It was always inevitable that Trump would remove Mueller and he is inexorably moving towards that goal. Dahlia Lithwick had a very insightful essay in Slate yesterday: she reflected that we, she not least as all as a legal scholar, are hoping that lawyers are “wizards” who will keep a circle of enchantment about our democracy, but that this, in turn, often leaves us passively at mercy to events.
Most of us don’t want to consume our time, much less risk our livelihoods or even lives, in having to respond to a coup in our executive by going into the streets. But the ruling party in this regime will do nothing to defend our democracy. They authentically do not view Trump’s behavior as treason because they simply do not consider their political opponents, Democrats, American. We no longer hold rights under the Constitution for them. They have taken the franchise from many of us and will be moved to take freedom of speech and assembly next. Many of us have been cheered by the seeming failures of the Trump administration, but for authoritarians failure is always the justification for more power. The Washington Post has an unsurprising but nevertheless blood-chilling article today about Republican legislatures’ plans for a Constitutional Convention; they are one legislature short. Yesterday I posted twice about a “parliamentary coup” in Poland. That is a realistic scenario for us, and we are in a race against time to hold free elections in 2018.
But the threat the Republican Party and its legislators represent, as near as it is, is still the longer-term one. The immediate danger is the White House, which always telegraphs its illegal acts through ineptitude, at the least, and has announced its intentions plainly all this week. This executive will move quickly; maybe tonight we will have our “Saturday Night Massacre”. We might be settling in for bed, at dinner, a movie, a bar, or out of town, and it will happen. We will look around disbelievingly. Everyone needs to be ready. I don’t know what to do in a situation that will be as unprecedented for me as it is for you, so I’m imploring people with the capacity for organization to help. For my part, I’ve thought up:
1. Buy a megaphone. Be prepared to engage in loud, public speech everywhere and always.
2. Assemble a group of collaborators. We will need relief from standing and marching in front of the White House and Congress and will need to work in shifts. We will also need a person to post bail for us. The standing and marching will not be about “protesting”, or having our voices heard. We will all look at each other with the question in our eyes: Is this it? Yes, it will be about removing Trump from office immediately, which will be the sine qua non demand; others will follow with success.
3. Be prepared to host people from out of town. Remember the Women’s March.
4. Try to find a lawyer buddy. The aim will be civil disobedience, the surrounding of the White House and Congress and, hopefully, the capital itself. Let Trump abscond to Mar a Lago if he must.
5. Find people skilled with coordinating marches, because they need to be ubiquitous and permanent. There are prosaic issues of permits and port-a-pottys that are beyond me, personally.
6. Prepare yourself mentally and spiritually for violence against you and, at the least, for the loss of your livelihood. Remember that most of the armed forces of order are not with you. This is it.