It is an oddity that defies logic, observation and history that the Republican Party of today stands united more than it has since the Civil War. Unfortunately what the party is unified behind today is the diametric opposite of what it stood for when it was formed.

Modern day Republicans insult every person of even rudimentary intelligence when they refer to themselves as the “party of Lincoln.” Nope. The party of Jefferson Davis or Vladimir Putin is more accurate.

While we watch in horror, the Trump White House is steamrolling the very Constitution he and every Member of Congress—on either side of the aisle—swore an oath to uphold, protect and defend. The Constitution has taken a backseat to the abominable blueprint of Project 2025, gutting the functions of our government in favor of private business or just plain wanton destruction. Once these departments are incapable of performing their jobs the idea is to parcel them out to the highest bidder and privatize them—turning them into for-profit operations.

One government service that has been targeted for demolishing is the parent of the National Weather Service. These are the scientists and folks in charge of giving us warnings and predictions on life-threatening weather events. And unless you have been living in a cave somewhere you know that over the past few years deadly weather events are becoming more frequent and more deadly. But privatized, this service would be tasked with showing a profit for whomever managed to buy the bones of whatever is left after the Trump/Musk DogeDozer is done with it. Imagine the tech support message you might get once this is owned by say Meta, “Sorry that you didn’t get that tornado warning sir. It appears your last subscription payment did not clear the bank. Thank you for calling Meta Weather”

The authors of Project 2025 wrote their tome from the viewpoint that private industry is more efficient and agile than the government any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Of course this premise is pure, pristine bullshit. The problem with business owners trying to govern is that the mindset and foundational purpose of their jobs is completely different.

In business, executives are used to being dictatorial—”my way or the highway”—in the issuance of orders, policy strategy, etc. But in most cases even these guys have people to answer to: boards of directors, shareholders, partners.

In government, the design of our Constitution gives each co-equal branch of government someone to answer to. Congress cannot create a law without approval from the President—unless it has enough votes to override a veto. The courts can overrule both and Congress can pass laws to overrule the Supreme Court. All of these branches are governed by the operating framework of our Constitution. Under Trump that is ending faster than we think.

Our present situation is that the Supreme Court decided to grant powers to the President that do not exist in the Constitution. And he has decided in his infinite lack of wisdom to exercise that power. Trump is breaking faith with his oath of office everyday but he does not care in the least. That’s because he’s been granted extra-constitutional immunity from crimes he commits in office—as long as they are “official acts.” His blizzard of Executive Orders come under than heading of “official,” no matter how criminal or contrary to his oath.

Even with this, there would still be a remedy. The Constitution provides the mechanism for removal of an executive and even a corrupt Supreme Court Justice: impeachment. Trump has a lot of experience with this and a certain clique of Senators could have saved us and themselves a lot of trouble if they had done their duty on this front in the past.

But the country getting a third bite at this elusive apple is unlikely at this juncture. Any Member of Congress that even thinks about growing a pair will start getting varying types of threats against their future career, their lives and the lives of their families. So Trump is the first chief executive of the United States that has no one to answer to.

Trump’s pardon of 1500 or so violent insurrectionists was a shot across the bow of anyone who might want to oppose him. Who else would be ready and eager to call up judges, Members of Congress or any number of government or non-government people and threaten them for daring to oppose their liberator?

Republicans in Congress do have the option of waking up and showing some spine. Of course even stating this now is the most flighty version of optimism. The reality is more along the lines of the video clip below, which is the current Republican recruiting pitch from Trump fans like Charlie Kirk and others.

Republicans in Congress are acting like the loyal goose-stepping sycophants of another past dictator. The more they tolerate Trump’s destruction of our government and its functions and the more they allow his shredding of the Constitution the more they own the result.

But that does not mean we can’t melt the phone lines of every member of the House and Senate demanding they uphold their oaths of office.

While these office holders stand by, not even wringing their hands, American citizens and other residents of this country are being swept up off the streets and deported to prisons—concentration camps outside our borders. And since their constitutional rights matter not to Trump or his modern day Gestapo, what makes anyone think ours will be spared?

We as citizens will retain precisely the rights and freedoms we stand up for. And upholding and protecting the Constitution is also our job. Remind your representatives of this, especially if they are Republicans.