The proverbial frog-in-the-pot is toast, a wafer of black carbon, a skeletal memory of it’s original form. We watched it shrink as the water boiled away, then we wondered if it would snap back to life before the heat shriveled the carcass. Maybe the frog wasn’t dead. Maybe it was just resting. We expressed concern in the streets but there were so many other things to pay attention to – democracy distractions – that the fate of the frog was lost in the cacophony of competing concerns.
Hyperbole? Of course.
Until you stop to tally the growing list of Trumpian transgressions against the architecture and the infrastructure of American democracy. The list grows daily, sometimes hourly. Let’s take a quick, admittedly incomplete tally. Who can remember or keep track of it all?
Authorizing and instructing ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol to conduct warrantless, extra-judicial and often violent raids of American homes.
Arrest, confinement and deportation of unlawful immigrants, lawful immigrants and American citizens without due process.
Politically targeted immigration sweeps of cities, communities and states based on whether their voters supported or opposed Trump, and using armed agents who lack adequate and appropriate crowd control training.
Documented fatal shootings of demonstrators posing no threat to ICE and Border Patrol agents.
Using AI-powered surveillance technology to invade private cellphone databases to target non-citizens and citizens alike.
Utilizing the Justice Department to investigate, charge and arrest reporters and other news gathering professionals simply because their reporting and broadcasting offends President Trump.
The investigation and persecution of current and former government officials and elected representatives whose lawful work and actions have focused on the transgressions of Donald Trump.
The targeted and illegal executions of at least 126 alleged drug smugglers in small boats on the high seas, with no supporting evidence and, in some cases, violating international standards of warfare by killing survivors in the water.
Signing executive orders to eliminate birthright citizenship; to fast-rack deportations without due process; to shut down asylum at the border; to restrict gender-affirming care in federal prisons.
In his first month, Trump illegally froze trillions of dollars in federal grants and loans funding nonprofits, public health, colleges and universities; all of it money already approved by Congress.
The DOGE fiasco which dismantled the United States Agency for International Development, the most effective non-military international outreach by the American government, providing life-saving food, medicine and development support for populations and nations most in need around the world. The number of deaths in underdeveloped countries attributable to that action is incalculable.
The threat to take Greenland by force and dismantle NATO. The rampant corruption as Trump brazenly monetizes the presidency, unapologetically taking personal control of a donated $400 million jumbo airplane.
You get the point. Or you don’t. And yet there seems to be no limit to the brazen reach of this supremely narcissistic, morally bankrupt man. With three more years of his madness to endure, all hope is now invested in the November mid-term election, when control of the House – and possibly the Senate – will likely pass out of MAGA Republican hands.
It’s a realistic hope, and an incomplete, only partial solution to the Trumpian dilemma. Even without control of Congress, Trump has engineered political and, at least limited, judicial acceptance of his right to ever broader executive authority – the King syndrome. And as a would-be king, he can continue to do untold damage to democracy and the world order.
Interestingly, Donald Trump cares less what people say about him than that the say something, anything. He needs to be part of every conversation, on every front page, in every news feed. Even if he doesn’t, or can’t read. On the other hand, the people who enable him – the White House staff, cabinet members, MAGA electeds – they care. They may have sold their souls to the devil, but they carry shame under their red MAGA neckties. And those who are elected want to be re-elected.
So where is all this leading?
First, the important numbers all define a formula in which power in Washington can be substantially shifted. Not be shifting Trump, but by shifting the enablers around him. Of course, if you don’t think the metaphorical frog in the metaphorical boiling pot is dead or dying, you can stop reading, a sign that you aren’t all THAT concerned about the future of democracy in America. But if you do think the frog is, at best, on life support, here are some observations and a suggestion.
As of February 1, Trump’s disapproval ratings ranged from 54-to-61 percent. In no poll is he not underwater.
Years ago, in another life, I was at different times, both a lobbyist and a journalist on Capitol Hill. One truism I learned then, which still, I am told, holds true, is that Members of Congress really pay attention to constituent mail. Back then, in the dark ages before the Internet, the formula was that one constituent letter represented the estimated views of 100 people. Generate 100 letters, you had their attention. Generate 1,000 letters, you had their ear. They would listen.
Marching and protesting are fine, they satisfy the soul. But they don’t carry the clout of direct communication, which is what an email or an old-fashioned letter can do. That’s one step. The next step is to demand of local electeds – City Council members, Boards of Supervisors – that they adopt resolutions condemning Trump’s egregious policies and demanding that their Congressional representatives stop supporting Trump.
The United States have about 38,000 elected bodies among them. Imagine if 60 percent of those elected bodies demanded of their Congressional representatives that they reject the MAGA agenda. Ripples could become waves and public opinion could actually begin to shape policy.
Or, you can just ignore all the evidence of the dead or dying frog in the pot, and just hope all this bad news will just go away. Good luck with that.
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