Stop Asking How Democrats Will Fight Trump. Start Asking Republicans 

All year, Democrats have been mired in anguished conversation about how to fight Donald Trump and his authoritarian encroachment on our Constitution. While most of the commentary has been marked by exasperation from those who want to see more unrestrained pugnacity, some Democratic operatives have argued that California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent social media blitz, parodying Trump’s self-aggrandizing style, is a model for success. 

Maybe. Or maybe it’ll be fun for a few more days, then seem boring. Either way, in the short run, Democrats have limited capacity to thwart Trump’s agenda (though I have argued Democrats have wielded what powers they have as well as can be expected).  

The people in Washington who can actually stop Trump are not Democrats. They are Republicans. And we should be asking them every day when they will start. 

In the past month alone, the Trump administration has unilaterally imposed severe global tariffs despite court rulings challenging his authority to do so (including Friday’s appellate court smackdown), pressured two American microchip companies to cough up 15 percent of revenue from sales to China which may amount to an unconstitutional export tax, took a 10 percent ownership share in another microchip company, militarized policing in the District of Columbia and threated to do the same in other cities, decimated the leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and put the nation’s vaccination system at risk based on New Age-y vibes not scientific data, fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for publishing employment data that didn’t serve Trump’s political purposes, and moved to fire a member of the Federal Reserve board on the grounds she committed a crime despite not being charged let alone convicted for a crime. 

This is bananas. And by that I mean this is just like Esposito, the mad dictator in Woody Allen’s Bananas.  

After dethroning an authoritarian ruler in the fictional country of San Marcos, Esposito quickly becomes one himself. He decrees to his people: “From this day on, the official language of San Marcos will be Swedish … In addition to that, all citizens will be required to change their underwear every half hour. Underwear will be worn on the outside so we can check. Furthermore, all children under 16 years old are now 16 years old.” 

Perhaps you think it’s unrealistic to expect Republicans to put protecting the Constitution above their party. Still, they at least should want to protect the Republican Party from Trump’s madness.  

Every act by the Trump administration listed above is anathema to what had been the GOP principles of limited government, free markets, low taxes, and federalism. As conservative columnist Jim Geraghty acidly observed in The Washington Post, Trump is attacking New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for being a socialist while practicing his own brand of socialism: “Mamdani wants to control the means of production; Trump just wants to be the largest shareholder in the means of production. It’s totally different!” 

Unless traditionalist Republicans find their voices and their spines, Trump will have buried the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan for good and replaced it with rank authoritarianism. And Trump’s authoritarianism is not even the “make the trains run on time” brand of technically competent authoritarianism. He’s unleashed a series of runaway trains bound to go off the rails, crash into each other, and burst into flames.  

Economic uncertainty is coursing through corporate executive suites, local government budget offices, and household kitchen tables. We can’t trust economic data. We can’t trust that our remaining public health officials can prevent or mitigate the next pandemic. And if Trump manages to hound Lisa Cook off of the Federal Reserve and stack the board with hacks who will do Trump’s bidding on interest rates irrespective of what makes macroeconomic sense, then we can’t trust that our central banking system will be able to prevent or mitigate the next recession. 

Straws of hope to which we can cling are being provided by Cook, who is staying put while challenging her ousting in court, and Washington, D.C.’s grand jurors, who have been refusing to indict people arrested by Trump’s goon squad without credible evidence of crimes. They have been able to act in principled fashion because a wannabe strongman cannot entirely erase the democratic principles found in the Constitution and the law. 

Republicans in Congress should be following their lead. As scared as they are by the MAGA minions who could oust them in a primary, they should be more frightened of owning any imminent economic or public health meltdown. That could cripple the electoral viability of the Republicans for a generation, which is what happened to Republicans after the Great Depression detonated on Herbert Hoover’s watch. 

Instead of channeling the ghost of Herbert Hoover, Republicans should summon the spirit of Thaddeus Stevens, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania, and his fellow anti-slavery pro-Reconstruction Radical Republicans who impeached the white supremacist President Andrew Johnson in 1868.  

