“Hello, banana republic?”

There are a lot of folks who get pretty righteous about the Constitution when Democrats are in charge. Many seem to go into hibernation mode when Trump is involved. Others seem to think that “national security” is code for “the Constitution lets the president do whatever he wants.” You know, like: • Commit numerous acts of war, from outright hostilities to blockades and embargoes without authorization from Congress • seize another country’s oil fields for the purpose of creating a presidential slush fund • threaten an ally with military force in order to seize new territory • acquire new sovereign U.S. territory without Congressional approval • abrogate treaty obligations without any consultation with the senate • Ignore the law • compel corporations to partially nationalize themselves • levy tariffs at presidential whim and commit the (wildly exaggerated) proceeds of these taxes to whatever he wants • Deploy military troops on US soil for transparently pre-textual emergencies over the objections of the governors and state’s rights • Use the pardon power for personal aggrandizement and in furtherance of corrupt schemes • Threaten censorship and the revocation of broadcast license entirely based on viewpoint discrimination • Repurpose Congressionally approved spending for novel and unauthorized purposes • Treat the emoluments clause like toilet paper Now, some of these things need to be adjudicated or can be debated. What can’t be denied, however, is that Trump talks about doing all of these things, and worse, routinely. And it is not just “talk” because he uses threats of constitutional abuse to get what he wants short of actually doing it. And many of the folks who are fastidious about even the vaguest rhetorical violation of the Constitution by Democratic presidents, roll their eyes, laugh, yawn, or cheer Trump in this regard. Just because you’re surrounded by people doing the same thing, doesn’t mean other people aren’t noticing or that it won’t be remembered.

Ffs everyone stop.