Trump's 'post-constitutional' putsch
Protest is not terrorism
Donald Trump was asked by a reporter if he had given any thought to suspending habeas corpus. He replied, "Suspending who?"
Habeas corpus protects people from being detained by the government without a legal basis. You are not supposed to be grabbed on the street by masked officers and thrown into an unmarked van because you "look illegal" to a racial profiler.
ICE police rappelling from Black Hawk helicopters onto the roof of a Chicago apartment building and terrorizing the residents is shocking, but not surprising.
Republicans are portraying the No Kings protests planned for October 18 as anti-American and pro-Hamas. They equate peaceful protests with riots. They call trans people terrorists, along with dissenters in general. Projection, anyone? Trump himself incited an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and pardoned the insurrectionists the moment he returned to power.
Trump insists that Portland, Oregon is on fire, and that American cities are hellholes, when these claims are observably false. Republicans blame Democrats for the government shutdown while refusing to negotiate and exploiting the situation to fire thousands of government employees.
The main sticking point is Republicans' apparent determination to deny millions of Americans affordable healthcare. They have attacked Obamacare for 15 years without ever presenting an alternative.
Republicans use their absurd misrepresentation of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to stoke baseless white grievance, as if no black person is ever qualified for any job.
Stephen Miller, in a racist rant at Charlie Kirk's memorial, said of people like himself, "Our legacy hails back to ... Monticello," among other places. He accused his enemies of inciting violence and fomenting hatred. Does anyone in America foment more hatred than Miller? He said, "You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing." Who does he think built Monticello?
One of the strongest voices against Trump is Illinois governor JB Pritzker, who says, "The Trump administration is following a playbook: cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem like peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them. Why? To create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act so that he can send the military to our city."
Trump was disappointed on October 10 when Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy." That is the opposite of what Trump has done in America.
Perhaps he should not have done his best to undermine the Western alliance that has prevented another world war for 80 years; nor ordered bombings of boats in the Caribbean on unsubstantiated claims of drug-running; nor declared war on American cities.
Trump, the wannabe peacemaker, is reported to have considered sending the 82nd Airborne to Portland.
Speaking of princes of peace, Jesus would weep — or possibly throw up — over the unChristian frauds who call themselves Christian nationalists. There is nothing Christian about them. One such is OMB Director Russell Vought, a key author of Project 2025. He thinks America is "post-constitutional." He seeks to impose his beliefs on the rest of us.
By contrast — and I would not have expected this during my rebellious days as a young Catholic — the late Pope Francis once said concerning gay priests, "Who am I to judge?"
Now Pope Leo has rebuked Trump for his attacks on migrant workers. In an apostolic exhortation titled "Dilexi te" (I have loved you), His Holiness writes, "The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking.... She knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community.... Where the world sees threats, (the Church) sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges."
Conservative Catholics are upset at this. I don't think they forgot Christ's admonition in Matthew 25 to welcome the stranger. I think they don't care.
In any case, I agree with the late gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who used to say, "This is not some Balkan principality where you can be stopped and ordered to produce your papers." His instinct to push back against government overreach deserves to be emulated.
Our constitutional republic faces the greatest threat since the Civil War. What to do? We start by rejecting the lies and not cooperating with evil. You can attend the nearest No Kings rally on October 18. Trump has acceded to pushback before. Let's keep on pushing.
Richard Rosendall is a writer and activist who can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2025 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.