Midway through his second presidential inaugural address, Donald Trump made a curious vow about his plans for the justice system. “Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law,” the Republican said. “And we are going to bring law and order back to our cities.”
Given the circumstances, it was among the most unfortunate of the new president’s promises. Part of the problem was with the premise: Given that Americans have enjoyed a system of fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law for the last four years, there’s nothing for Trump to “restore.” What’s more, when he referenced “law and order,” it was difficult to overlook the fact that the president is the first convicted felon to ever serve in the Oval Office. (He’s also, incidentally, surrounded himself with a group of allies described by presidential historian Douglas Brinkley as Trump’s “team of felons.”)
But the problem took on even greater significance when the new president followed up on his rhetoric about the “rule of law” with a series of actions designed to undermine the rule of law.
- Trump issued sweeping pardons and commutations to Jan. 6 criminals, including violent felons who clashed with police officers. It reflected the Republican’s belief that he can summon a political mob, encourage it to commit acts of political violence, and then immunize those who break the law in his name from accountability.
- He issued an executive order intended to end birthright citizenship, despite the language of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
- Trump and his team made Ed Martin the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., which would be less notable were it not for the fact that Martin is a conservative activist who has been on the board of a group supporting Jan. 6 defendants and is considered a prominent member of the “Stop the Steal” movement.
- He signed an executive order to delay enforcing a federal law regarding a ban on TikTok, despite last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
On that last point, my colleague Lisa Rubin asked, “[I]f Trump can erase the text of the TikTok ban, what’s to stop him from doing that to far more consequential laws?”
Given that the answer is “nothing,” it adds tragic context to the new president’s absurd assurances about “restoring … the constitutional rule of law.”
Complicating matters are the Republican’s plans for the near future. On New Year’s Day, in an article that probably deserved greater attention, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump intends to “test the limits of the law by issuing policies he knows to be unlawful, or even unconstitutional, in a bid to persuade the Supreme Court, which is dominated by conservatives, to come to different decisions.” In other words, the new American president is so indifferent to the rule of law that he’s prepared to knowingly and deliberately ignore it, confident in the idea that his allied Supreme Court justices — the ones who already largely elevated the presidency above the law — will help him create new laws that he likes better. Will the United States ever be the same?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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