In Case of Emergency: Cross Your Fingers
Congress abandons the Constitution as Trump’s army prepares to attack
Today, we are watching Trump behave as if he’s already president, and everybody is acting like he can’t be stopped. But he can.
We have a rule of law that has given us the tools to prevent Trump from being sworn in. Yet Congress, fearful of the consequences of such a dramatic course of action, is paralyzed.
We need to remove that paralysis.
Let’s start by acknowledging that SCOTUS deliberately misled us about what the 14th Amendment Section 3 requires of Congress and what it means for Congress to validate SCOTUS’ deliberate manipulation of the law, despite knowing better.
Here is the text of this section of the 14th Amendment:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Here is a recent video from Ben Meiselas of the Meidas Touch. In it, he agrees that the law, as written, disqualifies Trump from office, but Meiselas also insists we can’t apply the law because SCOTUS disagrees with it.
Ben is wrong.
SCOTUS says Congress must vote to disqualify Trump — but the law says Congress must vote to ALLOW Trump to take office.
We should defer to Congress not SCOTUS
Rather than defer to a corrupt body that has been bought and paid for by Donald Trump and his billionaire boys club, we should be demanding that Congress take matters into their own hands — where the law, as written, has squarely put it — regardless of what SCOTUS says. The consequences of failing to do this are too great.
Trump’s army of violent insurrectionists is ready to fight
The moment Trump takes office and pardons the Jan. 6 insurrectionists who are currently in prison, he will have a ready-made violent mob stoked with all the rage that comes from being told you’ve been imprisoned unjustly.
Trump will do as he always does and throw out a few hints or words coded to incite and direct violence toward his perceived enemies. Before long, anybody in politics or the media who Trump wishes to silence will be silenced. The only way to stop the inevitable is to prevent Trump from retaking the oath.
Why won’t Congress take action?
Congress is, thus far, unwilling to try— despite countless legal scholars (including Professor Laurence Tribe, Judge Michael Luttig and MTN’s Ben Meiselas) who have repeatedly disagreed with SCOTUS’ ruling that pretends Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is not self-executing.
The language of the Amendment says clearly that Congress must vote to “remove such disability” that is inherent when an insurrectionist runs for office.
How can Congress remove a disability that does not already exist?
Nowhere in the law does Section 3 say that Congress must create that disability by a separate legislative act.
Yet, SCOTUS has told us that this clear and plain language means something it doesn’t. Why are we deferring to them when we know Trump and his wealthy donors own them?
SCOTUS was bought by Trump and his billionaire friends
SCOTUS is corrupt. Senator Whitehouse has already been filmed on the floor of the Senate, telling his colleagues that what used to be a fair and impartial court is now a national joke. Why does he not go one step further and insist that their corruption makes their decisions irrelevant?
We know Whitehouse understands this problem better than anyone. Watch him in this video, where Whitehouse makes his case against the rampant corruption that has been well documented.
Why is Congress not pointing out that following the guidance of a body bought and paid for by a corrupt and lawless former president is no longer a body we need to defer to?
Congress can’t even get SCOTUS to agree to an ethics bill that would allow enforcement of the same ethical rules they say they adhere to. Why do we act like they are the ultimate decider of the law and what it means when SCOTUS has determined that it only means what they want it to mean?
Let’s stop pretending that SCOTUS is an august body above reproach. They have failed us.
As citizens of this country, it is up to us to insist that Congress do its job and stop a lawless man from ascending to the Oval.
If Congress doesn’t act now, who will prevent Trump from going after his perceived enemies and destroying what’s left of our fragile democracy?
Who will stop Trump from breaking the law next time?
Once Trump’s army is poised to attack, the Republicans who appear brave today will fold like a cheap deck of cards. Once Trump’s foot soldiers are released and are prepared to do his bidding, none of the bravado we see in Congress will last.
Trump’s second army will be his cabinet. They will lead the charge.
There is a reason Trump wants to appoint people who are ignorant about the institutions he wants them to lead. Their only loyalty will be to Trump. None of Trump’s lackeys will concern themselves with adherence to documents like the Constitution, the Military Code of Conduct, or the Geneva Conventions.
If you don’t believe me, listen to Marc Elias, of Democracy Docket. Here is a clip from his recent appearance on MSNBC as a guest of Katie Phang.
When Trump tells his appointees to do something, they will do it — no questions asked. This is why Trump is set on selecting cabinet members and agency leaders who know nothing about governing. He may have agreed to FBI background investigations while Biden is still in office, but once Trump is sworn in, he will not tolerate any interference. He will ram his picks through the Senate using the power of violent threats, and he will get precisely what he wants.
