As President Donald Trump rages into the lame-duck period of his reign, a prominent Republican campaign strategist is sounding the alarm that Americans should “expect the final two years of Trump’s term to be both frightening and historic.” And by “historic” she means not only the major events that may come to pass, but is nodding to “Mad King George,” whose tyranny the American colonies had to fight a whole revolution to escape.
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This is according to GOP campaign strategist Myra Adams, who, writing for the Hill, points out that England’s George III — known as “Mad King George” — spurred on the American Revolution in part by “preventing colonial legislatures from passing laws for the public good. It topped a list of grievances that made up most of the Declaration.”
“This year’s 250th anniversary is marked by revolutionary irony,” notes Adams. “One could argue that President Trump is channeling King George by committing similar ‘usurpations,’ such as appropriated by Congress and refusing to sign two bipartisan pieces of legislation that serve the public good. First, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a key provision that leaders warn jeopardizes national security if not renewed. Second, Trump canceled plans to sign a housing affordability bill addressing the nationwide crisis.”
After defeating the crazed British monarch, the American Founders “established three equal branches of government with checks and guardrails to prevent future elected presidents from usurping power if they exhibit mad-king-like behavior. One notable guardrail is the midterm elections, when the electorate can vote to remove the president’s party from control of Congress. New legislators and senators can then rein in the chief executive by defunding programs, blocking actions, and voicing discontent with unpopular wars initiated by the president… At its most extreme, Congress can remove the president through impeachment by the House and conviction in the Senate. “
After the mid-terms, a twice-elected president enters their “lame duck” phase, in which they can never run for president again. But in the case of Trump, asserts Adams, Americans “can expect him to defy that denigrating label, which embodies his greatest fears: weakness and dwindling power. Now watch the president’s controversial pre-midterm meddling as lame-duck Donald poses a unique set of dangers nationally and globally.”
Trump, with “no filter” and a “messianic mindset,” has already suggested that he will challenge any constraints on his actions. As the Hill previously reported, he has “insisted there are ‘no limits’ to his power … in a new interview about his takeaways from the Iran war.” Trump has also argued that “the one thing” limiting his power is “my own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
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Now, warns Adams, he’s bringing that outlook to the midterms and his remaining time in office.
“After the midterms, if Republicans lose control of the House, Senate, or both, Trump, as the face of the Republican Party, is likely to lash out and seek scapegoats,” writes Adams. “We can expect legal challenges to ‘rigged’ elections and further campaigns of retribution against his enemies. Perhaps Trump will find or manufacture an excuse to deploy the military domestically by declaring martial law, anything to prove he did not lose… Conversely, if Republicans retain full control of the House and Senate, Trump will act on his no-limits-on-power mandate with epic fury.”
However the midterms turn out, says Adams, “Expect the final two years of Trump’s term to be both frightening and historic…I fear for our nation, given that 59 percent of Americans believe ‘Trump is mentally, physically unfit to serve effectively,’ according to a Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll. In late April, a Fox News poll found that among registered voters, 60 percent thought Trump lacked the temperament to be president, 55 percent believed he lacked mental soundness, and 57 percent said he lacked the judgment to be president.”
“Watch how America’s foundation is tested by a lame duck who believes his power has no limits,” she warns in conclusion. “Meanwhile, Trump appears increasingly unstable amid declining health. He commands the world’s strongest military and acts against his ‘subjects,’ like the mad king our Founders rebelled against and designed a government to prevent.”
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