Setting the Constitution and federal government ablaze: thoughts on the first month, including what you can do about it

Hello everyone. It's been a few weeks since my last piece, which discussed the influence of billionaires on the Trump administration. In that article, published a day after the inauguration, I noted the alarming and dangerous influence of Elon Musk, a man who spent almost $300 million to get Trump elected last year. Musk's personal wealth has also almost doubled since the election in November and is now worth around $400 billion – he is the wealthiest man in the world.

I believe that the article has aged well. Musk is acting like at minimum a co-president, blatantly breaking laws, illegally withholding already-authorized federal funds for things ranging from disease research to daycares and laying off thousands of hardworking federal civil servants that he has absolutely no authority to do so. I want to be clear here: the vast majority of what is happening here is illegal, and a seizure of power from Congress, which has the power of the purse under the Constitution. This is a full-blown constitutional crisis - Musk and Trump are setting the Constitution and federal government ablaze. It is Project 2025 on steroids.

And I'd also just like to note the types of people being laid off here: These are people who manage food programs that feed hungry people in poor countries, make sure America's airports and airplanes are safe, conduct research into life-saving cancer treatments, track infectious diseases like the spreading bird flu, keep our national parks clean and safe for public use, and much more. They are not our enemies. They are the invisible pillars that uphold our society, silently and diligently working to make your life and mine better and safer.

And Elon Musk, with Trump's clear blessing, is happily taking a sledgehammer to them. He is also conveniently being charged with "overhauling" federal agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, that are investigating his businesses, such as SpaceX. In total, Musk has $3 billion in contracts with the federal government. He makes about $8 million a day in money from said contracts. Now he's barging into those same places charged with overseeing the regulation of his businesses to tell them what to do. Corruption by another name would stink just as badly.

This doesn't even get into the fact that Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" - no such department actually has been authorized by Congress - is sending inexperienced twenty-somethings with online profile names like "Big Balls" to demand access to the incredibly sensitive information of Americans. This includes data such as Department of Treasury payment systems, your Social Security number, and your tax information. They want the whole shebang.

They do not have the legal authority to do this, but they are doing it anyway. And while the courts have thrown a monkey wrench into their plans by issuing injunctions against some of their efforts, their efforts to seize control of our government and our information nevertheless persist as I type these words.

Indeed, I would be remiss if I didn't note that the other day, President Trump posted to various social media accounts of his the following chilling statement, "He who saves his Country does not violate any Law."

That is straight up dictator talk. There is no other way to describe it. Musk, with Trump's blessing, is dismantling the federal government. Trump's appointees are vindictively firing people who were involved in investigations against him during the Biden years, and he is using what is left of the government as a cudgel to crush his enemies with. All the while Trump fills top level posts with unqualified toadies, who possess that most essential Trumpian trait: loyalty to the leader. He claims he does this to save the country, and thus he is above the law.

As the writer Jamelle Bouie succinctly said on BlueSky, what Trump said was "the single most un-American and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an American president."

So we should no longer speak of rising dictatorship and fascism in this country as if they are some sort of future threat that may materialize if we are not vigilant. They are happening. This is where we are.

Have you ever seen the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl? One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is when Elizabeth, played by the vivacious Keira Knightley, is confronted by Captain Barbosa when she tries to escape his ship and its undead crew of scalawags and wretches. He says, in his piratical dialect, the following: "ya best start believin' in ghost stories, Miss Turner... yer in one!"

You best start believing in ascendant dictatorships, America. You're in one!

In general, I try to provide reassurance to people. Certainly, I do not want to cause people to feel anxious or panicky needlessly. But I cannot do that right now. We are in a very bad place as a country, and I expect things to worsen before they improve. I say this not to propagate hopelessness, but rather to level with you - we are in worst case scenario territory. To get out of it, we must first regard our situation clearly. The situation is not unsalvageable - there is hope yet - but I am not going to downplay what is happening here.

And don't expect any muscular resistance from the Republican-controlled House and Senate - they are fully abdicating their constitutional duties to serve as a check on the president, blocking a Democrat-led effort to subpoena Musk to find out more about what he is doing. They are rolling over. Transparency in government is a lib thing now, I guess!

Trump is dear leader to Congressional Republicans, and they dare not cross him, for that would require a moral fortitude that they simply do not possess. They are happy to see their own constituents and their own state's economies get crushed by the world's richest man as he takes a jackhammer to disease research, national parks, farm country, and universities - all things that are massive drivers of the economies of red America, it should be noted. They are unfit to lead. They need to lose their jobs, not hardworking civil servants.

Several people have asked me what I think of the Democratic Party's response to this moment. I'll have more to say on that in a future article, but the reality is that the Democrats are the minority party in Washington at present. While they are far from powerless - they can gum up the works, especially in the Senate - they cannot by themselves stop most of the things happening. That would require a handful of Republicans - their majorities in both the House and Senate are extremely tiny - to band with them. Don't expect such courage to be forthcoming from the party of Trump. Not until the political consequences of their shameless collaboration in Trump and Musk's assault on the Constitution become clear, at any rate.

It's thus no coincidence that you are seeing a more muscular response from Democratic governors and attorneys general, who operate at the state level. They have the actual institutional power to act against Trump, filing lawsuits and refusing to allow their own state authorities to cooperate with his anti-immigrant crusade. It shows how, even if they are perhaps regarded with less fervor than our federal elections are, state elections matter too. State governments right now are the biggest check on the Trump-Musk nightmare duo's power. I’ll have more to say on that in a bit.

What you can do

Alright, so I've laid out the situation as clearly as I can. Donald Trump and co-president Elon Musk are setting the government and Constitution ablaze, the consequences for millions of people in the United States and the world over be damned. We are in a constitutional crisis, and the ruling Republican Party in Washington is happy to cheer it on. What do we do now?

The first thing I'd say is to tap into your network. What I mean is this: people want community and direction right now. They want to know that others are feeling similarly - that people beyond themselves are comprehending the severity of what is happening. One simple way to do this: arrange a meet-up to check in with people. Respond to messages from friends, co-workers, and so on. Don't go it alone; there is power in numbers. I promise you that a lot of people feel like you do right now – whether that’s hopelessness, frustration, confusion, or fury. These feelings are a normal reaction to the travesty that is coming out of Washington.  

Protests are starting to materialize across the United States in all 50 states. My advice would be to look into your local chapter of the organization Indivisible – they were formed in 2017 under Trump 1.0, and have been spearheading a lot of public resistance to the Trump-Musk and their Project 2025 takeover of the government. They've also been leading efforts to contact elected representatives, both Democrat and Republican alike. When you turn the heat up enough, people notice, including your elected officials.

And since I always try to find a Wisconsin angle for everything, I’ll just also note this: on Tuesday, April 1st, Wisconsin will have some incredibly important elections both locally and statewide. You can check your registration, polling place, and what will be on your ballot at https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/.

Of especial note here is our race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where Judge Susan Crawford is running against former Republican attorney general under Scott Walker Brad Schimel. Schimel has made it clear he will support an 1849 law banning abortion in the state, and that he will be a rubber stamp for Musk and Trump’s agenda. Indeed, Musk’s already weighed in on the race – encouraging people to vote for Schimel and recently authorizing his PAC to spend $670,000 to help elect him.

I refuse to let Elon Musk take over Wisconsin’s government too. I will not allow a billionaire from apartheid South Africa to force his lawlessness and insatiable greed on me and my friends. I will be voting for Susan Crawford on April 1st, and I encourage all my Wisconsin readers to do the same.

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