The danger of Trump’s power grab: Ivo Vegter

Key topics:Trump claims emergency powers to deploy National Guard in Chicago.Rule of law threatened as Trump rules by decree and ignores limits.Centralising power, undermining institutions, mirrors traits of fascism..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up for the BizNews channel here..By Ivo Vegter*.The problem with Trump is not just what he does, but the right he claims to do what he does. It fundamentally contradicts the rule of law.Trump said a funny thing the other day. He’s got it in his head to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, Illinois, on the grounds that it has a high crime rate.Usually, the National Guard can only be deployed at the invitation of state governors, but Trump is claiming emergency powers to act unilaterally (even though back in 2020 he said doing so would be illegal).The governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, Illinois senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth (who is a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel), and Catholic priest Michael Pfleger, all asked him not to.They say there is no emergency that justifies such a deployment, and in fact, crime in Chicago has dropped by double-digit percentages over the last couple of years.They claim that Trump is merely targeting Democratic cities for political reasons, which is not an unreasonable claim.Trump, however, is adamant. In discussing the dispute, between hurling crude personal insults at the mayor and governor, he said the following: “Not that I don’t have the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States. If I think our country is in danger – and it is in danger in these cities – I can do it.”.Read more:.Trump poised to declare national energy emergency to boost oil, gas and AI demand.He denies that he’s a dictator, while adding that “a lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator.’”He thinks he has the right to do anything, because he’s the president.That is not a description of a president. That is a description of a king. An emperor. An absolute despot.Aristotle’s PoliticsThe distinction between the rule of law and the rule of men goes back to texts in ancient Sanskrit and ancient Greek. (In a previous column on the subject, I said it went back to the Magna Carta. I was wrong. It goes back much further than that.)Aristotle, in Book 3, Chapter 16 of Politics, wrote: “As for an absolute monarchy as it is called, that is to say, when the whole state is wholly subject to the will of one person, namely the king, it seems to many that it is unnatural that one man should have the entire rule over his fellow-citizens when the state consists of equals: for nature requires that the same right and the same rank should necessarily take place amongst all those who are equal by nature … [I]t is more proper that law should govern than any one of the citizens: upon the same principle, if it is advantageous to place the supreme power in some particular persons, they should be appointed to be only guardians, and the servants of the laws… [H]e who entrusts man with [supreme power], gives it to a wild beast, for such his appetites sometimes make him; for passion influences those who are in power, even the very best of men: for which reason law is reason without desire.”The rule of law isn’t just a convention. It isn’t just a nicety. It is a fundamental doctrine in free societies. Without the rule of law, citizens are merely subjects. They are not free. They live (and die) at the command of their ruler.The rule of law is correlated with a wealth of good things – and negatively correlated with bad outcomes. Where the rule of law is strong, the economy performs better; GDP per capita is higher; there is less war; people are better educated; life expectancy is higher.To use a term Trump would be familiar with, countries that score low on rule of law indices are shitholes: Venezuela, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar, Nicaragua.By contrast, countries with high rule of law scores are prosperous and at peace: the Scandinavian countries, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, most of Europe, Japan, Singapore and South Korea (all of which score higher than the US, by the way).Emergency powersTrump’s strategy for claiming and exercising supreme power is to declare emergencies for anything he wants to do that would otherwise require legislative approval, or violate the law.Anything that he thinks, in his sole discretion, is against American interests, constitutes a threat, an emergency, a danger, against which Trump claims to have the constitutional duty to protect the nation.This is, of course, a gross perversion of the US Constitution, and of the rule of law.The US economy was growing hand over fist when Trump took office. Inflation was down. Trade was going gangbusters. The stock market was flying. Unemployment was low. Violent crime rates had been declining for years.The people who posed a threat to children weren’t transsexuals and drag performers, but pastors, priests, coaches, teachers and parents.But Trump exploited the religious right’s hatred of non-white immigrants, prejudice against LGBTQ+ people, exasperation with wokism, and economic illiteracy to conjure an array of reasons why he should invoke emergency powers that are ordinarily reserved to the other, co-equal branches of government.He explicitly denounced members of the legislature and judiciary for standing in his way, and even just for publicly disagreeing with him. He routinely fires career bureaucrats who push back at unscientific or irresponsible orders – the latest being the head of the Centers for Disease Control and a governor of the Federal Reserve.Rule by decreeHe claims he’s not a dictator, but he rules by decree. With 196 executive orders in a mere seven months, he is on track to become the most prolific issuer of presidential dictats in history, exceeding even the archetypical Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt.He claims he’s not a dictator, but he says he has the right to do what he wants, as long as he can say, in his own opinion, that the country is somehow in danger.The problem is not only what Donald Trump is doing. Some of the things he is doing are arguably good and necessary. Others are dangerous, or cruel, or reckless, or counter-productive, or unnecessary, or just plain stupid.The real danger is that he is undermining the rule of law. He is setting precedents that are dangerous.And it’s not like we haven’t seen this before. Trump has centralised authority in his own office. He has deployed the military against civilians. He is forcibly suppressing opposition. He panders to a religious belief in a natural social hierarchy. He elevates what he claims to be the interest of the nation over the interests, rights and freedoms of individual citizens. He seeks to control the economy by direct intervention and a blurring of the line between the public and private sector.There’s a word for all that. And that word is fascism. That’s the trouble with Donald Trump..*Ivo Vegter is a freelance journalist, columnist and speaker who loves debunking myths and misconceptions, and addresses topics from the perspective of individual liberty and free markets..This article was first published by Daily Friend and is republished with permission

The danger of Trump’s power grab: Ivo Vegter

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