Chapter 4
Study Guide by James R. Martin, Ph.D., CMA
Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida
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Chapter 4: Assault on Democracy
This chapter describes how Donald Trump has used the powers of his office against the foundations of democracy. As soon as he was elected in 2016 the president began looking for ways to use taxpayer-funded investigations to go after his political enemies. He was frustrated that the Justice Department's Attorney General (Jeff Sessions) had not investigated Hilliary Clinton. When Sessions didn't follow his improper demands Trump nominated another attorney general (Bill Barr) and right away called for an investigation into the "crimes committed" by his 2016 Democratic opponent. But presidents are not supposed to influence justice department investigations in this manner. To counter this sort of behavior by a president the founding fathers created a system of checks and balances. They created the executive branch, run by the president, the legislative branch including the House and Senate, and the judicial branch including the courts and the US Supreme Court as the ultimate arbiter of the law. Trump has used his power to undermine all three branches of government to prevent the system from limiting him from wielding the executive office for his own personal and political gain. Anyone from any branch of government who disagrees with him is labeled "corrupt."
Burying the Deep State
The people in the civil service act as a check on power by insuring that laws are executed faithfully and not subverted by rogue politicians. However, Trump does not praise the civil service. Instead he routinely mocks, maligns, ignores and undercuts them saying their ranks are replete with traitors, an evil "Deep State" that is out to destroy his presidency. He tweeted that the Deep State was a threat to democracy. Translated this means it was a threat to him because it exposed him for what he really is. The Deep State is really just people Trump doesn't like. The only person in our government intent on destroying the foundations of democracy is Donald Trump.
The Deep State conspiracy has created a paranoid and secretive atmosphere in the Trump administration. Because of the paranoia many public servants who's positions we are paying for are not trusted to do their jobs. A common tactic is to place an office under "policy review" to put them in a holding pattern. Examples include scientist focused on climate change and health experts wary of environmental deregulation. The result is that the government is being run by a skeleton crew of partisans. With much of the civil services prevented from doing their jobs, the American people are getting less than they pay for and less than they deserve.
The most maligned government employees are those in the US intelligence community, i.e. the Central Intelligence and National Security Agencies. Trump's attacks began before he was elected. He resented the intelligence community's conclusion that the Russians were interfering in the 2016 election to his benefit. Trump said, "It's total bullshit." Trump's bizarre reaction and casual dismissal of assessments by intelligence experts generated fears that he was somehow in Putin's pocket. After he was elected the president suggested he didn't need daily intelligence briefings. When he does get briefings, he hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest which often leaves him ignorant of the most serious national security threats we face and ill prepared to defend against them. He also behaves recklessly with the intelligence information he receives. For example, he allegedly revealed highly classified information to a Russian foreign minister, reviewed sensitive documents about North Korea on an open-air terrace in his Mar-a-Lago resort, and tweeted a photo of a failed Iranian missile launch in 2019 that reportedly came from a spy satellite used to monitor the Iranian missile program.
Tipping the Scales
The American judicial system includes an executive branch that investigates and prosecutes crimes, and a judicial branch that determines guilt and innocence in the courts. Trump bullies both sides including the lawyers that defend him, the investigators who investigate him, and the judges that judge him. Trump drives government lawyers to the edge of what's legal and then badgers them to go further. When he ask his lawyers to do something unethical or illegal he scans the room and lashes out at aides who appear to be taking notes. His paranoia provides considerable evidence of a guilty conscience. If government attorneys attempt to prevent the president from doing what he wants, he seeks outside lawyers like his fixers Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani to defend against his presidential corruption.
The president's treatment of the judge that ruled against him in the Trump University case provides a good example of his attitude towards the judicial branch. Trump claimed the judge was biased because of his Mexican heritage. Another example includes his attack on the judge who ruled against his immigration policies blasting the judge's decision as "a disgrace" and calling him "an Obama judge." After that he suggested that the United States needed to break up the complete and total disaster Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to get more favorable rulings for his administration. Trump's response to a judge's injunction on his travel ban was "The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from the country is ridiculous and will be overturned." He went on to say, "If something happens blame him and the court system." Trump's attacks on the US courts as corrupt and a danger to the public provides further evidence that he sees himself as above the law. His fascination with the power of the presidential pardon provides even more evidence. Trump has reassured officials that if they take illegal actions on his behalf he will pardon them. For example, wall-builders were urged to ignore regulations regardless of the consequences. He said he would give them a pardon if they got into trouble. Later the president's spokesman said he was joking. But Trump has said that he could pardon himself, but wouldn't do it because he hadn't done anything wrong. It eerily sounds a lot like Nixon's statement: "If the president does it, it's not illegal."
