An existential threat to the continued existence of America is in play with a blitzkrieg resembling what Hitler did in 53 days whereby the weak Weimar government of Germany was systematically destroyed.
1933 ...
Ninety-two years ago this month, on Monday morning, January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed the 15th chancellor of the Weimar Republic. In one of the most astonishing political transformations in the history of democracy, Hitler set about destroying a constitutional republic through constitutional means. What follows is a step-by-step account of how Hitler systematically disabled and then dismantled his country’s democratic structures and processes in less than two months’ time—specifically, one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes. The minutes, as we will see, mattered.
Hans Frank served as Hitler’s private attorney and chief legal strategist in the early years of the Nazi movement. While later awaiting execution at Nuremberg for his complicity in Nazi atrocities, Frank commented on his client’s uncanny capacity for sensing “the potential weakness inherent in every formal form of law” and then ruthlessly exploiting that weakness. Following his failed Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923, Hitler had renounced trying to overthrow the Weimar Republic by violent means but not his commitment to destroying the country’s democratic system, a determination he reiterated in a Legalitätseid—“legality oath”—before the Constitutional Court in September 1930. Invoking Article 1 of the Weimar constitution, which stated that the government was an expression of the will of the people, Hitler informed the court that once he had achieved power through legal means, he intended to mold the government as he saw fit. It was an astonishingly brazen statement.
“So, through constitutional means?” the presiding judge asked.
“Jawohl!” Hitler replied.
Channeling Hitler's playbook.
It is a mistake to think of the first two and a half weeks of President Trump’s second term as a series of discrete and separate constitutional and legal crises. It is one crisis, with many manifestations. Think of Trump’s second term as a kind of legal hydra, in which the defenders of the Constitution are facing one body with many heads, and those heads are acting in concert.
Trump isn’t merely issuing orders and enacting policies; he’s launching a constitutional revolution. The object is nothing less than the transformation of the American presidency.
So is Elon Musk’s role in the federal government and the extraordinary effort to impound appropriated funds or destroy executive agencies established by Congress.
And so is Trump’s attempt to push the edges of his tariff authority and extend congressional trade statutes far beyond their intended scope.
Even the low and spiteful character of so many people who are being hired in the administration is related to Trump’s constitutional revolution. He needs people who aren’t just willing but also happy to blow through moral and legal guardrails for him.
For example, Secretary of State Marco Rubio just hired a man named Darren Beattie to serve as his acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Beattie has a horrific record of overt racism. On Jan. 6, 2021, he tweeted at multiple Black lawmakers and public figures, telling them to “learn their place” and “take a knee” before MAGA.
March 13 marks day 53 of the "Musk" administration ...
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