Everyone who gets in Trump’s way will be at the mercy of Trump’s army of thugs the day he takes office. He won’t just threaten lawmakers and judges; he’ll go after their families. Think about that.
This is what autocrats do. This is what Trump is setting up. Once he’s in, it won’t matter if he breaks the law — there will be no accountability. He will have presidential immunity, and anybody he orders to do something illegal will do it because Trump will promise them pardons. This is a failsafe power grab — unless we stop it.
We’ve seen this movie before
Trump talks about “the love” in the air on January 6, 2021. Watch the footage from that day and see if you can spot something akin to love. I did, and I couldn’t.
Everything is a lie wrapped up in language designed to sound good enough to keep his cult followers hooked. Trump is a master at this particular skill. But he can’t govern. He isn’t a learner. He’s a blowhard.
With the unchecked power he will have as president, he will be capable of doing immeasurable damage to this country and to our standing in the world. If you worry about upsetting his base now, you are worrying about the wrong thing.
Just the facts
Fewer than 50% of the voting population voted for Trump. Ninety million potential voters chose not to vote. But still, more people who voted in 2024 voted for somebody other than Trump. There is no mandate for what Trump is doing.
The only reason Trump won is the general distrust of politicians (a distrust Trump actively fed for decades in preparation for this moment), which turned off many people who might otherwise have voted. And still, Trump barely scraped by with a win, though he has constantly lied about having a “mandate” and winning by a “landslide.”
In addition to Trump’s army of thugs, he has Elon Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, using his 1,000% edge from a manipulated algorithm that gives Musk’s posts a ridiculous advantage on X — an advantage Musk uses to spread disinformation daily. Don’t think this will stop after Trump is sworn in.
Every bad policy, every dollar they steal from you to line their pockets will be presented as a valid move to “make America great” again. The American people will have no honest media outlets to help them understand what is happening. It will be a kleptocracy like no other, and you will pay for it.
If you don’t like the chaos Musk created by trying to force a government shutdown, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Brace yourself because if Trump makes it to the Oval, it will get much worse.
He’ll have the media, the DOJ and his entire cabinet ready to do his bidding — there will be nowhere to hide and no way to stop him.
This is exactly what the 14th Amendment Section 3 was written for
That’s what the 14th Amendment Section 3 was written for — the exact scenario we are in today. When the majority of people vote for an insurrectionist, and the insurrectionist prevails, it falls to Congress to stop him from taking office.
The only way an insurrectionist is allowed, by law, to take an oath again is if 2/3 of BOTH Houses of Congress vote to allow him to take office.
Rather than adhere to a clearly biased and invalid ruling by SCOTUS, that Trump can be president unless 2/3 say he can’t, we need a few courageous Senators to challenge that misguided ruling.
Senator Whitehouse and Senator Schiff need to show up for us
I am calling on Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to stand up on the floor of the Senate and start the conversation by pointing out that based on the corruption rampant in the current Supreme Court, we can no longer be expected to defer to their rulings. It is now entirely up to Congress to decide whether to honor the decisions SCOTUS makes.
In this instance, it is in the interests of the American people that Congress defer to the law, not the compromised opinions of corrupt judges who have failed to adhere to the law as it is written.
I call on Senator Adam Schiff to read the 14th Amendment Section 3 on the floor of the Senate and to put up a big board with the exact wording that makes clear that the law is self-executing by stating that “such disability” can only be removed by a 2/3 vote of each House.
Then let the Democratically-led Senate vote. They will not give Trump 2/3 of the vote. And it will not even need to go to the Republican-led House.
This is how we prevent a Constitutional crisis. This is how we can safeguard our democracy. And it’s perfectly legal. Moreover, it will allow the majority of the American people who did NOT vote for Trump to have their will acknowledged and supported. It will support our democracy rather than destroy it.
If we do this, and Trump cannot be sworn in, J.D. Vance may become president. And that’s okay because Vance does not command the loyalty Trump commands. The cult does not love Vance. The cult will be angry, but the imprisoned cult members will stay in prison where they belong.
And if Vance tries to pardon them, he too will be in violation of the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment for giving aid to insurrectionists. This would be grounds for immediate impeachment and removal. So, the only safe move for Congress would be to appoint, as president, someone who did not vote against certifying the 2020 election and has never promoted Trump’s election lies.
If another Republican ends up in the Oval, they will not have the full force of the most violent elements of MAGA behind them. This is what we must avoid at all costs. And this is our last and only chance to do it.
Let us not continue to let fear control us. This is the fight that matters —and yes, it’s messy. But that is no excuse for failing to do the right thing.
#resistbot https://rs.bot/LrX7Do