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MY THOUGHTS - We are certainly living in a precarious time, perhaps unlike any other in American history. A man with no scruples, who is self-absorbed and has an insatiable lust for raw power, is occupying the most powerful position on the planet, acting on his whims and constantly testing the outer limits of his power. In seven months, he has wreaked havoc on our domestic and international order. If he is not stopped and compelled to adhere to his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution, which he is violating with impunity, it will only cement the profound generational domestic and global perilous repercussions he is already incurring. The onus falls on the shoulders of the Democratic Party and people of conscience from all political and philosophical stripes to rise and answer the extraordinary call of the hour.
This alarming call can be fully understood only in the context of the magnitude of Trump’s disastrous executive orders during the first seven months of his presidency. It is essential to know that his socio-economic and political agendas are almost entirely based on Project 2025, initiated by the Heritage Foundation—a right-wing think tank rooted in conservative principles which aims to restructure the federal government to align with that agenda.
Before Trump entered politics, he was anything but an ultra-conservative nationalist. However, he cherishes being front and center, exercising dictatorial edicts, ignoring checks and balances, and riding high on a subservient and morally bankrupt Republican Party that has betrayed the country and what it stands for, only to cling to power. He is corrupt to the bone, treating the Presidency as a business venture to enrich himself at an unimaginable scale.
Destroying America’s social and economic fabric
The great irony here is that for one who wants to “Make America Great Again,” every social, economic and political measure that Trump takes produces precisely the opposite result. He is ransacking America domestically and isolating it internationally, destroying brick-by-brick what made America great in the first place.
The following measures only briefly describe some of his most outrageous executive orders out of the 186 he issued since assuming power. These orders have greatly affected civil liberties, democratic norms, and vulnerable populations. In many cases, the executive orders directly contradict the Constitution, and were often ruled as such by federal courts.
He issued an executive order to end birthright citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented parents, violating the Fourteenth Amendment. He ordered the suspension of asylum eligibility at the southern border and enabled forced mass deportations of immigrants from the land of immigrants, the beating heart of America’s greatness. He forcibly deported migrants to El Salvador and resumed the inhumane practice of separating immigrant children from their parents. He attempted to eliminate federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives while curtailing civil rights enforcement, and demanded federal layoffs, hiring freezes, and spending freezes affecting critical programs.
He pressured Congress to pass his “big, beautiful bill” which will rob millions of their healthcare, making the poor poorer and the rich richer. He declared a federal policy to “recognize only two sexes,” and curtail protections for transgender individuals. Lately, he has been trying to rig the congressional map to hold onto power before a single vote is cast in 2026.
He further directed the government to monitor, punish, or withdraw funding from law firms and nonprofits providing legal assistance in voting and civil rights cases disfavored by the executive branch. He targeted journalists and independent media with regulatory actions, lawsuits, and funding cuts aimed at undermining press freedom and chilling dissent. He deployed the National Guard against peaceful protestors, especially student groups, threatening free speech and peaceful assembly rights. He dispatched federal troops to cities like Los Angeles and now DC under the pretext of fighting crime to assert his dictatorial whims. He used federal funding as a cudgel to force universities and organizations to acquiesce to his demands, undermining academic freedom and equity.
Disastrous Foreign Policy
It is hard to assess the enormous damage that Trump has already inflicted on America’s role and leadership around the world. Trump never understood that what made America great was not only its military prowess but also its unsurpassed soft power outreach. He cut much of the US’ foreign federal aid, including to individual countries, and dismantled USAID, which played a critical role in America’s projection of soft power.
Furthermore, he sharply cut aid for cultural diplomacy, participation in international organizations, and international broadcasting, like the Voice of America. He withdrew from multilateral bodies like the Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization, which harmed human rights, public health, and global cooperation. Put together, he ensured that the US’ soft power crumbles, sapping its international standing and further contributing to its decline.
Trump’s erratic tariffs have shaken global trade, forcing every major trading partner to reassess its trade relations with the US. They will seek new trading partners and increase their self-reliance, making Trump realize that his bankrupt trade policy rendered America an unreliable and expendable partner. He readily dismissed the consensus of economists that tariffs are inflationary and that the American consumer will end up paying inflated prices, which are already soaring.
Trump takes pleasure in alienating America’s closest allies. He resorts to bullying instead of conducting quiet and respectful diplomacy. He ordered the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change by executive decree, blatantly defying global consensus about the severity of climate change. And even worse yet, he refuses to pressure Netanyahu to end the genocidal Gaza war, making America complicit in the death and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.
Rallying around a New Leader
Often, leaders emerge in times of major crisis, and we are now in the midst of an unprecedented one. The Democrats desperately need new, relatively young, articulate leaders around whom the party would rally. Leaders like California Governor Newsom seem to be rising to the challenge. He and many other Democrats of his caliber must leave no stone unturned to awaken the American public to the peril facing America if Trump's wings are not clipped by flipping the House and, ideally, the Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections.
Articulating a compelling socio-economic agenda
The Democratic Party now faces the test of lifetime relevance. The party must now advance a compelling socio-economic and political agenda that reflects the needs and aspirations of those who abandoned the party. The mid-term election is do-or-die for the Democrats. They have no minute to spare. They must enlist civil society and faith groups and attract a new generation of young, different, and diverse Democrats who are fired up to make a real change. If they fail to become the majority in Congress, the disaster that Trump has already caused during his first seven months in office will pale compared to the damage he will inflict during the next 41 months of his presidency.
Organizing Mass Peaceful Protests
As the Democratic Party reorganizes itself, it must build on the outrage from the public, which has been protesting by the tens of thousands throughout the country against Trump's political onslaught. Nothing will be more powerful and effective to force Trump’s hand than peaceful protests by millions, relentlessly pouring into the streets of every major city day in and day out to send a clear and unvarnished message to Trump:
America belongs to all Americans, not to the corrupt minority who hide behind the fake banner of “making America great again,” when they are tearing America apart and allowing a felon to destroy what made America, America—the greatest political experiment in human history.
Every American patriot—Democrat, Republican, and independent—has a solemn duty to remind Trump that violating his oath of office is a crime that he can no longer commit with impunity.
(Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.)
[email protected] Web: www.alonben-meir.com