Most of the articles of impeachment related to Johnson’s attempt to fire a holdover from the Lincoln administration, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. A year earlier, the Republican Congress sought to limit Johnson’s powers by passing the Tenure in Office Act, overriding Johnson’s veto, preventing the president from firing cabinet officials without Senate approval. Johnson believed the Supreme Court would never uphold the law and was determined to get rid of Stanton. Army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas (described by historian Gene Smith as “generally considered to be a fool and the next thing to a confirmed alcoholic”) delivered presidential decrees to Stanton in the Secretary’s office, stating Stanton was out and Thomas was in.  

Senate Republicans quickly passed a resolution declaring the firing illegal, and Stanton refused to leave his office. A judge ordered Thomas arrested for violating the Tenure in Office Act. Free on bail after a brief detainment, Thomas stormed into Stanton’s office, where Radical Republicans joined the Secretary, and a farcical standoff ensued. Smith’s High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson detailed the scene: 

THOMAS: I claim the office of Secretary of War, and demand it by order of the President. 

STANTON: I deny your authority to act and order you back to your own office. 

THOMAS: I will stand here. I want no unpleasantness in the presence of these gentlemen. 

STANTON: You can stand there, if you please, but you cannot act as Secretary of War. I am Secretary of War. I order you out of this office and to your own. 

THOMAS: I refuse to go, and will stand here.  

STANTON: How are you to get possession? Do you mean to use force? 

THOMAS: I do not care to use force, but my mind is made up as to what I shall do. I want no unpleasantness, though. I shall stay here and act of Secretary of War. 

STANTON: You shall not. And I order you, as your superior, back to your own office. 

THOMAS: I will not obey you, but will stand here and remain here. 

Each began to issue conflicting orders to officers across the hall. The stalemate only broke when Thomas cracked a joke: “The next time you have me arrested please do not do it before I get something to eat.” Newly amused, Stanton brought out a bottle of whiskey and said, “Now this at least is neutral ground.”  

Thomas eventually stood down and left. But House Republicans wasted no time exploiting the episode, voting for the impeachment of Johnson two days later.  

However, despite Republican dominance in the Senate, the votes to convict each fell one vote short of a two-thirds majority, with defectors arguing the nature of the charges was too political. There were also bribery schemes, but, as historian David O. Stewart concluded in Impeached, “Were any votes actually sold? With no solid proof, only probabilities can be offered … Admitting a lack of certainty, the verdict here is that it is more likely than not.” 

One Radical Republican Senator, William Pitt Fessenden, was no fan of Johnson but nevertheless thought conviction would be a political disaster. He recognized that voting for acquittal would subject him to much criticism, so he said to a cousin, “I prefer tar and feathers to lifelong regret.” Any Republicans today who don’t want their party to lose its long-standing principles should embrace the same sentiment.  

The Johnson-Stanton standoff has obvious parallels to the Trump-Cook standoff, except that Cook’s legal position is far stronger than was Stanton’s. The Tenure in Office Act back then was constitutionally flimsy (and was soon reformed and then repealed entirely). At the same time, today’s law governing the Federal Reserve makes clear members can only be fired for cause, and the cause can’t be whatever the President says the cause is. Moreover, the consequences of ending Federal Reserve independence threaten the economy’s foundation. In contrast, the nominal head of the nation’s military forces should not act independently of the Commander-in-Chief.  

“I prefer tar and feathers to lifelong regret,” said Fessenden in opposing his own party’s attempt at impeachment and conviction. A Republican today courageous enough to prioritize not just small-d democratic principles but capital-R Republican Party principles would embrace the same sentiment, pass legislation designed to curtail Trump’s abuses of power, and if that didn’t work, move to impeach and convict. (The list of impeachable offenses is growing so fast we rarely notice.) The Republican majority has the power to do this. Democrats alone do not. 

Of course, it is wishful thinking to suggest today’s crop of Republicans would be courageous instead of craven. But that’s no excuse for shielding Republicans from the question: Why won’t you use your power to stop Donald Trump from violating your own party’s principles? And if they can’t answer the question in a satisfactory manner, despite Trump’s attempts to bend the Constitution to his will, voters will be able to act accordingly.  

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