We’re all familiar with the Presidential Oath of Office, mandated in Article II of the Constitution:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

We became painfully aware that Trump lied the first time he recited this oath back in 2017. Four years later, he tried to violently obliterate the Constitution and hold the office by force. We watched him lie again on Jan 20, 2025. And this last time he wouldn’t even put his hand on the Bible.

In his first campaign for office, Trump made it obvious that the First Amendment was a target for him. His continuous response of “fake news” to anything that called out his well-known past as a failed businessman morphed into a declaration that the press was the “enemy of the people.” Fast forward to today and we see him using the power of his office to force the capitulation of media companies. CBS canceling Stephen Colbert’s show on the heals of paying Trump a “settlement” of $16 million was a demonstration of an unprecedented abuse of power.

Of course the freedom of the press is not Trump’s only target in the First Amendment. Lucian Truscott detailed his attacks on every part of this cornerstone of American life.

As Truscott also pointed out, actions are underway by Christian Nationalists to force members of government services to adhere to their religious beliefs. Heather Cox Richardson wrote on August 9th,

…the government of the United States of America is not, and never has been, based in Christianity. In his 1785 “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments,” framer of the Constitution James Madison explained that what was at stake in the separation of church and state was not just religion, but also representative government itself. The establishment of one religion over others attacked a fundamental, unalienable human right—that of conscience. If lawmakers could destroy the right of freedom of conscience, they could destroy all other unalienable rights. Those in charge of government could throw representative government out the window and make themselves tyrants.

Meanwhile, we can also say goodbye to the Fourth Amendment, especially if you are Hispanic.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

We are all too familiar now with the rampant Gestapo-like tactics of Trump’s puppy-killing head of the Department of Homeland Security. No warrants, just kidnappings off the streets, getting snatched out of cars or abducted from immigration hearings or while working—these storm troopers refuse to identify themselves or recognize basic human rights.

And the Fourteenth Amendment? The Robert’s Supreme Court has been happily dismantling it for “King” Donald the Last. First by giving him a pass for his insurrection which violated Section 3 to the letter:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Both houses of Congress failed to vote to remove the “disability” named above, which means that Trump is factually unqualified from holding his office.

But then with Congress remaining silent he sought to get rid of Section 1 of the 14th by executive order:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Even “his” Supreme Court punted on deciding on this one. But stay tuned…

The Trump “Justice” Department now operates not on due process, but “due accusation,” meaning that they consider their accusation that a person is guilty of what they are accused of—despite a complete lack of evidence—is grounds for arrest and deportation. It is ironic in the extreme that the DOJ was established to protect the freedoms of American citizens from oppression by groups like the KKK, and are now doing the bidding of the KKK and its various clones.

All in all, Trump’s administration and the Republican sycophants propping him up are about as popular as a flatulent skunk aboard a submarine. How they plan on staying in power is equally obvious: by nuking the 15th Amendment:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

This is a project the right has been working on for decades. Ever since the Voting Rights Act of 1965, was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson, Republicans have been working to undermine it. And that work continues today with the efforts by Texas Republicans to redraw districts to rig their next elections in favor of their party and Trump.

There is also the matter of Secretary for the Defense of Drunk Misogynists, Pete Hegseth, forwarding the message of a far right pastor who called for the repeal of the 19th Amendment, which finally granted women the right to vote:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

More people than myself have pointed out that Margaret Atwood’s book, The Handmaid’s Tale, is being viewed by the far right as a how-to manual rather than a cautionary tale.

Oh, but wait there’s more. Trump and his fanboys have also been calling for him to serve a third term. Here’s the text of the 22nd Amendment:

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.

This piece so far has been all about the Amendments that Trump is attempting to shred. But let’s not forget the basic separation of powers delineated in the Constitution. Trump has been systematically seizing the power of responsibility of the legislature to enact laws by himself with the issuance of his flood of executive orders. The most egregious and ultimately the most damaging may well be his tariffs. Tariff policy requires that the president work with Congress to enact them. Trump has chosen to enact them by caveat and executive order, or even social media posts.

Each violation of Trump’s constitutional authority should be being met by vigorous challenges by every other member of every branch and department the government. These people have also take an oath:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

These various Constitutional elements and oaths are supposed to be our safeguards from someone attempting to change our form of government from representative to dictatorial. At this moment, they are not working. Donald Trump is not the least bit interested in governing. He is interested in ruling and having his word be law, instead of being himself subject to the rule of law.

With the failing of all of these successive checks and balances, one remains: us. We are the ultimate check and counterweight to Trump’s thumb on the scales of Democracy. There is another oath, the Oath of Allegiance taken by newly naturalized citizens:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

This makes our job as citizens clear. And we should all be loudly demanding the enactment of Section 3 of the 25th Amendment:

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Trump is clearly both unable and unwilling to do his job as prescribed by the document he clearly has never read. JD Vance may not be much better. But he at least can string words into a sentence—how low we have come for that to be a desirable qualification.