Donald Trump's upcoming presidency raises serious concerns about his potential abuse of power and disregard for democratic norms.
Less than three weeks from now, Donald Trump will for the second time be sworn in as US president. Though much of his appeal stems from his disregard for convention, Trump is in core respects a very predictable figure. Since losing the 2020 election, he has consistently vowed to use the tools of US justice to settle scores with enemies. On this the returning president should be taken literally as well as seriously.
The same applies to his view that officials owe their loyalty to him personally, rather than to the US constitution. In his first term, Trump often lost his cool when his more reckless wishes were blocked by government lawyers, Pentagon officials, intelligence agencies and others in the so-called power ministries. This time he has taken pains to nominate figures who can be relied on to do his bidding without regard to rules and convention. The former attorney-general Bill Barr alleged that in his first term Trump suggested that rivals be “executed”. Barr said that he did not worry about Trump’s impulses because he knew they would be thwarted. Such complacency is no longer merited. The Supreme Court last July significantly boosted Trump’s powers by granting near sweeping immunity to the “official acts” of the US president. In theory this could include assassinating political adversaries. In practice, it will almost certainly include legal witch hunts against Trump’s detractors in politics, the media and civil society. Some of them, such as Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman, and Mark Milley, the former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, he has repeatedly singled out. It would be rash to assume that punitive impulse will stop at the water’s edge. Even before taking office, Trump has threatened to expropriate the Panama Canal, which was returned to Panamanian sovereignty in 1999, and expressed designs on Greenland, which has long been under Danish sovereignt
DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL POWER SUPREME COURT DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY
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