Trump Is Trying To Overthrow The Government – Are You Paying Attention? (VIDEO)


One of biggest events in the past week has been Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI director, James Comey. Prior to this, he dismissed Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, and Sally Yates, the former acting attorney general.

According to Julian Zellzer:

“By axing the director of an agency investigating whether there was collusion between members of his campaign and Russians, Trump risked being seen as obstructing a criminal investigation. He then piled on by tweeting out a threat to Comey should he leak information to the media. If Trump obstructed justice, it would be fair to say this scandal could be worse than Watergate.” 

Image via Chris Britt/Creators Syndicate

The president has consistently shown that he has absolutely no regard for the rule of law. Just because you are a person in power does not mean you are above the law. Trump seems to be pushing every boundary imaginable.

The word “coup d’etat” is defined as a sudden, decisive overthrow of an existing government. Is Trump trying to overthrow the government? Maybe not in the way the word is typically defined, but Austin Sarat says:

“While such an effort is not beyond Trump, his ongoing effort is an example of what journalist Ole Dammegard has called a coup d’etat in ‘slow motion.'”

Sarat discusses three ways that we see this playing out – through his assault on language and meaning, his assault and manipulation of the media to change the public narrative, and the fact that Trump values loyalty more than legality.

Trump believes he can say or do anything and then turn around and make everyone think it’s not what he meant. He signed off on the Justice Department letter recommending that Comey be fired for his alleged disclosing of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails. However, we can’t forget that the president praised Comey back in October for doing that exact thing.

He has friends in the media especially at Fox News. Just one example is that the Fox News website is running a story saying that the new FBI chief could reopen the case about Hillary’s e-mails. Trump wants to change the story and detract from real story about Comey.

Sarat also says this of Preet Bharara, Sally Yates, and James Comey:

“Each showed themselves to have a fierce devotion to the rule of law and to the ideals of independence and impartiality on which it depends.”  

This is in stark contrast to the values or lack of values displayed by Trump. Sarat says:

“It is now time to stand up to the unfolding coup. But the real work of doing so falls not to Trump’s opponents, but to his allies, to Republicans in Congress. They must insist that words have meanings that can and must be taken seriously by looking beyond the flimsy pretext offered for the firing of Comey. They must not be distracted from the task of following up on Yates’ testimony this week on Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Most of all, by doing both of those things, they will show that even in Trump’s America, legality is still much more important than loyalty.”

Are you paying attention? This is not the time to stand idly by while our so-called president destroys democracy as we know it. Congress needs to stand up for what is true and right, and the American people need to do everything they can to call him on his con job.

Watch Trevor Noah’s humorous account of the Comey events:

Video via The Daily Show/YouTube

 

Featured image from Gage Skidmore via Flickr under CC BY-SA 2.0.