How does MAGA hate thee? Let us count the ways.
The first time Donald John Trump took the presidential oath of office in January 2017, he swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, etc. As I watched I wondered how the career con man would manage to raise his right hand and place his left on a bible with his fingers crossed behind his back.
I kid. He simply lied in front of the entire planet. And did again in January 2025.
A Facebook post yesterday a from a woman with D.C. connections came to my attention. After a career “dedicated to preserving and strengthening democracy,” she is suspending her account. She recommends escaping social media algorithms to build local community as a means of rebuilding trust.
“It’s also how we figure out ways to govern ourselves going forward.”
I read “going forward” to mean (ominously) that she believes we might have to rebuild from scratch. I’ve been itemizing the ways Donald Trump and the MAGA Party are not making America great, but are working overtime to unmake it to the point that we’ll have to start again from scratch, if that’s even possible.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D) of Connecticut gave a speech this week laying out the Trump 2.0 battle plan for unmaking America. Before we get to that, the constitution Trump swore to protect (twice) is being shot through with holes by him and his Project 2025 lieutenants.
Let’s do a battle damage assessment in their Cold Civil War.
Since retaking office, Trump has usurped the constitutionally assigned powers of the Legislative Branch — specifically, “the power of the purse” — without a whimper from his MAGA allies there. The White House sees itself as a law unto itself and, as we saw this week with AG Pam Bondi, views congressional oversight with contempt.
Trump has treated the Judicial Branch alternately as a legal dodge and gnat he can swat away as it pleases him. He has defied court rulings including the unanimous 2024 NRA v. Vullo ruling. That case confirms that the First Amendment “prohibits government officials from wielding their power selectively to punish or suppress speech.” Yet Trump 2.0 has made threats against media outlets over content he doesn’t like. He has threatened colleges and universities over what they teach. Through paper-thin criminal cases brought against his perceived enemies “as part of his crusade for retribution,” through a flurry of executive orders targeting law firms, and through harassment lawsuits he brought personally against newspapers and media outlets, Trump has made a mockery of the judiciary.
The convicted felon is stealing freedoms guaranteed to you in the Amendments as well. Trump 2.0 is systematically gutting rights guaranteed under the First Amendment (discussed above).
His immigration secret police now snatch immigrants and citizens off American streets without judicial warrants and without probable cause. They systematically violate people’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Once detained, immigrants and citizens alike are denied their due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Impacted by these unlawful actions are not only undocumented immigrants summarily deported, but also green card and visa holders who find them revoked without notice or court appeal.
Trump’s federalized deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, California alleges, violates state sovereignty guaranteed by the 10th Amendment. Illinois and Oregon also find their 10th Amendment protections in Trump’s sights.
His first day in office, Trump issued an executive order claiming the power (that belongs to Congress and state legislatures) to strike the birthright citizenship clause from the Fourteenth Amendment as if by royal decree. To date, that effort has failed.
But his second administration has stepped up efforts to denaturalize U.S. citizens protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Ohio Capitol Journal reports that “a recent Justice Department memo prioritizes national security cases, it directs the department to ‘maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence’ across 10 broad priority categories.”
The ACLU warns, “Under other administrations, those targeted for denaturalization were often Nazis and other war criminals trying to escape prosecution under assumed identities. Now, the administration is attempting to strip citizenship from individuals based upon old removal orders issued when an applicant did not appear, discrepancies in applications, and allegations of crimes that they had not even been charged with at the time of their naturalization.” A mere accusation of being a gang or cartel member can be enough under Trump 2.0.
Finally, through a lengthy menu of voting-related legislative and administrative gambits, Trump’s MAGA party has eaten away at states’ guarantee of a republican form of government under Article 4.
God knows where they’ll turn next in redacting your constitutional rights.
Murphy this week outlined the plans behind Trump’s authoritarian takeover:
Step 3, you’ll notice, is to illegally deploy the U.S. military against U.S. citizens.
Step 5 is to rig election rules to concretize his control of government and to destroy your right to a republican form of government under Article 4 of the Constitution.
File away for future use. Twice this month I’ve been approached by youthful Trumpers sealioning me about why I oppose their boy king. Shut them down with this.
Robert Reich has a tighter list concluding with this. “Don’t give Trump what he wants.” Remain peaceful.
(h/t KY & CHS)
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