing organizational resistance.
Punishment and retribution, the cornerstones of the President’s coup, have never been the characteristics that made America a great nation. We did not become the “shining city upon a hill” by harming legal citizens, tearing apart our government, and isolating our country from the world. Anarchy will not last because the people, regardless of their religion, race, gender, national origin, or political party, will not allow the coup to stand. Democracy and America’s institutions will prevail.