All checks, no balance: the dangerous education of Donald J. Trump

The progression of Special Counsel Mueller probe on President Trump's possible grounds for impeachment has unveiled new and troubling evidence with his personal lawyer's confession.

After months of campaigning publicly against the Special Counsel's "witch hunt", Trump has been rendered legally mute. Illegal conspiracy to hide evidence of unethical behavior that might have affected the election's results has been exposed. 

The most disturbing element of the new developments are not the accusations and probes but the fact that even those defending President Trump are assuming in fact that he has committed crimes such as to be impeached if his associates "turn on him" and reveal what they know. Or -to be more precise- what everybody already knows (conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and collusion with Russian agents) mostly because the same candidate Trump announced it during the campaign. 

This is not a horror but a suspense story. Spectators know who and how committed the crime, they just watch the unfolding events waiting for the next shoe to drop. Some with fear, other with joy. All carried away by two years of endless and mindless antagonistic and hyper-partisan politics fueled by the President that might end being victim of his own showmanship.  

As with chess, in constitutional law there are also "checks". Like in chess, constitutional checks -like a Special Council probe- announce impending doom for those who trespassed their consitutional limits and their office duties. 

As in chess, the next stop can be another check, a loss or the ending of the game.

The Constitution of the United States was specifically designed to check those in power and prevent them from abusing their offices. In 250 years, it has been tested by several former presidents and worked effectively.

James Madison wrote the famous Federalist 10 explaining that:

"No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.

With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time"

Madison warned that:

 When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.

And proposed institutions to check majorities (always circumstantial) and factions (always self-serving) from breaking or bending the law: 

To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed. 

Those who think that social media and showmanship can trump (no pun intended) the Constitution have met their first check. There are evidently plenty more down this road. 

Madison had "obnoxious presidents" in his mind when he wrote: 

Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people.  

And conceived an intricate -yet not unassailable- set of rules written in the Federalist papers and then into our 1787 Constitution. The new form of government was not a democracy -democracy was already 2000 years old and had time and again turned presidents into Caesars- but a republic, a system with checks and balances between three separated powers.

Come November, the balance of power in Congress can -and probably will- swing to the opposition party, making more likely President Trump's impeachment. 

The next check can become a check mate.

We haven't had time yet to look at the consequences of a premature end of Donald Trump's presidency.

We should.

Trump's Impeachment Fright

Definition of delusion 

a : something that is falsely or delusively believed or propagated 

• delusion

• delusions

b psychology : a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary 

• delusion

; also : the abnormal state marked by such beliefs
: the act of tricking or deceiving someone : the state of being deluded

"Sic transit gloria mundi" was the inscription  at the top of the Caesar's victorious banners and in the crown wags of Popes' and monarchs. It s purpose was to remind absolute rulers that "all glory is transient", all power is passing.

It didn't help.

Even seeing how easy was to get his once powerful enemies stabbed, shot, hanged, beheaded or dismembered by an angry mob didn't prevent  Caesar, Saddam, Robespierre or Qaddafi from  falling into the delusion of thinking they would not end up like them.  Nor did the risk of public embarrassment and humiliation prevent Richard Nixon or Bill Clinton from creating a web of lies and deceit that destroyed their own careers, harmed their families and tarnished their legacies. 

The greatest danger for those with unchecked power is not corruption, but delusion. 

That's precisely why the Framers of US Constitution created checks and balances and instituted limited term, limited re-election presidencies. All that POTUS, COTUS and SCOTUS institutes, their successors can undo. That's what makes the United States the longest uninterrupted republican democracy in the world. Donald J, Trump is its 45th president. The one between Barak Obama and the 46th, who will take office either in 2 or 6 years from now.

Donald J. Trump seems to have a hard time thinking beyond his two-terms (if reelected). And yet, as a 72-year old man without a party, in a non-dynastic system, no matter how much he "wins" his political battles, how hard his hardcore believers hang to his zig-zagging definitions and decisions, Donald J Trump will be replaced by our 46th President in 2020 or 2024.

The 46th president might, like him, devote his (or her) presidency to unravel and erase each and every one of 45th's  decisions. The more Mr. Trump revels in his  conquests and in humiliating a growing number of foes, the more this is likely to happen.

Mr. Trump seems obsessed with getting rid of any charges of collusion and any opposition to his own, grandiose self-image. Paradoxically, in doing so, he's spreading insurrection among his own Republican party, his donors, staff, and even those serving in the country's Armed forces and Intelligence and Security communities. That's how deep the "deep State" actually is if we follow the delusional course charted during the almost two years of the 45th President.  

The last straw has been retired Admiral William H. MacRaven's public pronouncement against the President's behavior.

The same Admiral McRaven that gave this inspiring commencement speech and wrote a book on the moral code of Marine discipline and leadership titled "If you wanna change the world start of by making your bed" has now berated Donald Trump's handling of the POTUS office.

Admiral McRaven didn't mince words in his response to President Trump's treatment of CIA and FBI career officers that dared to testify in the ongoing probe about Mr. Trump's campaign possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign and perhaps after the election.

Dear Mr. President:

Former CIA director John Brennan, whose security clearance you revoked on Wednesday, is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him. 

Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency. 

Like most Americans, I had hoped that when you became president, you would rise to the occasion and become the leader this great nation needs. 

A good leader tries to embody the best qualities of his or her organization. A good leader sets the example for others to follow. A good leader always puts the welfare of others before himself or herself. 

Your leadership, however, has shown little of these qualities. Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation. 

If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken. The criticism will continue until you become the leader we prayed you would be.

Even if President Trump is vindicated in his claims of "no collusion", his efforts -like Nixon's in the Watergate case- in obstructing the investigation are turning the entire process into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Even tough President Trump believes his base would absolve him even if he shot someone in New York's Fifth Avenue-

his behavior might cost him the majority in Congress , the last firewall protecting him from impeachment. Moreover, Trump's growing list of enemies might increase anti-Trump turnout into a "blue wave" in spite of the good economy over which Trump presides. 

President Trump tweets and personal insults about his own disgruntled Secretaries of State, WH staff, campaign and personal lawyers show growing evidence of delusion, a problem that sent previous presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton to face articles of impeachment and lasting shame.

These later episodes might be remembered as a turning point in the Trump presidency. 

Even if President Trump survives to become a two-term president -a goal that his own behavior is pushing farther and farther away with each passing news cycle- , there will be another President after him. And certainly, there will be a retaliatory push back against his initiatives.

Delusion is thinking otherwise.