As anyone who's been paying attention knows, Trump labels those who investigate him as part of "the witch hunt." On May 9, 2017 the president fired FBI director Jim Comey stating the Comey could not effectively lead the Bureau. Later he admitted he fired Comey because of the Russian investigation. This lead to Rod Rosenstein's launch of the Mueller investigation. In response to this Trump told White House counsel Don McGahn to have Rosenstein fire Mueller who he claimed was a "Never-Trumper." McGahn ignored the president's request and threatened to resign.
The Mueller Report makes Trump's interference with the investigation perfectly clear. The executive summary states that his conduct involved "public attacks on the investigation, non-public efforts to control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation." Hundreds of former federal prosecutors signed a letter stating that Trump's behavior constituted obstruction of justice that would result in "multiple felony charges" if he were not president of the United States. Before going on to the next section it's important to point out that Trump's merciless and continuous claims that the FBI is part of the "Deep-State" has caused millions of Americans to doubt the conclusions of the nation's premier law enforcement agency. The president is relentless in his assault on this democratic institution.
Oversight in the Dark
The United States Congress is the other co-equal branch of government designed to provide a check on the president's power. However, the president scoffs at the dictates of the legislative branch and actively obstructs its oversight of his administration. Trump said he would cut good deals, but he doesn't understand that it's necessary to build bipartisan consensus to get anything significant accomplished in congress. His record of a bipartisan agreement is dismal. This has caused Trump to ignore Congress and declare emergencies on issues ranging from the border to foreign policy. Examples include moving forward with weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without congressional permission, and keeping senior leaders in positions as un-nominated and un-confirmed status to ignore the congressional role of advise and consent. Midway through his third year, Trump had nearly 1,400 cumulative days of cabinet vacancies in his administration (Obama had 288 and George W. Bush had 34). Temporary leaders are not empowered to take on issues with congress. The functions of government atrophy and transparency weakens.
The president regularly ignores congressional requests and even subpoenas that are dismissed on the grounds of "executive privilege." His obstruction of congress is a deliberate and coordinated campaign. Although the Democrats have engaged in some investigations that were political in nature and lacked substance, other investigations have involved the legitimate duty of Congress to examine executive branch ethics violations and official government actions taken for political purposes. The administration's policy towards the Democrats in the House is to give them as little as possible, and wait as long as possible.
Either Trump doesn't understand the difference between politics-as-usual and naked corruption, or he just doesn't care. His attempts to pressure the Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son are a prime example. Trump couldn't resist the temptation to use his office to gain a political advantage. He defended the action by saying he wanted to combat corruption. The obvious corruption was the action taken by Donald Trump.
The president has abused his power in other ways targeting the American people directly by leveraging his office to punish the "Democratic States." After the wildfires devastated parts of California Trump insisted that federal funds be cut off to the state and tweeted that he had ordered relief aid for California halted. Although officials never acted on the so called order, the request shows that Trump is a politician blatantly attempting to hurt voters in places where he can't get an electoral advantage.
Trump's war on democratic institutions has turned the United States government into something similar to one of his companies; a badly managed enterprise controlled by a sociopath, consumed with infighting and embroiled in lawsuits, going deeper into debt, hypersensitive to criticism, open to unethical and illegal side deals, operating with limited oversight, and catering to a self-absorbed owner at the expense of its employees and customers.
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Go to the next Chapter. Chapter 5: A Weakness for Strongmen. (Summary).
Related summaries:
Crossan, M., W. Furlong and R. D. Austin. 2022. Make leader character your competitive edge. MIT Sloan Management Review (Fall): 1-12. This article includes a leader character framework. (Summary).
Hornsey, M. J. and K. S. Fielding. 2017. Attitude roots and Jiu Jitsu persuasion: Understanding and overcoming the motivated rejection of science. American Psychologist 72(5): 459-473. (Summary).
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Policies of a Second Trump Presidency.
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Summary of Trump's Seven Part Plan to Overturn the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Summary of what Trump is and what he is not.
Rosenfeld, G. D. (Editor) and J. Ward (Editor). 2023. Fascism in America: Past and Present. Cambridge University Press. (Summary).
Thurow, L. 1996. The Future of Capitalism: How Today's Economic Forces Shape Tomorrow's World. William Morrow and Company. See Chapter 13: Democracy Versus the Market. (Summary).
Unger, C. 2018. House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia. Dutton. (Note).
