Donald Trump has made no secret of his desire to end democracy in America if he’s returned to the White House. He and members of his circle have outlined an agenda to undermine the traditional checks on the power of the executive branch, including politically motivated prosecutions of perceived enemies and attacks on unbiased media outlets.
But the president already has a powerful tool that could easily lead to an American dictatorship, one that has been around in some form since the 18th century and has been used in limited ways by commanders-in-chief ranging from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to the first George Bush: the Insurrection Act. Described by Justice Robert Jackson as a “loaded weapon” pointed at the very heart of the constitutional order, that weapon has remained unfired primarily because the United States has never found itself with an unabashed wannabe dictator in the Oval Office. That could change after the upcoming election in November.
Under the Insurrection Act, the president can use the military, including state National Guard units, to quell unrest. Technically, this is not the same thing as martial law, but in practice it would amount to soldiers carrying out law enforcement-type functions on US soil. One major fear centers on what exactly constitutes “unrest”. Under the Act, the president alone makes that call.
Even more concerning, neither Congress nor the courts can do much to stop a president determined to use the Insurrection Act to deprive us Americans of our fundamental rights. While there have been repeated calls for reform, including proposals to give lawmakers and judges more oversight, those efforts have floundered. Heading into 2025, the sweeping authority afforded the president under the Insurrection Act will almost certainly remain intact.
Once again endowing Trump with this authority is a truly chilling prospect for those committed to preserving democracy. Trump and his closest advisers wanted to invoke the Act to quell the racial justice protests that erupted following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020 – even though such protests were overwhelmingly peaceful and fell well within the scope of traditional understandings of First Amendment activity. But perhaps no event underscores the existential danger posed by abuse of the Insurrection Act than the violent, deadly presidential transition in 2020-21, when some close to Trump were urging him to have troops confiscate voting machines in a bid to nullify Joe Biden’s election victory.
What reportedly stayed Trump’s hand was the prospect of a mass revolt by senior administration figures, such as former Attorney General Bill Barr, who in late 2020 resigned over Trump’s absurd, false claims of election fraud (this was a particularly noteworthy defection, as Barr has for decades been firmly ensconced in the hard right wing of the GOP establishment). Trump has said quite plainly he will not repeat that mistake: he and his surrogates have announced plans to remove potentially thousands of career officials and replace them with loyalists who will carry out his orders without question, the Constitution be damned. Even Barr, despite refusing to abet Trump’s insurrection in 2020, has said he plans to vote for him in 2024, like so many others putting the Republican Party first, the country second.
In such an environment, where the leadership of one political party has all but abandoned a commitment to democratic principles, where even the courts – the traditional bulwark against tyranny – are starting to show cracks, it is indeed accurate to say that our institutions won’t save us; millions of us average Americans will have to save ourselves. But how?
Well, I’ve got one idea.
First though, let me just say that I have no special qualifications. I’m basically just a working stiff with a regular job, not a seasoned political operative; just an engaged citizen, like millions and millions of my fellow Americans. All I really bring to the table is a firm commitment to the bedrock Constitutional values I first learned about as a kid in grade school.
So it is in that spirit that I propose that we ordinary, freedom-loving Americans, those of us who see clearly the danger presented by Trump, vow to take to the streets in peaceful (emphasis on the word peaceful) protest should Trump attempt to use the Insurrection Act to convert the military into a kind of domestic police force that would also be empowered to crush dissent. I’ve created this petition as a means for us to announce to the world – and especially to a Trump regime – that we hold our fundamental Constitutional rights sacred, that we do not recognize the authority of the government or even the courts to deprive us of them. Signatories to this petition vow to continue protesting as long as the Insurrection Act is used for something other than the legitimate reasons for which it was intended, anywhere on US soil.
And what does a valid use of the Act look like? During the Civil Rights era, troops were deployed to ensure the safety of Black students attending schools that had been desegregated by the courts. It has been used to protect lives and property when riots have turned extremely violent, as occurred in Los Angeles more than 30 years ago in the wake of the Rodney King beatings.
That incident is particularly significant, for it was the last time the Insurrection Act was invoked. That we have been able to go so long without the president sending soldiers into American communities to restore order (as opposed to assisting following natural disasters, a routine, noncontroversial circumstance) speaks to the fact that this law was never intended to be used capriciously and was certainly never meant to silence political dissent – a foundationally American activity.
But not exclusively an American one – in recent years democracy protests have brought about change in countries including South Korea, Israel, Taiwan, Ukraine and Poland. Failing to follow their example by remaining silent as troops are deployed in our own backyards for no better reason than to sate Trump’s hunger for domination would be to surrender our freedom – and possibly the freedom of generations of Americans to come. Say no, my fellow Americans, by signing the petition – and getting ready to act to save our democracy.