Marc Elias of Democratic Docket writes about Trump’s brazen indifference to the Constitution and the law, and the mainstream media’s tendency to normalize his statements and behavior. Yesterday, he said, was a day of tyranny in the nation.
Elias, a lawyer for democratic resistance, writes:
Sitting in the Oval Office, flanked by adoring aides standing stiffly at attention, Donald Trump yesterday announced: “A lot of people are saying maybe we’d like a dictator.”
The remark, delivered with his trademark mixture of menace and showmanship, might have been dismissed as yet another provocation — except that Trump immediately reinforced the point by declaring his intention to disregard Congress and federal law.
After musing about renaming the Department of Defense as the “Department of War,” a reporter noted that such a change would require congressional approval. Trump brushed aside the objection: “We are just going to do it,”before adding, “I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that.”
Here, in a single exchange, Trump revealed both his contempt for the rule of law and his calculation that the Republican-controlled Congress will not restrain him. Sadly, on both counts, he is correct.
His administration has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to trample legal and constitutional limits without hesitation. Meanwhile, the Republican Congress has reduced itself to a doormat — incapable or unwilling to challenge him even when its own power is at stake.
What is perhaps most troubling is the muted response from the broader political and media ecosystem. Scanning today’s headlines, I saw only fleeting references to Trump’s brazen comments. No major outlet gave the story front-page treatment. Even more telling, no prominent Republican leaders were pressed to respond. The silence was deafening — and dangerous.
Instead, the political news cycle became consumed with two of Trump’s other announcements: his pledge to expand the deployment of National Guard troops and federal military forces into major U.S. cities, and his unilateral decision to fire a sitting member of the Federal Reserve Board.
On the first, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker mounted a powerful rebuttal. Holding a press event in Chicago, Pritzker effectively demonstrated that Trump’s threats against blue cities were not only politically motivated but also a violation of federalism — the principle of state sovereignty enshrined in the Constitution.
On the second, last night, Trump announced that he had fired Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve Board. The move was shocking. Presidents lack the legal authority to remove federal governors except under the most extreme circumstances, and Trump had been explicitly warned by the Supreme Court that firing a Fed member would be a step too far. Yet Trump pressed ahead, disregarding both law and the risk that undermining the Fed could destabilize the U.S. economy.
In a single day, Trump managed to promote dictatorship, disregard Congress, trample federalism and defy the Supreme Court. It would almost be impressive if it weren’t so horrifying. This is the cold bleak reality of American democracy just seven months into his new term.
However, don’t lose sight of hope quite yet. There were still bright spots in the opposition movement. Pritzker’s speech was a tour de force of how to stand up to Trump. It was smart, forceful and powerfully delivered.
The speech was all the better because Trump is clearly intimidated by Pritzker. Pritzker is everything Trump is not. His and his family’s wealth is the result of building great businesses and smart investments, not grifts and crypto schemes. Pritzker has used his advantages in life to benefit the people he serves, while Trump preys on his supporters — bilking them for money while cutting their government services. Most importantly, Pritzker is at ease with himself and others. He is admired as someone who is articulate, warm and kind. Trump is always performing an act that makes him the object of scorn and mockery.
One passage of Pritzker’s speech really stood out as both factually correct and important for everyone in the pro-democracy movement to absorb:
“This is about the President of the United States and his complicit lackey, Stephen Miller, searching for ways to lay the groundwork to circumvent our democracy, militarize our cities, and end elections.”
This statement is not hyperbole. It is an unvarnished description of the authoritarian project unfolding before our eyes.
Pritzker also offered important words of caution for the media.
“To the members of the press who are assembled here today, and listening across the country, I am asking for your courage to tell it like it is. This is not a time to pretend here that there are two sides to this story. This is not a time to fall back into the reflexive crouch that I so often see, where the authoritarian creep by this administration is ignored in favor of some horse race piece on who will be helped politically by the president’s actions.”
The governor correctly points out that the danger is not just Trump himself but the normalization of his behavior. Each time he disregards the law and faces little pushback, the boundaries of what is tolerated shift. Each time the press downplays his authoritarian statements as “just rhetoric,” or Republican leaders remain silent, the line between democracy and strongman rule erodes further.
It is tempting to hope that institutions — the courts, Congress, the press — will act as guardrails. Yet institutions are only as strong as the people who inhabit them. If lawmakers cower, if journalists flinch, if judges equivocate, then the institutions collapse under the weight of cowardice.
Trump’s declaration that America might “like a dictator” should have been headline news across the country. Instead, it was met with shrugs and silence — a chilling sign of how desensitized we have become.
The danger is real. A president who flouts Congress, defies the Supreme Court and threatens states with military force is not joking. He is testing the limits of our democracy, probing for weakness.
History teaches that democracies rarely fall in a single dramatic moment; they decay gradually, through a series of small surrenders. Each time we excuse, ignore or minimize authoritarian behavior, we make the next step easier. The path back from that erosion is long and uncertain.
The question now is whether enough Americans will recognize the peril in time. Will Congress find its backbone? Will the press rediscover its watchdog role? Will citizens demand accountability? The future of our republic depends on the answer.
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