Even many of his supporters will privately say we need not worry about Trump because his excesses are always checked. But the American system does not work through magic. It needs its other leaders — judges, bureaucrats, generals and, above all, politicians — to speak out when they see blatant abuses of power. Some have done so — most recently senior military leaders — but one gaping hole remains. That is the one inside the president’s own party.
On Monday evening, in Lafayette Square, in the shadow of the White House, police in riot gear descended upon a peaceful protest — which is explicitly protected in the Constitution — and disbanded the demonstration using force and weaponry, including pepper balls, smoke canisters and rubber bullets. The protesters were not violating a curfew or committing acts of violence. The police used brute force on law-abiding citizens so that the president could stage a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church.
When asked to comment on this dangerous abuse of governmental authority, which flashed across every news channel and website in the world, the president’s allies had this to say. Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) wouldn’t comment because he “wasn’t there.” One wonders whether he will from now on comment only on world events at which he is physically present. Several senators — Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) — demurred because they “didn’t watch it closely enough,” in Romney’s words. Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said they were late for lunch. A few Republican senators did break with the president, but others went out of their way to defend him. Ted Cruz (Tex.) — who used to describe Trump as “utterly amoral” and a “pathological liar” — said the only abuse of power was “by the protesters” themselves.
